“Lives of Great men, All remind us, That we can make our lives sublime.”

This is absolutely true in the case of Rabindranath Tagore and he was the path-finder of millions of people in the world. India was struck up in the mire of ignorance, superstitions and backwardness in the mid-nineteenth century. The wave of new awakening arose from Bengal and swept over India in the late nineteenth century. It was during this period in 1861 that Tagore was born. Brought up in a highly cultured family, rolling in wealth, Tagore did not know what misfortune was. Tagore’s father, Debendranath Tagore, popularly known as ‘Maharishi’ played a significant role in this awakening. Tagore lost his mother at an early age. He was greatly influenced by his father and in this atmosphere of culture, religion and tradition; he made his mark in different fields. He was sent to England to study Law in 1877 but he returned to India only after a year for his love of writing. Even at the age of twenty-four, Rabindranath was known for his ability and high ideals. During the 1890’s he founded a magazine by which he guided the people of Bengal towards the achievement of true nationalism.

In order to remove the fog of superstition in the minds of ignorant people in Bengal, he set up a school in 1900 A.D. at Shantiniketan which was subsequently converted into an International University in 1921 named Visvabharati. He was truly a religious man and saw the vision of God in the guise of his fellow men. He once said that one could get the sea of universal culture only by following the stream of one’s mother tongue. He tried to make a compromise between the civilization of the East and the West. He felt that the materialism of the West and spirituality of the East must be amalgamated so as to enable them to understand and appreciate each other.

In 1913, he was awarded Nobel Prize in Literature for his famous book ‘Geetanjali’ or ‘Song Offering’. This dazzled the name of India throughout the world when India was under British rule. It was originally written in Bengali language and subsequently translated into English. It was published by the Indian Society with a forward of Irish post W.B. Yeats. Then invitations came from different corners of the world to give lecture on ‘Geetanjali’. He visited England, Europe, China, Japan, Persia and other leading countries of the world at the age of 52 to recoup his health and also to obtain money for his college at Santiniketan. He described this tour as “The Indian Sprit on Pilgrimage throughout the World”.

The common themes of his writings were; touching human experiences, moods of nature, sense of the beauty of the universe, love of children & their simplicity and consciousness of God. For his outstanding work in literature, the British King offered him with the title ‘Knighthood’ in 1915. Tagore loved the rich art, literature and scientific developments of England but as a nationalist he disliked the imperialistic attitude of British government in India. He gave up his ‘Knighthood’ due to the barbarous activities of General Dyar at Jallianwala Bagh in Punjab on April 13, 1919. The partition of Bengal in 1905 by Lord Curzon greatly hurt his sentiment. As a sensitive poet, he could not seat silently in his Ivory Tower. He could realize the “Divide and Rule” policy of the British Government and wrote a number of patriotic poems, songs to stir the millions of people with the power of his pen.

Our National Anthem – “Jana Gana Mana” is the proud creation of Tagore. Besides this, he was a prolific novelist and story writer. His best Novel is ‘Gora’. It presents the picture of the struggle between old and new values in the Kolkata Society. Rabindranath Tagore had written one particular lyric on children in the Geetanjali. The said lyric starts with the line – “On the sea-shore of endless world’s the children meet”. In the same book, he has written a poem, “Where the mind is without fear”. It speaks, we all should banish our fear if we walk on the right track and surrender ourselves to almighty God if the difficulties befall on us. Besides his educational and literary work, Tagore worked hard for the removal of social evils like untouchability, polygamy and abolition of child-marriage. Gandhiji called him ‘Gurudev’ for his erudition and wisdom.

At last, there came a bolt from the blue. He breathed his last in 1941 at the ripe age of 80. The world lost a poet of great charm and a man of fine character, a great philosopher and a social reformer. E. H Carter has rightly said, “Such a man comes to a nation only once in many centuries”. 150 years have already passed since his birth. Still he is flashed in the memory of every people as Viswaguru.