Life of Rabindranath Tagore
1861
Birth of Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore was the youngest of thirteen surviving children. He was born in the Jorasanko mansion in Calcutta, India to parents Debendranath Tagore (1817–1905) and Sarada Devi (1830–1875).
1868
Rabindranath’s Schooling
Rabindranath Tagore is first taught at home. He starts going to school when he is seven years old. He first goes to the Oriental Seminary and shortly after to Normal School. At home he is tutored rigorously in languages, gymnastics, wrestling, classical music, drawing etc. In 1871/1872, Rabindranath Tagore is enrolled in a new school called Bengal Academy, yet he begins to play truant.
1869
First verses
Rabindranath Tagore writes his first verses, inspired by a Bengali translation of Bernardin de Saint-Pierre’s ‘Paul et Virginie’.
1873
Upanayan
Rabindranath Tagore’s Upanayan (Brahminical sacred thread ceremony and initiation into Gayatri prayers)
1873
Journey with his Father: First visit to Santiniketan and to the Himalayas
In 1873 Rabindranath and his father went on a journey. They visited Santiniketan, Amristar, and finally, in mid-April, Dalhousie hill station. Tagore read biographies on the way and his father tutored him in Sanskrit, history, and study of the Upanishads and the poetry of Kalidasa. They stayed for several months in Dalhousie and adopted a strict daily regime. His father also gave him lessons in Sanskrit, English and astronomy.
1874 – 1876
Last school: St Xavier’s
Tagore is admitted to his last school, St Xavier’s School, which he attends only for a few months. The school record confirms that he attends school only irregularly. He formally drops out in 1876.
December 1874
First published poem “Abhilasha” (Desire)
Tagore’s first poem, entitled Abhilasha (Desire), is published anonymously in the journal “Tattvabodhini Patrika.”
1875
Rabindranath Tagore recites a patriotic poem at a Hindu fair
1875
Rabindranath’s mother dies
Death of Sarada Devi, Rabindranath Tagore’s mother.
1876
Secret Society
Rabindranath Tagore joins a short-lived Secret Society, supposed to have been modelled after Mazzini’s Carbonari
1877 – 1878
Verses published as Bhanu Singha
1877 – 1878
Ahmedabad and Bombay
Rabindranath Tagore spends eighteen months in Ahmedabad and Bombay, where he studies English and lives as ward of his elder brother Satyendranath.
1877
First acting role
Rabindranath Tagore acts on stage for the first time. He plays the principal role of a comedy written by his brother Jyotirindranath. The show is performed privately at their home.
1877
First literary criticism
Rabindranath Tagore receives his first literary criticism on a book of Bengali poems, entitled “Bhuban Mohini Pratibha”, which is published in Jnanankur.
1877
“Bhikharini” [The Beggar Woman].
Rabindranath starts writing short stories. The first one, published in 1877, is “Bhikharini” [The Beggar Woman].
1878
Kabi Kahini [Tale of a Poet]
Rabindranath Tagore’s first collection Kabi Kahini [Tale of a Poet] is published in 1878.
20th Sep 1878 – 1st Feb 1880
Studies in England
On 20 September 1878, when Rabindranath Tagore is seventeen, he is asked to go to England with his brother Satyendranath. His father wants him to become a barrister, so he is enrolled at a public school in Brighton and briefly reads law at University College London. He then opts to independently study literature and takes classes in English Literature at the University of London. Rabindranath feels lonely in London but spends some time in the cottage of his elder brother Satyendranath and his sister-in-law in Torquay in Devon. In February 1880, Tagore is called back to Bengal by his father, without having received a degree, but having learnt a lot about European culture that he resolves to merge with his Indian tradition in his own artistic endeavours.
1879 – 1880
Europe-Prabasir Patra
Tagore publishes his “Letters on a Sojourn in Europe” in serialized form in the journal Bharati. His elder family members are not pleased about this series.
1882
Mystic Experience – Nirjharer Svapnabhanga
Tagore has a mystic experience of cosmic unity that inspires his poem “Nirjharer Svapnabhanga” (The Awakening of the Fountain).
9th December 1883
Wedding to Mrinalini Devi
Rabindranath Tagore marries Mrinalini Devi, born Bhabatarini (1873–1902), on 9 December 1883, according to their fathers wishes. She is only ten years old, Rabindranath himself is twenty-two years. The wedding is hurried and falls on an unfortunate day as Rabindranath’s sister Saudamini Devi’s husband Saradaprasad Gangopadhyay dies on this day. For this reason, Rabindranath’s sister, his father, and his brother Satyendranath are not present at the wedding. Mrinalini Devi and Rabindranath Tagore will have five children together, two of whom will die in childhood.
1884
Secretary of the Adi Brahmo Samaj
Rabindranath Tagore is appointed Secretary of the Adi Brahmo Samaj.
1884
Suicide of Kadambari Devi
Kadambari Devi, Rabindranath’s sister-in-law, who he was very close to and who inspired him in his literary work, commits suicide. He will dedicate three of his books to her, including an anthology called Saisab Sangit (Songs of Childhood).
1885
Formation of the Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is formed under Allen Octavian Hume and meets in December 1885 in Bombay for the first time.
October 1886
Birth of Tagore’s first child Bela
Rabindranath and Mrinalini’s first child Madhurilata, nicknamed Bela, is born.
Dec 1886 – Sep 1889
Indian National Congress session in Calcutta
Rabindranath Tagore presents a song to delegates.
