BiographyRabindranath 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. 

Rabindranath Tagore died on August 7, 1941.

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1913

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1913 was awarded to Rabindranath Tagore "because of his profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse, by which, with consummate skill, he has made his poetic thought,

expressed in his own English words, a part of the literature of the West".

Rabindranath TagoreBorn: 7 May 1861, Calcutta, India

Died: 7 August 1941, Calcutta, India

Residence at the time of the award: India

Prize motivation: "because of his profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse, by which, with consummate skill, he has made his poetic thought, expressed in his own English words, a part of the literature of the West"

Language: Bengali and English

Biographical information

Given name: RabindranathFamily name: TagoreBirth date: 6 May 1861Death date: 7 August 1941Ethnicity: BengaliFamily relations          wife: Mrinalini Devi Raichaudhuri          son: Rathindranath Tagore          son: Samindranath Tagore

          daughter: Madhurilata Tagore          daughter: Mira Tagore          daughter: Renuka TagoreLanguages          English          BengaliEducation: University College, London: 1879 to 1880Honour: Nobel Prize for Literature: November 1913Residences          Ashram, India          Shantiniketan, India          Calcutta: 1861 to 1941          London, England: 1879 to 1880Buried at: Calcutta (cremated)First RPO edition: 2002

Rabindranath Tagore

Born7 May 1861Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India

Died7 August 1941 (aged 80)Calcutta, Bengal Province, British India

Pen name

Gurudev/Bhanu Shingho

Occupation

Poet, writer, lecturer

Nationality

Indian

Ethnicity Bengali

Genres

Poet, novelist, short-story writer, essayist, playwright, thespian, educationist, spiritualist, philosopher, internationalist, painter, cultural relativist, orator, composer, song-writer, singer, artist

Subjects Literature

Literary movement

Bengal Renaissance

Notable work(s)

GitanjaliGoraGhare-Baire

Notable award(s)

Nobel Prize in Literature1913

Spouse(s)

Mrinalini Devi (1883–1900)

Signature

Tagore and His India

voice of bengal Rabindranath Tagore, who died in 1941 at the age of eighty, is a towering figure in the millennium-old literature of Bengal. Anyone who becomes familiar with this large and flourishing tradition will be impressed by the power of Tagore's presence in Bangladesh and in India. His poetry as well as his novels, short stories, and essays are very widely read, and the songs he composed reverberate around the eastern part of India and throughout In contrast, in the rest of the world, especially in Europe and America, the excitement that Tagore's writings created in the early years of the twentieth century has largely vanished. The enthusiasm with which his work was once greeted was quite remarkable. Gitanjali, a selection of his poetry for which he was awarded

the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913, was published in English translation in London in March of that year, and had been reprinted ten times by November, when the award was announced. But he is not much read now in the West, and already by 1937, Graham Greene was able to say: "As for Rabindranath Tagore, I cannot believe that anyone but Mr. Yeats can still take his poems very seriously."

 CONFLUENCE OF CULTURESRabindranath did come from a Hindu family—one of the landed gentry who owned estates mostly in what is now Bangladesh. But whatever wisdom there might be in Akhmatova's invoking of Hinduism and the Ganges, it did not prevent the largely Muslim citizens of Bangladesh from having a deep sense of identity with Tagore and his ideas. Nor did it stop the newly independent Bangladesh from choosing

one of Tagore's songs—the "Amar Sonar Bangla" which means "my golden Bengal"—as its national anthem. This must be very confusing to those who see the contemporary world as a "clash of civilizations"—with "the Muslim civilization," "the Hindu civilization," and "the Western civilization," each forcefully confronting the others. They would also be confused by Rabindranath Tagore's own description of his Bengali family as the product of "a confluence of three cultures: Hindu, Mohammedan, and British".1Rabindranath's grandfather, Dwarkanath, was well known for his command of Arabic and Persian, and Rabindranath grew up in a family atmosphere in which a deep knowledge of Sanskrit and ancient Hindu texts was combined with an understanding of Islamic traditions as well as Persian literature. It is not so much that Rabindranath tried to produce—or had an interest in producing—a "synthesis" of the different religions (as the great Moghul emperor Akbar tried hard to achieve) as that his outlook was persistently non-sectarian, and his writings—some two hundred books—show the influence of different parts of the Indian cultural background as well as of the rest of the world. 2ABODE OF PEACE Most of his work was written at Santiniketan (Abode of Peace), the small town that grew around the school he founded in Bengal in 1901, and he not only conceived there an imaginative and innovative system of education, but through his writings and

