He developed a following for his work in Bengali, but he became a worldwide sensation after the English translation of his poem Gitanjali caught the attention of W.B. Yeats. He toured the world and became known for his spiritual and artistic presence and global views that bridged the East and West. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913, the first non-Western writer to achieve such an honor. In addition to poetry, Tagore also wrote short stories, plays, novels, and essays, and many of his paintings hang in museums. He also founded a school, Visva Bharati, which combined Hindu and Western influences. Tagore loved music, and two of his songs became the national anthems for India and Bangladesh. The Fugitive is one example of his artistic powers: We came hither together, friend, and now at the cross-roads I stop to bid you farewell. Your path is wide and straight before you, but my call comes up by ways from the unknown. I shall follow wind and cloud; I shall follow the stars to where day breaks behind the hills; I shall follow lovers who, as they walk, twine their days into a wreath on a single thread of song, "I love."

    In this excellent reprint of a rare volume of essays, he reveals the essence of the Indian experience, rooted in "a constant intuition" of the unity and harmony of all life. Everything has its place, every being its function and all play a part in the divine concert led by Natarājā (Śiva), Lord of Dancers.In a series of 14 stimulating and provocative essays, Coomaraswamy unfolds the vast metaphysic of India: the magnificent revelation of its art; its conception of the universe; social organization; attitudes toward feminism; problems of family; romantic love, and marriage. His sweeping commentary considers the "intellectual fraternity" of mankind; the venerable past as it survives side by side with emerging modern India; and the individual, autonomy, and repudiation of "the will to govern."Enhancing the text are 27 black-and-white photographs — mostly of masterpieces of painting and sculpture from the second century B.C. to the eighteenth century, and including the glorious "Cosmic Dance of Nàtaraja." This handsome volume offers rich insight into the art, philosophy, and culture of a fascinating forty-centuries-old civilization.

    "A spiritual aspiration was the governing force of this culture", he wrote, "its core of thought, its ruling passion. Not only did it make spirituality the highest aim of life, but it even tried...to turn the whole of life towards spirituality." Sri Aurobindo held that an aggressive defence of India culture was necessary to counter the invasion of the predominantly materialistic modern Western culture. His Foundations is precisely such a defence.