In this episode of pplpod, we explore the life of Rabindranath Tagore, the polymath whose work helped define the cultural identity of more than one nation while challenging the very idea of nationalism itself. Tagore wrote “Jana Gana Mana,” later adopted as India’s national anthem, wrote “Amar Shonar Bangla,” later adopted as Bangladesh’s anthem, and influenced Sri Lanka’s anthem as well. He was also the first Asian person to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Born in 1861 into the wealthy Tagore family of Calcutta, he grew up inside the Jorasanko mansion, a cultural engine of the Bengal Renaissance filled with writers, musicians, artists, reformers, and intellectuals. Yet Tagore hated formal schooling, lasting only one day at Presidency College, and instead learned through immersion, curiosity, nature, literature, music, and self-directed study. ...