his influence on students and teachers, he was able to use the school as a base from which he could take a major part in India's social, political, and cultural movements.The profoundly original writer, whose elegant prose and magical poetry Bengali readers know well, is not the sermonizing spiritual guru admired—and then rejected—in London. Tagore was not only an immensely versatile poet; he was also a great short story writer, novelist, playwright, essayist, and composer of songs, as well as a talented painter whose pictures, with their mixture of representation and abstraction, are only now beginning to receive the acclaim that they have long deserved. His essays, moreover, ranged over literature, politics, culture, social change, religious beliefs, philosophical analysis, international relations, and much else. The coincidence of the fiftieth anniversary of Indian independence with the publication of a selection of Tagore's letters by Cambridge University Press 3, brought Tagore's ideas and reflections to the fore, which makes it important to examine what kind of leadership in thought and understanding he provided in the Indian subcontinent in the first half of this century.GANDHI AND TAGORE Since Rabindranath Tagore and Mohandas Gandhi were two leading Indian thinkers in the twentieth century, many commentators have tried to compare their ideas. On learning of Rabindranath's death, Jawaharlal Nehru, then incarcerated in a

British jail in India, wrote in his prison diary for August 7, 1941:"Gandhi and Tagore. Two types entirely different from each other, and yet both of them typical of India, both in the long line of India's great men ... It is not so much because of any single virtue but because of the tout ensemble, that I felt that among the world's great men today Gandhi and Tagore were supreme as human beings. What good fortune for me to have come into close contact with them." We can imagine that Rabindranath's physical appearance—handsome, bearded, dressed in non-Western clothes—may, to some extent, have encouraged his being seen as a carrier of exotic wisdom. Yasunari Kawabata, the first Japanese Nobel Laureate in Literature, treasured memories from his middle-school days of "this sage-like poet":God and Others Yeats was not wrong to see a large religious element in Tagore's writings. He certainly had interesting and arresting things to say about life and death. Susan Owen, the mother of Wilfred Owen, wrote to Rabindranath in 1920, describing her last conversations with her son before he left for the war which would take his life. Wilfred said goodbye with "those wonderful words of yours—beginning at 'When I go from hence, let this be my parting word.'" When Wilfred's pocket notebook was returned to his mother, she found "these words written in his dear writing—with your name beneath."

Reasoning in Freedom For Tagore it was of the highest importance that people be able to live, and reason, in freedom. His attitudes toward politics and culture, nationalism and internationalism, tradition and modernity, can all be seen in the light of this belief.11 Nothing, perhaps, expresses his values as clearly as a poem in Gitanjali:Where the mind is without fearand the head is held high;Where knowledge is free;Where the world has not beenbroken up into fragmentsby narrow domestic walls; ...Where the clear stream of reasonhas not lost its way into thedreary desert sand of dead habit; ...Into that heaven of freedom,my Father, let my country awake.Rabindranath's qualified support for nationalist movements—and his opposition to the unfreedom of alien rule—came from this commitment. So did his reservations about patriotism, which, he argued, can limit both the freedom to engage ideas from outside "narrow domestic walls" and the freedom also to support the causes of people in other countries. Rabindranath's passion for freedom underlies his firm opposition to unreasoned traditionalism, which makes one a prisoner of the past (lost, as he put it, in "the dreary desert sand of dead habit").

Tagore and Gandhi, in Shantiniketan, 1940.

Tagore had the greatest admiration for Mahatma Gandhi as a person and as a political leader, but he was also highly skeptical of Gandhi's form of nationalism and his conservative instincts regarding the country's past traditions. He never criticized Gandhi personally. In the 1938 essay, "Gandhi the Man," he wrote:Great as he is as a politician, as an organizer, as a leader of men, as a moral reformer, he is greater than all these as a man, because none of these aspects and activities limits his humanity. They are rather inspired and sustained by it.If Tagore had missed something in Gandhi's argument, so did Gandhi miss the point of Tagore's main criticism. It was not only that the charka made little economic sense, but also, Tagore thought, that it was not the way to make people reflect on anything: "The charka does not require anyone to think; one simply turns the wheel of the antiquated invention endlessly, using

the minimum of judgment and stamina."Celibacy and Personal Life Tagore and Gandhi's attitudes toward personal life were also

quite different. Gandhi was keen on the virtues of celibacy, theorized about it, and, after some years of conjugal life, made a private commitment—publicly announced—to refrain from sleeping with his wife. Rabindranath's own attitude on this subject was very different, but he was gentle about their disagreements:

Tagore with his wife Mrinalini Devi in 1883.

