Victoria Ocampo and Rabindranath Tagore: A love Supreme

Article by EIH Researcher and Writer

Akansha Sengupta

While walking on my solitary way

I met you at the dusk of nightfall

I was about to ask you take my hand

When I gazed at your face and was afraid.

For I saw there the glow of the fire that lay asleep

In the deep of your heart’s dark silence

– Rabindranath Tagore, Shesh Basanth, 21st November 1924

Rabindranath Tagore was a man of many talents and had many loves as a young boy. The literary powerhouse had quite a few whirlwind romances in his time. Where else was he supposed to get his inspiration from? The Nobel Laureate was a versatile writer who breathed life into everything he wrote, Tagore is also known as the pioneer of romanticism in Bengali literature. Like many writers of his time, he was also influenced by European writers, but what set Tagore apart was that he wrote from the doctrine of experience. His romantic sensibility and expression made him a crowd favorite. Nature, beauty, and love were closely intertwined in his expansive body of work. The poet was picking up inspiration from his surroundings and also from the people he interacted with, especially his love interests. Now, his intimate relationship with Kadambari Devi is very well televised, but not many know that there was another muse who inspired many of his writings, Victoria Ocampo.

Their meeting has been described as a chance encounter when Tagore en route to Peru was held at Buenos Aires due to a particularly bad attack of influenza. A chance encounter led to Victoria Ocampo meeting her idol and she promptly asked to host him till he recovered. To say that Ocampo idolized Tagore would be an understatement, she had read the French translation of Gitanjali by Andre Gide and was in awe of his intellectual prowess. Victoria however had many troubles of her own, from mental health issues to a failed marriage. In 1914, she stumbled upon a French translation of Gitanjali which seemed to bring unexplainable solace to her troubled heart and mind. She sought comfort in a text written in a language she did not understand, however, Tagore’s humanism was not lost on her. Conversation flowed between them easily and grew into companionship. While he stayed at her villa, Miralrio, she came to have meals with him every day and no meal was incomplete without banter. Miralrio had a river close to it which could be seen from his balcony. Ocampo was aware of his love for nature and deemed the room as a perfect gift for him. And it seemed to be the greatest gift because he sat on his armchair and weaved the most beautiful poems, some with Ocampo in mind. Their relationship blossomed in a short span of time and Ocampo writes about her love for him being spiritual. However, her letters to him state otherwise, since they were flooded with declarations of love in earnest. She seemed to unleash the painted in him and free the muses trapped within, Ocampo took great pride in organizing an exhibition of his creations. Ketaki Dyson is of the opinion that the female figure that haunts his artistry could have been Ocampo. They seem to share some striking similarities, like the brooding eyes. While she influenced some of his poems in Purabi, the poet’s influence in her work cannot be missed. He had opened up a reservoir of new ideas and perceptions to her, introduced her to the concept of dharma, and offered rich philosophical insight. One can only imagine how compelling their conversations might have been like.

The two bonded on their common love for literature and intellectual depth, they viewed the world through a similar lens and found great companionship in one another, even though his stay was brief, only shy of two months. Tagore’s love affair with Latin America will spark curiosity in many readers since he continues to be a towering personality within the Latin literature landscape, his works continue to be taught as part of a university curriculum. How did this come to be? How did a non-European writer hold so much attention in a predominantly white landscape? In many ways, the interaction between Tagore and Ocampo was the poet’s introduction to the Spanish-speaking world.  His brief dalliance bordering a mystical relationship with Ocampo bore fruit in his creative work. Ketaki Kushari Dyson authored a book on their magical encounter and backed the historicity of the event. He writes that “of all the women he had linked with-which had been many, Victoria was by far the most distinguished. It is only when the two vitae are placed side by side do we realize how unique a meeting of theirs”. Born in an artistic and highly influential milieu, it was almost as if they ran in the same social circles, but in parallel parts of the world.

They continued to exchange letters till he passed away in 1941. Ocampo was stunned because, despite their brief dalliance, she had also lost a friend. A grieve stricken Victoia said, “I guard everything I learned from him so that I may live it. So that I may live it as long as my strength permits me.” If Ocampo became a distant muse he too became an inspiration and guide for her. She called him Gurudev and she was his Vijaya.

Bibliography:

1. https://scroll.in/reel/859253/tagore-biopic-thinking-of-him-revisits-the-writers-life-altering-encounter-with-victoria-ocampo
2. Tagore en las barrancas de san Isidro (Victoria Ocampo)- An anointed translation
3. Romantic Ideology In Tagore’s Works And Its Influence On Contemporary Human Life

https://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jhss/papers/Vol9-issue2/M09296102.pdf?id=6130

1. Tagore & Ocampo: A New Dimension http://portal.amelica.org/ameli/jatsRepo/127/127616001/html/index.html
2. On the trail of Rabindranath Tagore and Victoria Ocampo, Ketaki Kushari Dyson

https://www.parabaas.com/rabindranath/articles/pKetaki1.html

1. Alfonso Chacon R.,  The Forgotten Stone: Tagore and Latin America (2000)

https://www.parabaas.com/SHEET3/LEKHA16/forgotten.html