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Secondary sourceBook1918

The Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan · 1918

A 1918 study of Tagore's philosophical and spiritual ideas written by Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, who later became a noted Indian philosopher and statesman.

An early philosophical study of Tagore's ideas by a scholar who later became a major Indian philosopher and statesman.

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What it is

This 1918 book, The Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore, was written by Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. It interprets Tagore's philosophy, religion, and art as an expression of Indian thought and spiritual tradition.

Why it matters

Radhakrishnan, who would go on to become a major Indian philosopher and later the country's president, saw Tagore's work as expressing something larger than one man's ideas — the spirit of India itself. The book shows how Tagore's early readers understood him not just as a poet but as a thinker whose work carried deep cultural and religious meaning.

Look closer

  • What does the preface suggest about how the author sees the relationship between Tagore and 'the soul of India'?
  • Why might some readers have doubted whether Tagore's writing had such deep philosophical meaning?
  • How might studying a figure's philosophy differ from studying their poetry or biography?

This book 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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