Science and the People Gandhi and Tagore severely clashed over their totally different attitudes toward science. In January 1934, Bihar was struck by a devastating earthquake, which killed thousands of people. Gandhi, who was then deeply involved in the fight against untouchability (the barbaric system inherited from India's divisive past, in which "lowly people" were kept at a physical distance), extracted a positive lesson from the tragic event. "A man like me," Gandhi argued, "cannot but believe this earthquake is a divine chastisement sent by God for our sins" — in particular the sins of untouchability. "For me there is a vital connection between the Bihar calamity and the untouchability campaign."Tagore, who equally abhorred untouchability and had joined Gandhi in the movements against it, protested against this interpretation of an event that had caused suffering and death to so many innocent people, including children and babies. He also hated the epistemology implicit in seeing an earthquake as caused by ethical failure. "It is," he wrote, "all the more unfortunate because this kind of unscientific

view of [natural] phenomena is too readily accepted by a large section of our countrymen."The two remained deeply divided over their attitudes toward science. However, while Tagore believed that modern science was essential to the understanding of physical phenomena, his views on epistemology were interestingly heterodox. He did not take the simple "realist" position often associated with modern science. The report of his conversation with Einstein, published in The New York Times in 1930, shows how insistent Tagore was on interpreting truth through observation and reflective concepts. To assert that something is true or untrue in the absence of anyone to observe or perceive its truth, or to form a conception of what it is, appeared to Tagore to be deeply questionable. When Einstein remarked, "If there were no human beings any more, the Apollo Belvedere no longer would be beautiful?" Tagore simply replied, "No." Going further—and into much more interesting territory—Einstein said, "I agree with regard to this conception of beauty, but not with regard to truth." Tagore's response

was: "Why not? Truth is realized through men."19

Albert Einstein and Tagore, in New York, 1930.

Both Gandhi and Nehru expressed their appreciation of the important part Tagore took in the national struggle. It is fitting that after independence, India chose a song of Tagore ("Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka," which can be roughly translated as "the leader of people's minds") as its national anthem. Since Bangladesh would later choose another song of Tagore ("Amar Sonar Bangla") as its national anthem, he may be the only one ever to have authored the national anthems of two different countries.

 International Concerns Tagore was not invariably well-informed about

international politics. He allowed himself to be entertained by Mussolini in a short visit to Italy in May-June 1926, a visit arranged by Carlo Formichi, professor of Sanskrit at the University of Rome. When he asked to meet Benedetto Croce, Formichi said, "Impossible! Impossible!" Mussolini told him that Croce was "not in Rome." When Tagore said he would go "wherever he is," Mussolini assured him that Croce's whereabouts were unknown.

Fearless reasoning in freedom.

 Unlike Gandhi, Rabindranath would not resent the development of modern industries in India, or the acceleration of technical progress, since he did not want India to be shackled to the turning of "the wheel of an antiquated invention." Tagore was concerned that people not be dominated by machines, but he was not opposed to making good use of modern technology. "The mastery over the machine," he wrote in Crisis in Civilization, "by which the British have consolidated their sovereignty over their vast empire, has been kept a sealed book, to which due access has been denied to this helpless country." Rabindranath had a deep interest in the environment - he was particularly concerned about deforestation and initiated a "festival of tree-planting" (vriksha-

ropana) as early as 1928. He would want increased private and government commitments to environmentalism; but he would not derive from this position a general case against modern industry and technology.On Cultural Separation Rabindranath would be shocked by the growth of cultural separatism in India, as elsewhere. The "openness" that he valued so much is certainly under great strain right now - in many countries. Religious fundamentalism still has a relatively small following in India; but various factions seem to be doing their best to increase their numbers. Certainly religious sectarianism has had much success in some parts of India (particularly in the west and the north). Tagore would see the expansion of religious sectarianism as being closely associated with an artificially separatist view of culture.Notes on Life and Works Born May 6 (some sources say May 7), 1861, in Calcutta, Rabindranath Tagore became one of the prolific writers in the world, poet, artist, dramatist, musician, novelist, and essayist. He was completely at home both in Bengali and in English, in part because he was educated at University College, London, in 1879-80. He had become the national poet of Bengal by the time of his Golden Jubilee in Calcutta on January 28, 1912, but his international fame only came in November 1913 when he won the Nobel Prize for literature for Gitanjali, a collection of poetry initially brought out

