Rabindranath Tagore

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has paid tribute to Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore on Tagore Jayanti.

About Rabindranath Tagore –

• Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), popularly known as ‘Gurudev’, was born in an affluent Family.
• The maestro was fascinated by the worlds of literature, art, music and dance at an early age.
• In 1913, he became the first Indian to receive a Nobel Prize in Literature for his novel ‘Geetanjali’.
• He also wrote the National Anthems of India and Bangladesh.
• He left his imprint on art and played a role in transforming its practices and ushering into modernism.
• Rabindranath Tagore was primarily known as a writer, poet, playwright, philosopher and aesthetician, music composer and choreographer, founder of a unique educational institution – Vishwabharati and a painter. Tagore’s emergence as a painter began in 1928 when he was 67 years old.
• Between 1928 and 1940, Rabindranath painted more than 2000 images. He never gave any title to his paintings. Fed by memories and the subconscious, Rabindranath’s art was spontaneous and dramatic. His images did not represent the phenomenal world but an interior reality.
• His drawings and ink paintings are freely executed with brushes, rags, cotton-wool and even his fingers. For Tagore, art was the bridge that connected the individual with the world.
• Tagore had composed Amar Shonar Bangla in 1905 in the wake of the Bengal partition to foster a spirit of unity and patriotism among Bengalis. He also used the Raksha Bandhan festival to bring about a feeling of brotherhood among Bengal’s Hindus and Muslims during the partition of 1905. He was fiercely opposed to the partition.
• He was knighted by the British government in 1915. But he later renounced it protesting against the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre.
• Tagore is responsible for modernising Bengali prose and poetry. His notable works include Gitanjali, Ghare-Baire, Gora, Manasi, Balaka, Sonar Tori, He is also remembered for his song ‘Ekla Chalo Re’.
• He was also called the ‘Bard of Bengal’.
• In 1918, he founded the Vishwabharati University at Santiniketan. He was staunchly against the classroom kind of education. He believed it stifled creativity. He conceived of an educational system where the students’ curiosity was kindled and learning became more natural.