RABINDRANATH TAGORE (Syllabus: GS Paper 1 – History)

Context: Rabindranath Tagore's name evokes deep emotions across India as the country marks his 83rd death anniversary.

Rabindranath Tagore

• Early Life: Born in Calcutta in 1861, he was a poet, philosopher, musician, playwright, and painter.
• Early Works: He released his first collection of poems under the pen name ‘Bhanusimha’ at 16 years of age.
• Influenced by: Classical poetry of Kalidasa and started writing his own classical poems.

o He published several books of poetry in the 1880s and completed Manasi (1890), a collection that marks the maturing of his genius.

• Nobel Prize Recognition: His poetry collection Gitanjali (Song Offerings) earned him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913, making him the first non-European to receive this prestigious award.
• National Anthems: He wrote the National Anthems of India and Bangladesh.

o He wrote the song Banglar Mati Banglar Jol (Soil of Bengal, Water of Bengal) to unite the Bengali population after the Bengal partition in 1905.

o He also wrote the famed Amar Sonar Bangla, which helped ignite a feeling of nationalism amongst people.

• Founder: Tagore founded Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan, West Bengal, in 1921.

Role in the Freedom Struggle

• Rakhi Utsav: He started the Rakhi Utsav where people from Hindu and Muslim communities tied colorful threads on each other’s wrists.
• Views on British Rule: He denounced British imperialism, yet he did not fully support or agree with Gandhi in the Non-cooperation Movement.
• Critique of Colonialism: He viewed British rule as a symptom of the overall “sickness” of the social “disease” of the public.
• Renunciation of Knighthood: He renounced the knighthood that had been given to him by Lord Hardinge in 1915 in protest of the violent Amritsar massacre in which the British killed unarmed Indian citizens.