Rabindranath Tagore, Asia’s first Nobel Laureate – once described by Ezra Pound as a “flawless” poet, “greater than any of us” – was born on 7 May 1861, in a rich, culturally prominent, Brahmin family, in Calcutta, India. His grandfather, Prince Dwarkanath Tagore (1794-1846), was a personal friend of Queen Victoria. Tagore’s father, Maharishi (a great saint) Debendranath Tagore (1817-1905), was a leader of the

Brahmo Samaj

, a reformist religious movement that sought the revival of the monistic basis of Hinduism as laid down in the

Upanishads

. This movement was founded in the nineteenth century, by an enlightened and influential Bengali, who is often deemed the pioneer of the Bengal/Indian Renaissance, and was dubbed by Tagore himself as

Bharat Pathik

(Pathfinder of India),…

3540 words

Citation: Quayum, Mohammad A.. "Rabindranath Tagore". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 September 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4307, accessed 19 March 2024.]

4307 Rabindranath Tagore 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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