Rabindranath Thakur FRAS (Bengali: roˈbindɾonath thakuɾ; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941), also known by his pseudonym Bhanusimha (Sun Lion), was a Bengali polymath—poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renaissance period.
In 1913, he became the first Asian to win a Nobel Prize in any category, and the first lyricist and non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. A significant moulder of culture within the Indian subcontinent, he wrote and composed the national anthems of India and Bangladesh.
He reshaped Bengali literature and music, as well as Indian art, through Contextual Modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was the author of the profoundly sensitive, fresh, and beautiful poetry of Gitanjali. His poetic songs were viewed as spiritual and mercurial, while his elegant prose and magical poetry were widely popular in the Indian subcontinent.
He was a fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society and was often referred to as the "Bard of Bengal." He was also known by the sobriquets Gurudev, Kobiguru, and Biswokobi.