An emerald set in the undulating red clay of the Birbhum district of West Bengal, Vishwabharati, Rabindranath’s renowned institution, universally synonymous with India’s heritage, seems an isolated Shangri-La, in the present materialistic world of ever increasing cynicism. Has his original ideology withstood the test of time and if so, what is its significance today?
Since the very beginning of his childhood, Tagore had suffered due to the unimaginative, constrictive, and rigid educational system of his times. So he was determined that his own children would not be subjected to a similar torture. Emulating the forest ashrams of yore, Tagore conceived and established the Brahmacharya Vidyalaya at Kutir Bari on the sprawling family estate at Santiniketan, in 1901. Far away from the urban confines of Calcutta, the literary genius wanted his students to imbibe a Wordsworthian education, learning at the feet of Mother Nature herself. He began with five students including his own son, Rothi. The poet taught them the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Soon, his wife found she was running a full fledged ashram.
Badly in need of funds for his ashram, Tagore sought donations from abroad but was dismayed to encounter the cool British snub. This was fallout of his strong denouncements against British imperialistic attitude as well as his relinquishment of the Nobel Prize and knighthood. Yet the poet in him keenly empathized with the pain of war-torn Europe. He went there and met other philanthropists who sympathised with his cause. Thus was born, Vishwabharati, a nest in the universe, that would shelter a variety of ideologies without any clash. This concept was welcomed, encouraged and supported especially by philanthropists and intellectuals from America. In 1918, the Vidyalaya expanded into the Vishwabharati University.
Tagore’s conception was a hub that connected ancient eastern philosophies and art with western ideologies and scientific thought. Santiniketan turned into a worldwide centre of enriching intercourse and experiences between exponents of all sorts. All those aspiring to work, learn, and converse in a liberal, versatile, and enlightened environment flocked to this university. Its mission reflected in its motto: ‘Yatra Viswam Bhavataya Ek Nidam’ (Where The Whole World Finds Shelter).
After India was freed from the British yoke, Vishwabharati attained the status of a central government institution. The honour of being its first chancellor was bestowed on the then Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Ever since this designation has been held by all erstwhile prime ministers of India.
Today the university encompasses several colleges and a school. PathuBhavan is for schooling from nursery to class XII. Vidya Bhavan (Humanities college), Shikha Bhavan (Science College), Sangeet Bhavan (Music college), Kala Bhavan (Fine Arts college) offer courses for diploma, undergraduate, and postgraduate degrees and research facilities. Sriniketan is the agricultural college that also supports the development of small scale and cottege industries among the rural and tribal communities of the region. The academic community, both faculty and students, is entirely residential at Vishwabharati and the university is self sufficient so far as its medical, banking, postal, and shopping facilities are concerned.
In keeping with the ashram’s ambience certain norms are strictly adhered to and all visitors are requested to respect them. Simplicity in life style is a must. Students are not permitted expensive belongings, nor can they sport extravagant jewellery. Usually flowers are used as ornaments. School children wear hand-woven kurta-pyjamas, skirt-tops, or sarees in ochre yellow and white. Though there is no dress code for the seniors, everybody , teachers included, dress in comfortable kurtas, jeans, and sarees. The stylish seek to express aesthetic harmony through textile colours and natural objects both in their garments and decor.
Everybody eats in communal dining halls that serve simple, nutritious, healthy food. Hostels and kitchens are spick and span, and undergo regular inspections. The ashram security unit ensures that no motorised vehicles can enter the ashram and that nobody can indulge in smoking, consuming alcohol, or behave in an objectionable manner inside the premises.
To avoid religious factionalism, no religious festivals are celebrated in the ashram. Classes are held under the green canopy of mango or sal trees and if it rains, the students take a rain check to enjoy the bounty of Nature. Belief in an all-pervasive Supreme Being is encouraged and the daily prayer service is a beautiful amalgamation of recitals from the ancient Vedas and Tagore’s own musical offerings to God.
