A playwright, a musician, an editor and a painter, Jyotirindranath Tagore was born on 4 May, 1849. He was endowed with an outstanding talent, with a rare capability of spotting talent in other human beings. He had played a major role in flowering the hidden talents of his younger brother and the first Asian Nobel Prize winner Rabindranath Tagore. As the grandson of Dwarkanath Tagore, Jyotirindranath Tagore was the fifth son of Debendranath Tagore. He was born in the Tagore family of Jorasanko, in Calcutta (now Kolkata).
Jyotirindranath had assisted Rabindranath via encouragement and companionship. His younger sister, Swarnakumari Devi was also a well-known writer and musician. During his school days, Jyotirindranath was attracted towards the theatre and also formed a home theatre group where he staged several dramas. The very first play to be staged was Krishnakumari by Michael Madhusudan Dutta and Jyotirindranath played the role of Ahalyadevi,a brave queen. He also had music lessons from Bishnupada Chakravarty and was an expert in playing the violin, piano, harmonium and sitar. Jyotirindranath later died on 4 March 1925 in the company of Satyendranath, his constant companion since his wife’s death.
