New Delhi. Today is the birth anniversary of national anthem maker Rabindranath Tagore. Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore was a great thinker, thinker, teacher, story writer and poet, who increased the treasury of Indian literature with his creations. Tagore is the only person in India to have contributed immortal works in Bengali literature, who has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Gurudev Rabindranath was born on 7 May 1861 at ‘Jodasanko Thakurbari’ in the city of Kolkata. His mother’s name was Sharda Devi and father’s name was Devendranath. Tagore’s mother died in his childhood. His father was a Brahmo Samaji and his whole life was spent in extensive travels. Rabindranath was brought up under the care of the servants. Rabindranath’s early education took place in the prestigious St. Xavier’s School in Kolkata. After that, he did barrister at the Public School in Bridgeton, England. He then enrolled in the University of London to study law, but returned to India in the year 1880 without obtaining a degree.
Tagore had made unprecedented contributions in the field of literature, music, art and education and raised them to a higher level. Tagore loved nature. He believed that students should take education only while staying close to nature, that is why he founded Shantiniketan. Since childhood, Rabindranath, the master of sharp intellect, had acquired good knowledge of literature, philosophy, culture etc. of the country and abroad. The modern-minded humanist Tagore also believed in healthy traditions. Tagore is the only poet whose compositions have been made their national anthems by two countries. India’s ‘Jana-Gana-Mana’ and ‘Amar Shonar Bangla’ are a part of the poems of the national poet Rabindranath Tagore. Not only this, it is said that the national anthem of Sri Lanka ‘Sri Lanka Matha’ is also inspired by the compositions of Gurudev Rabindranath.
Its author Anand Samarkoon stayed with Rabindranath Tagore in Santiniketan for several days. Anand was greatly influenced by Tagore’s poems. Gurudev died before the independence of Bangladesh in the year 1941. Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi had great respect for each other. It was only on the advice of Gandhiji that Tagore started doing small works in Shantiniketan and stopped getting servants to do it himself. However, there was considerable ideological difference between the two. Let us tell you, Mahatma Gandhi gave the title of ‘Gurudev’ to Rabindranath Tagore and Gurudev gave the title of ‘Mahatma’ to Gandhiji.