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 changed into made well-known with the aid of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, whose imaginative and prescient have become 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 referred to as Bhubandanga (named after Bhuban Dakota, a neighborhood dacoit) and owned by the Tagore own 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 turned into that getting to know in a natural environment could be greater enjoyable and fruitful. After he obtained the Nobel Prize(1913), the college was expanded into a university. Many world-famous teachers have turn 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 known as Vichittra and an artwork gallery by using the call of Nandan. Within the Uttarayana complicated, there are 5 abodes of Tagore-Udayana, Konarka, Shamali, Punassha, and Udichi. Besides, 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, some different institutions have come up here-Siksha Satra, Silpa Sadana, Palli Siksha Bhavana, Santosh Pathshala, and many others.
PLACES AROUND SANTINIKETAN:
Just 9 km far from Santiniketan, on the river Kopai, is Kankalitala, considered one of the sacred Saktipithas. In the Ballavpur Forest, four km far away from Santiniketan is Deer Park. Nearby is Nono or famous for its Bakranath Shiva Temple and the sulfurous warm springs. Other locations close by are Tarapith, Lavpur-Fullara, Samantha-Nandesawari, Nalhati, and Massanjore.
FAIRS & FESTIVALS:
Rabindra Janmotsav is celebrated in mid-April to mark the Bengali New Year and as well 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 the duration of August/September. Poush Utsav, a truthful held at Santiniketan and Visva Bharati from 7th to ninth Poush (December), is determined to mark its foundation day. Tribal sports activities, dances, and folks 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 by way of open-air range packages.
HOW TO REACH:
- BY ROAD – Regular buses frequently ply at the Calcutta-Santiniketan path covering a distance of 211 km.
- BY RAIL – The nearest railway station to Santiniketan in Bolpur, which is connected to Calcutta. From Bolpur, it is easy to genuinely take a cycle rickshaw to cover the 2 km distance to Santiniketan.
- BY AIR – The nearest airport is in Calcutta.
WHERE TO STAY:
There are traveler lodges and traveler cottages run with the aid of the West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation. Visva Bharati runs a guesthouse. There are teenagers hostels at Bolpur and Baleswar. There are also non-public hotels at Bolpur.
