Rabindranath Tagore (Bengali: রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর, Robindronath Ţhakur)α[›]β[›]
(7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941),γ[›] sobriquet Gurudev,δ[›] was a Bengali
poet, novelist, musician, painter and playwright who reshaped Bengali literature
and music. As author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful
verse",[1] he was the first non-European who was awarded the Nobel Prize
for Literature in 1913.[2] His poetry in translation was viewed as spiritual,
and this together with his mesmerizing persona gave him a prophet-like aura in
the west. His "elegant prose and magical poetry" still remain largely unknown
outside the confines of Bengal.[3]A Pirali Brahmin[4][5][6][7] from Kolkata,
Tagore was already writing poems at age eight.[8] At age sixteen, he published
his first substantial poetry under the pseudonym Bhanushingho ("Sun Lion")[9][10]
and wrote his first short stories and dramas in 1877. Tagore achieved further note
when he denounced the British Raj and supported Indian independence. His efforts
endure in his vast canon and in the institution he founded, Visva-Bharati University.
Tagore modernised Bengali art by spurning rigid classical forms. 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.