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Tagore, Rabindranath (1861–1941) poet

and writer

Rabindranath Tagore, one of the great literary fig-

ures of the world and a fighter for social reform,

was the first modern Indian writer to win a repu-

tation around the world. He was the first Asian to

win the Nobel Prize in literature.

Tagore was born May 7, 1861, in the Jorasanko

District in Calcutta (Kolkata) in the state of Ben-

gal, to the celebrated Hindu reformer Debendra-

nath Tagore and Sarada Devi. His father’s father

had been a prominent, highly educated business-

man and a supporter of the BRAHMO SAMAJ, the

Hindu reform sect founded by RAMMOHUN ROY.

His father had maintained this affiliation.

Rabindranath was the youngest of 14 children,

all of whom were well educated, including the

girls, in keeping with the newly emerging Bengali

progressive tradition. Most of the children were

educated in both Bengali and English and used

their knowledge to publish magazines, write

plays, and sponsor the arts; young Rabindranath

had rich surroundings to allow his talent to grow.

In 1878, at the age of 17, Rabindranath went

to England for a year to study in an elite public

school in Brighton, and then at University Col-

lege, London. He did not, however, complete his

degree. In 1883, he married Mrinalini Devi, and

the couple had two sons and three daughters. By

this time he had begun to develop a literary repu-

tation based on several Bengali works, including

a long poem in the Maithili regional linguistic

style originated by Vidyapati, the authorship of

which he initially attempted to hide, and the

poetry anthology, Sandhya Sangit (Twilight song),

which he wrote in 1882. This work includes the

famous poem Nirjharer Svapnabhanga (The Cry of

the Waterfall).

In 1890, Tagore began to manage the family

estates at Shelaidaha, a riverine region in what

is now Bangladesh. There he lived modestly on

a houseboat on a tributary of the Padma River.

Works of poetry from this period include Sonar

Tari (1894), Chitra (1896), and Katha O Kahini

(1900). He also began to be known for his essays,

plays, and short stories, often set in the local vil-

lage and river life.

In 1901, Tagore moved to Shantiniketan, in

west Bengal, where he started a pioneering edu-

cational experiment championing the outdoor

classroom run in the ancient Indian way with one

teacher and a very few students. Today this school

is run by the government of India under the name

Vishva Bharati. There he wrote Naivedya (1901)

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