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India’s Bengali language poet and thinker, Rabindranath Tagore in Iran
Compiled By: Syed Ali Shahbaz
On May 7, 1861 AD, India’s Bengali language poet and thinker, Rabindranath Tagore, was born. He travelled widely and wrote several books. He also visited Iran and paid tributes to the famous Persian poet, Hafez Shirazi. Tagore travelled to Shiraz, Isfahan, Tehran and Kermanshah in Iran, from where he went by road to Baghdad in Iraq.
Tagore's personal diary and public interviews capture fascinating details of his political and social observations. At the mausoleum of Hafez, he wrote in his travelogue, “Sitting near the tomb, a signal flashed through my mind, a signal from the bright and smiling eyes of the poet on a long past spring day – akin to the springtime sunshine of today.” He celebrated his 71st birthday in Tehran and wrote a beautiful poem titled: IRAN, on the occasion. Part of this poem reads:
“Iran, thy brave sons have brought
Their priceless gifts of friendship
On this birthday of the poet of a far-away shore,
For they have known him in their hearts as their own,
And in return I bind this wreath of my verse
On thy forehead, and I cry: Victory of Iran!”
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