สำนักราชบัณฑิตยสภา

The Journal of the Royal Institute of Thailand Volume III - 2011 19 Srisurang Poolthupya His extended pilgrimage of four months with his father to Amritsar and the Himalayas during his youth also had much formative influence on Rabindranath. He became closer to his father whose religious views helped shape Rabindranathûs outlook on life. çDaily walks and daily lessons were followed by informal and formative discussions in the quiet evenings.é (Ray, 1967: 31) The idea of learning outside classrooms and the love of travelling in his later life must have originated from this pilgrimage. Tagore died in 1941 at the age of eighty. Tagoreûs contributions to Thailand and the world Tagoreûs poetry and other literary works, as well as speeches during his numerous visits to Europe, Asia and the Americas, are inspiring to the world. However, here I shall write mainly about Tagoreûs visit to Thailand and his direct and indirect cultural contributions to Thailand and Asia. Apart from literature, Tagore has contributed much in the fields of education, religious philosophy and womenûs emancipation. Of course, he has done much more than these but I have neither time nor space to enumerate. His works will be cited field by field. Some of his contributions will be cited from time to time to substantiate my statements. Literature Rabindranath Tagore is most famous in the field of literature. His prolific works as well as his personality inspire or bring about further richness in literary and cultural activities. Tagoreûs earliest works were written between the age of thirteen to nineteen. Although The Padavalis of Bhanu Singh was considered by Tagore himself as good enough to be published in book form, literary critics often considered The Evening Songs to be his first real book (Ray, 1969: 39-40). Tagore wrote these songs at Chandernagore (Chandranagar) when he was about nineteen. Apart from poetry, he also wrote many worthy novels and plays. His first novel, Karuna, was about the problems of love and marriage. It was written before he went to England at the age of seventeen. When he was twenty, he wrote his famous poem The Awakening of the Fountain, which expressed çhis spiritual enlightenment that illumined the whole of his consequent lifeé (Ray, 1969: 41). Tagore could master his latent powers and emotional drives so that he could recreate and make full 16-28_mac9 5/3/12, 11:13 PM 19