A Taste of Tagore

“Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers but to be fearless in facing them. Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain, but for the heart to conquer it. Let me not look for allies in life’s battlefield but to my own strength. Let me not cave in.” – Rabindranath Tagore

A Taste of Tagore allows some of the magical poetry, elegant prose and meaningful prayers of Rabindranath Tagore, India’s first Nobel Laureate, to be used as contemplations in our daily lives. These extracts are taken from his many writings about the environment, education, the arts, politics, travel and humanism. The book is divided into Poetry, Prose and Prayers.

Tagore’s lifestyle embraced simplicity, moderation in consumption, the practice of arts in daily life, cohesion and harmony between religions, cultures and countries and all this is reflected in A Taste of Tagore. It brings to the reader the diversity, depth and spirituality of his writings in one book.

The publishing of A Taste of Tagore coincides with UNESCO’s declaration of 2011 as the year of Tagore to celebrate the 150th anniversary of his birth in Bengal.

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was a Bengali poet, novelist, musician, painter and playwright. His lyrical poetry and novels have gained him worldwide acclaim, and he was the first Asian to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature, primarily for his work 'Gitanjali'. He wrote over one thousand poems; eight volumes of short stories; almost two dozen plays; eight novels; and many books and essays on philosophy, religion, education and social topics. His other great love was music, and he composed more than two thousand songs, both the music and lyrics.