Rabindranath Tagore was remembered on his birth anniversary by the Indian embassy, Madagascar

Indian Embassy in Madagascar pays tribute to Rabindranath Tagore, on the 161^st birth anniversary of Tagore, a Nobel laureate, the celebrations were going on as a part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav (AKAM) while also organizing the 16^th Edition of its monthly literary programme LaLitTana.

The function was attended by Francois Rajaoson, President of Malagasy Academy, Vice President of the Malagasy Academy, and Hobiana, Nalisoa Ravalitera, the Honorary President of the Union of Writers of Madagascar and literary circle Havatsa Upem Arivonimamo, poets university students and the members of the Indian community, the Indian Embassy said in a press release.

Indian Ambassador to Madagascar Abhay Kumar said, “Rabindranath Tagore was a great poet and artist. He was the first non-European to win the world’s most prestigious ‘Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. He was one of the architects of modern India and played a vital role in the Indian cultural renaissance,” he said on the occasion.

The Indian Ambassador also shared his experience with the audience when he delivered a lecture at the Malagasy Academy last year, the President of the Academy Francois Rajaoson told him that Madagascar’s national poet Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo was inspired by the poetry of Rabindranath Tagore.

Later Ambassador found that Jean Joseph Rabearivelo had mentioned Tagore in his poem no.15 from his poetry collection ‘Translated from the Night’. The famous poem of Rabindranath Tagore ‘Where the mind is without fear’ from ‘Gitanjali’ was recited by Abhay Kumar, in Malagasy by Dr. Nalisona Ravalitera, and in French by Soambinintsoa Andrianary.