HI READERS!

The Indian poet and author Rabindranath Tagore, born in calcutta, May 7, 1861. and passed away on Aug. 7,1941 won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913 for his most famous collection, song offerings. A prolific writer (3000 poems, 2000 songs, 8 novels, 40 volumes of essays and short stories, 50 plays), he drew inspiration both from his native Bengal and from English literary tradition. His major theme was humanity's search for God and Truth.

From 1878 to 1880 he studied law in England, and in 1890, having returned to India, took charge of his father's estates, where he saw firsthand the suffering and backwardness of India's rural poor and grew to love the serenity of the Indian countryside. Devoting himself to the agricultural development of the land and the health and eduction of the people, he founded, in 1901, Santiniketan ("Abode of peace"), which became an international university with a wide range ranging curriculum. He was knighted in 1915, an honor he renounced 4 years later as a protest against British actions in the punjab.

In 1890, Tagore published a volume of poetry, Manasi (The Mind's embodiment), which foreshadowed the lyricism, eloquence and grandeur of song offerings and A Flight of Swans(1914; Eng. Trans., 1955). His profound symbolism, abetted by the free flowing nature of his verse, create a universe of haunting beauty that expresses God's infinite love and humanity's deep compassion for all things beautiful.

Tagore's novels particularly Gora and short stories have strong underlying philosophical themes. The plays notably Sacrifice, The King of the Dark Chamber, Chitra and Post office albeit allegorical in form and political in content, remain rich in characterization, sentiment and spectacle. Tagore was also an accomplished composer, musician and singer, as well as a painter and an actor. Later in life he wrote a number of experimental dance dramas, the best of which Shyama (1939), deals with social and religious issues.. Nothing more to mention..