in Bengali in 1910 and then translated by the poet and published in English in 1912 with an introduction by W. B. Yeats. He translated so many volumes of his own Benjali poems personally that he can be regarded as an Anglo-Indian poet. Tagore resided at Shantiniketan and Ashram and founded a school at the former place that turned into Visva-Bharati University in 1918, the present-day holder of the Tagore copyright (which ran out on January 1, 2002). Mrinalini Devi Raichaudhuri and he wed, in an arranged marriage, Dec. 9, 1883, and they had five children: three daughters, Madhurilata, Renuka, and Mira, and two sons, Rathindranath and Samindranath. Tagore obtained honorary degrees from the universities of Calcutta (1913), Dacca (1936), Osmania (1938), and Oxford (1940). He died August 7, 1941, in Calcutta, and was cremated. Early life (1861–1901)

Tagore and

Mrinalini Devi, 1883 Shantiniketan (1901–1932)

Tsinghua University,

1924 Twilight years (1932–

1941) With Einstein, 1930

At the Majlis, Tehran, 1932

Music and art by Rabindranath TagoreTagore composed roughly 2,230 songs and was a prolific painter.

Title page of

Gitanjali

Tagore hosts Gandhi and wife Kasturba at Santiniketan in 1940

Tagore Room, Sardar Patel Memorial , Ahmedabad Rabindranath Tagore The danger inherent in all force grows stronger when it is likely to gain success, for then it becomes temptation.

Our fight is a spiritual fight, it is for Man.

I say again and again that I am a poet, that I am not a fighter by nature. I would give everything to be one with my surroundings. I love my fellow beings and I prize their love.

Creation is an endless activity of God's freedom; it is an end in itself.

Freedom is true when it is a revelation of truth.

India has ever declared that Unity is Truth, and separateness is maya.

I believe in the true meeting of the East and the West.

It hurts me deeply when the cry of rejection rings loud against the West in my country with the clamour that the Western education can only injure us.

That which fails to illuminate the intellect, and only keeps it in the obsession of some delusion, is its greatest obstacle.

After sixty years of self-experience, I have found that out and out hypocrisy is an almost impossible achievement.

Our country is the land of rites and ceremonials, so that we have more faith in worshiping the feet of the priest than the Divinity whom he serves.

the religion of economics is where we should above all try to bring about this union of ours ... If this field ceases to be one of warfare, if there we can prove, that not competition but cooperation is the real truth, then indeed we can reclaim from the hands of the

Evil One an immense territory for the reign of peace and goodwill.

I have no zeal for life. You know the only thing that concerns me? That I have laboured so hard to build Viswabharati, wouldn't it have no value after my exit? ... I think I have one reservation regarding death, and that is Viswabharati, nothing else.

It's difficult to know a person until he turns twenty-five---difficult to say what would happen to him ... but it is easy to recognise a twenty seven years old--- it can be said he's become what he's supposed to be, and from now on this is how his life would be guided, there's in left anything in his life to get astonished.

To enjoy something, it's essential to guard it with the fence of leisure.

I do not put my faith in institutions, but in individuals all over the world, who think clearly, feel nobly and act rightly. They are the channels of moral truth.

Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.

Rabindranath

Tagore - Family tree

Rabindranath Tagore: Chronology of major works

Work in Bengali

1878 Kabi-Kahini (The Tale of the Poet : a story in verse)

1880 Bana-phul (The Flower of the Woods : a story in verse)

1881 Balmiki Pratibha (The genious of Balmiki : a musical drama) Bhagna-hridaya (The Broken Heart : a drama in verse) Rudrachanda (a drama in verse) Europe-prabasir patra (Letters of a sojourner in Europe)

1882 Sandhya Sangeet (Evening Songs : a collection of lyrics) Kal Mrigaya (The Fatal Hunt : a musical drama)

1883 Bouthakuranir Haat (The young Queen's market : a novel) Prabhat Sangeet (Morning songs: a collection of lyrics) Vividha Prasanga (Miscellaneous Topics: a collection of essays)

