Bengali Association of Nebraska
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Rabindranath Tagore – Biography
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was the youngest son of Debendranath Tagore, a
leader of the Brahmo Samaj, which was a new religious sect in nineteenth-century
Bengal and which attempted a revival of the ultimate monistic basis of Hinduism as
laid down in the Upanishads. He was educated at home; and although at seventeen he
was sent to England for formal schooling, he did not finish his studies there. In his
mature years, in addition to his many-sided literary activities, he managed the family
estates, a project which brought him into close touch with common humanity and
increased his interest in social reforms. He also started an experimental school at
Shantiniketan where he tried his Upanishadic ideals of education. From time to time
he participated in the Indian nationalist movement, though in his own non-
sentimental and visionary way; and Gandhi, the political father of modern India, was
his devoted friend. Tagore was knighted by the ruling British Government in 1915,
but within a few years he resigned the honour as a protest against British policies in
India.
Tagore had early success as a writer in his native Bengal. With his translations of
some of his poems he became rapidly known in the West. In fact his fame attained a
luminous height, taking him across continents on lecture tours and tours of
friendship. For the world he became the voice of India's spiritual heritage; and for
India, especially for Bengal, he became a great living institution.
Although Tagore wrote successfully in all literary genres, he was first of all a poet.
Among his fifty and odd volumes of poetry are Manasi (1890) [The Ideal One], Sonar
Tari (1894) [The Golden Boat], Gitanjali (1910) [Song Offerings], Gitimalya (1914)
[Wreath of Songs], and Balaka (1916) [The Flight of Cranes]. The English renderings of
his poetry, which include The Gardener (1913), Fruit-Gathering (1916), and The
Fugitive (1921), do not generally correspond to particular volumes in the original
Bengali; and in spite of its title, Gitanjali: Song Offerings (1912), the most acclaimed of
them, contains poems from other works besides its namesake. Tagore's major plays
are Raja (1910) [The King of the Dark Chamber], Dakghar (1912) [The Post Office],
Achalayatan (1912) [The Immovable], Muktadhara (1922) [The Waterfall], and
Raktakaravi (1926) [Red Oleanders]. He is the author of several volumes of short
stories and a number of novels, among them Gora (1910), Ghare-Baire (1916) [The
Home and the World], and Yogayog (1929) [Crosscurrents]. Besides these, he wrote
musical dramas, dance dramas, essays of all types, travel diaries, and two
autobiographies, one in his middle years and the other shortly before his death in
1941. Tagore also left numerous drawings and paintings, and songs for which he
wrote the music himself.
From Nobel Lectures, Literature 1901-1967, Editor Horst Frenz, Elsevier Publishing
Company, Amsterdam, 1969
This autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and later
published in the book series Les Prix Nobel/Nobel Lectures. The information is
sometimes updated with an addendum submitted by the Laureate. To cite this
document, always state the source as shown above.
Rabindranath Tagore died on August 7, 1941.
