Poet, novelist, short story writer, playwright, musician, and painter, Rabindranath Tagore was one of the foremost creative minds of India. This illustrated biography covers all the important phases of his life from his childhood years, to growing up in the Tagore household, to a perceptive account of the forces that moulded his later thought. With an insightful exploration of the genesis of Tagore the creative artist and critical thinker, this book provides us the key to understanding the complex inner workings of the mind of the savant-the quintessential Renaissance man. With a unique personal touch, this biography explores Tagore's views and writings on the historical and political issues of the age, especially his thoughts and ideas on Indian history, nationalism and internationalism, religion, humanism, self-esteem, as well as his experiments in education reforms in the form of Santiniketan and Visva-Bharti, and rural reconstruction through Sriniketan. The sixty accompanying illustrations complement the narrative.