Rabindra Sangeet

Rabindra Sangeet refers to the 2000 songs and poetry of love and devotion composed by Bengali poet laureate Rabindranath Tagore.

These songs are regarded as cultural treasures of Bengal in both West Bengal (India) and the predominantly Muslim Bangladesh. The Rabindra Sangeets, which most frequently deal with transcendental love and spirituality are immensely popular with speakers of the language and form a foundation for the Bengali ethos that is comparable to, perhaps even greater than, that which Shakespeare had on the English-speaking world.

In his book Caste and Outcaste, Dhan Gopal Mukerji has said that these songs transcend the mundane to the aesthetic and express all ranges and categories of human emotion. The poet had given a voice to all -- big or small, rich or poor. The poorest boatman on the Ganges as well as the rich landlord find expression to their emotional trials and tribulation in the songs of Tagore.