Rabindranath Tagore

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RABINDRANATH TAGORE
Birth
7th May, 1861
Death
7th August, 1941
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Created By
Group 1
Sahitya
Karan
Spandan
Sanya
Pooja
Kunal
Rajat
Gaurav
Sanjeev
Madhur
Gayatri
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contents
1. Biography
2. Early years
3. School and college life
4. Marriage
5. Fame and International recognition
6. Political opinion
7. Major works
8. His Philosophy
9. Awards and Achievements
10. Some of his Quotes and paintings
11. Trivia
12. Evaluation of Tagores Philosophy
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Biography
From
1861
To
1941
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Summary of Biography
YOUNG TAGORE
Birth 7th May, 1861
Place of Birth Kolkata
Fathers Name Debendranath Tagore
Mothers Name Sarada Devi
Grandfather Dwarkanath Tagore
1st School Oriental Seminary
2nd School Normal School
3rd School Bengal Academy
4th School St. Xaviers School
Occupation Poet, Dramatist, Writer, Painter
Awarded Title Gurudev
Awards Noble Prize for Literature
Death 7th August, 1941
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EARLY YEARS
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SCHOOL and COLLEGE LIFE
At the age of 16, he published his first
substantial poetry under the pseudonym-
Bhanushingho Sun Lion and wrote his first book
of short stories and dramas. His father wanted
him to become a Barrister and he was sent to
England for this reason.
In 1879, he enrolled at University College,
London, but was called back by his father to
return to India in 1880.
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Marriage

• He read law at University College, London, but
  left his college to explore Shakespeare and more.
  He was called by his father and returned
  degreeless to Bengal in 1880.
• On 9th December, 1883, he married Mrinalini
  Devi They had five children, two of whom died
  before reaching adulthood.
• In 1890, Tagore began managing his familys vast
  estates in Shilaidaha, a region now in Bangladesh.

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Fame International Recognition

• In 1890, while on a visit to his ancestral estate
  in Shelaidaha, his collection of poems, Manasi,
  was released. The period between 1891 and 1895
  proved to be fruitful during which, he authored a
  massive three volume collection of short stories,
  Galpaguchchha. 

• In 1901, he moved to Shantiniketan, where he
  composed Naivedya, published in 1901 and
  Kheya, published in 1906. By then, several of
  his works were published and he had gained
  immensely popularity among Bengali readers. 
• In 1912, he went to England and took a sheaf of
  his translated works with him. There he
  introduced his works to some of the prominent
  writers of that era, including William Butler
  Yeats, Ezra Pound, Robert Bridges, Ernest Rhys,
  and Thomas Sturge Moore. 

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Contd

• His popularity in English speaking nations grew
  manifold after the publication of Gitanjali
  Song Offerings and later in 1913, he was awarded
  the Nobel Prize in Literature.  
• In 1915, he was also granted knighthood by the
  British Crown, which he renounced after the 1919
  Jalianwala Bagh massacre. 
• From May 1916 to April 1917, he stayed in Japan
  and the U.S. where he delivered lectures on
  Nationalism and on Personality.  
• In 1920s and 1930s, he travelled extensively
  around the world visiting Latin America, Europe
  and South-east Asia. During his extensive tours,
  he earned a cult following and endless admirers.

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Political Opinion

• Tagores political outlook was a little
  ambiguous. Though he censured imperialism, he
  supported the continuation of British
  administration in India. 
• He criticized Swadeshi Movement by Mahatma
  Gandhi in his essay "The Cult of the Charka",
  published in September 1925. He believed in the
  co-existence of the British and the Indians and
  stated that British rule in India was "political
  symptom of our social disease". 
• He never supported nationalism and considered it
  to be one of the greatest challenges faced by
  humanity. Nevertheless, he occasionally supported
  the Indian Independence Movement and following
  the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, he even renounced
  his knighthood on 30 May 1919. 
• On the whole, his vision of a free India was
  based not on its independence from the foreign
  rule, but on the liberty of thought, action and
  conscience of its citizens.

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Major Works

• Gitanjali, a collection of poems, is considered
  his best poetic accomplishment.
• A proficient songwriter, Tagore composed 2,230
  songs, which are often referred to as Rabindra
  Sangeeth. He also wrote the national anthem for
  India - Jana Gana Mana- and for Bangladesh -
  Aamaar Sonaar Banglaa
• Galpagucchaccha a collection of eighty stories
  is his most famous short story collection which
  revolves around the lives of rural folks of
  Bengal. The stories mostly deal with the subjects
  of poverty, illiteracy, marriage, femininity,
  etc. and enjoy immense popularity even today.

