Today in Writing History May 7, 1861: Indian poet and playwright Rabindranath Tagore was born. Also known as the Bard of Bengal, Tagore was the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was also an anti-imperialist and supported Indian nationalism. In 1916, Indian expatriates tried to assassinate him in San Francisco.
@MikeDunnAuthor@bookstadon more accurate statement would be that these 2 nations adopted his poems as national anthems for their countries. He didn't write the poems with the specific intention to compose national anthem for any country.
Having said that, national anthem of India describes the country so beautifully that it is hard to believe that it was not written with that express intention. But again, I am biased, so the moral of the story is he was a great poet, writer & human being.