Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) Popularly known as Gurudev, Rabindranath Tagore was born into a rich zamindar (landowners) family on the 7th of May, 1861, in Calcutta (now Kolkata), West Bengal. Tagore grew up to become a famous poet, writer, and composer. However, he also became a passionate advocate of humanism and internationalism- especially during the war years-and India's freedom struggle. Tagore's anxieties surrounding nationalism grew as it saw resurgence in the politics of the time, following the First World War. Tagore took a critical stance at the rise of nationalism in the East and West during the 20th century. This is evident in his university lectures as well as essays, such as The Nation and East and West, in which he visited the themes of nation, nationalism, and violence. Between 1878 and 1932, Tagore travelled to more than 30 countries, including the United States of America, Japan, United Kingdom, Java, and the Soviet Union. His commitment to revamping Indian education can be seen with the founding of Shantiniketan in 1863, and eventually Visva-Bharati University in 1921. He became the first non-European to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1913. Although Tagore mostly wrote poetry, short stories, novels, and essays, he also wrote non-fiction, primarily centred on issues of history and spirituality.
