Shantiniketan

Rabindranath Tagore's father founded an ashram here, and Tagore opened a school in 1901 on principles he set against the colonial system: small classes held outdoors under trees, an emphasis on art, music and craft alongside academic work, and no walls between the school and its rural surroundings. It grew into Visva-Bharati, a university, in 1921. UNESCO inscribed it in 2023. The campus holds Tagore's houses, the Kala Bhavana art school whose murals and sculpture include work by Nandalal Bose and Ramkinkar Baij, and the Chhatimtala meditation ground. The Sonajhuri hat, a Saturday craft market in a grove, draws Bengali visitors.

History

In 1863 Debendranath Tagore took a permanent lease of 20 acres with two chhatim trees from Bhuban Mohan Sinha, the talukdar of Raipur, for five rupees a year, built a guest house and named it Santiniketan, the abode of peace. A gang of dacoits based in nearby Bhubandanga, whose leader in the end surrendered to him, went on to help develop the area, and he built a Brahmo prayer hall of 60 by 30 feet, inspired by the Crystal Palace, with a tiled roof, a white marble floor and walls of glass. Rabindranath Tagore first came in February 1873, aged 12; in 1888 his father gave the whole property in trust for a Brahmavidyalaya, in 1901 Rabindranath started a school, known as Patha Bhavana from 1925, and in 1921 he founded Visva-Bharati, declared a central university in 1951. In 2023 Santiniketan became a World Heritage Site (Wikipedia, Santiniketan).

What's there

• The open-air classes - teaching still held under the trees on the campus.
• Tagore's houses - the buildings he lived and wrote in, kept as a museum.
• Kala Bhavana - the art school with murals and outdoor sculpture.
• Sonajhuri hat - the Saturday craft market in the sal grove.

When to go

October to March; Poush Mela in December and Basanta Utsav at Holi are the two great festivals and fill the town. Bengal summers are severe.

Good to know

This is a working university and much of the campus is restricted to visitors, particularly during term. Photography is limited in places. The town of Bolpur outside is ordinary and traffic congested.

Nearby

Bolpur lies alongside; Bishnupur is southwest.

Key facts