{"id":323,"date":"2014-05-07T09:24:00","date_gmt":"2014-05-07T09:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/on-this-day\/7-may-1861-rabindranath-tagore-indian-author-and-poet-was-born\/"},"modified":"2014-05-07T09:24:00","modified_gmt":"2014-05-07T09:24:00","slug":"7-may-1861-rabindranath-tagore-indian-author-and-poet-was-born","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/on-this-day\/7-may-1861-rabindranath-tagore-indian-author-and-poet-was-born","title":{"rendered":"7 May 1861: Rabindranath Tagore, Indian author and poet, was born"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe work of a supreme culture, they yet appear as much the growth of the common soil as the grass and the rushes. A tradition, where poetry and religion are the same thing, has passed through the centuries, gathering from learned and unlearned metaphor and emotion, and carried back again to the multitude the thought of the scholar and of the noble.\u201d \u2013 W.B. Yeats in the preface of Rabindranath Tagore\u2019s Nobel Prize winning work Gitanjali<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Internationally known as the ‘Bard of Bengal,’ Rabindranath Tagore\u2019s genius is seldom understood completely by the common man. A poet, novelist, musician, painter, educationist, and a social reformer, Tagore has worn multiple hats in eighty years of his life. He is considered as a cultural symbol for not only his home-state, but also nationally. Tagore is in fact best known for being the first person from Asia to have ever won the Nobel Prize. He was also knighted by the then British monarchy, which he returned after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.<\/p>\n

Early Years<\/strong><\/p>\n

Born on the 7th of May 1861, Rabindranath was the youngest among fourteen children. His father, Debendranath Tagore was a well known proponent of the Brahmo Samaj. He is also considered to have revived and spread the fundamental principles of the Brahmo Dharma all over India. Rabindranath, therefore, did not see his father much in his early years. His mother, Sarada Devi\u2019s early demise made young Rabi a loner, even though there were many servants and caretakers to take care of him.<\/p>\n

The highlights of his days were staring up at the sky and watching clouds appear. Rabindranath also spent a lot of time in the garden. He explained, \u201cI had such an exceeding love for nature, I cannot tell how to describe it to you; but nature was a kind of a loving companion always with me, and always revealing to me some fresh beauty.\u201d He did start describing his experiences with \u2018Nature\u2019 from a very early age. He took to writing at age eight, where he described his Nature sightings poetically.<\/p>\n

Education<\/strong><\/p>\n

During childhood, going to school was young Rabi\u2019s least favourite activity. He found the teaching method, which included punishment if the lesson wasn\u2019t learned, very painful. Later in life, Rabindranath started a school in Shantiniketan, which was experimental in a way that it inspired children to study in a natural environment and not within the four walls of a classroom, with liberal teachers.<\/p>\n

At the age of eleven, Rabindranath\u2019s father took him along on an all-India tour. This gave the young child, a holistic exposure to the country. He was also exposed to a wide number of books of different genres like Astronomy, Science, and even Biographies. While in Dalhousie, he studied under tutors at home.<\/p>\n

Rabindranath also went to London to pursue a Law degree. But, during the 18 months that he spent there, he read more of literary works than law manuals. He delved into works of writers like Shakespeare, Dickens, and Walter Scott. Rabindranath had a good musical ear as well. He also brought home with him knowledge of folk tunes from England, Scotland and Ireland. With such knowledge and inspirations, Rabindranath returned home with enough to compose his works, although he never achieved an academic \u2018degree\u2019.<\/p>\n

Literary Works<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rabindranath\u2019s literary works include a large array of forms, from poems and ballads, to short stories and novels, and even essays, plays and songs. His writing career spans over seventy years. Starting at a tender age of eight, Rabindranath\u2019s writing ideas came mainly from the things he saw, books he read, events he experienced, and emotions he felt in his life.<\/p>\n

His initial writings were mainly poems, about his love for nature and his feelings of loneliness. After travelling around India and reading works of several Indian authors, Rabindranath\u2019s writing expanded and he also ventured into short stories. During his brief stay in London, he gathered a wide range of knowledge not just about novels, plays, short stories and poems, but also music. His travels around the world expanded his literary horizons even further. This is when he penned travelogues. Rabindranath\u2019s middle age was emotionally tumultuous and that reflected in his stories and poems. He also centered his characters dealing with prevailing social injustices, like child marriage, Sati ritual, etc. With the beginning of the National Movement in India, Rabindranath\u2019s mode of protest was his essays and other forms of write-ups.<\/p>\n

Among his most famous literary works, Rabindranath is remembered for his Nobel Prize winning collection of poems, named Gitanjali<\/em>. This however, depicts just a tiny amount of his entire \u2018bank\u2019 of work.<\/p>\n

Here are points providing an idea of the literary legacy he has left behind:<\/p>\n