1884 Prakritir Pratisodh (Nature's Revenge : a drama in verse) Bhanu Singha Thakurer Padabali (collection of poems written after Vaishnava poets under the pen name of 'Bhanu Singha') Chhabi O Gaan (Sketches and Songs : collection of poems) Nalini (a prose drama) Saisab Sangeet (Poems of Childhood : a collection of poems)

1885 Rammohan Roy (a pamphlet on Rammohan Roy) Alochona (Discussions : a collection of essays) Rabichhaya (The shadow of the Sun : a collection of songs)

1886 Kari o Kamal (Sharps and Flats : a collection of poems)

1887 Rajarshi (The Saint King : a novel) Chithipatra (letters)

1888 Mayar Khela (a musical drama) Samalochona (Reviews : a collection of essays)

1889 Raja 0 Rani (King and Queen : a drama in verse)

1890 Visarjan (Sacrifice : a drama) Manasi (The heart's desire: a collection of poems) Mantri Abhisek (a lecture on Lord Cross's India Bill)

1891 Europe Jatrir Diary (Diary of a traveller to Europe)

1892 Chitrangada (a drama in verse) Goray galad (Wrong at the Start : a comedy) Joy parajay (story)

1893 Europe Jatrir Diary Part II Ganer Bahi O Valmiki Pratibha (a collection of songs incorporating Valmiki Pratibha)

1894 Sonar Tari (The Golden Boat : a collection of pems) Chhoto galpo (collection of 15 short stories) Chitrangada O Viday-Abhisap (Chitrangada previously published and Curse at Farewell) Vichitra Galpa (Parts I & II) Katha-Chatustaya (four short stories)

1895 Chhele-bhulano Chhara (nursery rhymes) Galpa-Dasak (ten short stories)

1896 Chitra (a collection of poems) Malini (a drama) Chaitali (a collection of poems) Nadi (River : a long poem) Sanskrita Siksha Parts I & II (text book)

1897 Baikunther Khaata (Manuscripts of Baikuntha : a comedy) Pancha Bhut (Five Elements : a collection of essays)

1899 Kanika (a collection of short poems and epigrams)

1900 Galpoguchha (a collection of short stories) Kshanika (The Fleeting One : a collection of poems) Kalpana (Imagination : a collection of poems) Katha (Stories : a collection of ballads) BrahmaUpanishad (a religious essay) Kahini (Tales : a collection of drama in verse and long poems)

1901 Galpa (Stories : part II of Galpaguchha) Bangla Kriyapader Taalika (List of Bengali verbs : text book) Aupanishad Brahma (a religious essay)

Naivedya (Offerings : a collection of poems) Brahma-mantra (a religious essay)

1903 Chokher Bali (Eyesore : a novel) Sishu (Child : children poems) Karmaphal (Nemesis : a story)

1904 Nastaneer (The Home Spoilt : a novel) Chirakumar Sabha (The Bachelor's Club : a novel, this was later issued separately as Prajapatir Nirbandha) Ingraji Sopan, Part I (a text-book)

1905 Baul (a collection of songs) Atmasakti (a collection of political essays and lectures)

1906 Naukadubi (The Wreck : a novel) Bharatbarsha (India : a collection of political essays and lectures) Rajbhakti (a political essay) Deshnayak (a political essay) Ingraji Sopan, Part II (a text-book) Kheya (Ferry : a collection of poems)

1907 Adhunik Sahitya (Modern Literature : a collection of essays) Lokasahitya (Literature of the People : a collection of essays) Prachin Sahitya (Ancient Literature : a collection of essays) Sahitya (Literature : a collection of essays) Vichitra Prabandha (a collection of essays) Charitrapuja (Tributes to Great Lives : a collection of essays) Hasya-Kautuk (humourous sketches) Byanga-Kautuk (satirical sketches)

1908 Mukut (The Crown : a prose drama) Path-O-Patheya (an essay) Raja Praja (King and his Subjects : a collection of political essays) Samuha (a collection of political essays) Swadesh (My Country : a collection of political and sociological essays) Swamaj (Society : a collection of essays) Saradotsav (Autumn Festival : a drama)