1st January 1887
Queen Victoria becomes Empress of India
Queen Victoria is proclaimed Empress of India in Delhi. She is represented by Viceroy Lord Lytton.
December 1888
Birth of son Rathindranath
Tagore’s oldest son and second child Rathindranath is born on 27 November 1888. Rathindranath will become one of his father’s first pupils at Shantiniketan. He will be an agriculturist, carpenter, architect, writer, painter, teacher of genetics at Visva-Bharati and its first vice-chancellor after it becomes Central University.
1890
Bisarjan and Manasi
Tagore considers the publication of his drama “Bisarjan” and the collection of poems “Manasi” as turning point and as first publications of his mature works.
22nd Aug 1890 – 4th Nov 1890
Journey to England, Italy and France
Tagore travels to England and stays there from August to September 1890. He visits the British Parliament and notes the bustle of English life. After his time in England, he tours Italy and France, accompanied by his brother Satyendranath and his friend Loken Palit. In Paris, he climbs the newly erected Eiffel Tower. Tagore uses his time in Europe to intensify his familiarization with western music. He is also drawn to European fine arts, visiting the National Gallery and French exhibitions. Tagore maintains a travel diary for this journey that is published in 1891. He returns home from his second tour to Europe on November 4, 1890. Written by Indra Nath Choudhuri
1891 – 1894
Sonar Tari
Tagore writes the poem “Sonar Tari” in late 1891 or early 1892. This poem has been seen as a turning point in his creative life. It is first published in 1893 and again in 1894, in a book that bears the same title as the poem.
1891
Tours of North Bengal and Orissa estates
His father gives Rabindranath new responsibilities regarding his estates in North Bengal and Orissa. He begins to visit these places.
July 1891
Birth of third child Renuka
His daughter Renuka is born in July 1891.
1892
Summer at Santiniketan
Tagore spends the summer in Santiniketan.
December 1892
Birth of daughter Mira
Mira Devi (also called Atasi), Rabindranath’s daughter, was born on 12 January 1894. The photo shows Rabindranath Tagore’s son Rathindranath Tagore & his daughters Madhurilata Devi (Bela), Mira Devi and Renuka Devi.
1894
Becomes editor of magazine Sadhana
1896
Chitra
1896
Nadi
December 1896
Birth of youngest child Samindranath
Rabindranath Tagore’s son Samindranath, called Sami, was, as Dutta and Robinson write, “a beautiful boy who had already shown signs of being the child who would take after his father.” He will die of cholera when he is only eleven years old.
1897
Panch-bhuta
1898
Balendranath makes plans for school in Santiniketan
Balendranath draws up plans for setting up a school at Santiniketan for imparting religious education according to the Brahmo Samaj.
1898
Becomes editor at magazine Bharati
Rabindranath Tagore begins his work as editor of Bharati. He also contributes a number of poems, short stories and essays.
1899
Kanika
1899
Silaidah
Lunch at Kuthi Bari at Silaidah with family members. Tagore moves with his wife and children to Silaidah in 1899. The family lives there until Tagore moves to Santiniketan to found his school in 1901.
1901
Naibedya
Jun 1901 – Aug 1901
Arranged marriage of daughters Bela and Renuka
Madhurilata is married at the age of fifteen to advocate Saratchandra Chak of Mazaffarpur (son of the poet Biharilal Chakraborty, who inspired Tagore when he was young) on 15 June 1901. Renuka Debi (Rani) is married to Satyendranath Bhattacharya in August 1901, one and a half months after her elder sister Madhurilata got married. At the time of her wedding, Renuka is only 10 years and 6 months old. Her father marries her to a man she has never met before. This is surprising, as Tagore also speaks out against child marriages as early as 1887. In a letter to his wife (20 July 1901), he argues that the Tagore family’s education, taste and language differ so much from other Bengali families that he deems it necessary for his daughters to be separated from the family when they are still quite young in order to learn to appreciate their husbands’ families’ ways. There might have been a number of other reasons for this radical step. Financial worries might have meant that marrying while Rabindranath’s father was still alive, he would pay all wedding expenses and dowry. Dutta & Robinson further mention a strong dislike for the current family atmosphere at Jorosanko and further emphasize Tagore’s wish to completely focus on his new idea of his school at Shantiniketan that made it necessary for him to disencumber himself from family commitments. Bizzarely, Tagore writes Nashtanirh (The Broken Nest) at the same time, when he was arranging his daughters’ marriages – a novella that describes the agony child marriages can cause to those involved. Dutta & Robinson ask: “Was he conscious of the grotesque contradiction – or did the two activities dwell in distinct mental compartments? There is no way of knowing. In later life, however, Rabindranath betrayed many guilty feelings about the marriages of his three daughters.”
1901
Foundation of school in Santiniketan
Tagore establishes a school at Santiniketan with his father’s consent and blessings. He builds his school on the model of ancient forest schools (tapovan) of India but combines it, particularly later, with an open and scientific outlook.
1902
History of Bharatvasha (essay)
23rd November 1902
Death of Rabindranath’s wife Mrinalini Devi
1903
Shishu/ Sisu
Tagore writes Sisu for his daughter Renuka when she is ill.
1903
Smaran
Tagore dedicates Smaran to the memory of his wife Mrinalini.
