Rabindranath Tagore Death Anniversary: Lesser-known facts about 'Bard of Bengal'

Rabindranath Tagore, a beacon of Bengali literature, was a great scholar, poet, novelist, musician, playwright and artist. Today, 7 August, marks the 81st death anniversary of the person who made the nation proud by becoming the first Indian to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. He bagged the prestigious award in 1913 for the English translation of his poetry collection, ‘Gitanjali’, meaning 'Song Offerings'. Tagore, son of Debendranath Tagore and Sarada Devi was born at Calcutta’s Jorasanko on 7 May 1861. He went to England at the age of 17 to study at a public school in East Sussex. He also enrolled as a law student at the University College London. But soon, he left his college and moved back to India in 1880 to solely dedicate himself to Bengali literature.

Among his numerous creations, the national anthems of both India and Bangladesh come at the top of the list. Some of his other note-worthy works are Gora, Gitabitan, Sanchayita, Ghare Baire and more. Apart from his great contribution to Bengali literature, he played a pivotal role in modernising Indian art and culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The noted poet breathed his last on 7 August 1941.

Today, on his 81st death anniversary, let’s take a look at some lesser-known facts about the Bard of Bengal:

1. Rabindranath Tagore wrote his first poem when he was just eight. However, his first substantial poem was released in 1877 under the pseudonym 'Bhanusinha'.
2. Tagore was the one who introduced the ‘short story’ genre to Bengali literature. In 1877, he penned his first short story named ‘Bhikharini’ (The Beggar Woman) at the tender age of 16.
3. In 1883, Rabindranath Tagore tied the knot with Mrinalini Devi who was then just 10 years old. Two of their five kids died in their childhood. Tagore shared a good bonding with his elder brother Jyotirindranath Tagore’s wife, Kadambini Devi who had a powerful influence on his writings.
4. He was conferred with the Knighthood by King George V in 1915 but renounced it after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919.
5. As Rabindranath Tagore was against typical classroom schooling, he founded Visva-Bharati university in 1918, which allowed the students to learn freely in the lap of nature.
6. Rabindranath Tagore, who was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi, also played a big role in India’s freedom struggle.
7. He met Albert Einstein four times and they had great respect for each other. In one of his writings, Tagore described the famous scientist, “There was nothing stiff about him - there was no intellectual aloofness. He seemed to me a man who valued human relationships and he showed me a real interest and understanding.”

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