ABSTRACT
The chapter intends to present a glimpse of the contribution of Swami Vivekananda and Rabindranath Tagore towards shaping Indian discourses in the English language by analyzing four speeches of Vivekananda and two speeches of Tagore. The chapter presents Vivekananda as an orator who combined in himself Western and Eastern traditions of oratory. I have shown influences of Bangla and Sanskrit texts on the English language spoken by Vivekananda in India. In analyzing Tagore’s speeches, this chapter attempts to rediscover Tagore as an Indian speaker in English. Critics like Sisir Kumar Das and K.K. Dyson created the impression that Tagore did not govern the English language but was governed by the language, that Tagore did not choose English but choosing English was inevitable due to historical reasons. This chapter presents an alternative argument that writing in English must have brought a certain sense of joy and fulfilment to Tagore. In the two speeches discussed in this chapter, Tagore communes with the Indian nation beyond the borders of Bengal.
