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Primary sourcePhotograph1940

Tagore with Mahatma Gandhi and Kasturba Gandhi at Santiniketan

Unknown author · 1940

A 1940 photograph showing Tagore meeting Mahatma and Kasturba Gandhi at Santiniketan, surrounded by onlookers.

This photograph shows Tagore himself meeting Gandhi, documenting their personal friendship and shared public role.

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Black-and-white photograph of an outdoor gathering. On the left, a bald, bespectacled elderly man in a white shawl sits on a patterned cushioned bench beside an older woman in a white sari. On the right, a white-bearded elderly man with a flower garland sits on a low wooden stool. Many people, mostly women and girls in saris, sit and stand behind them under trees.
Rabindranath Tagore with Mahatma Gandhi and Kasturba Gandhi at Santiniketan, 1940. Photographer unknown.

About this source

What it is

This black-and-white photograph from 1940 shows Rabindranath Tagore, white-bearded and wearing a flower garland, seated with Mahatma Gandhi and Kasturba Gandhi at Santiniketan, Tagore's institution. A crowd, mostly women and girls in saris, gathers behind them under trees. The photographer is unknown.

Why it matters

The photograph documents the friendship and mutual respect between Tagore and Gandhi, two of the most influential figures in Indian cultural and political life. It shows Tagore in his later years, still a central public figure receiving honoured guests at the school and community he founded.

Look closer

  • What does the setting and the crowd suggest about the importance of this meeting?
  • How are Tagore and Gandhi each dressed, and what might that tell us about them?
  • What is not shown in this photograph that might help explain why they met?

This photograph is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Rabindranath Tagore on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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