Tagore and “Nur va soyalar” (I)

Robindranath Thokur (Tagore) was born on 7 May 1861 in the city of Calcutta in India; he was the youngest of the family’s 14 children. His father took him around all of India showing sacred places, and the boy began writing poems at the age of 8. In 1878–1880 he studied at a college of London University and returned without finishing; his first collection “Oqshom qo‘shiqlari” came out in 1882. He wrote mainly in Bengali, creating poems, narrative poems, stories, novellas, novels and dramas; since India was then a colony of Great Britain, his works reflect the people’s struggle against oppression. He translated his collection “Gitanjali” into English, won the International Nobel Prize in 1913 and spent the prize money on opening a free school for children. His song “Xalq qalbi” became the national anthem of India and his song “Mening oltin Bengaliyam” the national anthem of Bangladesh; he believed freedom is reached first of all through literacy and enlightenment, and in this respect recalls the Uzbek Jadids.