Rabindranath Tagore 

Rabindranath Tagore (also known as Rabindranath Thakur) was a prominent Indian poet and author who is one of the most celebrated literary figures of 20th century.

His excellence in literature made Rabindranath Tagore become the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. He also made a great contribution to Indian Independence struggle. Rabindranath Tagore also wrote Jana Gana Mana, the National Anthem of  India.

Childhood and Education

Viswakavi (World Poet) Rabindranath was born on May 9, 1861 in Bengal.

His father Maharishi Devendranath Tagore was a rich man and an aristocrat and his mother was Sarada Devi. He was the eighth son and fourteenth child of his parents. Rabindranath Tagore was not sent to any school. He was educated at home by a tutor. Rabindranath was not happy, getting educated within the four walls. He was a curious and creative child. Even as a boy he felt that nature is a mystery and he should unravel the secrets of nature, through education.

Though he was educated at home, he studied many subjects including Mathematics, History, Geography, Bengali, Sanskrit and English. Reading plays was of special interest to him. He was happy to read plays of Kalidas and Shakespeare. He had a special interest in Bengali, which was his mother-tongue.

In 1878, he moved to Brighton, East Sussex, England, to study law. He attended the University College London for some time, following which he started studying the works of Shakespeare. He returned to Bengal in 1880 without a degree, with the aspiration of fusing the elements of Bengali and European traditions in his literary works. After 18 months in England, he returned to India without taking any degree with the aim of making his own name in the field of literature by fusing Bengali and European elements into his works.

Marriage and Children

After Rabindranath Tagore returned from England, his father arranged a marriage for him with Mrinalini Devi, a girl who was just ten years old.

On 9 December 1883, Rabindranath married Mrinalini and together they had five children – two sons and three daughters.

The two sons were named Rathindranath and Shamindranath while daughters were named Madhurilata, Renuka and Meera.

Literary Career

Rabindranath Tagore was inclined towards literature since childhood. At the tender age of 8, Tagore wrote his first poem.

When Tagore was 11 years old, he toured India with his father Debendranath and studied various cultures, biographies and writing style. During this period, he wrote many works and after his return in 1877,  Tagore published his first large poetry collection at the age of 16. Also when he was 16, he wrote his first short story and dramas.

Short Stories, Poems & Plays

In 1890, his collection of poems, ‘Manasi’, was released. The period between 1891 and 1895 proved to be fruitful during which, he authored a massive three-volume collection of short stories, ‘Galpaguchchha’.

Tagore drew inspiration and ideas for writing his stories from his surroundings, from the village life of India. He saw the poor people very closely during travels to manage his family’s large land holdings. Sometimes he used different themes to test the depth of his intellect.

In 1901,  he composed ‘Naivedya’, published in 1901 and ‘Kheya’, published in 1906. By then, several of his works were published and he had gained immense popularity among Bengali readers.

He wrote a number of plays. Some of them are  Valmiki Pratibha, Post Office, Naure’s Revenge, Katha Devayaem, Saradotsav, Muktadara, Nater Puja and Gora. Rabindranath Tagore’s plays were written around the theme of villages, culture and moral reforms that he wanted to bring to the society.

Geetanjali (1910)

In 1910, Rabindranath Tagore published Geetanjali, a collection of his 157 poems which were related to nature and were subtly spiritual. Geetanjali by Rabindranath Tagore was also translated into English under the name Song Offerings. Geetanjali became his most popular work and his popularity among English-speaking nations. In next couple of years, it was translated into many languages and was well received in the Western world.

After the immense success of Geetanjali, Rabindranath Tagore was awarded Noble Prize in literature in 1913. He became the first Non-European to receive the coveted award.

My Reminiscences (1917)

My Reminiscences was written when Tagore was fifty. It is an account of the first 27 formative years of his life. Rather than a conventional autobiography, it is a series of ‘memory pictures’. Born into a brilliant and highly aristocratic family, Tagore was the most dazzling instance of the benefits of the cultural collision between the Bengal Renaissance and the high noon of the British Empire.

W. B. Yeats called My Reminiscences ‘a rich and most valuable work. ‘Written with wit, wisdom and more than a little self mockery, My Reminiscenes by Rabindranath Tagore gives a unique and enduring insight into the life of this great literary genius.

Anthems

Not many people know that Rabindranath Tagore was the only person has written National Anthems of three different countries. His patriotic writings have been chosen as the official National Anthems of India (Jana Gana Mana), Bangladesh (Amar Shonar Bangla) and Sri Lanka (Sri Lanka Matha).

Music and Artworks

Rabindranath Tagore was also an outstanding artist and musician. He composed more than 2000 songs and numerous paintings. His songs are referred as Rabindra Sangeet and became an integral part of the Bengali music culture. His songs and music cover many aspects of human emotion, from devotional hymns to songs of love.

Rabindranath Tagore was also a good artist. He started to learn painting at the age of 60. He drew more than 2000 pictures, which were exhibited in many countries.

Political Opinion

Tagore’s political views were complex. He criticized European colonialism, and supported Indian nationalists.

But, he also criticized the Swadeshi movement of many nationalist leaders of India. Instead, he emphasized self-help and intellectual uplift of the masses. He requested Indians to accept that “there can be no question of blind revolution, but of steady and purposeful education”. Many people did not like his thinking. In late 1916, some Indians wanted to kill him when he was staying in a hotel in San Francisco, USA. They did not kill him as they started arguing with Tagore, and then dropped the idea to kill him.

Awards & Achievements

Nobel Prize for Literature (1913): For his momentous and revolutionary literary works, Tagore was honored with the Nobel Prize in Literature on 14 November 1913.

Knighthood by British Crown (1915): He was also conferred knighthood in 1915, which he renounced in 1919 after the Jallianwallah Bagh carnage.

Doctorate of Literature (1940): In 1940, Oxford University awarded him with a Doctorate of Literature in a special ceremony arranged at Shantiniketan.

Last years & Death

At the end of the Rabindranath Tagore short biography, take a look at how he spent his last days in pain. 

Even during the last decade of his life, Tagore continued his activism. During this period, Tagore wrote fifteen volumes of prose-poems. They covered many parts of human life. In his last years, Tagore took an interest in science, and wrote a collection of essays. These essays explored biology, physics, and astronomy.

Rabindranath Tagore spent the last 4 years of his life in illness and pain. In late 1937, he lost consciousness and stayed in a coma for a long time. Eventually, he woke up, but went back into a coma after three years. During these years, whenever he was conscious and felt well enough, he wrote poems. These poems talk about how he came close to death. After a long period of suffering, Tagore died on 7 August 1941, at the age of 80, in his childhood home in Kolkata.