Today is the 150th Birth Anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), the first Asian Nobel Laureate who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 for ‘Geetanjali’, a compilation of some of his poems. He was not only a poet but truly a multifaceted genius – a Writer, Painter, Philosopher, Educator, Businessman, Social Reformer and advocate of Indian Independence. He has composed over 2000+ songs popularly called ‘Rabindra-Sangeet’ which still continues to top the charts. He is the only composer and lyricist in the world whose compositions are used as the National Anthems of 2 different nations, India and Bangladesh. He continues to be a popular literary figure in today’s world. His writings, paintings and songs seem so very contemporary. This is my humble tribute to this great personality on his Birth Anniversary – a collection of some photographs featuring Tagore at various stages of his life, photos with which you are not too familiar with….hope you will get a glimpse of the life of this great persona through these snaps…..
Early Life:
Rabindranath Tagore at the age of 12 (approx)
Tagore in England in 1879 / 1880
Young Rabindranath:
Tagore playing ‘Valmiki’ in his drama ‘Valmiki Pratibha’, staged at their own house.
Tagore as ‘Valmiki’ in ‘Valmiki Pratibha’ (1881) with his niece Indira Devi as the goddess Lakshmi.
“The burden of the self is lightened with I laugh at myself” – Tagore
“Everything comes to us that belongs to us if we create the capacity to receive it” – Tagore
Tagore with his wife Mrinalini Devi, 1883
Tagore with Indira Devi, 1886
In England during his second visit, 1890
“Love does not claim possession, but gives freedom” – Tagore
Tagore in Middle Age:
Tagore with eldest daughter Madhurilata and eldest son Rathindranath
Autographed picture of Tagore at the age of 35 (approx)
Tagore at the age of 40 (approx)
Rabindranath Tagore with Tripureswar Radhakishor Debmanikya
Rabindranath Tagore, 1905, taken by the poet and artist Sukumar Ray
The Prime-Time of His Life:
Rabindranath Tagore with his children – (from left) daughter Mira, son Rathindranath, daughter-in-law Pratima, daughter Bela
Rabindranath Tagore with with his immediate family
Rabindranath Tagore at the time of writing Bengali Gitanjali
Rabindranath Tagore with eminent Bengali writers, 1912 just before a trip to England.
(from right) Sitting – Satyendranath Dutta, Jatindramohan Bagchi, Karunanidhan Bandopadhay.
Standing – Prabhat Kumar Mukhopadhya, Manilal Gangopadhya, Dwijendra Narayan Bagchi, Charuchandra Bandopadhya
Rabindranath Tagore at Hampstead, England in 1912
Rabindranath Tagore with Willie Pearson
Tagore (right) as Fakir in his play Dakghar, 1917
Rabindranath Tagore in Kolkata, 1915, the year he was knighted by Lord Hardinge
Rabindranath Tagore with eldest brother, Dwijendranath Tagore
Rabindranath in Gujarat (1920) (from: The Report of the Sixth Gujarati Sahitya Parishad-1920 (pub.1923))
Tagore at his grand-daughter Pusu’s marriage
With Friends and Admirers:
Gandhi and Tagore, Ahmedabad, 6th Conference on Literature in Gujarat, 3-5 April 1920
Tagore visiting University of Dhaka in 1926. In the right Prof. R. C. Majumder, famous Indian historian and DU teacher
Romain Rolland & Rabindranath Tagore in Villeneuve, Switzerland, 1926
Rabindranath Tagore with Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, about 1930
Tagore and Victoria Ocampo in 1930
Rabindranath Tagore and Leonard Elmhirst
Rabindranath Tagore at the Galerie Pigalle, Paris, 1930
Rabindranath Tagore & Albert Einstein, 1930
Karel with Tagore in 1935
Tagore reading from his works to Hellen Keller
Tagore with Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Gandhi and Kasturba Gandhi with Rabindranath Tagore at Shantiniketan
Professor Tan Yun Shan presenting Chinese books to the poet
C.F. Andrews with Rabindranath
Rabindranath Tagore with Pandit Bhim Rao Shastri
Tagore with Indira Gandhi
Tagore with granddaughter Nandita, the daughter of Rabindranath’s youngest daughter Mira
Tagore with Uday Shankar
Tagore In Berlin
Rabindranath Tagore with a group of Bengalis in Santiniketan, November, 1913, after he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature
Tagore (center, at right) visits with Chinese academics at Tsinghua University in 1924
Tagore (3rd from right) meets members of the Iranian Majlis (Consultative Assembly),Tehran, April-May 1932
Rabindarath Tagore with the air captain, Mrs P.C. Visser and the second pilot in front of a KLM airplane
Tagore approaching the Amrokunjo in Shantiniketan after a prayer in Bengali New Year (1940)
Tagore with Indian Students at University of California, Berkeley
Tagore with Students
Tagore watching a dance programme
Tagore in Leisure:
“Beauty is truth’s smile when she beholds her own face in a perfect mirror” – Tagore
“Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark” – Tagore
“Love is an endless mystery, for it has nothing else to explain it” – Tagore
“We have no time to lose,
and having no time we must scramble for a chance.” – Tagore
Tagore at morning tea
Tagore painting
“Trees are Earth’s endless effort to speak to the listening heaven” – Tagore
“Let us not pray to be sheltered from dangers but to be fearless when facing them” – Tagore
Tagore in Berlin, 1930
Tagore standing in front of one of his houses in Santiniketan, 1935
“Let your life lightly dance on the edges of Time like dew on the tip of a leaf”
– Tagore
I have tried to collect as many photographs as I could…. I might have missed a few…. if you find any such picture please mention it’s link in the comment section below….
