Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) was a Bengali polymath whose impact on literature, music, and art is profound and enduring. Born in Kolkata, India, he was a poet, philosopher, musician, playwright, painter, and educationist. In 1913, he became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature for his book Gitanjali (Song Offerings), a collection of deeply spiritual and lyrical poems.
Tagore reshaped Bengali literature and music, fusing traditional themes with modernist ideas. His writing explores themes like love, nature, humanism, spirituality, and nationalism. His poems often reflect a profound connection to the divine and the beauty of the natural world.
He composed over 2,000 songs, known as Rabindra Sangeet, which remain popular across Bengal. His compositions include the national anthems of both India (Jana Gana Mana) and Bangladesh (Amar Shonar Bangla), and he also inspired Sri Lanka’s anthem.
Tagore founded Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan, promoting a holistic, open-minded approach to education. He believed in learning through creativity and cultural exchange, opposing rigid colonial systems.
As a thinker, he stood for peace, unity, and freedom. While he initially supported Indian nationalism, he later criticized narrow patriotism, favoring global humanism.
Tagore's influence crosses boundaries—his poetry is translated worldwide, his plays are still performed, and his songs are sung by generations. More than just a poet, he was a visionary who left behind a legacy of art and thought that continues to inspire people across the globe.
Tagore’s life reminds us that true creativity has no borders, and the soul of a nation can speak in the quiet voice of poetry.
Colored Toys
When I bring to you colored toys, my child,
I understand why there is such a play of colors on clouds, on water,
and why flowers are painted in tints
—-when I give colored toys to you, my child.
When I sing to make you dance
I truly know why there is music in leaves,
and why waves send their chorus of voices to the heart of the listening earth
—-when I sing to make you dance.
When I bring sweet things to your greedy hands
I know why there is honey in the cup of the flowers
and why fruits are secretly filled with sweet juice
—-when I bring sweet things to your greedy hands.
When I kiss your face to make you smile, my darling,
I surely understand what pleasure streams from the sky in morning light,
and what delight that is that is which the summer breeze brings to my body
—-when I kiss you to make you smile.
Free Love
By all means they try to hold me secure who love me in this world.
But it is otherwise with thy love which is greater than theirs,
and thou keepest me free.
Lest I forget them they never venture to leave me alone.
But day passes by after day and thou art not seen.
If I call not thee in my prayers, if I keep not thee in my heart,
thy love for me still waits for my love.
Hard Times
Music is silenced, the dark descending slowly
Has stripped unending skies of all companions.
Weariness grips your limbs and within the locked horizons
Dumbly ring the bells of hugely gathering fears.
Still, O bird, O sightless bird,
Not yet, not yet the time to furl your wings.
It's not melodious woodlands but the leaps and falls
Of an ocean's drowsy booming,
Not a grove bedecked with flowers but a tumult flecked with foam.
Where is the shore that stored your buds and leaves?
Where the nest and the branch's hold?
Still, O bird, my sightless bird,
Not yet, not yet the time to furl your wings.
Stretching in front of you the night's immensity
Hides the western hill where sleeps the distant sun;
Still with bated breath the world is counting time and swimming
Across the shoreless dark a crescent moon
Has thinly just appeared upon the dim horizon.
—But O my bird, O sightless bird,
Not yet, not yet the time to furl your wings.
From upper skies the stars with pointing fingers
Intently watch your course and death's impatience
Lashes at you from the deeps in swirling waves;
And sad entreaties line the farthest shore
With hands outstretched and crooning 'Come, O come!'
Still, O bird, O sightless bird,
Not yet, not yet the time to furl your wings.
All that is past: your fears and loves and hopes;
All that is lost: your words and lamentation;
No longer yours a home nor a bed composed of flowers.
For wings are all you have, and the sky's broadening countryard,
And the dawn steeped in darkness, lacking all direction.
Dear bird, my sightless bird,
Not yet, not yet the time to furl your wings!
Baby's Way
If baby only wanted to, he could fly up to heaven this moment.
