On Saturday, politicians across party lines took to social media platforms to pay homage to legendary poet Rabindranath Tagore on his death anniversary. From Union Ministers to ordinary netizens, thousands have taken to Twitter to quote excerpts from his works, share interesting factoids and more.
Not only the first Asian or Indian to win the Nobel, Tagore was in fact the first non-European to win the coveted award. He would go on to use the prize money to construct the Visva Bharati school (now university) in West Bengal's Shantiniketan. In 2004 however, his medal was stolen from where it was displayed in the institution. The Swedish Academy then gave a fresh award, in the form of two gold and silver replicas.
Tagore was considered to be a 'polymath' with a wide range or works and skills. He was a poet, writer, playright, composer, philosopher, songwriter, social reformer and painter. In 1913, the 'Bard of Bengal' was awarded the Nobel for his anthology of poems, known as Gitanjali. The foreword for the volume was written by one of the greatest poets of the 20th century, WB Yeats.
Tagore wrote the national anthem for two nations and heavily inspired a third. India's Jana Gana Mana and Bangladesh's Amar Shonar Bangla were both his compositions. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Matha was composed by Ananda Samarakoon who had studied at the Visva Bharati University. Some unverified theories also suggest that Tagore wrote the anthem in full, or that he wrote the music for it.
On Saturday, netizens have come out en masse to pay homage to the poet. Take a look at some of the posts:
