Abode of Peace...Santiniketan

I have visited Calcutta innumerable times before marriage but could never plan a visit to Santiniketan. So after marriage during one of our visit to Calcutta, when my husband suggested of going to Santiniketan, I at once agreed as I always wanted to visit this place. My husband’s cousin Chumki was studying then in Santiniketan. He wanted to meet her and introduce me to her as she could not attend our marriage.

Santiniketan is a small town near Bolpur in the Birbhum district of West Bengal, India, and approximately 180 kilometres north of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta). It was made famous by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, whose vision became what is now a university town ( Visva-Bharati University ) that attracts thousands of visitors each year.

To reach Santiniketan, we took the Shantiniketan Express at 10.10am from Howrah station,Calcutta to Bolpur. From Bolpur we took a rickshaw. It will hardly take you 15-20mins depending on the traffic. The train journey takes nearly 2hrs 15mins. Santiniketan is a tourist attraction also because Rabindranath lived here and penned many of his literary classics (namely Tagore songs, poems, novels etc.) and his home is a place of historical importance. It was earlier called Bhubandanga (named after Bhuban Dakat, a local dacoit), and was owned by the Tagore family. In 1862, Maharshi Devendranath Tagore, while on a boat journey to Raipur, came across a landscape with red soil and meadows of lush green paddy fields. Rows of chhatim trees and date palms charmed him. He stopped to look, decided to plant more saplings and built a small house. He called his home Santiniketan (abode of peace). Santiniketan became a spiritual centre where people from all religions were invited to join for meditation and prayers. He founded an 'Ashram' here in 1863 and became the initiator of the Brahmo Samaj.

Later on December 22nd 1901, Devendranath's son, Rabindranath Tagore started a school at Santiniketan named Brahmachary Asrama modelled on the lines of the ancient gurukul system. After he received the Nobel Prize which enhanced not only the pride of India but also the Prestige of Santiniketan the school was expanded into a university. It was renamed Visva Bharati, it's symbolic meaning being defined by Tagore as "where the world makes a home in a nest". A residential university with an international student body, hostels, and extensive grounds, it includes colleges for fine arts and crafts, Sino-Indian studies, music and dance, research in Asian languages, teacher training, technology, and postgraduate studies and research. Rabindra-Sadana is the university's museum and academy for the study of Tagore. The town also contains Udayana, Tagore's residence. Another Nobel laureate, Amartya Sen, studied at Shantiniketan, as did Satyajit Ray and Indira Gandhi.

At nearby Sriniketan is an institution founded in 1922 by Tagore and an associate that is concerned with rural reconstruction, health, social welfare, and the revival of ancient arts and handicrafts. Many outstanding Indian painters have studied there.

The primary aim of Tagore was to establish an ideal institution , an academy of excellence, unique in its form and functionality. He wanted the pupils to learn to live their lives ascetically and become educated in the same way. So he desired for the overall development of the students amidst close contact with nature. Here he wanted to evolve a beautiful and friendly relationship between the students and their teachers. Classes were to be held in open air under the shades of the trees. His objective was an all-round upliftement of the personality of the students.

The students used to wake up at dawn,sweep their rooms, arrange their beds and then go out for physical exercise. On return they used to have their bath and then congregate for prayer. The classes are used to start after prayers. English, Bengali, Mathematics, Sanskrit, History, Geography and Science were the subjects taught in the classes. Simultaneously extra-curricular activities such as singing, drawing, carpentry, weaving, bookbinding and other vocational crafts were parts of the daily schedules. To enable students to inculcate a taste for literature, weekly literary meetings were arranged. In these meetings, the students were called upon to read out their own writings. Playing games was a compulsory activity , so too was nature study.Then there were such community oriented activities as repair of roads, gardening and helping the poor. This way through which Tagore sought to build up the spirit of co-operation and ambience of camaradice among his students without neglecting their formal education anyway.

At Tagore's behest, the annual Paus utsav became an important cultural event where students and teachers of his school took an active part. Paus Mela, therefore, becomes a meeting ground for urban people and rural folk. Rural artisans bring their wares like batik printed materials, the most famous Santiniketan Leather bags, earthen wares, paintings, etc, to the fair while urban relatives set up stalls so that rural people could buy the new industrially produced goods that was revolutionizing life in the cities. While it has not discarded its traditional value systems the educational system founded by Tagore thus proves to have also kept pace and evolved with changing times.

I purchased few purse's for gifts and myself and a terricota "hanging bell". The purse and the bell is so dear to me that when I shifted to Kuwait, I brought it with me.

Festivals Celebrated in Shantiniketan :

February celebrates Maghotsava, which marks the anniversary of the Brahmo Samaj and the Founding of Shriniketan.
March witnesses the celebration of Vasanta Utsava, which coincides with Holi.
Varsha Mangagal is celebrated in July-August. Cultural shows are held and a tree planting ceremony is preceded by Halokarshan (ploughing).
An autumnal festival - Sharadotsava - of song and dance before the University closes for the Puja holidays is celebrated in October-November.
The Calendar year comes to a close in December with the celebration of Paush Utsava. A colourful fair marks the foundation day. Tribal dances and songs are a part of the fair. Tribal crafts in silver and Dhokra metalware are popular with visitors.

Connections to Santiniketan:

From Calcutta Shantiniketan is 136 kms:

By Rail: By train from Howrah to Bolpur. Shantiniketan is 2 kms from Bolpur by cycle rickshaw.

By Road: By road it is 211 km from Calcutta. Direct bus service.

For more information on Santiniketan, can check

 http://www.wb.nic.in/westbg/shanti.html

For train information to Santiniketan, can check
http://indiarailinfo.com/train/1512/1/1008
http://indiarailinfo.com/train/1513/1008/1