Rabindranath Tagore

“The first Indian to win Nobel Prize”

Rabindranath Tagore, a great Indian poet, was born on 7th of May in 1861 at Calcutta, India to
Debendranath Tagore and Sarada Devi. He was born in a rich and cultural Brahmin family. He took his
early education at home under private teachers and never attended school however went to England for
higher studies. He started writing poems at his early age of eight. His poetry was published under the
pseudonym Bhanushingho (Sun Lion) when he was just sixteen. He went to England in 1878 to study law
however returned India before completing to pursue the career as a poet and writer. He was not satisfied
by the traditional system of education there. He opened his own school named Santiniketan in Bolpur,
Birbhum, Bengal. He followed the Upanishadic ideals of education. This school later became a college
and then a university (Visva-Bharati).

He translated his work Geetanjali into English during the long sea journey to England. He was awarded
with the Nobel Prize for literature within the year his Geetanjali was published. He has mentioned the
mysticism and sentimental beauty of Indian culture in his writing for which a non-westerner was honored
with prestigious award first time. Together with being a renowned poet, he was also a genius, writer,
novelist, visual artist, composer, playwright, and a philosopher. He knew well how to command over
language while writing poem or stories. He was a good philosopher through which he influenced a huge
range of Indian people during the freedom struggle.
He was also awarded with Knighthood by the British Crown however he returned as a mark of protest
against massacre in Jallianwalabagh.

Contribution
His contribution towards the Indian literature is very vast and unforgettable. Two of the songs from his
Rabindrasangeet are more famous as they have been national anthem of two countries such as “Amar
Shonary Bangla” (national anthem of Bangladesh) and “Jana Gana Mana” (national anthem of India). His
creative writings, whether in the form of poem or stories, are unchallenged even today. Perhaps he was
the first who bridge the gap between west and east through his effective writings.

Another composition of him was Puravi in which he mentioned Evening Songs and Morning Songs under
many subjects like social, moral, cultural, religious, political, etc. Manasi was written by him in 1890 in
which he collected some social and poetical poems. Most of his writings were based on the life of people
of Bengal. Another writing named Galpaguccha was a collection of stories based on the poverty,
backwardness, and illiteracy of the Indian people.

Other poetry collections are like Sonar Tari, Kalpana, Chitra, Naivedya, etc and novels are like Gora,
Chitrangda and Malini, Binodini and Nauka Dubai, Raja and Rani, etc. He was very religious and
spiritual man which helped him a lot in the days of crisis. He was a great educationist thus he founded an
abode of peace, a unique university named Santiniketan. He died on 7th of August in 1941 in Kolkata
before seeing the India’s independence