Saturday, February 11, 2012

(Vol VII) Rabindranath in 1913-15

( This photo of Rabindranath was taken in 1915 when he was given the title of Knighthood by British Government which he ultimately discarded due to the inhuman massacre of Indians by British Govt. in Jallianwalabagh)
In 1912 Rabindranath could not attain the ceremony in Naba Barsha in Santiniketan as he  was in Atlantic Ocean during that time. But in the year 1913 he started the the ceremony of Naba Barsha with a prayer in the temple. The occasion of the first entrance in the building of Rathindranath at Surul took place on that day. Though he did not stay there for long and it was later converted to Sriniketan.
M.K.Gandhi started a movement against the South African Govt. for their differential treatment of the coloured people  On 3rd Dec 1913 Andrews and Pearson went there to help Gandhiji leaving Santiniketan.
After finishing his work there he went to England at the death news of his father on 31st March 1914. Andrews came back on 19th April, 1914, to Santiniketan and was welcomed by Rabindranath ceremoniously. Rabindranath also welcomed Nandalal Basu, the famous artist,  ceremoniously when he first came to Santiniketan on 25th April, 1914. This year the summer vacation of the School started from 28th April, and opened on 15th june, 1914.
The ideals of teaching of Rabindranath attarcted many man of letters to Santiniketan which was multiplied several times when he won the Nobel prize. Nilmoni Chakraborty was a promoter of Brahmoism and had many works in the areas of Khasia origin. Two Khasia students came to Santiniketan from this contact. An orphan boy came to be admitted free of cost which Rabindranath allowed. After the summer vacation 30 students did not turn up but the role strength did not fell due to the fresh admission of 24 students of which 3 were of Gujrathi. New rooms for them was prepared. Jagadananda Roy took the responsibility of constructing the new rooms for them.
Sarat kumar Roy presided on  the occasion of death anniversary of Vidyasagar. Kshitimohan Sen and Provat Mukhopadhyay delivered on the occasion and the students read some essays. Many hand written magazines were published. Rabindranath said few words about Vidyasagar in the prayer gatherings of the temple but that was not published as there was no written document.