903
Chokher Bali
1903
Daughter Renuka dies
Tagore’s daughter Renuka dies of Tuberculosis. Renuka falls ill with tuberculosis in the same year as her mother’s death, in 1902. According to her doctors’ advice, Tagore takes his daughter to the Himalayas in May 1903 for a change of climate. The journey is long and difficult. Kripalani writes that “at one stage in the mountains the poet had to carry his ailing daughter in his arms. (…) [H]e had not only to tend and look after his daughter but keep her entertained and cheerful, for she was moody and high-strung.” On this journey, Tagore writes many children’s poems that will later – together with some earlier children’s poems –, be published as Sisu (The Child, 1903) that becomes later known as The Crescent Moon. Half a year later, in September 1903, Renuka dies. She is only thirteen at the time.
1905 – 19050
Death of father Debendranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore’s father Debendranath Tagore dies at the age of 88.
1905
Swadesh
1905
Atma-sakti
1906
Bharatvasha (collection of essays)
1906
Kheya
1906
Nauka-dubi (novel)
1907
Praching Sahtiya
1907
Son Samindranath dies
Samindranath dies while they are on vacation in Mungher. While the family is on vacation in Monghyr in Bihar, Samindranath dies of cholera on 23 November 1907, the same day his mother had died five years before. He is only eleven years old. Tagore writes: “When his last moment was about to come I was sitting alone in the dark in an adjoining room, praying intently for his passing away to his next stage of existence in perfect peace and well-being. At a particular point of time my mind seemed to float in a sky where there was neither darkness nor light, but a profound depth of calm, a boundless sea of consciousness without a ripple or murmur. I saw the vision of my son lying in the heart of the Infinite and I was about to cry to my friend, who was nursing the boy in the next room, that the child was safe, that he had found his liberation. I felt like a father who had sent his son across the sea, relieved to learn of his safe arrival and succes in finding his place. I felt at once that the physcial nearness of our dear ones to ourselves is not the final meaning of their protection. It is merely a means of satisfaction to our own selves and not necessarily the best that could be wished for them.” Even though Rabindranath has suffered many bereavements shortly before, his son Rathindranath writes later that Samindranath’s death had a particularly strong impact on his father and left him more lonely than the previous losses.
1907
Meets Rothenstein and Keyserling at Jorosanko
At his home in Kolkata, Rabindranath Tagore meets William Rothenstein, the English painter, and Count Harmann Keyserling, the German Philosopher. Both will play important roles in Tagore’s future career.
1907
Withdrawal from politics
Rabindranath Tagore withdraws from active politics because of the growing differences between Hindus and Muslims and because the Swadeshi movement was too agitated.
1907
Loka-sahitya
1907
Adhunik Sahitja
1907
Charitra Puja
1908 – 1909
Writing of Gitanjali
Tagore composes the verses that are later published as Gitanjali.
1908
Samuha
1908
Raja Praja
1908
Swadeshi Samaj
1908
Shiksha
1908 – 1909
Path o Patheya
1909
Prayaschitta
1909
Dharma
1910
Marriage of son Rathindranath and Pratima Devi
The marriage of Rathindranath Tagore and Pratima Devi is the first widow marriage in the Tagore family.
1910
Gitanjali (Bengali version)
1910
Gora
1912
Gitanjali (English translation)
Rabindranath Tagore translates his poems himself and publishes them as Gitanjali – Song Offerings in 1912. William Rothenstein, W.B. Yeats, Betrand Russell, Sturge More, A.C.B Bradley and India Society members in England appreciate Tagore’s translations of Gitanjali. The manuscript was edited by Yeats and Rothenstein.
May 1912 – Jun 1912
Journey to England
Rabindranath Tagore travels to England with his son Rathindranath and his daughter-in-law Pratima and stays at Bloomsbury hotel. He describes his journey as tirthayatri, a pilgrimage. In 1932 he writes, “it was to know this great humanity, the ever-awake spirit of man that one day I took leave of home for a far away pilgrimage in Europe in the year 1912.” On this journey, Tagore translates his poetry and presents Rothenstein with his translations of Gitanjali. Rothenstein and Tagore had met each other during Rothenstein’s visit to Calcutta in 1911. At Rothenstein’s residence, Rabindranath Tagore gets to know many English poets and intellectuals including W.B.Yeats, whose positive reaction to Gitanjali enhanced its prestige, and C.F.Andrews, who became a life-long friend. Other English poets and intellectuals included Bertrand Russell, Sturge Moore, A.C. Bradley, Ezra Pound, Ernest Rhys, May Sinclair, Charles Trevelyan, and India Society members in England. Written by Indra Nath Choudhuri
1912
Dakghar
1912
Jivan-smriti
1912
Chhinna Patra
Oct 1912 – Apr 1913
Journey to USA and England
Tagore leaves Calcutta for the USA on 28th October 1912 and stays until January 1913. He visits Albana and Illinois. Ezra Pound introduces Tagore to Harriet Monroe, who, as founder and editor of “Poetry: A Magazine of Verse,” is instrumental in the “poetry renaissance” of the early twentieth century. Tagore publishes six poems in English translation in this journal. Tagore gives lectures in Chicago and at Harvard University that are later published as “Sadhana”. Tagore returns to England in April 1913 to a huge welcome from litterateurs. Tagore’s growing popularity as a poet can be ascertained from Rothenstein’s letter to him, “When you last came, it was as a stranger, with only our unworthy selves to offer our friendship; now you are widely recognized poet and seer, with friends known and unknown in a hundred homes.” In London Tagore witnessed a performance of “The Post Office” by the Abbey Irish Theatre Company and also another play, “The King of the Dark Chamber,” staged in Albert hall, May-June 1913. On invitation of the Quest Society, he gives six lectures at the Caxton hall. On 4 September, Tagore sails back for India. Written by Indra Nath Choudhuri
1913
Chitra
1913
The Gardener (English)
1913
The Crescent Moon (English)
1913
Glimpses of Bengal Life
1913
Sadhana (English)
November 1913
Nobel Prize. From Gitanjali to Song Offerings: Story of a metamorphosis by Subhayu Bandyopadhyay
1914
The King of the Dark Chamber (English)
1914
One Hundred Poems of Kabir (English)
1914
Post Office (English)
1914
Utsarga
1914
Smaran
1914
Giti-malya
1914
M.K. Gandhi visits Santiniketan
M.K. Gandhi visits Santiniketan in November 1914 while Tagore is absent, then leaves for a while but returns to meet Tagore in March. Meanwhile, Gandhi’s students of the Phoenix School stay in Santiniketan for four months.
