Standing there one
feels the same what Maharshi Devendranath Tagore would have felt because they
say ‘time cannot ever erode the serenity’. Though it has expanded far more than
the original 18 bighas, it has retained the original rustic charm of the Bengal
countryside. It doesn’t seem very hard to fathom the force behind the powerful
Tagorean poems. Such is a feeling at Shantiniketan, a small hamlet 160
kilometres from the Kolkata famous for Rabindranath Tagore and Viswa Bharati
University.
It was a rainy August Sunday morning when we
started off to Shantiniketan by the Ganadevta Express from the Howrah station,
the terminus point for the Eastern and the East Coast Railway. Train is
definitely the best mode to reach Bolpur, which is the gateway town to
Shantiniketan, but travelling in a general compartment sometimes gets
uncomfortable due to the huge rush of people, especially on weekends. It took
us less than three hours to reach Bolpur, and half an hour more to reach the
destination by cycle rickshaw, which regularly ply within the town. Though
there is an option of travelling within the campus, we chose walking over the
former as it is always more enthralling. There are a number of places of
interest within the campus, which makes it better to have a guide explaining
the things.
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| On the way to the Ashram Campus |
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| Within the Ashrama Campus |
Shantiniketan owes its
origin to Devendranath Tagore, who while travelling to Raipur, on the way
stopped under two chhatim trees for
meditation. The effect of the surrounding was such that it propelled his desire
to build an ashram at that place. After getting land from the Sinha zamindari, the first building was
constructed by Maharshi Devendranath and christened as Shantiniketan which translates to “abode of peace”. This has now
been converted into a museum displaying the objects belonging to the Tagore
Family. This is within the Ashrama premises, which is accessible only after the
open-air classes, the trademark of the Shantiniketan, get over at one in the
noon. Adjacent to it can be seen the Prayer Hall, or the Kanch Mandir, made of coloured Belgium glass and a marvel on its
own.
On proceeding further,
we saw the Chhatimtala, named after
the chhatim tree under which Devendranath
had meditated. Though the original tree has withered away, the monument instils
a feeling of fascination within the mind of the traveller. A branch of the tree
containing seven leaves, is still given to the students graduating from the
university along with the certificate, as a symbol of its significance in the
history of Shantiniketan.
Within the Ashrama campus,
the main attractions are the stone sculptures by the world famous sculptor Ram
KinkarBaij, who acted as a professor in the Fine Arts division at
Shantiniketan. The sculptures are seen to have been largely inspired by the
tribal culture of the Eastern India. The other noteworthy attraction within the
campus is the Black House, named on the beautiful outer black carvings on the
wall. The Kala Bhavana, or the music and the dance section is accessible during
the class hours, for the visitors to get a feeling of the dance on the
melodious Robindro Sangeet. At a moment Shristi was like, she is going to
settle down here leaving legal studies at Kolkata. Such can be the effect of
the experience on an art aficionado. A walk through the greenery of the campus,
though a bit taxing on the legs, is breath-taking and equally peaceful and
shouldn’t be missed out, especially in the rain
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| The Black House within the campus |
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| Sculpture of Santhali Family by Ram Kinkar Baij |
Opposite to the Ashrama
is the Uttarayana complex, within which located is the RabindraBhawan, the
museum that houses the Nobel Prize awarded to the poet in 1913, along with the
citation. It an unfortunate fact that the original medallion was stolen a few
years back for which, only a replica is on the display at present. The other
displays include the objects of daily life used by Tagore and the letters
exchanged between him and Mrinalini Devi, his wife. The Uttarayana complex also
houses the car that was used by Tagore during his journeys, and is an
attraction for the public.
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| House of Nobel laureate Amartya Sen |
A three kilometre walk
from the Uttarayana takes us to Srijani Shilpagram, showcasing the rich
cultural traditions of the nine states of the Eastern India. This provides a
rare peek into the vanishing traditions of the eastern part of the country. We
had a chance to enjoy a performance by a Baul singer, one of the specialities
of the Bengali culture at Shantiniketan.
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| Within the Srijani Shilpagram |
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| A rural Bengali House |
Whereas the world
renowned Vishva Bharati University itself is the cynosure of tourist
attraction, another thing that is capable of charming people is the beautiful
terracotta crafts. One can be easily tempted by the clay models and the famous Batik work being sold on the periphery
of the tranquil campus. The University is a hub of art and the beauty of the
place captivated us in such a way that we walked continuously for about 7 hours
surviving only on water. Pupils dancing on melodious Rabindra Sangeet and
stretching their colourful imagination on paper was a rare sight for us. The
yellow attire of the pupils depicted a very cheerful and celebrating ambience
of the place.
Our discovery of the
place was not yet over when we realised that it was time to leave and return
back to the old world toil. On our way back, we had to take the Shahid Express
to reach Kolkata. Intimidated seeing the overfilled compartments, we mistakenly
hopped into the ladies’ compartment, but thankfully for Shristi’s Bangla
skills, there wasn’t a great issue with the policemen before I got into another
compartment the next station. For travellers wishing to explore the land of
Tagore, suggestion from our side is to plan for a night stay at Shantiniketan,
because of the fact that a day is not enough to explore every corner of the
place, the case with us being that we missed Sriniketan and the experience of
Khowai river, on the banks of Tagore penned down a number of poems, a few of
which forms the Gitanjali.
