The first Indian to receive a Nobel Prize (for Literature in 1913), Rabindranath Tagore was a celebrated poet, philosopher, writer, composer, and painter from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was born in Calcutta in 1861 into the Tagore family, whose contribution was a driving force behind the Bengal Renaissance. His parents were Debendranath Tagore (a well-known religious reformer) and Sarada Devi.
From an early age, Rabindranath along with all his brothers and sisters were exposed to an environment thriving with Indian classical music, arts, literature, dramatics, and philosophy. From his elder brother Hemendranath, he learned swimming, wrestling, gymnastics, literature, history, geography, anatomy, mathematics, English, and Sanskrit. He started writing poetry at the age of eight, itself.
After his Upanayana (sacred thread ceremony) at the age of 11, he traveled India with his father for a few months. He visited his father’s Santiniketan estate and then traveled to Amritsar for a month, followed by a trip to Dalhousie where he spent his days reading biographies and studying astronomy, Sanskrit, modern science, and classical poetry of Kalidasa.
Since his father wanted him to become a barrister, in 1878 Rabindra was sent to a public school in Brighton (East Sussex, England). But he spent most of his time independently studying the works of Shakespeare and Thomas Browne and exploring the local music scene of England, Ireland, and Scotland. In 1880, he came back to Bengal and in 1883, married Mrinalini Devi with whom he had five children.
In the 1880s, he published several books of poetry and by 1890 he completed ‘Manasi’, his first collection of poems which is recognized as a work of genius. In 1891, Tagore along with his wife and kids relocated to Shilaidah in East Bengal (present-day Bangladesh) for 10 years to manage his ancestral estates. During this period, he spent a lot of time on his houseboat, crisscrossing River Padma. At this time, he wrote the majority of his 3-volumed ‘Galpaguchchha’, which has 84 stories highlighting the life struggles of poverty-stricken regions of East Bengal. Other notable works from this time period include – ‘Sonar Tari’ and ‘Chitrangada’.
In 1901, he returned to Calcutta and found Shantiniketan, an experimental school to explore the possibility of blending Indian and Western traditions together. This school now stands as Visva-Bharati University. In 1902, his wife Sarada Devi died and in a few more years two of his children died as well, leaving him in a state of great turmoil. During this time, he started writing Gitanjali (Song Offerings) for which he received a Nobel Prize. In 1915, he was awarded a knighthood which he repudiated in 1919 to protest the massacre of Jallianwalla Bagh. In 1910 he composed ‘Gora’ and in 1916 ‘Ghare-Baire’, two of his most recognized works besides Gitanjali.
From 1912 onwards, Rabindranath spent most of his time outside India, giving lectures in Europe, America, and East Asia. In the late 1920s, he took up painting and produced quite a few masterpieces. After India’s independence, in the year 1950, Tagore’s composition ‘Jana Gana Mana’ was officially chosen as India’s national anthem.