Rabindranath Tagore Jayanti 2023: Life, history, significance, here is all you need know

Rabindranath Tagore. Pic/AFP

Rabindranath Tagore, the first Asian to win Nobel Prize, was born on May 7, 1861 in Kolkata. This year marks the 162nd birth anniversary of Tagore. Every year, his birth anniversary is observed as Rabindra Tagore Jayanti across the country.

When is Rabindranath Tagore Jayanti 2023?

Widely celebrated as Rabindra Jayanti, this day is also popularly addressed as Ponchishe Boishakh, since it falls on the 25th day of the Bengali month Boishakh. While in many parts of India, the day is celebrated according to the Gregorian calendar, in West Bengal, Tagore Jayanti or ‘Poncheeshe Boishakh' is celebrated as per the Bengali calendar. According to Drik Panchang, Rabindranath Tagore Jayanti will be observed on May 9.

All you need to know about Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore was born on May 7, 1861 in Jorasanko Thakurbai in Kolkata. Rabindranath Tagore was born to mother Sarada Devi and father Debendranath Tagore and he belonged to a affluent brahmin family. He was the youngest one in his family and had a great desire to learn new things. He was respectfully called as 'Gurudev'. He was popular for the contribution he has made in the field of art and literature.

Also Read: Rabindranath Tagore's birth anniversary: Lesser facts about the Nobel Laureate

Gurudev, a moniker given to him by Mahatma Gandhi, became the first Indian and the first non-European to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913 for his work, Gitanjali.

Revered across the world for his remarkable contribution to the field of literature, music and art, Tagore was a legendary figure and a huge cultural icon. Tagore donned many hats - poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, educationist, linguist, and painter.

Tagore is the only one to have written the national anthems of three countries - India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.

Tagore passed away on August 7, 1941. His legacy is enshrined in the national anthem of India and in Shantiniketan (West Bengal) which was built by his father and is renowned across the world for the Visva Bharati University.