Use of Slangs and bad words in selected literature of Rabindranath Tagore/ নির্বাচিত রবীন্দ্র সাহিত্যে নিন্দাসূচক শব্দ ও অপভাষার প্রয়োগ

Abstract

Rabindranath Tagore is not only a famous author but a great part of our culture and heritage. In his literature there are also the use of slangs but these are used not for criticism, nor for cheap popularity but for the sake of providing authenticity to the characters. The slangs are only used in the dialogues of the characters. 

          Rabindranath Tagore was born in an educated liberal family of the nineteenth century. He believed in good values, but still a lot of slangs have been used in the short stories and novels. In drama, especially in the humorous short dramas, there are plenty of slangs which have been used for creating a ridiculous situation. The characters and the situations provide the laughter element in a drama. The duty of a good creator is to establish the character and the events in a believable manner. No doubt, Rabindranath has successfully created believable characters and situations in his writings. 

           Rabindranath wrote many devotional songs, poems and essays. He is the founder of Bramhacharya Bidyalay in Santiniketan, which was converted into Bishwavarati Bishwabidayalay. In the Shantiniketan Ashram he was called Gurudeva. But we are also able to gather a long list of slangs in his literature. This was not a controversy, but it’s a great way to ascertain the versatility of our beloved poet, who so realistically included the smallest detail.

           Rabindranath went to East Bengal for the maintenance purpose of his father's zamindari. In East Bengal he saw the rural people, who are fond of using slangs in their day to day life. So when Rabindranath created stories in the background of East Bengal, he used the slangs to make it more real. With the use of these words the life of the lower strata of the society was established as truly as possible. 

           In the era of Rabindra nath Tagore he was also criticized by the people in a bad way. Especially some literary magazines intentionally insulted Rabindranath. Sometimes this was happened as they had different views but often out of pure jealousy. But Rabindranath never answered rudely, nor did he use slangs for answering. He was a very soft-spoken person, who always respected his family, its culture and the heritage of our society. In this essay, we are going to look at the slangs which were used by Tagore in his writings, and also the deep purpose to use the same.