Rabindranath

Rabindranath Tagore (7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath whose works spanned poetry, literature, music, painting and education. Born in Calcutta into the Tagore family, he produced a vast body of work in Bengali and English that drew on Indian traditions and Western literary forms.

Tagore is best known for his poetry and songs. His collection Gitanjali: Song Offerings, published in Bengali in 1910 and in English in 1912, earned him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913, making him the first non-European to win the award. He wrote thousands of poems and songs, collectively known as Rabindra Sangeet, along with novels, short stories and plays. He also contributed to national culture through the iconic Indian national anthem Jana Gana Mana and the Bangladeshi national anthem Amar Shonar Bangla, both of which derive from his poetic legacy.

In education and culture, Tagore founded a school at Santiniketan in 1901 and later established Visva-Bharati University in 1921 to foster a synthesis of cultures and holistic learning. His writings and philosophy promoted universal humanism, internationalism and the blending of Eastern and Western thought, influencing both Indian and global literature and arts.

Tagore’s career extended beyond literature into social reform and political thought. He was knighted by Britain in 1915 but renounced the title in 1919 after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. He died in Calcutta in 1941, leaving a lasting impact on literature, music, education and national identity across South Asia.