1914
Gitali
1915
Collection of Poems, 6 volumes
1915
Santiniketan (sermons)
3rd Jun 1915 – 1st Dec 1917
Knighthood
Rabindranath Tagore is awarded knighthood by the British Government.
1915
The Maharani of Arakan (English)
1916
Ghare Baire
1916
Phalguni
3rd May 1916 – 2nd Nov 1916
Travels to Asia and USA
On 3 May 1916, Rabindranath Tagore sails for Japan on the cargo ship S.S. Tosha Maru, accompanied by Andrews, Pearson and the artist Mukul De. Tagore is impressed with the discipline, efficiency and friendliness of the captain and the crew. They stop in many countries on the way: On 7-9 May 1916, they are in Rangoon, where Tagore is charmed by the womanly grace of the colourfully dressed Burmese women. They briefly halt at Penang (12-13 May), Singapore (15 May) and in Hong Kong (22-24 May), where Tagore comments on the human body of the Chinese labourers at work, ‘Work seemed to vibrate from their bodies like music from lutes’ and ‘ Seeing such strength, skill and joy of work thus concentrated in one place, I realized what an amount of power is being stored throughout the land in this great nation.’ Tagore and his party reach Kobe in Japan on 29 May. He attends a Tea Ceremony at Osaka. On 5 June, he leaves for Tokyo where he first stays as the guest of an old acquaintance, the famous painter Yokoyama Taikan. He delivers a lecture at the Imperial Univeristy Tokyo. During July and August, Tagore spends most of the time in Hakone. From there, he makes several trips to Tokyo to lecture at the University of Keio-Gijiku and in model schools in Karuizawa and the women’s University in Tokyo. Yet he warm-hearted and enthusiastic welcome cools down when Tagore warns the Japanese in his lectures against imitating the Western lust for power and its blind worship of the state-machine in the name of the nation, instead of the human values of the Western civilization. In September 1916, Tagore leaves for the United States. He arrives in Seattle on 18 September. This visit is sponsored by the Pond Lyceum. Tagore’s first lecture takes place in the hall of the Sunset Club on 25 September on ‘The Cult of Nationalism,’ which provokes some harsh comments as ‘sickly saccharine mental poison.’ Yet overall, the tour is deemed a great success. Tagore continues to travel to Portland, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Pasadena, San Diego, Salt Lake City, Chicago, Iowa, Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Boston, New Haven, Northampton and Buffalo City. Tagore is also invited to Vancouver, Canada, yet he declines, as he disagrees with Canada’s immigration laws that discriminated against Indians. At the invitation of President Hadley, Tagore visits Yale University and is entertained at the Elizabethan Club, where Professor Hopkins welcomed him with an address in Sanskrit. Tagore delivers a farewell speech at the booked-out Amsterdam Theatre, New York. While travelling back to the West Coast, he visits Cleveland, where he plants a memorial tree in the Shakespeare Garden. Tagore lectures in 25 major cities in the USA. The earnings are high and Tagore uses them for his educational projects in India. In the last weeks, Tagore has to cancel the last few scheduled lectures due to exhaustion. Tagore leaves the USA again for Japan from San Francisco on 21 January 1917. En route, he stays for a day in Honolulu. He then reaches Japan at the end of January 1917 and stays there for a month before returning to Calcutta on 17 March 1917. Written by Indra Nath Choudhuri
1916
Sanchay
1916
Hungry Stones (English)
1916
Parichay
1916
Balaka
1916
Chaturanga
1916
Fruit Gathering (English)
1916
Stray Birds (English)
1917
Jiban Smriti
(My Reminiscences in English)
1917
Nationalism
1917
Personality
1918
Palataka
1918
Daughter Bela dies
Tagore’s first child, Bela, dies of Tuberculosis. Tagore writes Palataka (partly published in English as Fugitive, 1918), Tales in Verses, in the year in which Bela dies. Kripalani comments on these stories: “The stories themselves are little, sad episodes from life told with a rare delicacy of feeling which while it never degenerates into sentimentalism bears witness to his great sympathy with human suffering. (…) they bear unmistakable traces of this personal sorrow – a sorrow which, because it was accepted with resignation and humility, has deepend his sympathy with all living things and added to his understanding of all sorrow.”
