Visva-Bharati University
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| Visva Bharati University বিশ্বভারতী বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় |
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| Motto: | Yatra visvam bhavatyekanidam |
| Motto in English: | Where the world makes a home in a single nest |
| Established: | 1863: Brahmacharya Ashram 1901: Patha Bhavana 1921: Visva-Bharati 1951: Visva-Bharati University |
| Type: | Public |
| Chancellor: | Dr. Manmohan Singh |
| Vice-Chancellor: | Professor Rajat Kanta Ray |
| Faculty: | 515 |
| Students: | 6500 |
| Location: | Santiniketan, West Bengal, India |
| Campus: | Rural |
| Affiliations: | UGC |
| Website: | Official website |
Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan (বিশ্বভারতী বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়) is a Central University for research and teaching in India, located in the twin town of Santiniketan and Sriniketan Indian state of West Bengal. It was founded by Rabindranath Tagore who called it Visva Bharati, which means the communion of the world with India. In its initial years Tagore expressed his dissatisfaction with the word 'university', since university translates to Vishva-Vidyalaya, which is smaller in scope than Visva Bharati. Until independence it was a college. Soon after independence, in 1951 the institution was given the status of a university, and was renamed Visva Bharati University.
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[edit] History
The origins of the university date back to 1863 when Maharshi Debendranath Tagore, himself the zamindar of Silaidaha in East Bengal, bought a tract of land from the zamindar of Raipur,[1] which was a neighbouring village not too far from present day Santiniketan and set up an ashram at the spot that has now come to be called chatim tala at the heart of the town. The ashram was initially called Brahmacharya Ashram, which was later renamed Brahmacharya Vidyalaya. It was established with a view to encourage people from all walks of life to come to the spot and meditate. In 1901 his youngest son Rabindranath Tagore established a co-educational school inside the premises of the ashram.
From 1901 onwards, Tagore used the ashram to organise the Hindu Mela, which soon became a centre of nationalist activity. Through the early twentieth century the former zamindars of Surul, another neighbouring village, a few minutes by cycle from the Uttarayan Complex, contiuned to accede their lands and other properties to the ashram and the college that was being built on this spot. On 23 December 1921 Tagore formally started the college with proceeds from the prize money of the Nobel Prize he received in 1913 for the publication of his book of poems entitled Gitanjali. The college also became a centre of Brahmo learning in this period. It was granted full university status in May 1951 by the Government of independent India. The poet's eldest son, Rathindranath Tagore, became the first upacharya of the newly founded university. Another member of the Tagore family who performed the role of upacharya of the university was Indira Devi Chaudhurani, a niece of the poet.
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[edit] Administration
The high officials of the university include the Paridarshaka (Visitor), Acharya (Chancellor), and the Upacharya (Vice Chancellor). The Paridarshaka of this university is the President of India, while the Acharya is the Prime Minister of India. The university is run by its Karma Samity (Executive Council) which is chaired by the Acharya. The institutes and departments are located in both Santiniketan and Sriniketan.
[edit] Academics
The university is divided in to institutes, centres, departments and schools. The respective departments are included in the institutes. The university's various programmes dealing with its rich cultural heritage as well as art and dance education are funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India.
[edit] Institutes and Museums
- Cheena Bhavana (Institute of Chinese Language and Culture): It was founded in April 1937 with the great vision of Tagore. Tagore invited Prof. Tan Yunshan to serve as the first chairperson of Cheena Bhavana. International scholars such as Sylvain Levi and Jan Yun-hua worked at the Cheena-Bhavana on topics ranging from Sino-Indian studies, Buddhism and Chinese philosophy. Chiang Kai-shek and Zhou Enlai donated a large number of Chinese books to Cheena Bhavan, making it one of the most important libraries for classical Chinese studies in India.
- Darshan Bhavana (Institute of Philosophy): This department is also well-known for its research and teaching. Professor Jiten Mohanty has been associated with the work of this department.
- Kala Bhavana (Institute of Fine Arts): Arguably one of the most well known of all the departments of the university, it boasts of a extremely well known faculty and students' body. It is most well known for the spread of Bengal School of Art. Abanindranath Tagore, one of India's most eminent artists was one of its founders and chief patrons. Luminaries such as Gaganendranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose, Binode Bihari Mukherjee, Ramkinkar Baij, Dinkar Kaushik, K.G. Subramaniam and Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh have either taught or been students here.
- Palli Charcha Kendra (Sriniketan):
- Palli-Samgathana Vibhaga (PSV) (Institute of Rural Reconstruction) (Sriniketan):
- Palli Siksha Bhavana (Institute of Agricultural Science) (Sriniketan):
- Rabindra Bhavana (Institute of Tagore Studies and Research) (Uttarayan complex): Dr. Swapan Chakrabarty is the present Director of this institution.
- Sangeet Bhavana (Institute of Dance, Drama & Music): The eminent Rabindrasangeet singer, Kanika Bandyopadhyay was a Principal of Sangeet Bhavana.
- Siksha Bhavana (Institute of Science): This department houses the Centre for Biotechnolology
- Silpa Sadan (Sriniketan):
- Rural Extension Centre (Sriniketan):
- Vidya-Bhavana (Institute of Humanities & Social Sciences): This institute includes the humanities and social science departments, such as the Department of History.
