A rare hand written letter by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore that throws light on his younger days and conjugal life has been found in a Bangladesh village by a Tagore memorabilia collector.

The letter is considered to be a landmark discovery as it is the first document carrying Tagore's handwriting.

“As far I know, no original handwritten letter or manuscript of Tagore is in any of the museums in Bangladesh,” said Mohammad Abdul Khaleque, director general, Department of Archaeology, Bangladesh, reported the Daily Star.

The six-page letter was written by the poet to someone in Bolpur (Shantiniketan), West Bengal in an apparent response to a request to the poet for his photograph. The letter was dated 28 Bhadra in the Bengali year 1317, said Ms Naheed Sultana, custodian, Rabindranath Kachharibari Museum. Tagore had pointed out in the letter that his date of birth was 6 May, 1861. However, custodian Ms Naheed Sultana said that he was born on 7 May in the same year. She maintained that Tagore was in all likelihood born after 12 am, hence the discrepancy.

In response to a request for a biography, the poet said in the letter that his life history was not important.

The letter has a long history reports the newspaper. Matiur Rahman has collected the letter from a man named Nazrul Islam, who in turn had inherited it from his father Kabej Ali Mandal, the only Muslim cook working on the poet's boat.

Matiur Rahman has been collecting Tagore memorabilia from several districts in the county since 2003 on his own initiative.

Rahman, an avid Tagore, fan lamented that handwritten letters by the poet's son Rathindranath and other family members are not being preserved properly.

He asserted that a large number of Rabindranath memorabilia had been missing from the Patisar Rabindra Kachharibari since 1947. “I've seen lockers and other furniture lying uncared for at a local sub-post office and union land office in Patisar,” he said.