Milestones in the Life of Rabindranath Tagore

7th May is the Birthday of the Indian National Poet Dr.Rabindranath Tagore, the Nobel Prize winner for Literature, who wrote the Indian National Anthem,”Jana Gana Mana”.

The following are some of the important milestones in the life of Tagore:-

• Mr. Tagore was born on Monday, 7th May 1861.

• In 1873 Tagore went with his father Mr.Debendranath Tagore on a trip to the Himalayas; his first visit to Bolpur on the way, composed a drama, ‘Prithviraj Parajay’.

• On 11th February 1875, in his first public appearance, Tagore recited a patriotic poem at the Hindu Mela.

• Tagore started to publish poems and articles regularly in his family’s monthly journal, ‘Bharati’ in 1877.

• In 1891 Tagore wrote his first six short stories including ‘Post Master’.

• In 1912, the English version of Tagore’s ‘Gitanjali’ was published by the ‘India Society- London’.

• In 1913 the English versions of ‘Gitanjali’, ‘The Crescent Moon’, ‘The Gardener’ and ‘Chitra’ were published by Macmillan&Co.

• On 13th November 1913, Rabindranath Tagore was awarded Nobel Prize for Literature.

• In 1915 Tagore received Knightwood. Tagore met Mahatma Gandhi for the first time in 1915.

• In 1920 Tagore renounced knighthood in protest against Jalianwallah Bagh massacre.

• In 1930 Tagore delivered Hibbert lectures in Oxford, published as “The Religion of Man”.

• In 1932 Tagore wrote “The Child”, his one and only original English poem.

• In 1937 Tagore fell seriously ill.

• In 1940 Oxford University held special Convocation at Santiniketan to confer Doctorate on Rabindranath.

• In 1941 Tagore delivered his final lecture, Crisis in Civilisation which was read on his 80th birthday.

• On 7th August 1941 Rabindranath Tagore expired.