1918
Lover’s Gift and Crossing
1918
The Parrot’s Training
November 1918
End of World War I
23rd December 1918
Foundation laying of Visva Bharati Bhavan
1919
Home and the World
13th April 1919
Jallianwala Bagh massacre
On 13 April 1919, a crowd of non-violent protester protest against the arrest of two leaders despite a recently declared curfew. Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer orders the army to fire on the crowd for ten minutes, killing, as the British government proclaims, 370 people and leaving 1200 wounded. Yet other sources claim that over 1000 people die in the incident. Tagore wrote to Gandhi the day before the massacre about his concern about the Martial law that suppressed unarmed people. The massacre leads Tagore to first try to arrange a protest meeting in Calcutta, and then to renounce his knighthood as a symbolic act of protest.
1919
Renouncing of Knighthood
At the Jallianwalla Bagh Massacre, thousands of unarmed people are fired upon by British troops, consisting of Gurkha and Baluchi soldiers. This strengthens the Swadeshi Movement and ends the Raj. Rabindranath Tagore is informed about the massacre on 22 May 1919. He first sends his friend C.F. Andrews to Punjab, but Andrews is not allowed entry. Then, Tagore tries to arrange a protest meeting in Calcutta, yet does not manage to mobilize support. On the evening of Tagore’s return to Santiniketan, on 30 May 1919, he writes a letter to Viceroy Lord Chelmsford to renounce his knighthood as “a symbolic act of protest”. This is the complete repudiation letter: “Your Excellency, The enormity of the measures taken by the Government in the Punjab for quelling some local disturbances has, with a rude shock, revealed to our minds the helplessness of our position as British subjects in India. The disproportionate severity of the punishments inflicted upon the unfortunate people and the methods of carrying them out, we are convinced, are without parallel in the history of civilised governments, barring some conspicuous exceptions, recent and remote. Considering that such treatment has been meted out to a population, disarmed and resourceless, by a power which has the most terribly efficient organisation for destruction of human lives, we must strongly assert that it can claim no political expediency, far less moral justification. The accounts of the insults and sufferings by our brothers in Punjab have trickled through the gagged silence, reaching every corner of India, and the universal agony of indignation roused in the hearts of our people has been ignored by our rulers—possibly congratulating themselves for what they imagine as salutary lessons. This callousness has been praised by most of the Anglo-Indian papers, which have in some cases gone to the brutal length of making fun of our sufferings, without receiving the least check from the same authority—relentlessly careful in smothering every cry of pain and expression of judgement from the organs representing the sufferers. Knowing that our appeals have been in vain and that the passion of vengeance is blinding the nobler vision of statesmanship in our Government, which could so easily afford to be magnanimous as befitting its physical strength and moral tradition, the very least that I can do for my country is to take all consequences upon myself in giving voice to the protest of the millions of my countrymen, surprised into a dumb anguish of terror. The time has come when badges of honour make our shame glaring in the incongruous context of humiliation, and I for my part wish to stand, shorn of all special distinctions, by the side of those of my countrymen, who, for their so-called insignificance, are liable to suffer degradation not fit for human beings. These are the reasons which have painfully compelled me to ask Your Excellency, with due deference and regret, to relieve me of my title of Knighthood, which I had the honour to accept from His Majesty the King at the hands of your predecessor, for whose nobleness of heart I still entertain great admiration. Yours faithfully, Rabindranath Tagore”
1919
The Centre of Indian Culture
1919
Mother’s Prayer
1920
Arupatan
1920
India becomes member of League of Nations
April 1920
Meeting with Gandhi in Ahmedabad
M.K. Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore meet in Ahmedabad, to where Gandhi invited him.
15th May 1920 – 6th Aug 1920
Journey to England, France, Holland, Belgium
Tagore travels to Europe and America on his fifth foreign tour between 11 May 1920 and 16 July 1921, primarily to speak about his university Visva-Bharati to the West and raise funds for it. Tagore sails for England on 15 May 1920, lands at Plymouth on 5 June and visits London, Oxford and Cambridge. His social sponsors are William Rothenstein and Ernest Rhys. While in England, Tagore renews old acquaintances and makes new ones including Cunningham-Graham, Nikolas Roerich, Gilbert Murray, T. E. Lawrence and many others. On one side he receives praises from Sybil Thorondyke who recites a poem, specially composed for the occasion in a special meeting arranged by Laurence Binyon of the East and West Society at Caxton Hall. On the other side he has to deal with brickbats from novelist like D. H. Lawrence, who says, “This wretched worship-of-Tagore attitude is disgusting.” Overall, Tagore is received coldly. He notices the ‘studied aloofness’ on the part of the several English friends who seem to resent his condemnation of war, his outspoken comments on the British rule in India and, above all, his renunciation of the knighthood on 29 May 1919 after the Jalianwalla Bagh massacre of unarmed Indians at Amritsar, Punjab by General Dyer. Tagore feels deeply grieved by the callous indifference of the British Parliament towards Jalianwalla atrocities and left for France on 6 August. There, he met Professor Le Brun, the famous orientalist Sylvain Levi, who will later come to Santiniketan as the first foreign visiting professor. Tagore also meets the distinguished philosopher Henri-Louis Bergson and becomes acquainted with poets Comtesse de Noailles and Comtesse de Brimont and other writers and scholars of France, with whom he discusses his idea of Visva-Bharati as a centre of inter-cultural understanding. He is given a reception at the Musee Guimet, witnesses a performance of Goethe’s Faust and visits the battle fields of France near Rheims. He is deeply distressed to see the indiscriminate destruction caused by war. On 19 September, Tagore leaves Paris for Rotterdam, Holland, where he is welcomed by the Dutch writer Frederik Wilhelm van Eeden, who is also his Dutch translator. During his fortnight’s stay in Holland, Tagore addresses meetings at Amsterdam, The Hague, Leiden and Utrecht. From Holland, Tagore travelles on to Belgium. His lecture at Brussels takes place in the Palace of Justice before a mammoth crowd. After a brief visit to Antwerp, Tagore returns to Paris and proceeds to London (13 October), where he meets his daughter-in-law Pratima Devi. Written by Indra Nath Choudhuri
