Rabindranath Tagore Jayanti: Tributes paid to ‘Indian polymath’

Political leaders in India paid tributes to the luminary Nobel Peace Prize laureate Rabindranath Tagore on his birth anniversary. Union minister for road, transport and highways Nitin Gadkari remembered the “Indian Polymath” to mark Rabindranath Tagore Jayanti. “Remembering Indian Polymath – poet, writer, philosopher, social reformer, Nobel Laureate and composer of our National Anthem Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore ji on his birth anniversary,” Gadkari wrote on Twitter.

Union minister for minority affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi extended his tribute to Rabindranath Tagore. “My tributes to the great philosopher, poet, writer, Nobel Prize winner, Icon of Indian art and culture, “Gurudev” Rabindranath Tagore Ji on his Jayanti,” the union minister wrote on Twitter.

NCP’s Praful Patel also expressed his “humble tributes” to the Nobel Prize laureate.

“Humble tributes to Nobel Prize laureate poet Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore on his birth anniversary. He played a pivotal role in the Indian Cultural Renaissance with his literary and artistic accomplishments,” he wrote on Twitter.

Meanwhile, the official page of the Nobel Prize on Twitter is “celebrating the anniversary of the birth of a true great Rabindranath Tagore”.

Taking to Twitter, the Nobel Prize wrote, “We’re celebrating the anniversary of the birth of a true great: Rabindranath Tagore, who was born #OnThisDay in 1861 in Calcutta, India. The first non-European literature laureate, he was awarded the #NobelPrize “because of his profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse…”

Rabindranath Tagore Jayanti or Rabindra Jayanti is a cultural celebration to mark the birth anniversary of the luminary Nobel Peace Prize laureate Rabindranath Tagore. Rabindranath Tagore Jayanti falls on the 25th day of the Bengali month of Boishakh. Referred to as ‘Gurudev’, ‘Kabiguru’, and ‘Biswakabi’, Rabindranath Tagore was born on May 7.

Several cultural programmes and events are held during the course of the day on his birth anniversary – including singing ‘Rabindra sangeet’, reciting his life and work, dances, dramas, writing, poetry, among others.

Rabindranath Tagore was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. Tagore became the first non-European and the first lyricist to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.