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Journalism of Courage
Santiniketan, the town in West Bengal’s Birbhum district where Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore spent a large part of his life, has made it to UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Home to the Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan becomes the 41st UNESCO World Heritage Site in India and the third in West Bengal, after the Sundarbans National Park and the Darjeeling Mountain Railways.
Supriyo Thakur (84), the great-grandnephew of Rabindranath Tagore and former principal of Patha Bhavana, the school in Santiniketan established by Tagore, speaks to The Indian Express on the significance of the UNESCO tag.
In 1863, Rabindranath Tagore’s father Maharshi Debendranath Tagore, an active member of the Brahmo Samaj, bought some land from Bhuban Mohan Sinha, the talukdar of Raipur in Birbhum.
He first built a guest house and named it Santiniketan (the abode of peace). In 1867, he set up an ashram for prayers there. Gradually, the ashram and its surrounding areas also came to be known as Santiniketan.
In 1901, Rabindranath Tagore started a Brahmacharyaashrama with just five students, which became Patha Bhavana in 1925.
In 1921, Tagore set up Visva Bharati, which was declared a central university and institute of national importance in 1951. This also contributed to the expansion of Santiniketan, with more residential complexes, hostels and bhavans.
If you were to describe Santiniketan to someone who has never seen it, what would you say?
First of all, Santiniketan was set up to establish a connection between humans and nature. It is a place which not only imparts education but also teaches various forms of arts to students, such as painting, sculpture, music, dance, and drama. It is also home to Visva Bharati University. It is a place which signifies Tagore’s vision and a meeting place of students and scholars from across the world.
Rabindranath Tagore’s motto was ‘Yatra Vishwam Bhavati Eka Needam‘ (where the world becomes a nest). This was his vision behind setting up an institute of learning where students would have the freedom to explore their surroundings, gather knowledge from nature, and imbibe different cultures. Visva Bharati was a home of learning which would become the meeting place for global cultures.
Today, how close are the university and the town to Tagore’s vision?
It is unfortunate that today we are nowhere close to that vision. Today, the university has become a place which only provides degrees and not Tagore’s idea of education. The way of ashram life and the concept of Santiniketan have lost their meaning with the passage of time.
It is difficult to bring back Tagore’s vision in the present-day education system and the environment of Santiniketan. We need to have a massive overhaul to imbibe his vision among the students and the surroundings.
However, with this recognition, Santiniketan will definitely get a facelift. The historic residences and bhavans inside the Visva Bharati University must be protected. The legacy of Tagore and his teachings must continue.
