Rabindranath Tagore was from India and became the first Asian Nobel Prize winner when he received the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Tagore was born in Calcutta, then part of British India, in 1861. He wrote poetry, fiction, essays, plays, songs, and educational works in Bengali and English. His best-known collection for international readers is Gitanjali, whose English version helped bring his writing to a global audience.
The Nobel committee recognized his deeply sensitive, fresh, and beautiful poetry. Tagore was also an educator and founded Visva-Bharati University at Santiniketan. He wrote the lyrics of “Jana Gana Mana,” later adopted as India’s national anthem, and “Amar Shonar Bangla,” later adopted by Bangladesh.
Tagore is sometimes described simply as an Indian poet, but his work crossed literature, music, visual art, and education. His award came before any other Asian recipient in a Nobel category.