Rabindranath Tagore — poet, composer, novelist, painter and educator — was the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature (1913). He gave India its national anthem and Bangladesh its own. He loved India's civilization deeply, rooted in the Upanishads, yet he warned that the Western cult of the nation-state could betray that civilization's universal spirit.
Life
- 1861Born in Calcutta on 7 May into the Brahmo family of Debendranath Tagore.
- 1901Founds a school at Santiniketan.
- 1905Joins the protests against the partition of Bengal, writing songs for the Swadeshi movement.
- 1911Composes "Jana Gana Mana", later adopted as India's national anthem.
- 1913Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for Gitanjali.
- 1919Renounces his knighthood in protest against the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
- 1921Founds Visva-Bharati University.
- 1941Dies in Calcutta on 7 August.
Civilization rather than nation
In his lectures on "Nationalism" (1917), Tagore distinguished India's age-old civilization — a society that had for centuries accommodated many peoples and faiths — from the modern Western nation-state, which he saw as a machine of power, commerce and war. He feared that India might win freedom only to imitate that machine. His India was a meeting place of cultures, its unity spiritual rather than political.
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free; ... Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
Upanishadic spirituality
Tagore's religion, shaped by his father's Brahmo Samaj, drew on the Upanishads: the divine as the infinite present in nature and in every person. In "The Religion of Man" (1930) and "Sadhana" (1913) he described a spirituality of joy, creativity and union with all life.
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Frequently asked questions
Who wrote India's national anthem?
Rabindranath Tagore composed "Jana Gana Mana" in 1911; it was adopted as the national anthem in 1950.
What did Tagore think of nationalism?
In his 1917 lectures he criticised the Western nation-state as a machine of power and warned India against imitating it, while celebrating India's civilizational unity.
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Read nextMahamana Madan Mohan MalaviyaSources & copyright status
- Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali (English, 1912) — public domain
- Rabindranath Tagore, Nationalism (1917); Sadhana (1913); The Religion of Man (1930) — public domain
- Historical facts: not subject to copyright.
- Commentary and translations on this page: original to The Hindu Book. © The Hindu Book, all rights reserved.
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