Rabindranath Tagore’s Philosophy of Spiritual Humanism and the Problems of Women Presented in the Novel ‘Nexus’ (Yogayog, 1929)

Abstract

Spiritual humanism means thinking about the progress of human beings in all fields - social, cultural, political or economical and advocates that science and philosophy, art and literature, or anything that human beings have achieved by logical thinking and idealistic thoughts must aim at the well-being of humanity. Its principal aim is to achieve human freedom, cheerful life with development and prosperity without any kind of discrimination among human beings. Rabindranath Tagore was a great poet, dramatist, novelist, short-story writer, musician, painter, educationist, social reformer, philosopher, spiritualist and a critic of life and literature. He wrote about the problems of women in most of his works – whether it is a poem, novel, play or a short- story. Rabindranath Tagore’s novel ‘Nexus’(Yogayog,1929) is an important story of a married woman Kumudini’s struggle for freedom against the brutality of her cruel husband, Madhusudan. Here, Tagore’s evolving attitude towards the role of a married woman, Kumudini and her rebellious thoughts towards the domination of her husband are clearly presented in this novel. Rabindranath Tagore believed that the solution for all the problems of society lies in spreading the message of non-violence, truth, peace, love, and wisdom, which brings happiness among human beings. The present paper is an effort to investigate the major problems of married women of the nineteenth century Bengali society and the importance of Rabindranath Tagore’s philosophy of spiritual humanism in the emancipation of women, which made Tagore a multitalented novelist, writer and personality.