Nature festivals are a part of Santiniketan life. The session begins in July, commencing with Barsha Mangal, the rain festival. Singers, dancers, and musicians perform in tune with Tagore’s lyrics to the rainy season. This is followed by frantic rehearsals for the drama contest. Each Bhavan presents its repertoire, selections from Shaw, Shakespeare, Russian drama, Sanskrit plays, and Tagore’s own works. The entire stage decor, costumes, sometimes masks, special effects, lighting created by the students is professional and aesthetic enough to be comparable to international standards. November brings Nandan Mela. Held to mark Nandlal Bose’s birth anniversary, Kala Bhavan students exhibit and sell handicrafts, jewellery, and stationary made from clay, fibres, lentils, wood, metal, along with woven textiles, sketches, paintings, sculptures, and prints at throw away prices. Winter heralds Poush Mela, wherein gather handicraft specialists from all over the country displaying their wares. Musical soirees by renowned folk singers, classical and Tagorean artists is a part of this mela. A highlight is the Baul convention, a gathering of the baul singers. This is an enjoyably educative experience to both the uninitiated and others. It is not unusual to rub shoulders with stalwarts such as the Buddhadev Guha, Mrinal Sen, the late Satyajit Ray, Sandeep Ray, M.F. Hussain and the likes.
The piece-de-resistance is the Spring festival. The day starts with an early morning procession dance, participated by representatives from all segments of the student body: the nursery babes to the 40-year-old ex-students, that celebrates the joys of spring and calls out to open all doors to her beauty. This is followed by recitals, songs and more dances dedicated to the season staged in the Amra Kunj (Mango garden). The rest of the day is spent showering friends and acquaintances with gulal and flower petals. Students seek blessings of their teachers by marking their feet with coloured powder. The festival culminates in a three-hour dance drama held on an open stage with a backdrop of tall trees with audience seated on a green slope under the full moon’s light. The only applause deemed suitable is the chanting of ‘Sadhu sadhu’. Hand clapping is considered a crudity.
Along with all these activities academics go on at their own pace with examinations appearing at the right times. The students of this unique university are, as a matter of course, exposed to a sophisticated academic, culturally rich, artistic milieu in the form of their faculty. Their academic pursuits are cognizant with the enriching expertise of the very best in the field. Their perceptions are developed and they are encouraged to pursue their individual creative aptitude under the tutelage and guidance of renowned craftsmen of international stature. Being residential the student-teacher cohesion and rapport is very strong and spills from the classrooms to playing fields, dining halls, and even teachers’ homes. Informality is the key as the teachers are addressed with their names with a ‘da’ or ‘di’ appended to it. The school has a home-room-system with each teacher playing a surrogate parent to a specific student group through their school years. It heartening to watch students surrounding a teacher demanding a puri-sabji or icecream treat at his home! Channelising values or imparting life values or personality guidance is that much more effective in this environment. The ideals of ashram life namely respect for self and others, appreciation of hard labour, simple living and high thinking, creativity, tolerance for the different, national pride, self confidence and conviction of principles, positive thinking and so much more is imbibed as a matter of routine not only through adages but also by personal precedents.
Far from the madding crowd, Santiniketan could seem an antithesis and its ideology archaic is this world of cut throat rat race. Yet the more one stays within these sylvan surroundings the more one merges into its beauty, harmony, music, and serenity till its finger touches the very soul. The external contentment internalises, tensions and cares retract, and a calm reigns within. A balance is struck and one feels grounded amidst the turmoil. There is a sense of homecoming. This is the essence we seek all our lives and cannot find. Santiniketan fulfils a need, cradles us in her arms, this abode of peace, an oasis in a land parched of sanity.
In the depths of our core a chord responds to Santiniketan’s tender caress and Tagore has the last say:
“Far we may go but never will we be distant from Santiniketan.
The lutes of our hearts are strung to her sweet music.
Her symphony binds us forever into the fraternity of Nature.”
Copyright@Sutapa Basu. All rights reserved
