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Santiniketan and Sriniketan constituted an institution dedicated to the service of humanity and the enlightenment of young minds. Over three generations Maharshi Debendranath Tagore, Gurudeva Rabindranath Tagore, and Kabiputra Rathindranath Tagore built the place up according to a conscious and intelligent design, so that the buildings, the murals, the statues, the fences, the fields, the gardens, the flowers, the trees, the open spaces, the eroded lands (khoai), the water courses and the very skies have come to form one integrated whole. The place still retains its indescribable beauty and sanctity.
In this environment there sprang up over a century a remarkable educational institution named Visva-Bharati, or the universal place of learning. Situated in and around the Ashrama, the institution sombrely recalls the presence of the Maharshi and joyfully breathes the spirit of our Gurudeva. The large statues by Ramkinkar Baij and his students have also integrated the Buddha and the Mahatma as the presiding deities of the place. To the north lies the Rabindra-Bhavana, or the Uttarayana Complex, which commemorates the life and work of the founder of Visva-Bharati. And within the Ashrma lie the holy Chhatimtala, the original Santiniketan Griha, and the glass-made Brahma Mandir, all major places of pilgrimage.
The University named Visva-Bharati evolved in 1921 out of the Brahma Vidyalaya founded by Gurudeva in 1901. It has an important extension in Sriniketan which is dedicated to the uplift of the Indian village community and the tribals. As an educational institution, the place is unique and there are no parallels in the world. This is because of two features that Gurudeva built into complex. First of all, no other institution in the world offers a complete scheme of education starting from nursery and ending with doctoral research. Sometimes sarcastically referred to as ‘KG to PG’, this in fact is our pride. The other unique feature is the process of learning in the open air, under the mango trees of the Ashrama. Nowhere else in the world will you come across the same sight.
There are some other notable features. One is the emphasis on service to the poor, the downtrodden and the deprived. Another is the joyful integration of music, fine arts, festivals and fairs into the learning process. Along with all these, there are non-denominational religious services every morning at school, every week in Brahma Mandir, and the remarkable services on the days of the Bengali New Year, the Birthday of the Poet, the Day of Gurudeva’s Great Departure and above all the Initiation Day of the Maharshi which coincides with the Poush Mela, the largest cultural festival in the country. In addition, there is the inimitable Spring Festival, and the purely rural fair at Sriniketan in late winter (Magh Mela).
Gurudeva intended Santiniketan to be a place ‘where the world becomes one nest’. It was to be a meeting place of the languages and cultures of India, a repository
of Eastern learning, and a dynamic centre of India’s understanding and absorption of the West’s sciences and culture. It is still very much an international place where students, scholars, intellectuals, pilgrims and tourists from East and West and from all over India gather and mingle amidst indescribable natural beauty and artistic excellence.
So it was in the past. So it shall be.
It is our sacred task to preserve, restore and augment this natural, cultural and intellectual heritage of humanity.
The mantra in our hearts is:
Satyātma
Prāṇārāmam
Mana Ānandam
That is:
Solace to the Soul
Verity of self
Thou art to me
The joy of my heart
Rajat Kanta Ray
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