Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore
Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore was born in Calcutta on 7th May 1861to a distinguished Bengali family. His parents were Maharishi Debendranath and Sharda Devi. Rabindranath began his early schooling at home and was taught in Bengali and English. He did attend some formal school but he rejected it after finding the conventional system of education uncongenial to him. After his upanayan or the sacred thread ceremony he went with his father for a all India tour in the year 1873, which lasted for several months. During this period Rabindranath went through the biographies of many great personalities, and studied history and the modern sciences including astronomy and Sanskrit.
Meanwhile he got fascinated by the career in Law and he decided to become a barrister, for the reason he went to England in the year 1878, but he came back to Calcutta without getting the degree. He got married to Mrinalini Devi in the year 1883.
Rabindranath started writing since an early age; he gained the notability in the year 1877, by writing a long poem in Maithili style after that off and on he used to write some poem or story. Tagore had a great vision. In the year 1890 Tagore decided to manage his family estates, this period in the life of Rabindranath also seen him creating some stories named ‘Galpaguchcha’. In the year 1901 he started giving shape to his dream by laying the stone in the form of an Ashram in Shantiniketan where education would be provided in the lines of ancient Gurukuls but with a difference that the form of the education would be modern and the teaching would be with a vicinity to the nature. In the year 1912 Rabindranath visited England for the publication of the English translation of his ‘Gitanjali’, which got him a Nobel Prize in the year 1913.
Later in the year1915, the British Raj decorated him with knighthood. Rabindranath was a very soft natured and was talented in many fields of art like writing, painting, music composition etc. He created some wonderful paintings and his paintings were always close to the nature and human heart. He always dreamt of universal brotherhood. He also developed a distinctive style of singing which was named after him like Rabindra Sangeet; the style is very close to the nature and the locale of the Bengal and still popular in its original form. Rabindranath although not politically attached but worked for the cause of the downtrodden and the untouchables. The title of the Gurudev was given to him by the mahatma Gandhi.
From the year 1937 his health declined and he got bedridden, he remained bedridden till his last days. In the year 1941 he was taken to Shantiniketan for a surgery and lateron he was transferred to his ancestral home where he was born. He died in the same house on 7th August 1941.
