Jyotirindranath Tagore was born on May 4, 1849. He was the elder brother of the great Rabindranath Tagore, but he met a tragic end. Much is not said about him as an individual; rather, he is discussed in the context of the relationship between Rabindranath and Kadambari Devi, Robi Thakur's soul playmate and Jyotirindranath's wife. In some ways, Jyotirindranath was a victim of not only his younger brother's connection with his wife, but also the constraints of Thakurbari's severe patriarchal atmosphere set by Pince Dwarkanath Tagore and diligently maintained by Debendranath Tagore.
Jyotirindranath, a talented playwright, musician, writer, and painter, was a dazzling rising star of Thakurbari. He had a rare ability of recognizing and acknowledging brilliance in others.
Jyotirindranath was attracted towards the theatre from his student days. He formed a home theatre group and staged dramas. One of his cousins Ganendranath established the Jorasanko Natyasala in 1865. The first play to be staged was Krishnakumari by Michael Madhusudan Dutta.
Bishnupada Chakravarty taught Jyotirndranath music while he was a child. He was a master of the piano, violin, harmonium, and sitar. Akshay Chandra Chaudhari was his partner in pursuing music and literature. He used to love drawing and sketching. He drew portraits of numerous members of the family. In the museum at Rabindra Bharti University, he left behind about 2,000 sketches. His drawings were published in Bharati in 1912.
Jyotirindranath was a devoted and dedicated personality who held liberal views on man-woman conjugal relationships. Regardless of what patriarchy enacts, Jyotirindranath went above and beyond any norms to set free his nine-year-old wife from all the customs that restricts her in any manner. Jyotirindranath encouraged his wife to engage in activities that contrasted with the norms of Thakurbari "bouthans", including education in western languages to horseback riding as a hobby. His sense of responsibility did not prevent him from going on frequent vacations with his wife. Jyotirindrtanath often took his young wife to the countryside to spend quality time together and to commemorate their married life.
Jyotirindranath Tagore emerges as a forgotten hero remembered only as the husband of Kadambari Devi who committed suicide under mysterious circumstances and the elder brother to Rabindranath Tagore, the guide of Bengali and Indian literature in general. His achievements in modern times have been covered up by his younger brother's honors despite the fact that he was an amazing playwright, a multi talented actor, and an accomplished musician particularly - all of this seems to have faded away somewhere in the voids of time and in people's memories.
On March 4, 1925, he passed away in his home, Santidham, on Ranchi's Morabadi Hill.
