Rabindranath's wife died after a brief illness in 1902. He wrote the smaran poems to enshrine her memory. "Mrinalini Devi loved to live a joyful life with her relatives", wrote Prafullamayee Devi, the mother of Balendranath.
In 1903, Renuka (Rani) died, nine month's after her mother's death. In 1907, the same fate befell his youngest child Samindranath (Sami). Sami was then only eleven years old and died of Cholera while on a visit to Monghyr in Bihar. While nursing Rani in Almora in her last days, Rabindranath wrote the 'Sisu' poems to amuse Sami who had to be left with relatives. Bela died in 1918. The only two children who lived were his elder son, Rathindranath (Rathi), and his youngest daughter, Mira. In 1906, Rathindranath was sent to the University of Illinois at Urbana to study agriculture so that he would have the expertise on his return to work for the improvement of rural life. The following year, Mira was married to Nagendranath Ganguli, who too was sent to Urbana to study agriculture. The marriage did not last, and Rabindranath did not compel Mira to return to her husband. If anything, as is evident from his letters in this context, he blamed himself for Mira not marrying again. He worried about Mira and was heartbroken when her son Nitindranath (Nitu), his only grandson, died at the prime of his life in 1932, aged twenty-one. During 30 years from 1902 to 1932, Rabindranath lost five important lives in his life; his wife, his three children, and one grandson.
Rabindranath once suffered a nervous breakdown of which the only record is a letter he wrote to Rathi, very probably in 1915. Inspite of all that went wrong in his life, he continued with every activity and kept his personal pain to himself.
