Santiniketan (Bangla: শান্তিনিকেতন
Shantiniketôn) is a small town near Bolpur
in the
Birbhum
district of West Bengal
, India
,
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. Santiniketan is also a
tourist attraction because Rabindranath wrote many of his literary
classics here, and his house is a place of historical
importance.
History
Santiniketan was previously called Bhubandanga (named after Bhuban
Dakat, a local dacoit), and owned by the
Tagore family. Rabindranath's father, Maharshi
Debendranath Tagore, found it
very peaceful and renamed it Santiniketan, which means abode
(
niketan) of peace (
shanti). It was here that
Rabindranath Tagore started
Patha
Bhavana, the school of his ideals, whose central premise was
that learning in a natural environment would be more enjoyable and
fruitful. After he received the
Nobel
Prize(1913), the school was expanded into a university in 1921,
but in 1951, it became one of the central universities of India.
Many world famous teachers have become associated with it.
Indira Gandhi,
Satyajit Ray,
Abdul
Ghani Khan,
Jahar Dasguptaand
Nobel Laureate
Amartya Sen are among its
more illustrious students,
Bhavana, the art college of Santiniketan, is still considered one
of the best art colleges in the world. Other institutions here
include Vidya Bhavana; the Institute of Humanities, Shiksha
Bhavana; the Institute of Science, Sangit Bhavana; Institute of
Dance, Drama and Music, Vinaya Bhavana; Institute of Education,
Rabindra Bhavana, Institute of Tagore Studies and Research,
Palli-Samgathana Vibhaga; Institute of Rural Reconstruction, and
Palli Shiksha Bhavana; Institute of Agricultural Sciences. There
are also other centres, affiliated to major institutions such as
Nippon Bhavana, the Indira Gandhi Centre for National Integration,
Rural Extension Centre, Silpa Sadana; Centre for Rural Craft,
Technology and Design, Palli-Charcha Kendra; Centre for Social
Studies and Rural Development, Centre for Biotechnology, Centre for
Mathematics Education, Centre for Environmental Studies, Computer
Centre and Indira Gandhi Centre for National Integration. As well
as Patha-Bhavana, there are two schools for kindergarten level
education; Mrinalini Ananda Pathsala, Santosh Pathsala; a school
for primary and secondary education known as Shiksha Satra, and a
school of higher secondary education known as Uttar-Shiksha
Sadana.
Santiniketan is also home to
Amartya
Sen, the 1998 Nobel Prize winner in
Economics.
Geography
Santiniketan is located at . It has an average elevation of
56
metres (187
feet).
Major events
Numerous social and cultural events taking place through out the
year, have become part and parcel of Santiniketan.These include -
Basanta Utsav, Barsha Mangal, Sharodutsav, Nandan Mela,
Poush Mela, Magh Mela, Rabindra Jayanti to name a
few.Of these, the
Poush Mela deserves special mention,
this being a major tourist attraction.It is a 3-day fair (Bengali,
mela means a fair ),starting on the seventh day of the
Bengali month
Poush(usually, last week of December).It
fetches not just tourists, but also artisans, folk singers,
dancers, and the traditional
Baul from the
neighbourhood.
Recent developments
Santiniketan has changed considerably since the days of Tagore.
Although
Visva-Bharati
University still plays an active role, Santiniketan has become
a haven for India's
nouveau riche, and
large houses have been built on what used to be barren,
khoai (desert) and
condominiums are becoming commonplace. But
travel beyond the outskirts of the ever-expanding "small town" and
one is soon back in village India.
The idyllic existence envisioned by Tagore in Santiniketan is
rapidly disappearing, but it still maintains a "college town" feel,
with many large shade-covered open spaces on campus where students
can congregate. The student population remains international in
origin, as does the faculty, and some of the best thinkers and
intellectuals in India remember their college life in Santiniketan
with fondness.
References
- Falling Rain Genomics, Inc - Santiniketan
See also
External links
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