1909 Brahma Sangeet (a collection of religious songs) Vidyasagar-charit (two essays on Vidyasagar printed before in Charitrapuja) Dharma (Religion : a collection of essays) Chayanika (an anthology of poems) Prayaschitta (Penace : a drama) Sabdatattwa (a collection of papers on Bengali philology)

1910 Raja (King of the dark chamber : a drama) Gora (a novel) Gitanjali (Song Offerings)

1911 Aatti Galpa (eight Stories)  

1912 Achalayatan (a drama ) Dakghar (Post Office : a drama) Galpa Chaariti (Four Stories) Jiban-Smriti (Reminiscences) Chhinnapatra (Torn Letters) Patha Sanchay (a text-book) Dharmasiksha (an essay) Dharmer Adhikar (an essay)

1914 Utsarga (Dedication : a collection of poems) Gitimalya (A Garland of songs) Gitali (a collection of poems and songs)

1915 Bichitra Path (selection for the use of students)

Kavyagrantha (ten volumes of poems and dramas)  

1916 Ghare Baire (Home and the World : a novel) Balaka (The Swan : a collection of poems) Chaturanga (a novel) Phalguni (Cycle of Spring : a drama) Sanchaya (a collection of essays)

1917 Anubad-charcha (a text-book) Kartar Ichhaye Karmo (As the Master Wills : a lecture)

1918 Palataka (The Run-away : stories in verse) Guru (stage version of Achalayatan)

1919 Japan-jatri (Travels in Japan)

1920 Poila Nombor (a short story) Arupratan (stage version of Raja)

1921 Barsa-mangal (Rain Festival) Sikshar Milan ( Meeting of Cultures : a lecture) Rinsodh (stage version of Saradotsav) Satyer Ahovaan (Call of Truth : a lecture)

1922 Sishu Bholanath (child poems) Lipika (Letter : prose-poems) Muktadhara (Free Current : a drama)

1923 Basanta (Spring : a musical drama)

1925 Purabi (a collection of poems) Griha prabesh (a drama) Sankalan (a collection of prose) Sesh barshan (The last shower : a musical drama)

1926 Rakta karabi (Red Oleanders : a drama) Natir puja (The dancing girl's worship : a drama) Prabahini (a collection of songs) Chirakumar sabha (stage version of Prajapatir Nirbandha) Sodh bodh (All square : a comedy) Lekhon (Autographs : verses with English translations)

1927 Ritu ranga (The Play of the Seasons : a musical drama)  

1928 Sesh raksha (stage version of Goray galad) Palliprakriti (address of the anniversary of Sriniketan)

1929 Sesher Kabita (Last poem : a novel) Mahua (a collection of poems) Tapati (a drama) Jogajog (a novel) Paritran (stage version of Prayaschitta) Jatri (Traveller : letters from abroad)

1930 Sahaj path - parts I & II (text book) Ingreji sahaj siksha - parts I & II (text book) Patha parichay, parts II-IV (text book)

1931 Shapmochan (a muscial drama) Russiar chithi (Letters from Russia) Nabin (a musical piece) Banabani (poems)

1932 Parisesh (collection of poems) Punascha (collection of poems) Kaler jatra (two dramatic pieces)

1933 Chandalika (The Untouchable Woman : a drama)

Tasher Desh (Kingdom of Cards : a musical drama) Bansari (The Flute : a drama)

1934 Malancha (a novel) Char Adhyay (Four Chapters : a novel) Sraban gatha (collection of songs)

1935 Bithika (Avenue : collection of poems) Sesh saptak (collection of poems)

1936 Shyamali (poems) Patraput (poems) Chhanda (essays on Bengali prosody)

1937 Biswaparichay (article on modern physical astronomy) Khapchhara (rhymes) Kalantar (essays) Shay (children's stories) Chharar chhobi (rhymes)

1938 Senjuti (poems) Bangla Bhasha Parichay (a treatise on the Bengali language) Prantik (poems)

1939 Shyama (a dance drama) Prahasini (The Smiling One : poems) Akash pradip (poems)

1940 Nabajatak (The newly born : poems) Sanai (The Pipe : poems) Rog sajyay (In the sick-bed : poems) Tin songi (Three companions : short stories) Chhelebela (My boyhood days : reminiscences)

1941 Sabhyatar sankat (Crisis in civilization : an essay) Janmadine (Birthday : poems) Arogya (Recovery : poems) Galpo salpa (stories and verses for children)

Work in English

1912 Gitanjali (Song Offerings): a collection of 103 poems translated by author from his poetical works in Bengali viz., Gitanjali (51), Gitimalya (17), Naivedya (16), Kheya (11), Sishu (3), Chaitali (1), Smaran(1), Kalpana (1), Utsarga (1), Achalayatana (1).

