Sir Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), Poet and philosopher

Sitter in 4 portraits
Nobel Prize-winning poet and educationalist, Tagore achieved early success as a writer in his native Bengal, and worldwide fame through translations of his work. In addition to fifty volumes of poetry, including Manasi The Ideal One (1890) and Gitanjali Song Offerings (1910), he wrote plays, novels and essays. Tagore made extensive international tours, raising money for the experimental school he founded at Shantiniketan. He resigned the knighthood he received from the ruling British government in protest over British policies in India in 1919. Tagore's patriotic songs have been adopted as the national anthems of India and Bengal.