Rabindranath Tagore Jayanti: 5 best reads by the legendary author

A man of many talents, Rabindranath Tagore is known for his stellar contributions to the world of art, literature, and music. The legendary polymath wrote some of the most incredible Bengali novels, poetry, and short stories, for which was honored with a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. On his birth anniversary (25 Baishakh), let's get you acquainted with five of his best reads.

Gitanjali happens to be one of Tagore's most sought-after and coveted works of all time. The book is a collection of about 157 poems; most of them have a common theme of love in India in the 19th century. Some poems also depict conflicts between spiritual longing and the desire for materialism. Tagore became the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize for Gitanjali.

This book captures the Swadeshi Movement with the story revolving around three characters named Nikhil, Bimala, and Sandip. Bimala, the protagonist, is divided between the duties she owes to her husband Nikhil and the demands made by radical leader Sandip. This tale is a mix of love and politics, with snippets of self-struggle, culture, and defiance, which makes it a spectacular read.

Written in 1891, this is a short story about a young postmaster and an orphan girl named Ratan who are united by loneliness. The book conveys love and loss, urban and rural, innocence and childhood, the natural and the supernatural, and life and landscapes in equal measure. It's one of Tagore's best stories which you can pick if you're a beginner to his words.

Talk about Tagore's most monumental books and there's no way one could miss out on Gora. Woven into the culture, traditions, social parameters, religious beliefs, and political views of the then Bengal, this book is a brilliant mix of self-searching, self-discovery, conflicts, and resolutions. The plot revolves around Gora, the central character, who is filled with nationalism and philosophy.

This book tells a story of a widow named Binodini who stays in a society that believes in banishing widows and leaving them with a life of nothingness. She is beautiful, educated, and well-read, but becomes jealous of Mahim and Asha's marital bliss which leads to her living a life that is largely debated. Check out more such book recommendations.