Santiniketan is a small metropolis near Bolpur within the Birbhum district of West Bengal, India, approximately one hundred eighty kilometers north of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta). It became well-known with the aid of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, whose imagination and prescientity have made it a university metropolis (Visva-Bharati University) that draws hundreds of visitors every 12 months. Santiniketan is likewise a traveler appeal because Rabindranath wrote many of his literary classics here, and his house is an area of historical importance.
Santiniketan was formerly called Bhubandanga (named after Bhuban Dakota, a neighborhood dacoit) and was owned by the Tagore family. Rabindranath’s father, Maharshi Debendranath Tagore, found it very nonviolent and renamed it Santiniketan. This means that dwelling house (Niketan) of peace (Shanti). It became right here that Rabindranath Tagore began Patha Bhavana, the faculty of his ideas, whose valuable premise was that getting to know in a natural environment could be more enjoyable and fruitful. After he obtained the Nobel Prize(1913), the college was expanded into a university. Many world-famous teachers have turned out to be associated with it. Indira Gandhi, Satyajit Ray, and Amartya Sen are amongst its more illustrious college students.
TOURIST ATTRACTIONS:
There are numerous establishments under the Visva Bharati-Patha Bhavan, Uttar Shiksha Sadana, Siksha Bhavan, Vidya Bhavan, Vinay Bhavan, Kala Bhavan, Sangeet Bhavan, and Rabindra Bhavan, China Bhavan, Hindi Bhavan, etc. There is a museum called Vichittra and an artwork gallery using the call of Nandan. Within the Uttarayana complicated, there are five abodes Ta:gore-Udayana, Konarka, Shamali, Punassha, and Udichi. Chatila, Upasana Mandir, and Santiniketan Bari are some of the oldest sanctums. In the 12 months of 1922, Rabindranath began a rural reconstruction center at Sriniketan, 3 km from Santiniketan. Later, different institutions came up here: Siksha Satra, Silpa Sadana, Palli Siksha Bhavana, Santosh Pathshala, and many others.
PLACES AROUND SANTINIKETAN:
Just 9 km from Santiniketan, on the river Kopai, is Kankalitala, considered one of the sacred Saktipithas. Four km away in the Ballavpur Forest is Deer Park. Nearby is Nono, famous for its Bakranath Shiva Temple and sulfurous warm springs. Other locations nearby are Tarapith, Lavpur-Fullara, Samantha-Nandesawari, Nalhati, and Massanjore.
FAIRS & FESTIVALS:
Rabindra Janmotsav is celebrated mid-April to mark the Bengali New Year and Tagore’s anniversary. Briksharopan, the festival of planting saplings, and Halakarshan, the festival of plowing the fields, are celebrated on the 22nd and 23rd day of Sravana (August). Varshamangal, the pageant of rains, is widely known for its use/September. Poush Utsav is determined to mark its foundation day, a truth held at Santiniketan and Visva Bharati from the 7th to the ninth of Poush (December). Tribal sports activities, dances, and folk songs, consisting of songs with the aid of Bauls-the wandering minstrels of Bengal- are a part of the honesty and festivities. Mahotsav is widely known on the eleventh of Magha (January) to mark the anniversary of Brahmo Samaj. Vasanta Utsav is held to mark Holi. The college students dance and sing their approaches through Amrakunja, observed through open-air range packages.
HOW TO REACH:
- BY ROAD – Regular buses frequently ply the Calcutta-Santiniketan path, covering a distance of 211 km.
- BY RAIL—The nearest railway station to Santiniketan is Bolpur, which is connected to Calcutta. From Bolpur, it is easy to take a cycle rickshaw to cover the 2 km distance to Santiniketan.
- BY AIR – The nearest airport is in Calcutta.
WHERE TO STAY:
Traveler lodges and cottages are run with the aid of the West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation. Visva Bharati runs a guesthouse. Teenager hostels are located at Bolpur and Baleswar, and non-public hotels are also located at Bolpur.
