150th Anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, Poet-Philosopher & First non-European Nobel laureate

As a fan of his works, I thought I'll post a small piece on Rabindranath Tagore on his 150th birth Anniversary.




"Patriotism cannot be our final spiritual shelter; my refuge is humanity. I will not buy glass for the price of diamonds, and I will never allow patriotism to triumph over humanity as long as I live."
~Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore(7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941),was a Hindu Bengali poet, novelist, musician, painter and playwright who reshaped Bengali literature and music. As author of Gitanjali with its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse" he was the first non-European to be awarded the Nobel Prize(1913) His poetry in translation was viewed as spiritual, and this together with his mesmerizing persona gave him a prophet-like aura in the west.

Tagore was already writing poems since he was eight years old. At age 16, he published his first substantial poetry under the pseudonym Bhanushingho ("Sun Lion") and wrote his first short stories and dramas in 1877. Tagore achieved further note when he denounced the British Raj and supported Indian independence by renouncing his Knighthood. His efforts endure in his vast canon and in the institution he founded, Visva-Bharati University


His novels, stories, songs, dance-dramas, and essays spoke to political and personal topics. Gitanjali (Song Offerings), Gora (Fair-Faced), and Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World) are his best-known works, and his verse, short stories, and novels were acclaimed for their lyricism, colloquialism, naturalism, and contemplation. Tagore was perhaps the only litterateur who penned anthems of two countries - Jana Gana Mana, the Indian national anthem and Amar Shonar Bangla, the Bangladeshi national anthem.


Young Tagore in England as a young student, and later in 1912


"Don't limit a child to your own learning, for she was born in another time."
~Rabindranath Tagore


One of my favorite works amongst his is the following poem, which he penned; protesting against the British raj and advocating for an independent India. I love it for the modern and liberal ideas he puts forth, in his vision of the new nation.




He was a prolific traveler (He visited about 30 countries) and was a friend of Einstein; with whom he used to have fascinating conversations



http://www.schoolofwisdom.com/history/teachers/rabindranath-tagore/tagore-and-einstein/
^^ This has the transcript of one of their conversations


With his wife, Mrnalini Devi ///Tagore dabbled in primitivism: a pastel-coloured rendition of a Malagan mask from northern New Ireland


"Nirvana is not the blowing out of the candle. It is the extinguishing of the flame because day is come. "
~Rabindranath Tagore


Tagore , Even though He was knighted by the Queen renounced his knighthood after the British massacre of civilians in Jalianwala and Became committed to the Indian nationalist cause, writing poetry and engaging in social action to further this end.




The nation of Bangaladesh also uses one of his songs as its national Anthem





Tagore, in his worldwide visits, found great welcome in pre-communist China where he made many a friendship


^^sadly the poet Xu Zhimo and many others like his did not survive Mao's Purges in the "cultural revolution" and "great leap forward"

"to tyrannize for the country is to tyrannize over the country"
~Rabindranath Tagore

Tagore reading a book of his to Helen Keller // With the Persian parliment members



Tagore playing the Character Valmiki, in one of his plays // Tagore in America //With Gandhi



An online version of his Gitanjali
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=TagGita.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=all






sources: Wiki, Web, Me

add him to my must read list. Thanks for the very interesting post.


K & R

in a discussion about free will: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=228&topic_id=78681&mesg_id=78833

His poetry is sublime...

Thanks for the bio. I really did not know anything about him...

Recommended.

I became one of his admires in my teens after going though some of his books in my granddad's book shelves.

Thank you for posting this on DU.

jetonayay Nezrul

I know how to say it, not how to spell it. "In each man's heart there is a Rabindranath, in each man's head a Nezrul"

A phrase my Bengali roommate taught me, some 22 years ago. But I never read much Tagore.

You have amazing memory!
As I do not know Bengali,unlike your friend; I have to be content with reading his English translations(which he himself did) which themselves are pretty awesome.

I love this quote:

"Nirvana is not the blowing out of the candle. It is the extinguishing of the flame because day is come. "

I also like the one he made in China (the one i posted last, as an image), as I'm a firm believer in unity in diversity(salad bowl instead of melting pot) over unity in conformity

:hi: That was wonderful.