বাংলায় পড়ুন
On the 157th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, when the whole world talks about his great works and achievements, let’s shift the focus to those people who played significant roles in his life. We all know about Kadambari Devi; his sister-in-law and wife of Jyotindranath Tagore. She was his muse and Tagore wrote and dedicated many of his works to her. Apart from her, there were two other women in his life who played a pivotal role in his literary career. They are Jnanadanandini Devi and Mrinalini Devi.
Jnanadanandini Devi was the wife of Tagore’s elder brother, Satyandrenath Tagore, and Mrinalini Devi, wife of Rabindranath Tagore. Satyandrenath Tagore was a man with progressive thoughts. Jnanadanandini was a bold lady who broke away from ‘antarmahal’ and introduced the practice of nuclear family in Bengali household. She also taught Bengali women to wear Parsi style sari with a jacket and chemise; that is blouse and petticoat. She had a very intellectual bond with Rabindranath Tagore and that was an untarnished one.
Jnanadanandini Devi’s relation with Rabindranath pervaded into the sphere of his creativity. She started participating in the performances of his plays and also encouraged other women to actively participate in those plays. This amalgamation of Jnanadanandini Devi’s boldness and Rabindranath’s creativity resulted in the creation of “Valmiki-Pratibha”, “Kaalmrigaya”, “Raja-o-Rani”, “Mayar Khela” and “Bisarjan”.
Another woman who did not get as much recognition as Kadambari Devi is Mrinalini Devi, wife of Rabindranath Tagore. She was mentored by Jnanadanandini Devi. She was only ten years old when she was married to Tagore. Her name was Bhabatarini Devi before marriage. She lived a very short span of life and died at a very early age of 29years. She supported Tagore through thick and thin and even sold her jewelry to fund Visva Bharati University in Shantiniketan. she died in 1902 and Rabindranath never remarried after her demise.
