Gitanjali and Dani Doka share core spiritual insights about intimacy with God, reliance on divine grace, and God dwelling among the poor and humble, showing how different traditions express a shared longing for the divine.
Abstract
Rabindranath Tagore’s Gitanjali is one of the finest expressions of Indian devotional poetry, blending personal spiritual experience with universal mysticism. Similarly, Harendra W. Marak’s documentation of traditional Garo poetry, especially Dani Doka, highlights the deep spiritual dimensions of Garo indigenous life, especially during the Wangala festival. This paper explores the thematic parallels between Gitanjali and Dani Doka, focusing on three core spiritual insights: intimacy with God, reliance on divine grace, and the idea that God dwells among the poor and humble. Through this comparative study, the paper shows how different cultural and poetic traditions articulate a shared longing for the divine, rooted in everyday experience and ritual expression.