Rabindranath Tagore Jayanti 2027 रवीन्द्रनाथ टैगोर जयंती

Why Rabindranath Tagore Jayanti is celebrated

Rabindranath Tagore was a poet, songwriter, novelist, painter, teacher and thinker whose work shaped modern Indian culture. In 1913 he became the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, for Gitanjali, a collection of devotional poems that he rendered into English himself. He wrote Jana Gana Mana, the national anthem of India, and Amar Shonar Bangla, the national anthem of Bangladesh.

His birthday is a celebration of creativity and free thinking. Tagore argued for an education rooted in nature and open to the world, for a love of country that does not turn into hatred of others, and for the dignity of village life.

History and story of Rabindranath Tagore Jayanti

He was born on 7 May 1861 at Jorasanko Thakur Bari in Kolkata, the youngest son of Debendranath Tagore, a leader of the Brahmo Samaj. He wrote verse from childhood and went on to compose more than two thousand songs, now known as Rabindra Sangeet, along with novels such as Gora and Ghare Baire, plays, short stories and essays. He took up painting in his sixties and left behind a large body of artwork.

In 1901 he started a small school at Santiniketan, which grew into Visva-Bharati in 1921. It became a central university after independence, and Santiniketan is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The British knighted him in 1915, and he gave up the title in 1919 to protest the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. He died in Kolkata on 7 August 1941.

How Rabindranath Tagore Jayanti is celebrated

The day is marked with music, poetry and drama rather than religious rites. Schools, colleges and cultural societies stage Rabindra Sangeet, recitations of his poems and performances of his dance dramas such as Chitrangada and Shyama. People garland his portrait, and in many places the day begins with a prabhat pheri, a singing procession at dawn. Libraries and bookshops hold exhibitions of his writing and paintings, and children take part in drawing and recitation contests.

Rabindranath Tagore Jayanti across India

West Bengal celebrates on a grand scale, especially at Jorasanko in Kolkata and at Santiniketan. Bengali associations in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Guwahati and Agartala hold their own programmes. Bangladesh marks the day on 8 May under its revised Bengali calendar.

Uttarakhand also has a link. Tagore spent time at Ramgarh in Nainital district in the early twentieth century, and the hilltop where he stayed is still known locally as Tagore Top. Schoolchildren gather there around his birthday to sing and remember him.