- Vinaya Bhavana (Institute of Education):
Associated Institutes
- Bengal Institute of technology and Management (BITM, Santiniketan)
- IIIT, Kolkata
Schools
- Patha Bhavana: It is not only the oldest school of the university, but also the oldest institution on which the university was subsequently built. It is the university school of Santiniketan. Initially called Ashram Vidyalaya it was also later called Santiniketan Vidyalaya. It was started by Tagore in 1901. The distinctive features of this co-educational school include its open air classrooms and emphasis upon oriental learning. The school, being the nucleus of the university and the town is within the Santiniketan Ashram. The first four students of the school included Tagore's son Rathindranath Tagore, the first Upacharya of the university and Sudhi Ranjan Das, a Chief Justice of India. The future Nobel Laureate in economics, Amartya Sen completed his school education from this school. So did one of the first Indian Rhodes Scholars, Asim Datta. Supriyo Tagore, a descendant of Satyendranath Tagore, the eldest brother of the poet, was one of its most well known Principals. The eminent historians, Tapan Raychaudhuri and Ashin Dasgupta have periodically taken classes here.
- Mrinalini Ananda Pathsala: Founded in 1954 it was named after Rabindranath Tagore's wife Mrinalini Devi. It is a preparatory school for Patha Bhavana. It is housed in the Notun Bari and Dehali.
- Santosh Pathsala: Founded in 1988 it is kindergarten school named after Santosh Chandra Majumdar. It is a preparatory school for Shiksha Shastra.
- Shiksha Shatra: It was founded in 1924. It was later shifted to Sriniketan in 1927. The students of this school are from the neighbouring villages.
- Uttar Shiksha Sadana: This school was started in 1976.
[edit] University Library
The university's library is divided into the central library in Santiniketan and the Granthan Vibhaga in Calcutta.
[edit] Guest Houses
The university has two guest houses: Ratan Palli, named after the eminent early twentieth century industriialist and scion of Tata family, Sir Ratan Tata, and Purba Palli guest house.
[edit] Campus Life
The twin towns of Santiniketan and Sriniketan are surrounded by Bolpur to the north, Kheya to the south, Surul to the east and Prantik to the west. The towns and the university are situated not too far away from the river Kopai which flows to the south. This university is especially famous for its cultural festivals. These festivals are as follows:
- Basanta Utsab (Spring Festival): This festival is identified with doljatra or holi, which is held on the grounds in front of Patha Bhavana.
- Poush Mela (Winter Fair): It is the annual winter fair which is held every Poush which coincides with December on purono melar maath opposite the ashram and next to the Uttarayan complex, as well as on melar maath, which is next to the administrative block. At the end of the fair the university organises a display of fireworks and lights, a custom started by the poet himself.
[edit] Eminent Alumni
[edit] University
- Syed Mujtaba Ali, Novelist and littérateur
- Kanika Bandyopadhyay, Singer
- Prabhatmohan Bandyopadhyaya, Painter, poet, and social activist
- Gayatri Devi, Maharani of Jaipur
- Mahasweta Devi, Author
- Savitri Devi, Actress
- Indira Gandhi, Former Prime Minister of India
- Santidev Ghosh, Author, singer and dancer
- Somnath Hore, Principal, Government College of Art and Craft
- Dinkar Kaushik, Artist
- Suchitra Mitra, Singer
- Guru Kelu Nair, Kathakali maestro
- Ruma Pal, Judge, Supreme Court of India
- Satyajit Ray, Filmmaker and writer
- Amit Roy, Co-ordinator biotechnology
- Bhimrao Hasurkar Sastri, Musician
- Brajendra Nath Seal, Vice Chancellor of University of Mysore
- Tan Yun-shan, Sinologist
- Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh, Professor of Art, Baroda University
[edit] School (Patha Bhavana)
- Sudhi Ranjan Das, Ex-Chief Justice of India
- Ashim Datta, Professor, Jadavapur University
- Sisir Datta, ICS, Chief Secretary of West Bengal
- Amartya Sen, Master, Trinity College, Cambridge
- Rathindranath Tagore, first Upacharya, Visa-Bharati
[edit] Eminent Academics
- Charles Freer Andrews, Vice Principal, Westcott House Theological College, Cambridge
- Dr Probodh Chandra Bagchi, See list of upacharyas
- Ramkinkar Baij, Head of the Sculpture Department, Visva- Bharati University
- Sujit.K.Basu, See list of upacharyas
- Nandalal Bose, Principal, Kala Bhavan
- Tan Chung, Director, Cheena Bhavan
- Suranjan Das, Vice Chancellor, Calcutta University
- Amiya Kumar Dasgupta, Director, A.N. Sinha Institute, Patna
- Ashin Dasgupta, See list of upacharyas
- Leonard Knight Elmhirst, Founder of Dartington Hall
- Gourgopal Ghosh, Mohan Bagan football player
- Stella Kramrisch, Art historian
- Vincenc Lesny, Indologist and Iranian studies scholar
- Sylvain Levi, French Asianist
- P. C. Mahalanobis, Director, Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta
- Benode Behari Mukherjee, Curator, Nepal Government Museum, Kathmandu
- William Winstanley Pearson, Philanthropist
- Rajat Kanta Ray, See list of upacharyas
- K.G. Subramanyan, Professor Emeritus, Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan
- Abanindranath Tagore, Founder of Bengal School of Art
- Giuseppe Tucci, Italian Asianist
- Moriz Winternitz, Librarian, Indian Institute, Oxford
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ The most famous son of the zamindari family of Raipur was Lord Satyendra Prasanno Sinha, the first Indian governor of Orissa and Bihar (1919-1920). Other well-known members of the same family included his younger brother Major N.P. Sinha, an IMS officer, as well as one his six grandsons, Comrade Mohit Sen, a well known communist ideologue and writer of the latter half of twentieth century India.
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