Most of us know little about one of the greatest Indians ever - poet and polymath Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. We know that he penned our national anthem. Some of us may have studied his iconic poem Where the mind is without fear in school. Beyond that, we may be unaware of the kind of impact he made – as an artist, a teacher, a philosopher and educator – upon his own and future generations to come. Twitter observed his 159th birth anniversary on 7 May 2020:
This is probably the best-known fact about Gurudev. What we probably do not know is that the song he composed has an additional four stanzas that speak about the Indian freedom struggle, our culture and shared values as well.
He was perhaps the only person to have composed the national anthems of two nations: India and Bangladesh (Amar Sonar Bangla). Tagore is also said to have inspired the writing of the Sri Lankan national anthem Sri Lanka Matha, which was written by Ananda Samarakoon, a student of Tagore.
He was the first Indian and only Indian to ever win a Nobel Prize for literature. He was also the first Asian, in fact, the first non-European to have won a Nobel for literature.
These immortal lines: Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high/ Where knowledge is free/ Where the world has not been broken up into fragments/ By narrow domestic walls inform our concept of freedom even today. Tagore’s poem (Chitto Jetha Bhayshunyo in the original Bengali) remind us to value freedom, truth, reason, inclusivity and broad mindedness.
Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore was a fine artist whose paintings can be found in museums and fine art collections today. He was a philosopher whose thoughts and ideas still inspire us; his quotes being timeless vignettes of wisdom for us all.
Though Tagore was known to be involved in the freedom struggle, he saw humanism as the ultimate patriotism. His progressive ideas and his contributions to social reform are of great note.
Tagore chose to return the award of knighthood conferred by the British upon him. This was a form of protest against British brutality; particularly the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
Gurudev did invaluable work in the field of education; particularly in women’s education.
He expanded Shantiniketan, the school set up by his father, into a university with the subsequent creation of the Visva-Bharati University.
Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore was partly educated abroad and was very widely travelled. He is respected all over the world, as this Israeli street named after him indicates. He met and corresponded with other thinkers, scientists and famous personalities; which gave him a great breadth of vision. On his birth anniversary it is important to remember that he was not just a great Indian, but a great human being as well.
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