Gitanjali or the 'Song offerings' in English translation is a volume of 103 poems selected by Tagore from his several Bengali books of poetry. W.B.Yeats wrote: '...(the poems) have stirred my blood as nothing for years...' Gitanjali is poetry of life affirmation: life with its colour and abundance, melancholy and mystery. It is a record of the poet's intimate response to the splendour of the universe.

One of India's most cherished renaissance figures, Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) put India on the literary map of the world when his Gitanjali was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. Myriad-minded, he was a poet, short story writer, novelist, dramatist, essayist, painter and composer of songs. His worldwide acclaim as a social, political, religious and aesthetic thinker, innovator in education and a champion of the 'One World' idea makes him a living presence.