Tagore’s 84th death anniv today

Today is the 84th death anniversary of Biswakabi Rabindranath Tagore.

According to the Gregorian calendar, Rabindranath died at the age of 80 on August 7 in 1941. But his death anniversary is observed in Bangladesh on Sraban 22 of the Bangla calendar.

The youngest of 13 surviving children of Debendranath Tagore and Sarada Devi, Rabindranath was born on the 25th of the Bangla month of Baishakh 1268 (May 7, 1861) at the Jorasanko mansion in Calcutta.

The "Bard of Bengal" composed over 2,000 songs, which created a separate genre known as "Rabindra Sangeet".

He also wrote eight novels, 84 short stories and numerous poems in his prolific literary career that spanned over almost seven decades.

Gitanjali, Gora and Ghare-Baire are his best-known works.

Rabindranath became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.

His compositions were chosen by two countries as national anthems: Bangladesh's "Amar Shonar Bangla" and India's "Jana Gana Mana".