Updated By: LatestGKGS Desk
Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore: profile, early life and education, views
Nobel Prize winner Rabindranath Tagore childhood, parents, early life and views
Fondly remembered as “Gurudev”, Rabindranath Tagore was an iconic figure in Bengal’s cultural landscape and had a profound influence in shaping national consciousness during the freedom struggle.
Rabindranath Tagore Born on 7 May 1861, he was the youngest of the thirteen children of Debendranath Tagore and Sarada Devi. Although his early education was at home, Tagore would soon develop a literary genius that would quickly distinguish him a writer, thinker, and poet of the highest order.
Rabindranath Tagore had a tough time sticking to formal education and preferred to spend his time in silent contemplation. When he was sent to the famous Presidency College to pursue studies, he could tolerate it only for a single day.
According to him, true education served a higher purpose: “[It] knock[s] at the doors of the mind. If any boy is asked to give an account of what is awakened in him by such knocking, he will probably say something silly. For what happens within is much bigger than what comes out in words.
Those who pin their faith on university examinations as the test of education take no account of this.” These ideas would lead him to start an experimental school at his ashram Shantiniketan, with an exclusive focus on humanistic and holistic education.
