- The Prime Minister on 9th May, 2022 paid tribute to Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore on his birth anniversary.
- According to the Bengali calendar, the Tagore Jayanti falls on the 25th day of the Boishakh month.
Rabindranath Tagore
- He was born in Calcutta on 7th May 1861.
- He was also referred to as ‘Gurudev’, ‘Kabiguru’, and ‘Biswakabi’.
- He is regarded as the outstanding creative artist of modern India and hailed by W.B Yeats, Rabindranath Tagore was a Bengali poet, novelist, and painter, who was highly influential in introducing Indian culture to the west.
- He was an exceptional literary figure and a renowned polymath who singlehandedly reshaped the region’s literature and music.
- He was a good friend of Mahatma Gandhi and is said to have given him the title of Mahatma.
- He had always stressed that unity in diversity is the only possible way for India’s national integration.
- He had spoken at the World Parliament for Religions in the years 1929 and 1937.
Contributions:
- He is said to have composed over 2000 songs and his songs and music are called ‘RabindraSangeet’ with its own distinct lyrical and fluid style.
- He is responsible for modernising Bengali prose and poetry. His notable works include Gitanjali, Ghare-Baire, Gora, Manasi, Balaka, Sonar Tori, He is also remembered for his song ‘EklaChalo Re’.
- He published his first poems aged 16 under the pen-name ‘Bhanusimha’.
- He not only gave the national anthems for two countries, India and Bangladesh, but also inspired a Ceylonese student of his, to pen and compose the national anthem of Sri Lanka.
- Besides all his literary achievements he was also a philosopher and educationist who in 1921 established the Vishwa-Bharati University, a university that challenged conventional education.
Awards:
- In 1913 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for his work on Gitanjali.
- He was the first non-European to receive the Nobel Prize.
- In 1915 he was awarded knighthood by the British King George V. In 1919, following the JallianwallaBagh massacre, he renounced his Knighthood.
- He died on 7th August 1941 in Calcutta.
Quotes by him:
- “You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the sea.”
- “Don’t limit the child to your own learning, for he was born in another time.”
- “If I can’t make it through one door, I’ll go through another door- or I’ll make a door. Something terrific will come no matter how dark the present.”
- “Facts are many, but the truth is one”.
SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT