Rabindranath Tagore Quotes and Life

People look for Rabindranath Tagore quotes because he was such an influential speaker and thinker. The poet, playwright, and writer was born on May 7, 1861, in Calcutta, India. He was the first non-European to be awarded to Nobel Prize in literature. Admired and respected by those who knew him, he was famously known as Master Teacher, Master Poet, and World Poet.

Tagore was a multi-faceted man, and his many achievements were not limited to writing. He was a composer, artist, and philosopher, as well. He began writing as a child, publishing his first poems by the age of 16 under the name of Bhānusiṃha

He was the youngest of thirteen children born into a well-to-do Indian family. He was educated mostly at home and developed his interest in poetry early in life.

Tagore read voraciously on many subjects. He appeared thirsty for any type of knowledge, as if the world were his personal cookie jar. He even studied law in London but found it not to his liking and returned home after a year.

While Tagore was a Renaissance man with progressive ideas, he was very much in tune with the traditional Hindu view toward marriage, which believed a woman’s purpose and salvation was to serve her husband in a relationship based on spirituality. For him, a woman’s fidelity was more critical than a man’s fidelity.

At the age of 22, Tagore married Mrinalini Devi, who was 10 years old at the time. He believed in marrying young to enable a couple to raise a large family. Such marriages were not unusual. Unfortunately, his wife and two children died in 1905.

What is Rabindranath Tagore Famous For?

By the age of thirty, Tagore was publishing his works in his own journal. He also lectured on philosophy and politics. His love of poetry and music combined seamlessly when he wrote the national anthems for Bangladesh, the Amar Shonar Bangla, and for India, Jana Gana Mana. He is known today as the “Bard of Bengal.”

Tagore took on responsibilities other than his artistic ventures. In 1890, he began managing his family estate, Shelaidaha. He collected rents from local families – sometimes in the form of dried rice. At the same time, he wrote Galpaguchchha, a collection of 84 stories romanticizing and depicting the life of the poor in Bengal.

The School at Shantiniketan

Tagore had always had a curious mind. Education and acquiring knowledge were simply a part of life for him. In 1901, he established Shantiniketan, an experimental school that was incredibly progressive for its time. Tagore himself had disliked the uninspiring teaching methods at his school and for that reason, had mostly been taught at home.

But he had a vision of what a real school could be. Shantiniketan began with five students and grew. He ensured that the setting itself was beautiful and inviting, with colorful flowers marking the grounds. He believed the mind had a deep connection with the physical world around him, and he wanted Shantiniketan to be an inspiration.

According to Tagore, a child had to become one with the natural environment around him or her. Mere book learning was depriving a child of the opportunity to grow its mind to the fullest. In his opinion, the schools that existed were producing robots instead of thinkers.

Tagore greatly emphasized imagination, mental alertness, and developing a creative way of thinking about the world. He also advocated developing the body with yoga, meditation, and sports.

While at Shantiniketan, Tagore wrote his great work, Gitanjali: Song of Offering, a book filled with 300 poems depicting man’s relationship with the divine being. This book won him the Noble Prize in Literature in 1910. Five years later, King George V awarded Tagore a knighthood.

Tagore was amassing honors far outside of India. However, the poet renounced the honor following the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, where British soldiers fired at unarmed Indians in Amritsar and killing hundreds of innocents.

Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi

Following the infamous massacre, Tagore found himself at odds with another Indian intellectual and freedom-loving legend, Mahatma Gandhi. Outraged at the actions of the British, Gandhi favored a rise in nationalism and uprising against Britain in a movement called the Non-Cooperation Movement. It was a popular movement, but very much opposed by Tagore.

He wrote an article titled The Cult of the Charkha. It virulently opposed nationalism, which he believed would be the ruin of India. Tagore wrote, “As is livelihood for the individual, so is politics for a particular people — a field for the exercise of their business instincts of patriotism. All this time, just as business has implied antagonism so has politics been concerned with the self-interest of a pugnacious nationalism.”

