Rabindranath as a Jamindar ( Holder of an Estate )
When Annada Shankar Roy was the District Magistrate of Rajshahi District in pre-independence Bengal, he visited PATISAR, the Jamindari-estate of Rabindranath Tagore. The Silaidaha Jamindari was by then divided among the siblings of Maharshi Debendranath. Rabindranath inherited the Patisar estate, where as Satyendranath Togore sold the debt ridden Silaidaha estate to the Roys of Bhagyakul.The Patisar estate by then a financially weak entity, the jute business, the main revenue generator, was on the decline. Rabindranath himself ceased to visit Patisar regularly, infact he was last present there almost a decade back, he was too busy in setting up his unique educational institute in Santiniketan. The many co-operative banks Rabindranath set up to offer loans at cheap rates to cultivators were almost defunct - the borrowers did not pay back. The several welfare funds, through which schools and hospitals were oce run without any Government ( i.e British ) help, were at severe distress then. Most of the schools and hospitals were closed. Those welfare funds were generated by 50% contribution by the Jamindar and 50% by the locals. Annadashankar met elders who were still very proud to declare that they ran schools and hospitals with their own money. With the decline in Jute-Business everything collapsed, and yet, among the many Jamindaris Annadashankar visited, Patisar was unique in the respect that there was a Jamindar named Rabindranath who actually worked hard to form co-operative banks and welfare funds for the welfare of the people of his own estate, a revolutionary thinking for any Jamindar at that time.
Once Rabindranath watched with dismay that in one of his Jamindari DURBARs Hindus were being offered chairs and benches to sit, whereas for the Muslims it was the flat ground. That was infact the age old social practice, prevalent in Maharshi Debendranaths time, and from even before that. Rabindranath simply refused to attend such a DURBAR. When his advisors pleaded to him to maintain the age old social order, Rabindranath retorted ” I dont beleive in such orders”. The age old practice was dissolved, making Rabindranath extremely popular to the Muslims.
With a failing health Rabindranath atlast decided to visit Patisar for a last time to pay homage to the people of his estate, and Annada Shankar was hastlity called to attend him. People, in huge numbers walked over miles on foot to pay homage to their Jamindar, and they followed him evetywhere. Their devotion for their Jamindar when each of them will try to touch his feet for his blessing , completely stunned Annada Shankar. He heard muslims say ” We havent seen the PAY-GAMBAR. But we have seen THAKUR-BABU”. From them Annada Shankar came to know that once Rabindranath ordered digging up a whole stretch of farm land and put in Tons of HILSA fish as fertiliser. The stench made life miserable for the villagers for months. They knew Rabindranath would not survive as a Jamindar, yet they have never seen any mortal even remotely like him. They all knew that this was the last time they are seeing Rabindranath and their eyes were moist.
Ref: "Rabindranath" by Annada Shankar Roy.