1913 The Gardener : collection of poems translated by author from his poetical works in Bengali - Kshanika, Kalpana, Sonar Tari, Chaitali, Utsarga, Chitra, Manasi, Mayar Khela, Kheya, Kari O Kamal, Gitali and Saradotsav The Crescent Moon: child poems. Most of the poems are from Sishu. Chitra : a drama (translation of Chitrangada) Sadhana: The Realisation of Life (essays). One hundred poems of Kabir - translated by Tagore

1916 Fruit Gathering: poems translated by author from Gitali, Gitimalya, Balaka, Utsarga, Katha, Kheya, Smarana, Chitra etc. Hungry Stones and other stories: 12 stories.1. The Hungry Stones (khudita pashan) 2. Victory (jay parajoy) 3. Once there was a King (asambhava katha) 4. Lord, the Baby (khokababur pratyabartan) 5. The Kingdom of cards (tasher desh) 6. Devotee (boshtomi) 7. Vision (dristidaan) 8. Babus of Nayanjore (thakurda)

9. Living or dead (jibito o mrito) 10. We crown thee King (rajtika) 11. Renunciation (tyaga) 12. Kabuliwala

I Cannot Remember My Mother :

I cannot remember my mother

only sometimes in the midst of my play

a tune seems to hover over my playthings,

the tune of some song that she used to

hum while rocking my cradle.

I cannot remember my mother

but when in the early autumn morning

the smell of the shiuli flowers floats in the air

the scent of the morning service in the temple

comes to me as the scent of my mother.

I cannot remember my mother

only when from my bedroom window I send

my eyes into the blue of the distant sky,

I feel that the stillness of

my mother's gaze on my face

has spread all over the sky.

About the Poet:

Rabindranath Tagore, popularly known as Gurudev (1861 (1941) was a Bengali poet, dramatist and novelist. Tagore won the Nobel Prize for literature for his work, Gitanjali. He founded the Shanthiniketan to promote Indian Culture, Art and Music. Tagore lost his mother when he was a child.

This poem I cannot remember my mother is about a child who does not remember his dead mother. But the child perhaps carries some associations of the mother’s image in his mind.

Words to Know:

Hover: hang about, linger

Rocking: moving gently

Hum: sing with closed lips

Distant: far away

The Last Bargain

               1 "Come and hire me," I cried, while in the morning I was walking on the stone-paved    road.

              2 Sword in hand, the King came in his chariot.

              3 He held my hand and said, "I will hire you with my power."

              4 but his power counted for nought, and he went away in his chariot.

              5 In the heat of the midday the houses stood with shut doors.

              6 I wandered along the crooked lane.

              7 An old man came out with his bag of gold.

              8 He pondered and said, "I will hire you with my money."

              9 He weighed his coins one by one, but I turned away.

            10 It was evening. The garden hedge was all a flower.

            11 The fair maid came out and said, "I will hire you with a smile."

            12 Her smile paled and melted into tears, and she went back alone into the dark.

            13 The sun glistened on the sand, and the sea waves broke waywardly.

            14 A child sat playing with shells.

            15 He raised his head and seemed to know me, and said, "I hire you with nothing."

            16 From thenceforward that bargain struck in child's play made me a free man.

Paintings by Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore: Photos

Shri Rabindra Nath   Tagore

 1861 May 7, 1861 - Born on the 7th of May 1861,

Rabindranath Tagore was the fourteenth son of a wealthy landowner and social reformer. The Tagore family was progressive for the times and were surrounded by prominent figures involved with the arts and culture

 1901 Dec 22, 1901 - On 22nd December 1901, Rabindranath Tagore established his school at Santiniketan with five students (including his eldest son) and an equal number of teachers. He originally named it Brahmacharya Ashram in the tradition of ancient forest hermitages.