What is noteworthy that the two greatest thinkers in India could disagree but disagree with respect.

Tagore’s Travels

Just as Tagore had never been satisfied with mere book learning, he was not satisfied learning about the world from India. His travels to London and Paris began in 1878. He returned to London in 1890.

The governments of Peru and Mexico invited him for a visit, which he did in 1924. He missed Argentina but visited Italy the following year. Tagore was not a proponent of Benito Mussolini and spoke out against him. He publicly admitted that accepting Mussolini’s invitation had been a huge mistake on his part. The left-wing European press hit him hard for his comments.

Tagore had been unaware that the purpose of Mussolini’s invitation was to take advantage of his, Tagore’s, prominence and reputation for peace. The dictator wanted to hook Tagore onto his side as a public relations deal. They met twice, but their communication was limited due to language difficulties. Following the second meeting, Tagore realized he had been used as a pawn and left Italy, never to return.

When he was in his sixties, Tagore did a grand tour of Asia, which included Singapore, Bali, Siam, Java, Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, and Siam. He was almost seventy years old when he returned to London and Paris to exhibit his works of art.

Tagore visited Russia during its post-revolutionary period in 1930, but was skeptical that this new form of government, devoid in the freedom he so treasured, would work out to the benefit of its citizens.

Short Stories

Tagore began his career writing short stories, most about the poor and underprivileged living in India. These stories are a collection of how he saw the world around him. He himself was rich, and he examined those living in poverty with interest, as he always examined everything. His more famous stories are “The Fruit Seller from Kabul,” “The Runaway,” and “The Hungry Stones.” Fortunately, his stories have been translated and are still available to us.

Both new and used copies of Selected-Stories of Rabindranath-Tagore can be purchased. Also available is an exquisite deluxe hardbound edition of Greatest Works of Rabindranath Tagore. An excellent book to begin the study of Tagore’s short stories is Rabindranath Tagore’s Best Short Stories.

Tagore’s Novels

Tagore was a prolific novelist who wrote eight novels, among them The Home and the World, which has a female protagonist struggling with the rising nationalism with India. It’s the story of a progress man attempting to enlighten his wife to new, progress ideas and drives her away to the arms of his friend. This novel was turned into a movie in 1984.

In the novel “Relationships,” Tagore shows interesting and unexpected feminist leanings in his protagonist, Kumudini, a woman who finds herself trapped by the traditional female duties of pregnancy and duty to family.

Poetry

Tagore’s poems comprise some of the most haunting and passionate writings in the world. They lay bare human nature’s quest for a God they can understand in a world that can be a puzzling paradox. The poem “Recovery 14” underscores the perplexing nature of man in this world. But there is joy in Tagore’s poetry, as well. The poems “New Rain” and “Grandfather’s Holiday” deal with man’s sense of bliss in simply existing. These poems are available in the book, Selected Poems of Rabindranath Tagore.

The book Gitanjali includes his Nobel Prize-winning Song Offering.

Songs

Tagore composed over 2,000 songs. His style was influenced by Hindu music, but also has a Western element. Like his writings, these songs are meant to evoke every possible emotion. His compositions include the national anthems of India and Bangladesh, and he inspired the national anthem of Sri Lanka.

His songs are the songs of Bengal. To quote the Modern Review, “There is in Bengal no cultured home where Rabindranath’s songs are not sung or at least attempted to be sung… Even illiterate villagers sing his songs.”

His collection of Sheet Music is available, as is a CD, Kanthe-Nilem-Gaan-Rabindranath-Tagore.

Works of Art

As Tagore grew older, he began to paint. He had exhibitions of his work, including showings in London and Paris. It’s as if his thoughts could not be contained in words alone – he was compelled to create their visual equivalence, as can be seen in Tagore’s Paintings: Versification in Line.

Tagore’s Death

Rabindranath Tagore died a natural death in his beloved Bengal at the age of 80.