Rabindranath Tagore was the youngest of thirteen surviving children. He was born in the Jorasanko mansion in Calcutta, India to parents Debendranath Tagore (1817–1905) and Sarada Devi (1830–1875).
Rabindranath Tagore is first taught at home. He starts going to school when he is seven years old. He first goes to the Oriental Seminary and shortly after to Normal School. At home he is tutored rigorously in languages, gymnastics, wrestling, classical music, drawing etc. In 1871/1872, Rabindranath Tagore is enrolled in a new school called Bengal Academy, yet he begins to play truant.
Rabindranath Tagore writes his first verses, inspired by a Bengali translation of Bernardin de Saint-Pierre's 'Paul et Virginie'.
In 1873 Rabindranath and his father went on a journey. They visited Santiniketan, Amristar, and finally, in mid-April, Dalhousie hill station. Tagore read biographies on the way and his father tutored him in Sanskrit, history, and study of the Upanishads and the poetry of Kalidasa. They stayed for several months in Dalhousie and adopted a strict daily regime. His father also gave him lessons in Sanskrit, English and astronomy.
Rabindranath Tagore’s Upanayan (Brahminical sacred thread ceremony and initiation into Gayatri prayers)
Tagore is admitted to his last school, St Xavier’s School, which he attends only for a few months. The school record confirms that he attends school only irregularly. He formally drops out in 1876.
Tagore’s first poem, entitled Abhilasha (Desire), is published anonymously in the journal “Tattvabodhini Patrika.”
Death of Sarada Devi, Rabindranath Tagore's mother.
Rabindranath Tagore joins a short-lived Secret Society, supposed to have been modelled after Mazzini's Carbonari
