|
Rabindranath
Tagore, also known by the sobriquet Gurudev, was an Indian
Bengali poet, Brahmo Samaj (syncretic Hindu monotheist)
philosopher, visual artist, playwright, composer, and novelist
whose avant-garde works reshaped Bengali literature and
music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A celebrated
cultural icon of Bengal, he became Asia's first Nobel laureate
when he won the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature.
According
to Rabindranath
Tagore's Biography, Tagore was born in Jorasanko,
Kolkata (formerly known as Calcutta), which became part
of post-independence India. A Pirali Bengali Brahmin by
birth, Rabindra Nath Tagore began writing poems at the age
of eight; he published his first substantial poetry —
using the pseudonym "Bhanusimha" ("Sun Lion")
— in 1877 and wrote his first short stories and dramas
at age sixteen. His home schooling, life in Shelidah, and
extensive travels made Tagore an iconoclast and pragmatist;
however, growing disillusionment with the British Raj caused
Rabindra Nath to back the Indian Independence Movement and
befriend Mahatma Gandhi. Despite the loss of virtually his
entire family and his regrets regarding Bengal's decline,
his life's work — Visva-Bharati University — endured.
Tagore's
major works included Gitanjali (Song Offerings), Gora (Fair-Faced),
and Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World), while his verse,
short stories, and novels — many defined by rhythmic
lyricism, colloquial language, meditative naturalism, and
philosophical contemplation — received worldwide acclaim.
Tagore was also a cultural reformer and polymath who modernised
Bangla art by rejecting strictures binding it to classical
Indian forms. Two songs from his Rabindrasangeet
(Songs of Rabindranath Tagore) canon are now the
national anthems of Bangladesh and India: the Amar Shonar
Bangla and the Jana Gana Mana.
In
1901, Tagore left Shelidah and moved to Santiniketan (West
Bengal) to found an ashram, which would grow to include
a marble-floored prayer hall ("The Mandir"), an
experimental school, groves of trees, gardens, and a library.
There, Tagore's wife and two of his children died. His father
also died on 19 January 1905, and he began receiving monthly
payments as part of his inheritance; he also received income
from the Maharaja of Tripura, sales of his family's jewellery,
his seaside bungalow in Puri, and mediocre royalties (Rs.
2,000) from his works. These works gained him a large following
among Bengali and foreign readers alike, and he published
such works as Naivedya (1901) and Kheya (1906) while translating
his poems into free verse. On 14 November 1913, Tagore learned
that he had won the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature. According
to the Swedish Academy, it was given due to the idealistic
and — for Western readers — accessible nature
of a small body of his translated material, including the
1912 Gitanjali: Song Offerings. In addition, Tagore was
offered knighthood by the British Crown in 1915; which he
accepted but later renounced in 1919, in protest against
the 1919 Amritsar Massacre (Jallianwala Bagh Massacre),
in which colonial troops opened fire on unarmed civilians
killing an estimated 379 people.
In
his last decade, Tagore remained in the public limelight,
publicly upbraiding Gandhi for stating that a massive 15
January 1934 earthquake in Bihar constituted divine retribution
for the subjugation of Dalits. Tagore compiled fifteen volumes
of writings, including the prose-poems works Punashcha (1932),
Shes Saptak (1935), and Patraput (1936). He continued his
experimentations by developing prose-songs. Besides Books
of Rabindranath Tagore also include dance-dramas,
like Chitrangada (1936), Shyama (1939), and Chandalika (1938),
and he also wrote the novels Dui Bon (1933), Malancha (1934),
and Char Adhyay (1934). Tagore took an interest in science
in his last years, writing Visva-Parichay (a collection
of essays) in 1937. He explored biology, physics, and astronomy;
meanwhile, his poetry — containing extensive naturalism
— underscored his respect for scientific laws. He also
wove the process of science (including narratives of scientists)
into many stories contained in such volumes as Se (1937),
Tin Sangi (1940), and Galpasalpa (1941).
Rabindra Sangeet refers to the 2000 odd songs (about 2230)
and poetry written and composed by Bengali Nobel-laureate
poet Rabindranath Tagore.
Some of the well-known singers of Rabindrasangeet are:
• Pankaj Mullick also known as the First Man of Rabindrasangit.
• Hemanta Kumar Mukhopadhyay
• Debabrata Biswas also known as the Second Man of
Rabindrasangit.
• Subinoy Roy[1] he worked as the Librarian in Indian
Statistical Institute.
• Kanika Bandyopadhyay her original name was "Anima"
but Tagore had renamed her "Kanika" and Abanindranath
Tagore used to call her Mohur by which name she is known
to her close people.
• Suchitra Mitra and many others.
Later on although it was not his usual genre Kishore Kumar
has also paid his tribute to this great Maestro by singing
a few of his notable creations. Kishore's
Rabindra Sangeet album has been quite famous and
is in great demand till date.
You will be enabled to Download
Rabindra Sangeet for free in this site.
Tagore's last four years (1937–1941) were marked by
chronic pain and two long periods of illness. These began
when Tagore lost consciousness in late 1937; he remained
comatose and near death for an extended period. This was
followed three years later in late 1940 by a similar spell,
from which he never recovered. The poetry Tagore wrote in
these years is among his finest, and is distinctive for
its preoccupation with death; these more profound and mystical
experimentations allowed Tagore to be branded a "modern
poet".After extended suffering, Tagore died on August
7, 1941 (22 Shravan 1348) in an upstairs room of the Jorasanko
mansion in which he was raised; his death anniversary is
still mourned in public functions held across the Bangla-speaking
world.
|
