Thinkers Timeline

Mirabai was a sixteenth-century Indian poet and saint. She is one of the most loved figures in the bhakti movement, a Hindu devotional tradition that swept across India for many centuries. She was born around 1498 in Kudki, a village in present-day Rajasthan in north-west India. Her family, the Rathore Rajputs, were a royal warrior clan. Her mother died when she was young. According to tradition, Mirabai was given a small image of the god Krishna by a holy man during her childhood. She held on to it, and her devotion to Krishna grew. She came to see him as her divine husband. In 1516, when she was about 18, she was married to Bhoj Raj, the crown prince of the neighbouring Mewar kingdom. He was wounded in battle and died in 1521. Mirabai refused to commit sati, the practice of a widow burning herself on her husband's funeral pyre, which was expected of Rajput princesses. This refusal began a long conflict with her in-laws. Legends say her in-laws made several attempts to kill her: poison disguised as nectar, a snake in a basket of flowers, a bed of nails. Each time, she survived. Whether these stories are literal history or symbols of her spiritual protection, they show that she lived under real threat. She eventually left palace life. She wandered to Vrindavan, Krishna's mythical home, and to Dwarka in Gujarat. She sang her songs in temples and public places. She is believed to have died around 1547. Hundreds of devotional songs are attributed to her, though most were probably composed later in her tradition.

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was an Indian poet, philosopher, and educator from Bengal, a region now divided between India and Bangladesh. He was born into a wealthy and intellectually active family in Kolkata and grew up surrounded by art, music, literature, and philosophical discussion. He began writing poetry as a child and became one of the most celebrated writers in the Bengali language, producing poetry, short stories, novels, plays, songs, and essays throughout his long life. In 1913 he became the first non-European to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. He also composed the national anthems of both India and Bangladesh, the only person to have composed the national anthem of two countries. But he was not only a writer. He founded an experimental school at Santiniketan in 1901 that was built on his philosophy of education: learning through nature, creativity, and joy rather than through rigid discipline and examination. He was deeply engaged with political questions including Indian independence, but he was also a sharp critic of nationalism, which he saw as a dangerous force. He travelled widely across Europe, Asia, and the Americas and believed deeply in the possibility of genuine dialogue between cultures.