Vishvamitra is the name of a rishi (sage) of ancient India. This is a Sanskrit word, and its translation is: ""universal friend, that is, a friend of everybody"". Vishvamitra wrote many verses of the Vedas, especially the Rig Veda and the Atharva Veda.
The Hindu scriptures have many stories about Vishvamitra. One of them tell about the competition between another rishi named Vashistha. Both wanted to become priests of big royal families of ancient India.
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (), popularly called "Kabiguru", was born on 7 May 1861. His name is written as Rabindranath Thakur in many languages of India. He was a poet, philosopher, and artist. He wrote many stories, novels, poems, and dramas. He is also very well known for composing music. His writings greatly influenced Bengali culture during the late 19th century and early 20th century. In 1913, he became the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
His major works include "Gitanjali" ("Song Offerings"), a world-famous poetry book; "Gora" ("Fair-Faced"); "Ghare-Baire" ("The Home and the World"); and many other works of literature and art. Tagore was also a cultural reformer and modernized Bengali art. He made it possible to make art using different forms and styles.
Tagore died on August 7, 1941 ("Baishey Shrabon" in Bengali, 22nd Shrabon).
Tagore was born in the city of Kolkata (Calcutta), at 6 Dwarkanath Tagore Lahne, Jorasanko Thakur Bari. He was the youngest of his parents' 14 children. His father was Debendranath Tagore. His mother was Sharada Devi.
Tagore was a Bengali Brahman by birth. His nickname was "Rab" or "Rabi".
Tagore wrote his first poem when he was eight years old. In 1877, at the age of 16, Tagore published his first large poetry collection and wrote his first short story and dramas.
In February 1873, at age 11, Tagore went on a tour of India with his father. The tour lasted for several months. They visited many places like Amritsar in Punjab (British India), and Dalhousie in the Himalayas. Tagore also visited his father's estate at Shantiniketan. There he read biographies and studied history, astronomy, modern science, and Sanskrit. He also read works of Kalidas.
During this time, Tagore also composed many literary works. One of them was a long poem in Maithili (the language spoken by the people of Mithila, India). Tagore wrote a poem in the style of Vidyapati, a famous poet who wrote in Maithili.
In 1878, Tagore went to London. He enrolled at a public school in Brighton, England. He wanted to become a barrister. Later he studied at University College London. But in 1880, after Tagore did not do well in school, his father called him back from London. His father arranged a marriage for him with Mrinalini Devi, a girl of ten years. Child marriage was common during that time. They got married on December 9, 1883. Together they had five children, but two died during childhood.
In 1890, Tagore began managing his family's estates in Sheildah, now in Bangladesh. In 1898, Tagore's wife and children joined him there. Tagore traveled across the vast estate. Between 18911895, he wrote many short stories about life in Bengal, especially rural life.
In 1901, Tagore left Sheildah. He went to Shantiniketan (West Bengal) to build an ashram (which is like a monastery in Indian religions). In English, "Shantiniketan" means "an abode [place] of peace". He built a prayer hall, a school, and a library. He planted many trees and built a garden.
Tagore's wife and two of his children died in Shantiniketan. On January 19, 1905, Tagore's father also died.
By this time, Tagore had started receiving monthly income as part of his inheritance. He also started receiving some royalties for his literary works. He was very popular among readers of the Bengali language, as well as other people who knew his works through translations and reviews.Rabindranath's father bought a large parcel of land in Santiniketan, intending to establish a preparatory school.
On November 13, 1913, Tagore won the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Swedish Academy had selected him based on a small number of his translated works, and his 1912 work of poems named "Gitanjali: Song Offerings".
The British Crown gave Tagore a knighthood in 1915. However, he gave back the title in 1919 to protest the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre in Amritsar. During this massacre, troops of the British Raj killed people who had no weapons.
In 1921, Tagore and an agricultural economist named Leonard K. Elmhirst set up the Institute for Rural Reconstruction in a village named Surul, near Tagore's ashram at Shantiniketan. Tagore recruited many scholars and officials from many countries to help the Institute. Its goal was to use schooling to "free village[s] from ... helplessness and ignorance".
In the early 1930s, Tagore also grew more concerned about India's "abnormal caste consciousness" and differences based on castes. He lectured on the evils of such practices and also wrote many poems and dramas on these themes. He also became an activist.
Even during the last decade of his life, Tagore continued his activism. He criticized Mohandas Gandhi, one of India's leaders, for his comments about an earthquake on January 15, 1934 in Bihar. Gandhi had said the earthquake had happened because God wanted to punish people for practicing casteism.
Tagore also wrote a hundred-line poem about the poverty in Kolkata. Later on, Satyajit Ray based one of his movies on this poem.
During this period, Tagore wrote fifteen volumes of prose-poems. They covered many parts of human life. In his last years, Tagore took an interest in science and wrote a collection of essays. These essays explored biology, physics, and astronomy.
Tagore spent the last four years of his life in poor health. In late 1937, he lost consciousness. He was in a coma for a long time. Eventually, he woke up, but three years later, he went back into a coma. During these years, whenever he was conscious and felt well enough, he wrote poems. These poems talk about how he came close to death. Tagore died on August 7, 1941 at the age of 80 in his childhood home in Kolkata.
Between 1878 and 1932, Tagore visited thirty countries on five continents. His goal was to make his literary works known to people who did not speak Bengali. He also spread his thoughts and ideas, including his political ideas.
In 1912, Tagore went to England. The Anglo-Irish poet William Butler Yeats wrote the preface to the English translation of Tagore's famous book "Gitanjali" ("Song Offerings"). Tagore also met Ezra Pound, Robert Bridges, Ernest Rhys, Thomas Sturge Moore, and many others.
From May 1916 until April 1917, Tagore gave many lectures in Japan. Shortly after returning to India, the 63-year-old Tagore visited Peru at the invitation of the Peruvian government. At the same time, he also visited Mexico. Both governments pledged donations of $100,000 to Tagore's school at Shantiniketan.
On May 30, 1926, Tagore reached Naples, Italy. The next day, he met fascist dictator Benito Mussolini in Rome. On 20 July 1926, Tagore criticized and spoke out against Mussolini.
In July 1927, Tagore and two friends went on a four-month tour of Southeast Asia. They visited Bali, Java (island), Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Penang, Siam, and Singapore. Later on, Tagore wrote a book named "Jatri" ("The Traveler") about his experiences during these trips.
In early 1930, Tagore left Bengal for a nearly year-long tour of Europe and the United States. In Paris and London, there were displays of his paintings. During this period, Tagore wrote his Hibbert Lectures for the University of Oxford. He also met Aga Khan III.
From June to mid-September 1930, Tagore toured Denmark, Switzerland, and Germany. Next, he toured the Soviet Union.