 1911 Dec 27, 1911 - National Anthem National Anthem was composed by Rabindra Nath Tagore. The song was first sung at the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress on December 27, 1911. It reads: Jana-Gana-mana-adhinayaka, jaya he Bharata-bhagya- vidhata. Punjab-Sindh ...National Anthem National Anthem was composed by Rabindra Nath Tagore. The song was first sung at the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress on December 27, 1911. It reads: Jana-Gana-mana-adhinayaka, jaya he Bharata-bhagya- vidhata. Punjab-Sindh-Gujarat-Maratha Dravida-Utkala-Banga Vindhya-Himachala- Yamuna-Ganga Uchchala-Jaladhi-taranga. Tava shubha name jage, Tava shubha asisa mange, Gahe tava jaya gatha, Jana-gana-mangala-dayaka jaya he Bharata-bhagya ...

 1913 1913 - Rabindranath Tagore's Vishva Bharati, or World University, at Santiniketan near Calcutta, served as one

of the centers for the Bengal School of painting, the first modernist art movement in India. Nationalist and internationalist in spirit and geared to a new ...The show here concentrates on small-scale work by a group of Indian artists centered on the magnetic figures of the painter Abanindranath Tagore (1871-1951) and his uncle, the poet Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), who was awarded a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. Rabindranath Tagore's Vishva Bharati, or World University, at Santiniketan near Calcutta, served as one of the centers for the Bengal School of painting, the first modernist art movement in India.

 1921 1921 - Rabindranath Tagore: His Life and Work appeared in 1921. Part 1 is biographical and ends roughly with the turn of the century. It urges definition of Tagore within the Bengali literary tradition, a descendant from Sanskrit literature and from Vaishnavism.Rabindranath Tagore: His Life and Work appeared in 1921. Part 1 is biographical and ends roughly with the turn of the century. It urges definition of Tagore within the Bengali literary tradition, a descendant from Sanskrit literature and from Vaishnavism. Part 2 deals with the varied activity of the later years.15. EP Thompson sees flaws in his father's book, but in at least one important respect it broke new ground.

 1930 Jul 14, 1930 - Tagore visited Einstein at his residence at Kaputh in the suburbs of Berlin on July 14, 1930, and Einstein returned the call and visited Tagore at the Mendel home. Both conversations were

recorded.Rabindranath Tagore: In Conversation with Albert Einstein _____ excerpted from A Tagore Reader, edited by Amiya Chakravarty _____ Tagore and Einstein met through a common friend, Dr. Mendel. Tagore visited Einstein at his residence at Kaputh in the suburbs of Berlin on July 14, 1930, and Einstein returned the call and visited Tagore at the Mendel home. Both conversations were recorded.

 1941 Aug 8, 1941 - Sir Rabindranath Tagore was the greatest literary genius of modern India and perhaps the greatest interpreter of his country, and' its aspirations to Western peoples. He recently celebrated his eightieth birthday. In spite of his advanced age.

 1950 Jan 24, 1950 - Jan gana mana, composed originally in Bengali by Rabindranath Tagore, was adopted by the Constituent Assembly as the national anthem of India on 24 th January, 1950. National emblem The state emblem is an adaptation from the Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka.Jan gana mana, composed originally in Bengali by Rabindranath Tagore, was adopted by the Constituent Assembly as the national anthem of India on 24 th January, 1950. National emblem The state emblem is an adaptation from the Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka. In the original, there are four lions, standing back to back, mounted on an abacus with a frieze carrying sculptures in high relief of an elephant, a galloping horse, a bull and a lion separated by intervening wheels.

 1961 May 1961 - Ray's documentary on Tagore, made on the occasion of the writer's birth centenary in May 1961,

was also screened. Some of the films screened in the festival were Majid Majidi's 'The Song of Sparrows', Ari Folman's 'Waltz with Bashir', Bille August's ...To celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, Satyajit Ray's 'Charulatha', based on the Nobel laureate's story, 'Nastanirh' (The broken nest) , was screened. Ray's documentary on Tagore, made on the occasion of the writer's birth centenary in May 1961, was also screened. Some of the films screened in the festival were Majid Majidi's 'The Song of Sparrows', Ari Folman's 'Waltz with Bashir', Bille August's 'Goodbye Bafana'.

 2010 May 9, 2010 - An Indian woman takes a photo on her mobile of a print of Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore at an exhibition honouring his work on his 150th birth anniversary in Kolkata on May 9, 2010. The five coach airconditioned exhibition train which display various aspects on Rabindranath Tagore.