ABSTRACT
Rabindranath Tagore’s best-known work, Nationalism (1917), is often mistaken for the sum and substance of his thoughts on nationalism. However, a look at the evolution of his idea over different stages suggests that his thoughts on nationalism cannot be accommodated within the stereotypes of “internationalism” or “anti-nationalism” in which commentators cast him. This chapter attempts to offer some analytical constructs, a set of antinomies which appear in Tagore’s writings; however, the object is not to examine the veracity of his statements in relation to these antinomies but to try to understand some basic categories of thought in Tagore’s writings over many years and to search in his evolving ideas about nationalism the inner unity and continuity.
