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Kavindra Ravindra, fondly known as Rabindranath Tagore was born on 7th May 1861 to Sharda Devi and Devendra Nath Tagore at Calcutta, Bengal. He educated himself at Oriental Seminar School, Normal School and Bengal Academy Anglo-Indian School. Afterwards, he went to England to obtain further studies but came back to India without a Degree or a Diploma. However, Rabindranath Tagore became a Social worker, Educationist and a Literature genius. His first poem Banphool was published in 1876 in a Bengali magazine named ‘Gyanankur’ and then in 1877, joined the Editorial board of Bharati. He wrote stories to awaken the spirit of patriotism among countrymen and also composed and sang a song in Bengali language at the Indian National Congress. In the year 1901, Rabindranath Tagore started the school ‘Shantiniketan’ with four disciples, a unique system of education amidst Nature under shade of trees and mystic silence. By 1930, Rabindranath Tagore skilled himself with the art of painting as a medium of expression and created 3000 works of art during the period of ten years. He wrote about 4000 songs and his compositions came to be known as Rabindra Sangeet. He also wrote a number of books, including collection of Poems, short stories, novels, essays, plays, etc. A few to mention are Banphool, Morning songs, Sandhya Sangeet, Raja, Mansi, Malini,Gora, Post office, Gitanjali, etc. He was a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913, the first Asian to receive the honours. He also received many awards and honours within and outside the country. He composed the National song of India ‘Jana gana mana Bharat’, first sang in the Calcutta session of Indian National Congress on December 27, 1911 and then adopted by Constituent Assembly of India on January 24, 1950 as India’s National Anthem. The complete song consists of five stanzas but the first stanza constitues the full version of the National Anthem. They playing time for full version is 52 seconds. However, a shorter version is played within 20 seconds. His ‘Amar sonar Bangla’ was adopted as National Anthem of Bangladesh. Rabindranath Tagore died on 7th August 1941 leaving behind his inspirations and feelings of patriotism among his Countrymen.

7 May 1861			Born in Calcutta, India
1868			Wrote his first poem when he was just 7 years
1878			Tagore's first book of Poetry released
1878			Went to England for higher studies
1879			Came back to India
1883			Got married to Mrinalini Devi
1890			Manashi, a collection of Tagore's poems was published
1890			Settled at Shilaidaha in Kushthia (now in Bangladesh)
1901			Founded school at Shanti Niketan
1902-1907			Rabindranath's wife, father, daughter Renuka and son Samindra died
1905			Bengal was partitioned, Rabindranath was gripped by fever of Nationalism
1910			He got married his son to a young widow Pratima Devi. He was a staunch supporter of widow remarriage
1910			Wrote Gitanjali in Bengali
1911			Wrote Jana Gana Mana which later became our National Anthem
1912			Gitanjali was published in English
1913			Awarded Nobel prize in literature
1915			Knighted by the British king George
1919			Renounced his knighthood following Jallianwala massacre incident
1924			Tagore opened Vishva Bharati University at Shanti Niketan
1929			Tagore began painting
1939			Tagore asked Gandhiji to lift the ban on Subhash Chandra Bose and have his cooperation cordially invited in the "supreme interest of national unity"
7 Aug 1941			Rabindranath Tagore died in Calcutta, India