Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) became an international figure when his Gitanjali, an anthology of lyrics, originally written in Bengali and translated into English by the poet himself, was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature--the first ever to an Asian--in 1913. Since then he came to be known not only as a great writer but also as an able spokesman of modern India. Even today he is the most widely read Indian writer. Although his reputation outside the ...
