The Home, the World and the United States: Young India's Tagore

Abstract

This essay examines how the New York-based nationalist periodical Young India selectively reprinted the works of Rabindranath Tagore that accorded with its message of pluralist nationalism. Though Tagore used his poetry, fiction and lectures to express his vehement opposition to Western-style (and Japanese-style) nationalism, the exile periodical carefully culled his work in order to capitalize on his high status in the West while deflecting his criticism of its nationalist project. Under the leadership of Lala Lajpat Rai, Young India in effect manufactured its own Tagore for export to its American audience. Young India's Tagore offers a view into the development of anti-colonial thought outside India.