CONDITION USED GOOD, THE LUTE AND THE PLOUGH, A LIFE OF RABINDRANATH TAGORE, HARDCOVER, 1963

The original Marathi biography was acclaimed throughout Maharashtra as an outstanding contribution—not only to Tagorean bibliography but also to Marathi literature. Written by someone whose deep veneration for his subject did not inhibit the exercise of his critical faculty, it impressed readers with its thoroughness and scholarly care. Its Marathi style was ornate and colourful, often rising to heights of power and pathos, and showing abundant traces of its great subject’s influence.

How many of the world’s noblest men have had to march toward achievement under a burden of betrayal and personal sorrow that would quickly crush a lesser spirit! Tagore was no exception, and the author has not shrunk from portraying the encircling gloom in his hero’s life, as well as the kindly light that led him on.

The present translation, while reading like an original work, brings out the force and colour of Khanolkar’s Marathi. The author himself has expressed his complete satisfaction with it—than which there could be no higher recommendation.