Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) was born in Bengal, the youngest son of a religious reformer and scholar. He wrote successfully in all literary genres and was the author of the national anthems of both India and Bangladesh. He participated in the Indian nationalist movement and was a devoted friend of Mahatma Gandhi. Tagore received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913; in 1915 he was knighted by the British government, but later resigned the honor as a protest against British policies in India.
