Tagore’s Drama Synthesis of Myths, Legends and Folklores: A Medium of Social Reformation

Abstract

Rabindranath Tagore symbolizes the true spirit of Indian thought. He being a philosopher, novelist, poet, painter, dramatist as well as an educator exhibited the problems of society through his dramatic plays and acted as a social reformer. India is well known for its legends, myths, folklores and Tagore brilliantly portrays the same through his drama. Myth is “one story in a mythology-a system of hereditary stories of ancient origin which were once believed to be true by a particular cultural group, which served to explain why the world is as it is and things happen as they do, to provide a rationale for social customs and observances and to establish the sanctions for rules by which people conduct their lives. If the protagonist is a human being rather than a supernatural being, the traditional story is called legend.” (Abrams 170) whereas folklore “is a collective name applied to verbal compositions, social rituals and sayings handed down mostly by word of mouth” (Abrams 100).