Explore Rabindranath Tagore's timeless quotes on happiness, faith, and the beauty of everyday life. Experience his profound thoughts on love, solitude, and life's journey to gain a deeper understanding of the world.
Rabindranath Tagore was a multi-talented Indian poet, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter who played a significant role in reshaping Bengali literature, music, and Indian art during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He gained recognition for his profound and beautiful poetry in Gitanjali and made history by becoming the first non-European and lyricist to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. Tagore's poetic songs were revered for their spiritual essence, whereas his elegant prose and magical poetry remained largely unknown outside Bengal. He was also known as "the Bard of Bengal" and had various sobriquets such as Gurudeb, Kobiguru, and Biswokobi.
Born into a Bengali Brahmin family with ancestral roots in Burdwan district and Jessore, Tagore started writing poetry at the young age of eight. By sixteen, he released his first remarkable poems under the pseudonym Bhānusiṃha. Over time, he ventured into short stories and dramas published under his real name. As an advocate of humanism, universalism, internationalism, and a critic of nationalism, Tagore advocated for India's independence from British rule during the era of the Bengal Renaissance. His extensive body of work included paintings, sketches, two thousand songs, texts encompassing various genres such as novels and essays. Tagore was instrumental in founding Visva-Bharati University. In breaking away from classical forms and linguistic restrictions prevalent at that time period.,Tagore modernized Bengali art through his novels, stories,dance-dramas,and essays that discussed both personaland political themes. Some of his most renowned works include Gitanjali,Gora,and Ghare-Baire ; these were acclaimed for their lyricism,naturalism ,colloquialism ,and unconventional contemplation .His compositions were chosen as national anthems by both India ("Jana Gana Mana") and Bangladesh ("Amar Shonar Bangla"), and his work also inspired the Sri Lankan national anthem.
The Tagore family, originally known as Kusharis, belonged to the Pirali Brahmin caste and hailed from a village called Kush in Burdwan district, West Bengal. The name "Tagore" is an anglicized version of their original surname, Kushari. According to the biographer Prabhat Kumar Mukhopadhyaya, the Tagores' ancestors were descended from Deen Kushari, son of Bhatta Narayana. Deen was granted a village named Kush by Maharaja Kshitisura and became its chief, leading to the adoption of the family name Kushari.
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7. May 1861 – 7. August 1941
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Other names
Tagore
