# Rabindranath Tagore

_Bengali poet, philosopher and polymath (1861–1941)_

Canonical: https://diginpl.com/people/rabindranath-tagore
Last updated: 2026-10-31

> Rabindranath Tagore (Bengali: [ˈrobind̪ɾonat̪ʰ ˈʈʰakuɾ] ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali poet, author, playwright, musician, composer, philosopher, social reformer, painter, and one of the foremost figures of the Bengal Renaissance. In 1913, Tagore became the first Indian and non-European to win a Nobel Prize in any category, and also the first lyricist to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. A significant moulder of culture within Bengal and the Indian subcontinent, he wrote and composed the national anthems of India and Bangladesh.

## Quick facts

- **Born:** 7 May 1861 ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7241#P569))
- **Place of birth:** Kolkata ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7241#P19))
- **Died:** 7 August 1941 ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7241#P570))
- **Place of death:** Kolkata ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7241#P20))
- **Citizenship:** British Raj ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7241#P27))
- **Occupation:** painter; poet; composer; playwright; essayist; philosopher ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7241#P106))
- **Education:** University College London; St. Xavier's Collegiate School ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7241#P69))
- **Spouse:** Mrinalini Devi ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7241#P26))
- **Official website:** de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=237189982 ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7241#P856))
- **Awards:** Nobel Prize in Literature; honorary doctor of the University of Calcutta; Knight Bachelor ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7241#P166))

## About

He reshaped Bengali literature and music as well as Indian art with Contextual Modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was the author of the "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful" poetry of Gitanjali. Tagore's poetic songs were viewed as spiritual and mercurial; his elegant prose and magical poetry were widely popular in the Indian subcontinent. He was a fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society. Referred to as "the Bard of Bengal", Tagore was known by the sobriquets Gurudeb, Kobiguru, and Bishwokobi.

A Bengali Brahmin from Calcutta with ancestral gentry roots in Jessore and Bardhaman districts, Tagore wrote poetry as an eight-year-old. At the age of sixteen, he released his first substantial poems under the pseudonym Bhānusiṃha ("Sun Lion"), which were seized upon by literary authorities as long-lost classics. By 1877 he graduated to his first short stories and dramas, published under his real name. As a humanist, universalist, internationalist, and ardent critic of nationalism, he denounced the British Raj and advocated independence from Britain. As an exponent of the Bengal Renaissance, he advanced a vast canon that comprised paintings, sketches and doodles, hundreds of texts, and some two thousand songs; his legacy also endures in his founding of Visva-Bharati University.

Tagore modernised Bengali art by…

## Questions

**When was Rabindranath Tagore born?**  
Rabindranath Tagore was born on 7 May 1861 in Kolkata.

**Where did Rabindranath Tagore study?**  
Rabindranath Tagore was educated at University College London, St. Xavier's Collegiate School.

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## Sources

- [Wikipedia (English): Rabindranath Tagore](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabindranath_Tagore) — [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
- [Wikipedia (Nepali): रवीन्द्रनाथ टेगोर](https://ne.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%B5%E0%A5%80%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A6%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%A8%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A5_%E0%A4%A0%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%B0) — [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
- [Wikidata item Q7241](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7241) — [CC0 1.0](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- [Image: 1926 Rabindrath Tagore.jpg by Georges Chevalier (CC BY 4.0)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1926_Rabindrath_Tagore.jpg)

## Licence and attribution

Text from the Wikipedia article Rabindranath Tagore, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page's text is shared under the same licence. Facts from Wikidata (CC0). Image: 1926 Rabindrath Tagore.jpg — Georges Chevalier, CC BY 4.0.

## Cite this page

"Rabindranath Tagore". DigiNepal. Last updated 31 October 2026. https://diginpl.com/people/rabindranath-tagore. Retrieved 4 November 2026.