160th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore | File photo Rabindranath Tagore's birthday today: Rabindranath Tagore was a Bengali polymath who is said to have singlehandedly reshaped Bengali literature and music. Further, he was also a major factor in shaping Indian art through contextual modernism. To date, all his poetry, novels, short stories, and essays are widely read across the globe. The Bard of Bengal, Rabindranath Tagore, was born as Robindronath Thakur to a family that was at the forefront of the Bengali Renaissance. According to the Gregorian calendar, he was born on May 7, 1861, in Kolkata to parents, Debendranath Tagore and Sarada Devi.