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FAMOUS POETRIES
Although Tagore wrote successfully in all
literary genres, he was first of all a poet.
Among his fifty and odd volumes of poetry, some
of them are Manasi (1890) The Ideal
One Sonar Tari (1894) The Golden Boat
Gitanjali (1910) Song Offerings Gitimalya
(1914) Wreath of Songs Balaka (1916) A Flight
of Swans
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Tagores Major Dramas
Raja (1910) The King of the Dark Chambers
Dakghar (1912) The Post Office
Achalayatan (1912) The Immovable
Muktadhara (1922) The Waterfall
Raktakaravi (1926) Red Orleander
Tagores Major Novels
Gora (1910)
Ghare-Baire (1916) The Home and the World
Yogayog (1926) Crosscurrents
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GITANJALI
Gitanjali  is a collection of poems .The
original Bengali collection of 157 poems was
published on August 14, 1910. The
English Gitanjali or Song Offerings is a
collection of 103 English poems of Tagore's own
English translations of his Bengali poems first
published in November 1912 by the India Society
of London. It contained translations of 53 poems
from the original Bengali Gitanjali, as well as
50 other poems which were from his drama 
Achalayatan and eight other books of poetry
mainly Gitimalya (17 poems), Naivedya (15 poems)
and Kheya (11 poems). In 1913, Tagore became the
first non-European to win the Nobel Prize for
Literature largely for the English Gitanjali. The
English Gitanjali became very famous in the West,
and was widely translated.  The word gitanjali is
composed from "gita", song, and "anjali",
offering, and thus means "An offering of
songs" but the word for offering, anjali, has a
strong devotional connotation, so the title may
also be interpreted as "prayer offering of song".
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SHANTINIKETAN
The connecting thread between India and the world
and the study of humanity beyond the limits of
nation and geography resurrected his people by
the introduction of schools.
As one of the earliest educators to think in
terms of the global village, Rabindranath Tagore
felt that a curriculum should  revolve
organically around nature with classes  held in
the open air under the trees to provide for a
spontaneous appreciation of the fluidity of the
plant and animal kingdoms, and seasonal changes.
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His Philosophy

• As a Vedantist He had a firm belief in the
  philosophy of Veda.
• He believed in I am Brahma
• There is a spiritual bond between man and man.
• As an Individualist He believed in giving right
  type of freedom to individual.
• Every individual is unique.

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• As an Idealist He believed that the man should
  live for the ultimate truth which liberates us
  from cycle of birth and death
• Had faith in absolute values.
• As a Spiritualist He believed that every
  individual should try to attain spiritual
  perfection.
• As a Humanist He preached human brotherhood,
  having faith in fundamental unity of mankind.
• He remarked that even God depends upon man for
  perfecting his Universe.

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• As a Naturalist He considered nature as a great
  teacher.
• God revealed himself through various forms,
  colors and rhythm of nature.
• Tagores Internationalism He was an ardent
  prophet of world unity.
• He believed in world brotherhood.

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Awards achievements

• For his momentous and revolutionary literary
  works, Tagore was honoured with the Nobel Prize
  in Literature on 14 November 1913. 
• He was also conferred knighthood in 1915, which
  he renounced in 1919 after the Jallianwallah Bagh
  carnage.
• In 1940, Oxford University awarded him with a
  Doctorate of Literature in a special ceremony
  arranged at Shantiniketan.

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Some of his quotes
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SOME OF HIS PAINTINGS
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TRIVIA

• This venerated poet and author was the first
  non-European to win a Nobel Prize in Literature. 
• This great Bengali poet was an admirer of Gandhi
  and was the one who gave him the name Mahatma. 
• He is the only poet to have composed national
  anthems for two nations India and Bangladesh.

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Evaluation of Tagores PHILOSOPHY

• According to Radha Krishnan
• Rabindranath did not claim to produce any
  original philosophy. His aim was not to analyze
  or speculate about the Indian tradition .He
  expressed in his own vivid phrases and homely
  metaphors, and showed its relevance to modern
  life.
• In the words of H.B.Mukherji
• Tagore was the greatest  prophet of educational
  renaissance in modern India. He waged ceaseless
  battle to uphold the highest educational ideal
  before the country, and conducted educational
  experiments at his own institutions, which made
  them living symbols of what an ideal should be.

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