Rabindranath Tagore's 163rd birth anniversary today

The 163rd birth anniversary of Biswakabi Rabindranath Tagore, who reshaped Bengali literature and music as well as the arts of the Indian subcontinent with contextual modernism, is being celebrated on Wednesday (8 May) in a befitting manner.

On the occasion of the birth anniversary of Rabindranath, President Mohammed Shahabuddin and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued separate messages on Tuesday, paying rich tributes to the great poet.

The government has taken up elaborate programmes to celebrate the 163rd birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore at the national level.

On the 25th of Baishakh in the 1268 Bengali calendar, Rabindranath, the fountainhead of Bengali wisdom, was born at Jorasanko in Kolkata.

Nobody had influenced the minds of so many Bengali-speaking people before or after him. His influence has been compared, by many, to William Shakespeare in the English-speaking world.

Marking the birth anniversary, as part of the national programme, local administration will arrange different programmes at Patisar under Atrai upazila in Naogaon district, at Shilaidaha Kuthibari under Kumarkhali upazila in Kushtia, Shahjadpur in Sirajganj and Dakkhindihi and Pithavog in Khulna, the places where Rabindranath had memories. 

Rabindra fair, discussions and cultural events will be organized to mark the birth anniversary of the great poet. 

Besides, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy has taken a three-day programme including cultural functions. 

Jatiya Sangsad (JS) Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury will inaugurate the three-day programme at 11am on Wednesday at Jatiya Natyashala Auditorium of Shilpakala Academy. 

Chhayanaut, a leading cultural organization of the country, will organize a two-day Rabindra Utsab at its auditorium on May 8-9. The programmes include performances of solo and chorus songs, dance and poem recitations. Apart from the artists of Chhayanaut, invited artists and groups will take part in the festival. The programme will begin at 7pm every day. The organization will air the programme live on its Facebook page.

Bangla Academy will also arrange a programme marking the birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore. 

Our Naogaon Correspondent Reports: With the cooperation of the Cultural Affairs Ministry, the district administration will arrange a daylong programme at Patisar under Atrai Upazila in the district to celebrate the birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore.

State Minister for Planning Md. Shahiduzzaman Sarker will inaugurate the programme at Debendra Manch of Patishar at 3pm. Later, artists of the district and Atrai upazila and Raninagar upazila units of Shilpakala Academy will perform in a colourful cultural function.

Our Kushtia Correspondent Reports: The 163rd birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore will be celebrated amid different programmes at Shilaidaha Kuthibari in the district. A two-day village fair will be arranged on the premises of Kuthibari. 

Awami League Joint General Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif will inaugurate the birth anniversary programme.

A total of 59 musical groups from home and abroad will perform at the cultural function at Kuthibari. 

The youngest of 13 surviving children, Tagore, nicknamed 'Rabi', was born to a Brahma family of Debendranath Tagore and Sarada Devi at Jorasanko in Kolkata.

Rabindranath's novels, short stories, songs, dance-dramas and essays always speak about the political and personal life of people.

Gitanjali (Song Offerings), Gora (Fair-Faced) and Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World) are his best-known works and his verse, short stories and novels were acclaimed for their lyricism, colloquialism, naturalism and unnatural contemplation.

Author of Gitanjali, a profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse, Rabindranath became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.

Sometimes referred to as "the Bard of Bengal", Tagore's poetic songs were viewed as spiritual and mercurial.

His compositions were chosen by two nations as national anthems: Bangladesh's Amar Sonar Bangla and India's Jana Gana Mana. The Sri Lankan national anthem was inspired by his work.

The legendary poet breathed his last at his paternal residence in Kolkata on the 22nd of Sraban of Bangla year 1348 (August 7, 1941).