[rev_slider alias=”Homepage-Slider”][/rev_slider]
Introducing Santiniketan (also spelled as Shantiniketan, Bengali: শান্তিনিকেতন), Birbhum, West Bengal, is not only extraordinarily important but also challenging task because its creator, Rabindranath Tagore, had a complex personality and his creativity manifested itself in ever-changing and endless forms till the end of his life. Moving beyond literature, painting and education, he was a pioneer in rural reconstruction; he built up a school and Visva-Bharati University of a new kind at Santiniketan on the basis of his own vision and ideals.
While Indian culture was fundamental to that education, so was its wide acceptance of the outer world. Emphasis on Indian culture was strong in early Santiniketan, modeled on the forest schools of old, a hermitage. The school was started at the inception of the Swadeshi Movement.; it was turned into Santiniketan, Visva-Bharati, at the end of the first World War with a determination to build friendships with nations despite the prevalent Non-Cooperation. Tagore declared the aim of Visva-Bharati as ‘We are of the faith that Truth is one and undivided, though diverse may be the ways which lead us to it. Though the separate paths of pilgrims from different lands arrive at the same stride of truth,. This we certainly know. Knowledge flows in two streams: from the East and from the West. In their unity is perceived the oneness of Truth that pervades and sustains the entire universe. This we avow. In the realization of this oneness of Truth lies mighty gain, perfect peace and profound good of Man. This is what we truly believe. So unto this, Visva-Bharati, we render our homage by weaving garlands with flowers of learning gathered from all quarters of the earth. To all devotees of Truth, both from the West and from the East, we extend our hand with love.’ more…
