Rabindranath Tagore - An inspiring personality

Rabindranath Tagore.

         In this post, we are going to read about Rabindranath Tagore.

Rabindranath Tagore was a Bengali poet, novelist, playwright, polymath, composer, musician, architect, painter, social reformer, and Gandhian political activist who wrote over 50,000 songs and poems in various Indian languages. He has been called "the greatest modern master of music." His works include Gitanjali (1910), Geet Govinda (1929), and Chandi Charitra (1949).

 "Rabindranather Chhatre" is the Hindi translation of his name which means "The Poet-Fervent Patriot". Tagore's first poem, published at age seven, was titled "Bharat Mata ki Jai", meaning "Victory to Mother India": he dedicated this poem to the goddess of India, Durga.

Tagore was born into a middle-class Bengali Hindu family in 1861. His father, Debendranath Tagore, was an accomplished musician, poet, and composer who had received training from Rabindra Nath Sangeet Natak Akademi (the Academy of Music). He was also a professor at Scottish Church College where Rabindranath taught. In 1888, he founded Kolkata's first school of music, Debroy High School. Debendranath died prematurely in 1890 after suffering from tuberculosis. On his deathbed, Debendranath asked Rabindranath to take care of his mother and younger siblings. After completing high school, Rabindranath left home and joined Debroy School as a teacher of music.

He later became principal, and through his efforts, the college was renamed Visva Bharati University. As a composer, he wrote many songs that were popular and have been sung by artists like Pt. Ravi Shankar and others. Amongst his best-known works are 'Bhavaner Shri Ramachandra', 'Nirjana', and 'Shanti'. Tagore won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, the third person ever to win this award.

During the last years of his life, he started to write poems about nature. These poems later formed the basis of his book Gitanjali published in 1927. This collection of poems inspired the modern Indian philosophy of Neo-Hinduism. A few years before his death, Tagore expressed his desire to meet Gandhi to discuss spiritual unity and peace among people from different religions.

The first thing that comes to my mind about Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) is his quote “To seek truth is not merely to seek knowledge; it is to seek and find yourself”. This is exactly what I have been trying to do with this channel. I want to bring awareness to how we can find ourselves through seeking knowledge on different topics and who is interested in finding themselves and their purpose. Through seeking self-knowledge and learning more about your passions, strengths, dreams, wishes, ambitions, desires, qualities, and talents… you are seeking truth. And once you find the truth, you can get rid of anything not bringing you happiness or satisfaction. You just need to realize this and let go.

Rabindranath Tagore's won the Nobel Prize in Literature “for his poetic gifts”. He was born into a wealthy family in Calcutta but lost both parents at a young age. He then moved to Shantiniketan where he met other like-minded intellectuals. From this time onwards, he started writing poetry. His first major work, Gitanjali, was written while he was staying in Santiniketan. This book contained poems that were inspired by nature and spirituality. Later, he wrote many other books including the famous novel 'Satyajit Ray' based on him.

Best known works: Gitanjali, Asya, Gupti, Kasturi, Gora, Mahapurush Jnaneshwari, Chhandayan, Devdas, Ramechand, Jogajog, Raja Badal, Bijon, Alor Kalam, Dwijendralekha, and Vidyarthini.

The following are some of the moments in Rabindranath Tagore's (1861-1941) life that had a major influence on his art and philosophy.

1. When he was 7 years old, he saw fireflies for the first time. He immediately felt inspired to write poetry.

2. At age 10, he went to Calcutta with his father, who was a professor at the Scottish Church College. There, he studied English literature and the Bengali language.

3. In 1883, he met Rabindranath Thakur, a famous poet, and composer. This led to their lifelong friendship.

4. In 1897, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature. His prize was shared with Williamina Fleming, Henry Taylor Shaw, and Josephine Knebel Johnson. He became the first Indian citizen to win this award.

5. When India gained independence from Great Britain, Tagore refused to leave Kolkata, even though he was offered a large sum of money. He believed that education would help people to develop themselves and create a better future for their children.

