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Who was the first Indian to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature (1913)?
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Answer: Option C — Rabindranath Tagore
Detailed Solution
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913 "because of his profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse, by which, with consummate skill, he has made his poetic thought... a part of the literature of the West". He was the first Indian, the first Asian and the first non-European to win a Nobel Prize.
He won the prize for "Gitanjali" ("Song Offerings"), a collection of poems. The original Bengali "Gitanjali" was published in 1910, and Tagore himself translated a selection of the poems into English, which was published in London in 1912 with an introduction by the Irish poet W. B. Yeats.
About Rabindranath Tagore:
He was born in the Jorasanko Thakur Bari in Calcutta on 7 May 1861.
He was a poet, novelist, playwright, composer, painter, philosopher and educationist. He is called "Gurudev" and "Kabiguru".
He wrote more than 2,000 songs (Rabindra Sangeet), including the national anthems of India ("Jana Gana Mana") and Bangladesh ("Amar Shonar Bangla").
He founded Santiniketan (1901) and Visva-Bharati University (1921), which became a central university in 1951.
The British gave him a knighthood in 1915, but he renounced it in protest after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919.
He gave Gandhi the title "Mahatma" (as commonly stated), and Gandhi called him "Gurudev".
His famous works include the novels "Gora" and "Ghare Baire", the short story "Kabuliwala", and the play "Dak Ghar".
His Nobel Prize medal was stolen from Visva-Bharati in 2004 and has never been recovered.
Other Indian Nobel laureates (by citizenship or origin) include C. V. Raman (Physics, 1930), Mother Teresa (Peace, 1979), Amartya Sen (Economics, 1998) and Kailash Satyarthi (Peace, 2014).
Why not the other options?
- ✗Sarojini Naidu was a poet known as the "Nightingale of India".
- ✗Bankim Chandra Chatterjee wrote "Anandamath" and "Vande Mataram".
- ✗Munshi Premchand was a great Hindi-Urdu novelist ("Godaan").
Quick tip
Remember: First Indian (and Asian) Nobel = Rabindranath Tagore (Literature, 1913, "Gitanjali", introduction by W. B. Yeats); renounced his knighthood after Jallianwala Bagh (1919).
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Firsts in India & World — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Firsts in India & World, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers the first persons and events in India and the world: the first Indian to win a Nobel Prize, the first woman to hold major offices, the first to climb Everest or reach space, and India's first institutions, newspapers, railways and satellites. It also covers the largest, longest, highest and smallest records in India and the world. These are pure memory questions, so revise them as short lists by theme: first women, first in sports, first in science and space, and first in governance. Be careful with the exact wording, such as 'first Indian' versus 'first person of Indian origin', or 'first woman President' versus 'first woman Prime Minister', since options are often designed to exploit this. Practise the firsts in India and the world questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.