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Gowher Ahmad Naik, LPU Unit 18: One Act Play: Chitra by Rabindranath Tagore: Background of the Text

Unit 18: One Act Play: Chitra by Rabindranath Tagore: Notes
Background of the Text

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
18.1 Chitra’s Background and Its Importance
18.2 Summary

18.3 Key-Words
18.4 Review Questions
18.5 Further Readings

Objectives

After reading this unit students will be able to:
• Know about Rabindranath Tagore.
• Discuss the Background of the Play Chitra.

Introduction
Rabindranath Tagore was a Bengali polymath, Becoming the initial non-European to win the 1913
Nobel Prize in Literature. He played a substantial function in bringing about a new awakening in
India in the latter half of the nineteenth century. His lifestyle and inventive function supplied the
then Indian society with a objective, path and a programme. The influence of his character transcended
his native Bengal and came to be felt not only in other components of India but also abroad.
Tagore was a genius with a numerous-sided character. He was a poet, novelist, dramatist, musician,
quick-story author, teacher, painter, educationist, philosopher and humanist. Shri Khanolkar, his
biographer, describes his lifestyle as ‘a extended dream of Color and music, of elegance and heavenly
genius, this kind of as this globe has in no way identified before’.
Possibly no other modern Indian had this kind of diverse interests as Tagore had. He was a seeker.
He desired to realize himself; and that he could only do by expressing himself. As the experiences
and feelings differed, the media also varied. That is how we have Tagore the poet, Tagore the composer,
Tagore the painter and so on.
Though a staunch nationalist, Tagore was a champion of internationalism, touring different nations
and ple ading for ‘one planet’.

Rabindranath Tagore has two of his songs - Jana Gana Mana and Amar Sonar Bangla
- adopted as the national anthem of two nations, India and Bangladesh respectively.
Shanti-Niketan stands to this day as a residing monument to the Gurudev. He composed
above 4,000 songs. His compositions have come to be identified as Rabindra Sangeet.

Rabindranath Tagore is one of the best Indian writers in English. He primarily wrote in Bengali but
his fame reached its zenith by his writings in English. He has proved himself in drama, short stories,
poetry and so on. He was a versatile writer, with immense vitality. He was inspired by many writers
in English like Shakespeare, the writers of Victorian age and the Romantic age. Born in an aristocratic

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