Glimpses of Bengal

Rabindranath Tagore was born on May 7, 1861 in a Kolkata, India. He was the son of Debendranath Tagore (1817-1905) and Sarada Devi (1830-1875). Because of his mother's early death and his father's frequent travel, he spent most of his childhood with servants. He didn't like classroom schooling and roamed around Bolpur and Panihati where his family frequently visited. He was married to Mrinalini Devi (1873-1902) when she was 10 years of age. His father also had a keen interest in music and invited several professional Dhrupad musicians to teach music to children. Rabindranath's original surname was Kushari which was changed to Tagore. He belonged to Pirali Brahmin from the village of Kush in Burdwan district of West Bengal. He is known for reshaping Bengali literature, music and art with modernization. He became the first Non-European and first lyricist to win Nobel Prize in Literature. He was a polymath and wrote poems, short stories, songs, play writer, philosopher and painter. Tagore started writing poems from the age of eight and at the age of sixteen his first poem released under pseudonym Bh¿nusi¿ha. In 1877, his short stories and dramas released under his real name. From 1878 to 1912 he traveled to more than 30 countries on five continents.