"Jodi Tor Dak Shune Keu Na Ase Tobe Ekla Cholo Re" ("If no one responds to your call, then go your own way alone") once wrote Rabindranath Tagore, the national poet of India.
The annual celebrations of Tagore Jayanti, also known as Rabindra Jayanti commemorates the birth anniversary of the 'The Bard of Bengal,' known widely across the globe as Gurudev.
Tagore was a multi-faceted legendary figure in the Indian history whose adobe always remains untouched. He was not only the national poet, but also an artist, a polymath, musician, ayurveda-researcher, and moreover, a social reformer.
He was known under different sobriquets including Gurudev, Kabiguru and Biswakabi and wrote under the pen name Bhanu Singha Thakur.
Tagore Jayanthi 2020
Tagore Jayanthi is celebrated annually and globally in May, specifically on the 25th day of the Bengali month of Boishakh.
Born as the youngest son of Debendranath Tagore, the leader of Brahmo Samaj in 1861 in Calcutta, Rabindranath Tagore was nicknamed as 'Rabi'.
He was sent to England for his formal schooling although Tagore did not complete it there.
Engaged in writing and literary activities amidst the social reforms, Tagore started the school of Shantiniketan later. Much devoted in the Indian Independence struggle movements then; he was closely aided by Mahathma Gandhi and his ideologies.
He was awarded the British honour of knighthood in 1915 although Tagore rejected it as a protest against the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
Tagore as a writer
Widely regarded as the poet of Bengal, Tagore was deeply rooted in his homeland. In his earlier phases as a writer, Tagore's works grew larger in demands across the state.
Most of his works were originally written in Bengali which was then translated to English as some of his poems started to gain popularity in the West.
In 1913, Rabindranath Tagore became the first Indian to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature "because of his profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse, by which, with consummate skill, he has made his poetic thought, expressed in his own English words, a part of the literature of the West."
As an artist, Tagore has created some of the finest paintings in Indian art history like the Dancing Woman, Woman's Face, and Landscape.
Gitanjali, Tagore's most renowned collection of 157 poems were all written in Bengali. On his 159th birth anniversary, let's look at a few literary pieces penned by the creator of the Indian national anthem. All these works were written in Bengali, later translated into other languages including English.
Five most beloved poems by Tagore:
- Dui Bigha Jomi
- Where The Mind Is Without Fear
- Vocation
- Birpurush
- The Golden Boat
Short-stories:
- Bhikharini (The Beggar Girl)
- Kabuliwala
- The Postmaster
- The Conclusion
- The Ghat's Story
Novels:
- Gora
- Noukadubi
- Chokher Bali
- Ghare Bhaire
- Shesher Kobita
Among these Chokher Bali and Noukadubi were later adapted into Rituparno Ghosh's movies, while Ghare Bhaire by Satyajit Ray.