It is not for nothing that he does not leave us.
He loves to rest his head on mother's bosom, and cannot ever
bear to lose sight of her.
Baby know all manner of wise words, though few on earth can
understand their meaning.
It is not for nothing that he never wants to speak.
The one thing he wants is to learn mother's words from
mother's lips. That is why he looks so innocent.
Baby had a heap of gold and pearls, yet he came like a beggar
on to this earth.
It is not for nothing he came in such a disguise.
This dear little naked mendicant pretends to be utterly
helpless, so that he may beg for mother's wealth of love.
Baby was so free from every tie in the land of the tiny
crescent moon.
It was not for nothing he gave up his freedom.
He knows that there is room for endless joy in mother's little
corner of a heart, and it is sweeter far than liberty to be caught
and pressed in her dear arms.
Baby never knew how to cry. He dwelt in the land of perfect
bliss.
It is not for nothing he has chosen to shed tears.
Though with the smile of his dear face he draws mother's
yearning heart to him, yet his little cries over tiny troubles
weave the double bond of pity and love.
A Hundred Years Hence – English Translation
A hundred years hence
Who it is
With such curiosity
Reads my poems
A hundred years hence!
Shall I be able to send you
An iota of joy of this fresh spring morning
The flower that blooms today
The songs that the birds sing
The glow of today’s setting sun
Filled with my feelings of love?
Yet for a moment
Open up your southern gate
And take your seat at the window
Look at the far horizon
And visualize in your mind’s eye —
One day a hundred years ago
A restless ecstasy drifted from the skies
And touched the heart of this world
The early spring mad with joy
Knew no bounds
Spreading its restless wings
The southern breeze blew
Carrying the scent of flowers’ pollen
All on a sudden soon
They coloured the world with a youthful glow
A hundred years ago.
That day a young poet kept awake
With an excited heart filled with songs
With so much ardour
Anxious to express so many things
Like buds of flowers straining to bloom
One day a hundred years ago.
A hundred years hence
What young poet
Sings songs in your homes!
For him
I send my tidings of joy of this spring.
Let it echo for a moment
In your spring, in your heartbeats,
In the humming of the bees
In the rustling of the leaves
A hundred years hence.
Along The Way
As I walk along my way
I receive your touch
Now and then
But I don’t know how and when.
Is it in the scent of an unknown flower
Or in the joy
I feel in the song of a travelling singer?
Do I receive your touch all on a sudden
When there is great sorrow
And my world is shaken
All the traces of my way are effaced
All the bonds are broken
And death deals a deadly blow?
I don’t know.
I
I wonder if I know him
In whose speech is my voice,
In whose movement is my being,
Whose skill is in my lines,
Whose melody is in my songs
In joy and sorrow.
I thought he was chained within me,
Contained by tears and laughter,
Work and play.
I thought he was my very self
Coming to an end with my death.
Why then in a flood of joy do I feel him
In the sight and touch of my beloved?
This 'I' beyond self I found
On the shores of the shining sea.
Therefore I know
This 'I' is not imprisoned within my bounds.
Losing myself, I find him
Beyond the borders of time and space.
Through the Ages
I come to know his Shining Self
In the life of the seeker,
In the voice of the poet.
From the dark clouds pour the rains.
I sit and think:
Bearing so many forms, so many names,
I come down, crossing the threshold
Of countless births and deaths.
The Supreme undivided, complete in himself,
Embracing past and present,
Dwells in Man.
Within Him I shall find myself -
The 'I' that reaches everywhere.
Death
O thou the last fulfilment of life,
Death, my death, come and whisper to me!
Day after day I have kept watch for thee;
for thee have I borne the joys and pangs of life.
All that I am, that I have, that I hope and all my love
have ever flowed towards thee in depth of secrecy.
One final glance from thine eyes
and my life will be ever thine own.
The flowers have been woven
and the garland is ready for the bridegroom.
After the wedding the bride shall leave her home
and meet her lord alone in the solitude of night.
