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115 *But may men also take a leaf out of her book and create beautiful harmonious things in lines, colours, sounds and thoughts!" His conception seems to remain passive when confronted by Nature or the divine Principle immanent in her, If, however, God is in each of us, ought we not, according to our respective capacities, try to become the image of the Lord
of Beauty?"*14
One might wonder why Rolland fails to vindicate art with enough vehemence. A true artist is gifted with the vision of beauty and creates beauty even where it is absent. Keats was not directly serving humanity in Gandhiji's sense of the term when he wrote Ode to Autumn. To him beauty was truth and truth, beauty. Shall we say that such artists are avoidable parasites on society ? An artist is interested in seeing beauty and creating beauty, in turning chaos into harmony in forms and tunes and thoughts. All these may be indirectly helpful to humanity in utilitarian sense of the term. It may not be. Yet it is valuable in its own right. A culture becomes rich by the richness of art. Gandhiji could not see this simple truth. Why does Dilip Roy refrain from criticizing the narrowness of his views plainly?
It is enlightening to consider here Tagore's criticism of Gandhiji's views on art. Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi were contemporaries and had great respect for each other. But Tagore did not agree with Mahatmaji's views on religion, nationalism, non-co-operation, art etc. He frequently wrote articles criticizing Gandhiji's views. Romain Rolland was almost the first to bring out this controversy between the two into light in a systematic and balanced manner in his biography: Mahatma Gandhi. Roy, it seems, has been benefited by this book in his portrayal of Mahatma Gandhi. Rolland, in his book, notes:
'The controversy between Tagore and Gandhi, between two great minds, both moved by mutual admiration and esteem, but as fatally separated in their feeling as a philosopher can be from an apostle, a St Paul from a Plato, is important. For on the one side we have the spirit of religious faith and charity seeking to found a new humanity. On the other we have intelligence, freeborn, serene, and broad, seeking to unite aspirations of all
humanity in sympathy and understanding."95
Tagore craved for the synthesis of the culture of the orient with that of the occident. But by following the movement of non-co-operation, propounded by Mahatma Gandhi, Tagore suspected that people, instead of gaining anything, would lose the opportunity of getting enlightenment and cultural synthesis of the East and the West. In fact, he never doubted the sincerity of Mahatmaji's intentions, but he feared the illogical Gandhists who were following Mahatma Gandhi blindly.
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