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 The Visvabharti University is at Shantiniketan,
three km from Bolpur. The brilliant and prolific poet, writer and nationalist Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) founded a school here in 1901. It later
developed into a university with emphasis on humanity's relationship with
nature-many classes are conducted in the open air. Tagore went on to win the
Nobel Prize in 1913 and is credited with introducing India's historical and
cultural greatness to the modern world. In 1915 Tagore was awarded a knighthood
by the British but he surrendered it in 1919 as a protest against the Amritsar
massacre.
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There are colleges of science, teacher training, Hindi,
Sino-Indian studies, arts and crafts, and music and dance. Tagore called the
place 'the cargo of my life's best treasure', but in the late 1990s he'd
probably be saddened by the way the university has become much like any other in
India. Lectures are accused of nepotism, exam papers are leaked and graduates go
for a job with multinationals rather than with rural regeneration programmes as
Tagore intended. Rich Bengalis are now building holiday homes in the area.
Although it's still a very peaceful place, there's little in visiting unless you
have a specific interest in Tagore.
There's a museum and art gallery within the Uttarayan complex
where Tagore lived. The university is open to visitors in the afternoons but
closed on Wednesday, the day the university was founded.
Four km away is Sriniketan, started as a project to
revitalise traditional crafts, such as kantha embroidery, weaving, batik and
pottery. |
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