The Parrot`s Training

Rabindranath Tagore, The Parrot's Training, Calcutta and Simla: Thacker, Spink and Co., 1918

12 pages including eight illustrations by Abanindranath Tagore and the text translated by the author from its original Bengali; original pictorial paper wrappers designed by Nandalal Bose, one of Tagore's most famous pupils.
11.5 x 9.25 in (29.2 x 23.5 cm)

The Bengali original "Totakahini" was published earlier the same year in the famous journal Sabujapatra. Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), renowned Bengali poet, novelist, educator and composer has been considered to be the greatest writer in modern Indian literature. Tagore won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 as the first Asian recipient.

This work is Tagore's famous satire on the futility of education through rote-learning from books - 'parrot-fashion' - then prevalent in India. He was a pioneer of creative education in India and started the school Patha Bhavana at Santiniketan in 1901 with a philosophy of learning with the heart in closeness to nature as opposed to the strict, repetitive and the rote learning system that was common during Tagore's childhood. The humorous drawings are by Tagore's artist nephew Abanindranath Tagore, the founder of the Bengal School of Art.