Colored Toys
When I bring to you colored toys, my child,
I understand why there is such a play of colors on clouds, on water,
and why flowers are painted in tints
—-when I give colored toys to you, my child.
When I sing to make you dance
I truly know why there is music in leaves,
and why waves send their chorus of voices to the heart of the listening earth
—-when I sing to make you dance.
When I bring sweet things to your greedy hands
I know why there is honey in the cup of the flowers
and why fruits are secretly filled with sweet juice
—-when I bring sweet things to your greedy hands.
When I kiss your face to make you smile, my darling,
I surely understand what pleasure streams from the sky in morning light,
and what delight that is that is which the summer breeze brings to my body
—-when I kiss you to make you smile.
Cruel Kindness -- English translation
I seek so many things with all my heart
But you have saved me denying.
All through my life
This your cruel kindness
Has filled my being.
The things you gave me without asking –
This sky full of light
This body, this soul and this mind
Saving me ever from too much craving
For these great gifts you are making me fit.
The way that leads to you
Sometimes I forget, sometimes I keep
But you are so cruel
From me you often step aside.
This is but your kindness, I know
Now you shove me away to take me later
Making me fit for my union with you
Rabindranath Tagore – Full Biography
Name: Rabindranath Tagore
Born: May 7, 1861, Kolkata (then Calcutta), India
Died: August 7, 1941, Kolkata, India
Nationality: Indian
Occupation: Poet, philosopher, playwright, composer, painter, novelist,
and educator
Languages: Bengali and English
Awards: Nobel Prize in Literature (1913)
Early
Life and Education
Rabindranath Tagore was born into an
affluent and culturally rich Brahmo family. His father, Debendranath Tagore,
was a religious reformer and a scholar, and his mother, Sarada Devi,
died when he was young. Tagore was the youngest of thirteen children and was
largely educated at home by tutors. He briefly studied in England at University
College London but did not complete a degree, returning to India to pursue
literature and philosophy on his own terms.
Literary
Career
Tagore began writing poetry at the
age of eight and published his first poems under the pseudonym Bhanusimha.
His early poetry collections, such as "Sandhya Sangeet" (1882),
showed strong romantic and spiritual elements. Over the years, he became known
for his deeply philosophical, emotional, and lyrical writing in both poetry and
prose.
His masterpiece
"Gitanjali" (Song Offerings), a collection of devotional poems
translated into English, won him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913,
making him the first non-European to receive the honor. He wrote over 2,000
songs (known as Rabindra Sangeet), many of which are still popular in
Bengali culture today.
He also wrote several novels
including:
- Chokher Bali
(A Grain of Sand)
- Gora
- Ghare Baire
(The Home and the World)
His short stories and essays
explored social issues, love, feminism, nationalism, and the conflict between
tradition and modernity.
Political
Views and Activism
Although Tagore supported Indian
independence, he was a critic of extreme nationalism and advocated for universal
humanism. He was a friend and correspondent of Mahatma Gandhi but differed
with him on some ideologies. In protest against the Jallianwala Bagh
massacre in 1919, he renounced his knighthood conferred by the
British Crown.
Educational
Work
Tagore was a visionary in the field
of education. In 1921, he founded Visva-Bharati University at
Santiniketan, which aimed to blend Eastern and Western philosophies and promote
holistic education. The university became a hub for global intellectual and
cultural exchange.
Art
and Music
Later in life, Tagore took up painting
and became an influential figure in modern Indian art. His songs, known as Rabindra
Sangeet, are deeply embedded in Bengali culture, and he composed India’s
national anthem "Jana Gana Mana" and Bangladesh’s national
anthem "Amar Shonar Bangla".
Death
and Legacy
Rabindranath Tagore passed away on
August 7, 1941. His legacy is profound and far-reaching. He revolutionized
Bengali literature and music, shaped modern Indian thought, and left behind a
treasure trove of work that continues to inspire generations around the world.
His life and works continue to symbolize the power of creativity, humanism, and
spiritual freedom.
