Rabindranatha Tagore (1861-1941) is known to us today primarily as a poet and litterateur. Not many people, however, are aware of the vital significance of his efforts in the field of education and rural reconstruction. He loved the people of his country and strove for the rights of the rural poor to dignity and social justice. A pioneer in the field of education, he gave the last forty years of his life towards creating Visva-Bharati, an institution in rural Bengal, envisioned at the time as an Indian alternative to colonial education. This brief biography draws on the history of Visva-Bharati to sketch the relatively lesser known aspects of Rabindranath’s life, namely, his work as an educator and rural reformer. It also deals, though less prominently, with the poet and the writer within him. Its primary focus, however, is the issues that concerned Rabindranath all his life and featured regularly in his writings, such as Indian history, nationalism and internationalism, racial humiliation and the search for self-esteem, education, religion, religion of man, humanism and a Jiban-debata or ‘Lord of life’. This biography includes an appendix of selected letters by Rabindranath Tagore and will be of enduring interest to students as well as readers with an abiding interest in his life.
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