Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore was born on May 7, 1861 in a rich Brahmin family in Calcutta. His father's name was Debendranath Tagore and his mother's name was Sarada Devi. His grandfather Dwarkanath Tagore was a rich landlord and a social reformer. Rabindra Nath Tagore did his schooling from Oriental Seminary School. After his 'Upanayan' (coming-of-age) rituals at the age of eleven, Tagore and his father left Calcutta in 1873 and travelled all around India for several months, visiting his father's Santiniketan estate and Amritsar before reaching the Himalayan hill station of Dalhousie. There, he read many biographies, studied history, astronomy, modern science and Sanskrit and the classical poetry of Kalidasa. In 1874, he published his poem 'Abhilaash' (Desire) in a magazine called 'Tattobodhini'. The very next year, Tagore's mother expired.

Rabindranath's first book of poems, 'Kabi Kahini' tale of a poet) was published in 1878. In the same year, Tagore went to England with his elder brother Satyandranath to study Law. But he returned to India in 1880 and started his career as a poet and writer. In 1883, Rabindranath Tagore got married to Mrinalini Devi Raichaudhuri, with whom he had two sons and three daughters.

In 1884, Tagore wrote a collection of poems 'Kori-o-Kamal' (Sharp and Flat). He also wrote dramas - 'Raja-o-Rani' (King and Queen) and 'Visarjan' (Sacrifice). In 1890, Rabindranath Tagore moved to Shilaidaha (now in Bangladesh) to look after the family estate. Between 1893 and 1900, Tagore wrote seven volumes of poetry, which included 'Sonar Tari' (The Golden Boat) and 'Khanika'. In 1901, Rabindranath Tagore became the editor of the magazine 'Bangadarshan'. He set up 'Bolpur Bramhacharya ashram' at Shantiniketan, a school-based on the pattern of old Indian Ashrama.

In 1905, Lord Curzon decided to divide Bengal into two parts. Rabindranath Tagore strongly opposed this decision. He wrote numerous National songs and attended protest meetings. In 1909, Rabindranath Tagore started writing "Gitanjali'. In 1912, he went to Europe for the second time. On the journey to London, he translated some of his poems and songs from Gitanjali to English. In London, he met William Rothenstein, a well-known British painter who was highly impressed by his poems and made copies and gave them to Yeats and other English poets. Yeats got fascinated and later wrote the introduction to 'Gitanjali' when it was published in September 1912, in a limited edition by the 'India Society' in London.

Rabindranath Tagore was awarded "Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 for Gitanjali. In 1915, he was knighted by the British King George V. In 1919 following the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, Tagore gave up his knighthood. He was a supporter of Gandhiji but stayed out of politics. He traveled widely between 1916 and 1934. In 1921, Rabindranath Tagore established 'Viswabharati University. He gave all his money from the Nobel Prize and royalty money from his books to this University. Tagore was not only an artistic intellectual but also had good knowledge of western culture, especially western poetry and science.

In 1940, Oxford University arranged a special ceremony in Santiniketan and awarded him with a Doctorate of Literature. Rabindranath Tagore died on August 7, 1941, at his ancestral home, in Calcutta.