Did you know Rabindranath Tagore was the first lyricist to win Nobel Prize? Know a few more facts-

In 2016, people had assumed that legendary American singer and songwriter Bob Dylan was the first songwriter/lyricist to win the 2016 Nobel prize in literature. And it is very uncommon that songwriters to win such prestigious awards. At that time, even the international press had hailed it as the first time the literary world’s highest honor had gone to a musician. However, it was not Dylan but a Bengali literary giant who is the first songwriter (and first non-European) to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Rabindranath Tagore’s Gitanjali was a songbook and it won a Nobel in 1913, a win that precedes Dylan’s by over a century!

 

Similarly, there are a few facts about the legend. 

 

1. It happened before Rabindranath Tagore passed away. He was lying, weak and motionless on his bed, and everyone knew there was not much time left for him. His friends and relatives were paying visit to the dying poet. One friend came to Tagore. Trying to make him feel better the friend said, “Look, what a remarkable life you have lived. You might be leaving soon but behind you, thousands of excellent poems will be left. People will be reading them for centuries and remember you. You have written the best poetry in Bengali language. You should be proud of your achievement.”

 

Suddenly, Tagore cried. “What happened?” exclaimed his friend. “Oh my dear,” Tagore replied, “You do not know what excellent poems are coming to my mind now. They are the best that I could ever create but I am so weak now and I cannot write anymore. It’s so painful to know that the greatest of my poems will remain unwritten”.

 

2. Tagore would have been almost named Sir Rabindranath Tagore had he retained his Knighthood. In the year of 1915, Rabindranath Tagore was given the title of Knighthood by the British government. This title is not given that easily and you need to contribute in a specific field for a long time and the queen gives you this title. In the year of 1919, due to the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre Tagore protested by giving back his knighthood title.

 

3. Have you imagined the fact cricket players of the three countries of the Indian sub-continent e.g. India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka (Ceylon), are singing anthems written or inspired by the same man. Yes, Rabindranath Tagore was the person who wrote the national anthems of two countries, India and Bangladesh. But he profoundly influenced the words and music of a third, the Lankan national anthem, 'Sri Lanka Matha'.

 

4. Tagore had a partial color vision deficiency, the kind known as protanopia, in which the wavelengths of light that we see as the colour red are lost to the eye, and there is confusion between red and green in perception.

 

5. In 2004, Rabindranath Tagore's 1913 Nobel prize medal was stolen. In 2016, a local singer accused of sheltering the thieves was arrested, but the medal could not be recovered. Interrogation revealed that a Bangladeshi national, along with two Europeans, was involved in the theft. Later, the Swedish government had presented two replicas of Tagore’s Nobel Prize. One of the two replicas was made of gold and the other one was made of bronze. The Swedish government had presented these to the Visva Bharati University.

 

6. He was referred to as "the Bard of Bengal" and he was known by sobriquets - Gurudev, Kobiguru, and Biswakobi.

 

The contribution of Rabindranath Tagore to Bengali and English literature is unmatchable. Apart from being a prolific writer, he was also an influential artist and musician. Surely, he was a multitalented personality. He wrote approx 2230 songs in his whole life. In his last 13 years of life, he painted approx 3000 paintings and showed his creativity and power.

Today, on his 161st birth anniversary, Newsbharati pays tributes to one of the greatest revolutionaries, India has ever produced!