These are some events in Rabindranath Tagore's life :

* Tagore married twice after Chitra's death, the first time was his cousin Amala (Das) who gave birth to twin daughters named Sujata and Susmita. She died in 1891 leaving him two children. The second marriage was with Ratna Devi. They have three sons called Debendra, Ranendu, and Jyoti. After Ratna's death, he started a relationship with his maid Ruma Banerjee who was later adopted into the family. They were married in 1901.

*  In the early years, Tagore spent much time traveling around Europe, mainly Germany and Switzerland. Then came the visit of German art critic Karl Wolfskehl, who inspired him to write his first poem, “Kabuliwale”. This poem was published in 1902 in Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung. Thereafter, he wrote many poems including Gora, Baje, Shilpina, Maitree, Golpo, and several others.

* Tagore visited London in 1907 and met many people like John Maynard Keynes, George Bernard Shaw, T.S Eliot, and W.B Yeats. He met Rabindranath Thakurji Dasi and his sister Sankari Devi and they became lifelong friends. He wrote a book on the philosophy of Buddhism, Religion and Culture entitled Religion and Culture in 1911. In this, he described the role of religion in the world through a series of essays.

* Tagore got interested in the Gandhian movement and worked a lot in rural areas where he met Gandhi and taught him the Sanskrit language. He wanted to establish a university but could not find enough funds from the government. In 1912-13, he resigned from the Indian Civil Service and joined as a Professor of English at Visva Bharati University. After that, he traveled to the United States, Mexico, Canada, and Western Europe.

* He founded a school of music, dance, and drama in 1921 at Shantiniketan and its name changed to Visva Bharati University in 1923. Later it was renamed Shantiniketan University. Some of his works include Gitobandhu, Kālīmālā, Abhinaya Asrama, Abhinayakatika, Sarangdhar, Prabandha Mangal, Nitya Siddhanta, Parnasa, Niradiprasanga, Swadeshi, Karmavibrasti, Sahaj Marg, Kedara, and Vidyapitha. He translated some of Shakespeare's plays into Bengali under the title Tamashek. He also wrote a short story titled 'Jiban Sangro' published in 1935.

* Rabindranath Tagore wrote his first poem at the age of six. This was followed by many other poems, essays, short stories and children's books. He composed over 400 songs and he has written novels, plays and several travelogues. He won the Nobel Prize in 1913 for literature. His work earned him the title "the poet of India". In addition to poetry, Tagore wrote prose, including two autobiographies, several travelogues and short story collections, biographies of famous men from different cultures and a large body of music that includes classical and folk pieces.

* At age three, he began formal education under tutelage of English-speaking European missionaries. He later attended Loreto House School in Baroda. In 1876, he went to Santiniketan where he would spend the rest of his childhood and adolescence.

*  His father's sudden death from typhoid fever when Rabindranath was twelve years old had a profound effect on him. He came back to Calcutta after completing his secondary studies and enrolled in the Scottish Church College in 1886 to study law. However, soon he gave this up and decided to devote himself to the arts. He enrolled in the University of Calcutta, where he met his lifelong companion and lifelong friend, fellow Bengali student, Abanindranath Tagore.

* Tagore graduated with a degree in philosophy from the university in 1889. That same year, he started working as a teacher in Shantipur High School in Shantipur, West Bengal.

* In 1890, his mother died and he moved to Gorakhpur to take care of her brother. In 1893, he returned to Shantipur and taught at the newly established school. In 1895, he married Subhadra Devi. They were together until her death in 1935. They had 5 children together. Their 2nd child was named Jivanamoyee.

* Tagore became politically active while teaching in Shantipur High school. In 1909, he helped to establish the Indian Home Rule Society. In 1911, he published the book "Gitanjali", which was widely acclaimed. In 1912, he visited England and Germany to study literature at Trinity College in London. Later that year, he traveled to Europe again, this time to attend the Congress of Arts and Science held in Prague. On November 12th, 1913, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Rabindranath Tagore.