Rabindranath tagore childhood photo

Rabindranath Tagore was a world-renowned Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, painter, writer, composer, playwright, philosopher and social reformer. His works reshaped Bengali literature, music and Indian art forms. He is the first non-European and first Indian lyricist to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. Here's a look at the life and times of the Nobel laureate on his 161st birth anniversary. (Image: Shutterstock)

Born Rabindranath Thakur on May 7, 1861, Tagore started writing poetry at the age of eight. He went on to release his first poems under the pseudonym Bhanusiṃha (meaning Sun Lion). He had 12 siblings and his family was at the forefront of the Bengal renaissance. Pictured: Tagore performing the title role in Valmiki Pratibha (1881) with his niece Indira Devi as the goddess Lakshmi. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

In 1873, Tagore and his father lef