Nov 1920 – Feb 1921
Journey to America
Although the Americans appear to have changed their attitude towards Tagore’s idealism and now seem to see him in a more negative light, Tagore is resolved to go to America for the third time to try to incline America’s opinion in favour of his institution. The New York Times prints a sympathetic news article on Tagore’s arrival and also, a few weeks later, a brief announcement on the staging of two of his plays by a New York Theatre group. Tagore gives his first lecture of the tour on 10 November at Brooklyn on ‘The Meeting of the East and the West.’ On 12 November he is invited to address the Bryn Mawr College for Women in Philadelphia. He is given two lecture-engagements by the American League of Political Education. The second lecture on 21 November on ‘A Poet’s Religion’ at the Brooklyn Civic Forum is reported by New York Journal on 22 November as the most successful lecture of the tour, where a large audience turned out to hear the famous writer from the East. Hundreds have to be turned away. Nevertheless, Tagore experiences his five months in America as a cheerless visit, and is particularly apprehensive that Americans might regard him as pro-German. In his letters to Andrews (published as “Letters to a Friend”), he conveys his feeling of disappointment at the cold reception given him both in England and America. There are redeeming intervals in this cheerless visit: his brief lecture tour in Texas, or when Tagore pays short visits to Harriet Moody’s house in Chicago and can relax, or when he makes fruitful contacts with two remarkable ladies, Helen Keller, whom Tagore meets in her house, and well-known social worker Jane Adams in Texas. Most valuable is his meeting with Dorothy Straight, an influential member of the Junior League, an association of some of the wealthiest families of New York, and the young idealist Englishman Leonard K. Elmhirst, who is at the time a student in Agriculture in Cornell. Their acquaintance turns into friendship and grows with the years. Later, Elmhirst will become Tagore’s chief associate in the development of the Rural Reconstruction Institute at Sriniketan. When Dorothy Straight marries Elmhirst, both continue to help the Institute with generous financial assistance, even after Elmhirst left India. At the invitation of Harvard University, Tagore delivers lecture at the University hall on 25 January 1921. The audience includes the Nobel Prize-winning scientist, Professor T.W. Richards, who writes a warm letter of appreciation to the poet. Written by Indra Nath Choudhuri
19th Mar 1921 – 1st Jul 1921
England, France, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden
On 19 March 1921, Tagore returns to London. On 8 April, in a meeting of Indian Students, Tagore speaks on ‘The Meeting of the East and the West’. Despite the imperialist influence that is still working against him, and although political disillusionment prevails, Tagore’s personal friendship remained little affected by this. His first trip by air takes place on 16 April, when he flies from London to Paris. On 17 April, he meets Romain Rolland – a meeting that he had long anticipated. He also makes the acquaintance of Professor Patrick Geddes, the Scottish biologist and sociologist whom he will grow to admire. At the Musee Guimet, Tagore lectures on ‘Folk Religion of India’ at Musee Guimet, arranged by Societe des Amis d’Oriente. On 25 April, he addressres Le Comite Nationale d’etude Sociales et Politiques on ‘The Public Spirit of India.’ From Sridhar Rana, a wealthy Indian merchant settled in Paris, Tagore receives a valuable library collection for Santiniketan, and from Societe des Amis d’Oriente he receives gifts of money and books for Visva-Bharati. While in France, Tagore witnesses a performance of Wagner’s opera Valkyrie. On 27 April, Tagore proceeds to Strassbourg and addresses the newly established French University, where Sylvain Levi is professor, on ‘The Message of the Forest’. On 30 April, Tagore proceeds to Geneva, where he speaks on education at the Rousseau Institute. While holidaying in Lucerne on his 61st birthday, he receives the news that a German committee, consisting of Thomas Mann, Rudolf Euchen, Hermann Jacobi, Count Keyserling and Gerhart Hauptmann, had decided to congratulate him to his birthday with the present of a large collection of German classics that should be added to the Visva-Bharati library. Tagore is deeply touched and writes, ‘I truly feel that I have had my second birth in the heart of the people of Germany who have accepted me as their own.’ Besides Lucerne, Tagore visited Basle, Zurich, on 10 and 11 May, where he lectures and goes sightseeing. Tagore stays at Hamburg from 13 to 20 May and gives a lecture on the last day of his stay at Hamburg university. On May 21, Tagore leaves for Denmark and lectures at Copenhagen University on May 23. At the end of the lecture, he receives an unprecedented ovation by the students, who, until late at night, perform a torch-light procession in front of his hotel. He visits Sweden in response to a long-standing invitation from the Swedish Academy and gives his Novel Prize acceptance speech after a gap of eight years. Tagore also speaks at the University of Uppsala and at the cathedral, in which he is led in a procession by the Archbishop Dr Nathan Cederblom, who says after Tagore’s speech,’ The Noble Prize for literature is intended for the writer who combines in himself the artist and the prophet. None has fulfilled these conditions better than Rabindranath Tagore.’ On a Stockholm stage, Tagore witnesses the performance of a Swedish translation of his play ‘The Post Office.’ Tagore is received by King Gustavus V and, among others, meets Karl H. Branting, first President of the League of Nations, Sven Hedin, the famous explorer. Tagore returns to Berlin on 29 May and stays as guest of Hugo Stinnes. On 2 and 3 June, he lectures at Berlin University, which witnesses ‘scenes of frenzied hero-worship’: In the rush for seats, many girls faint. As so many people have turned up, the lecture has to be repeated the following day. The Berlin (Prussian) Academy record his voice and preserve the recording in its archives, which unfortunately will be bombed and destroyed during the Second World War, so that only a portion of the recording, containing the concluding paragraphs of the speech, will remain intact. Tagore proceeds to Munich on 5 June and meets Thomas Mann and other leading literary men. He speaks at Munich University on 7 June, and donates the proceeds from the sale of admission tickets ‘for the famished children of Munich’. At the invitation of the Grand Duke of Hesse, Tagore stays at Darmstadt for 6 days ( 9 to 14 June) and presents talks at the School of Wisdom of Keyserling every day. Tagore had met the German philosopher Count Hermann Keyserling during Keyserling’s visit to India in 1911. On the Sunday of his visit, the Duke and Count Keyserling drive him to a park outside the town on a hill and watch a crowd in thousands gathering and singing for over an hour in his honour. Tagore was deeply touched. However, as Martin Kampchen writes, it is not as spontaneous as made out to be. Instead, what was said to be an informal outing had actually been a pre-arranged gathering with a well-rehearsed show of folk songs and dances, which had even been announced in the press. On 13 June Tagore visits Frankfurt and speaks at the University on ‘The village Mystics of Bengal’. After that, Tagore leaves Germany for Vienna, where he delivers two lectures, spends four days in Prague (Czechoslovakia) and speaks both at Charles University and at the German University. Tagore’s visit leads to a warm personal friendship with the eminent indologists Professor M.Winternitz and V. Lesny, both of whom will later be invited by Tagore as visiting professors at Visva-Bharati, Shantiniketan. Professor Lesny is the first foreign scholar to translate Tagore’s writings from the original Bengali into a foreign language and published in Czech. Tired and homesick, Tagore returns to Paris via Stuttgart and sails from Marseilles on 1 July, reaching Bombay on 16 July, and from there travels straight to Shantiniketan after an absence of almost 14 months. Written by Indra Nath Choudhuri
1921
The Fugitive
1921 – 1922
Sylvain Levi is first Visiting Professor
Sylvain Levi (1863-1935), whom Rabindranath Tagore had met in Paris in 1920, was invited to Santiniketan in 1921 and stayed there from November 1921 until August 1922. He was the first Visiting Professor at Visva-Bharati. Levi taught French, Chinese and Tibetan languages. His contribution marks the Indo-Tibetan Studies at Visva-Bharati. Tagore himself went to the Professor Levi’s Tibetan classes. Further students were M.V.Shastri and P.C.Bagchi, whose later research was influential. Levi wrote to Rabindranath: “I do not know if Santiniketan will ever rank among the most developed institutions of learning in the world, but you can be satisfied that you have built up an abode of unparalleled peace. I long [for] the day when I can sit again in the shade of the mango-trees, walk along the noble alley of shals, talk, dream, listen to music, to verses, enjoy your delightful, sweet, dear company together with the beloved friends there.” (Quoted from http://www.visva-bharati.ac.in/GreatMasters/Contents/sylvainlevy.htm)
1921
Foundation of Sriniketan
Together with agricultural economist Leonard Elmhirst, Tagore sets up the “Institute for Rural Reconstruction”, later renamed Sriniketan or “Abode of Welfare”, in Surul, a village near the ashram, in 1921.
1921
The Wreck
22nd December 1921
Inauguration of Visva-Bharati
Visva-Bharati is inaugurated on 22nd December 1918 as a centre of Indian culture, a seminary for Eastern studies and a meeting place of the East and the West. The motto, selected from an ancient Sanskrit verse, is ‘Where the whole world meets in one nest.’
1922
Lipika
1922
Mussolini creates Fascist Rule in Italy
1922
Mukta-Dhara
10th May 1922
Gandhi arrested
1922
Shishu Bholanath
1922
Creative Unity
September 1923
W.W.Pearson dies
W.W. Pearson was a friend and colleague of Tagore at Santiniketan. He died in a car accident in Italy.
1924
Journey through Burma, China, Japan
Lectures on the unity of Asia.
Sep 1924 – Jan 1925
Journey to South America
Tagore departs from Paris for Peru. He falls gravely ill on board the ship. He therefore stops in Buenos Aires on the invitation of the writer and grand-dame Victoria Ocampo. While staying with her, Tagore changes his mind about going to Peru and cancels the trip. Instead, he stays in Argentina until December 1924. He returns to India via Geneva on 17 Febraury 1925.
May 1926 – Dec 1926
Journey to Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Austria Hungary, Greece
Tagore travels to Italy on the invitation of Mussolini. He is impressed with his governance but retracts his statements after being informed of the fascist reality by Romain Rolland and others. Tagore visits Zurich, Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Berlin and various other German cities, Prague, Vienna, Budapest and Athens. In Germany, he meets Albert Einstein.
Aug 1927 – Oct 1927
Trip to South-East Asia
Tagore travelled to Singapore, Bali, Java and Bangkok.
1928
Visits Adyar, Aurobindo’s ashram in Pondicherry
August 1928
Lessons in Drawing and Painting
Tagore takes lessons in drawing and painting while he stays at the Government Art College in Calcutta.
