Rabindra Nath Tagore was one of the greatest men of India and he was easily one of the greatest literary personages of the world. He was a versatile genius, being a poet, novelist, playwright, essayist, short story writer, statesman, musician, painter, philosopher, actor, educationist and freedom fighter all rolled into one. He was both a great nationalist and an internationalist and Universalist and humanist in equal measure.
He wrote originally in Bengali but later translated his own works into English. His world famous work of lyrics, the Gitanjali, for which he won the Nobel Prize in 1913, was also originally written in Bengali but later translated into English by the poet himself.
He was a great lover of his country, of humanity and children in particular. He believed in non-violence and rejected traditionalism as much as western chauvinism. The Indian National Anthem ‘Jana Gana Mana’ was written by him.
He also set up the Shantiniketan with the money he got from the Nobel Prize. He gave up the title of ‘Sir’ as a protest against the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy in 1919. He died on 8th August, 1941.