| Activity | Poet, philosopher, artist. Founder, Visva-Bharati International University; Nobel laureate (1913). Friend and advisor to Leonard Elmhirst. Visited Dartington Hall in 1926 and 1930 (signature in Visitors Book). The Indian poet, educationist and social reformer with whom Leonard worked in India and who was to be, along with Dorothy, the greatest influence on his life. Tagore won the Nobel prize for Literature in 1931, the first non-European to do so. In 1921 he founded the International University of Visva-Bharati for the study of Eastern cultures and the promotion of a closer understanding between East and West. Tagore also founded a school for children at Santiniketan and it was there that Leonard went in 1921 to initiate the cultural and agricultural re-vitalisation of the neighbouring villages which were in decline. One of the most distinguished Indians of his time, Tagore died in 1941. |