Apr 1929 – May 1929
Visit to North America and Japan
Tagore lectures at Vancouver, stops at Los Angeles, cancels his lectures in California, and then sails for Japan. Tagore returns to India via Yokohama and Saigon in June 1929.
1930
Bhanu Singher Patrabali
1930
Sahaj Path
1930
Journey to England, Denmark, Germany, Russia, USA and more
Tagore travels via Geneva and Paris, where is paintings are exhibited, to Oxford, where he delivers the Hibbert Lectures at Oxford University with the subject “The Religion of Man.” While in England, Tagore also visits Elmhirst’s school Dartington Hall. He then travels on to Germany. Tagore visits Berlin, where his paintings are exhibited, Dresden, Munich, Oberammergau, Frankfurt, Marburg and Koblenz. He meets Rudolf Otto, Wyneken and the youth group “Wandervogel” (popular movement of German youth groups from 1896 onward). In Denmark, Tagore takes part in the New Education Fellowship Conference. Tagore then travels via Poland to the Soviet Union, where he is particularly impressed with their educational system yet does not fail to criticize communism for neglecting the individual. Tagore then travels via Germany tot he United States of America. He meets Helen Keller and other important figures of the time. On the way back to India he stops in London, where he meets G.B. Shaw.
1931
The Religion of Man
1931
The Child
May 1931
Letters from Russia
1931
Shap-Mochan
1931
Banabani
1932
Mahatmaji and the Depressed Humanity
April 1932
Visit to Persia
Tagore visits Persia at the invitation of Reza Shah.
1932
Kaler Jatra
September 1932
Tagore meets Gandhi on hunger-stricke at Yervada Jail
1932
Punascha
January 1933
Professorial lecture at Calcutta University
Tagore’s professorial lecture at Calcutta University is on “Religion of Man” (Manusher Dharma)
1933
Manusher Dharma
(Religion of Man)
1933
Bharat Pathik Rammohun
1933
Chandalika
1933
Tasher Desh
1934
Malancha
May 1934
Visit to Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
1935
Sesh Sptak
(The Last Chords)
1935
Bithika
1935
Shabda-tattwa
November 1935
Yone Noguchi (Japanese poet) visits Tagore
1936
Shyamali
1936
Chitrangada (dramatized version)
1936
Self-portrait
Enter story info here
1936
Chhanda
1936
Sahityer Pathe
November 1936
Jawharla Nehru visits Tagore
1937
Kalantar
April 1937
Inauguration of China Bhavan
1937
Visva-Parichay
1937
Kapchara
10th Sep 1937 – 11th Sep 1937
Tagore is seriously ill and loses consciousness for two days.
1937
Shay
1938
Prantik
March 1938
Tagore and Gandhi discuss release of political prisoners. Tagore and Gandhi meet in Calcutta to try and obtain release of political prisoners.
1938
Senjuti
19th July 1938
Gaganendranath Tagore dies
Gaganendranath Tagore, celebrated artist and one of the few remaining close relatives of Tagore, dies.
1938
Bangla Bhasha Parichay
February 1939
Inauguration of Hindi Bhavan by Nehru
1939
Akash-Pradip
1939
Shyama
1939
Visit to Orissa
1939
Pather Sanchay
19th August 1939
Inauguration of Mahajati Sadan
The Mahajati Sadan is an auditorium in Kolkata. Tagore laid the foundation stone and said: “Today we assemble here to witness the beginning of the fulfilment of a long cherished dream. Those who for years have toiled ans suffered – laboured and sacrificed – so that India may be free, have long wished an abode to provide shelter an protection for their activities and to serve as a visible symbol of their hopes and ideal-dreams and aspirations. More than once has the attempt been made to give us the home that we have wanted, but it has failed and it has been left to you to lay the foundation stone of the ‘House of Nation'” Bose, Subhas Chandra 2004. The Alternative Leadership: Speeches, Articles, Statements and Letters, June 1939-January 1941. Orient Blackswan. p. 8. )
3rd September 1939
Outbreak of World War II
1940
Nabajatak
1940
Gandhi and Tagore meet in Santiniketan
April 1940
C.F. Andrews dies
1940
Sehnai
1940
Chhelebela
7th August 1940
Title of D.Lit by Oxford University, convocation at Santiniketan
Oxford University confers the title of D.Litt. on Tagore at a convocation at Santiniketan on August 7, 1940.
Sep 1940 – Nov 1940
Medical treatment
Tagore receives medical treatments in Calcutta, and went to Kalimpong in between treatments to recuperate.
1940
Tinsangi
1940
Rogsajya
14th April 1941
Tagore falls gravely ill and has to leave Shantiniketan, to receive treatment in Calcutta.
14th April 1941
“Crisis in Civilization”, Tagore’s last public pronouncement
“Crisis in Civilization” is Tagore’s last public pronouncement. He holds it in Shantiniketan on the occasion of his birthday celebrations.
1941
Arogya
1941
Last Poem
(Shesh Lekha) Tagore dictates his last poem on 30 July 1941, a day prior to a scheduled operation: “I’m lost in the middle of my birthday. I want my friends, their touch, with the earth’s last love. I will take life’s final offering, I will take the human’s last blessing. Today my sack is empty. I have given completely whatever I had to give. In return if I receive anything—some love, some forgiveness—then I will take it with me when I step on the boat that crosses to the festival of the wordless end.”
7th August 1941
Death of Rabindranath Tagore.