RABINDRANATH TAGORE 1861-1941 1961 marks the centenary of the birth of four great Indians - Rabindranath Tagore, Motilal Nehru, Madan Mohan Malviya and Prafulla Chandra Ray. Each one of them made notable contribution to Indian national development and they all shared the great qualities of patriotism, nationalism and humanism. They believed in the freedom and dignity of individual and held that India's greatest gift to the world lay in emphasising these human values.

Even among these resplendent fighters, Rabindranath Tagore is pre-eminent as a man of extraordinary genius whose contributions to India and the world are outstanding. Tagore was fortunate in both the time and the place of his birth. The advent of the west had disturbed the placid waters of Indian life, and a new awakening was seeping throughout the land. Its initial impact had dazzled the Indian mind and so impressed some of the early reformers that, at times, they seemed to blind imitators of the West. By the time Tagore was born, the first phase of uncritical admiration for the West had worn off and there was a more balanced appraisal of its values. Simultaneously, there was increased knowledge of and regard for the values of the East.

The place of his birth was equally appropriate. Bengal had felt the influence of the west earlier and more vigorously than, perhaps, any other part of India, and in Bengal the stirrings of new life were most marked in Calcutta. The meeting of the East and the West on India's shores was for Tagore, thus, both a fact and an ideal. The circumstances of his family also helped in the flowering of Tagor's genius. Originally from East Bengal, the family became rich and prosperous during the later Mughal days. Its affluence became even greater after the coming of British. Co-operating with the ruling powers brought it status, wealth and culture, but it also provoked the disapproval of the orthodox. Interlining with the Tagore family invited social disapproval, intermarriage-ostracism. Conscious of its wealth and talents, the family reacted with a proud unconcern for many of the social taboos of the day.

The family had been moved, however for, for generations by the deeper values of Indian life. Tagor's grandfather was one of the pioneers of Western education and a friend of Raja Rammohun Roy. His father, a great student of philosophy and Islamic mysticism, began his day with recitations from the Upnishads and from Hafiz. Tagore was, thus, born in a family which was steeped in the traditions of ancient and medieval India and yet, responsive to the currents of the modern West.

A profoundly religious atmosphere, free from adherence to forms and rituals, created an ideal background for the flowering of his universal mind. In this brief account, we can do little more than barely refer to his many-splendoured genius. The world rightly honours Rabindranath Tagore as one of the greatest literary figures in the history. His writings include more than a thousand poems and two thousand songs, in addition to a large number of short stories, novels, dramatic works and essays on diverse topics.

Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India