Renuka (contd-5)

In Tagore family  Planchet was in practice. Rabindranath decided to take the help of Planchet to know about his future after the death of his wife Mrinalini. He was trying to get consolation from some supernatural power. He was reading at that time 'Human Personality and its survival after death'  written by Myers. Rabindranath himself became medium of planchet several times since his boy hood. His main aim of taking the help of planchet is to find ways and means in this difficult situation. Probably he asked his questios to the newly departing soul of his wife Mrinalini. After informing about the disease of his father Maharshi Devendranath, the soul replied that Renuka had to come to Calcutta from Almorah. Rabindranath became astonished to learn that he would not be able to stay at Bolpur. This part of the information of the departing soul became true. Keeping Renuka at Almorah under the charge of his brother in law, Nagendra he came to Calcutta. 

19th Jun Rabindranath and Mohit Chandra went to Bolpur with  a few students for the school. But on 21st Jun,2003, he was informed that Renuka's condition was serious. Rabindranath wrote to Jagadish Chandra that learning seriousness of the disease of Renuka he had to go to Almorah. He could not imagine that he would be able to see Renuka. The Doctors were pushing injections of Strychnine Brandy for keeping her alive artificially. When he arrived at Almorah the doctor left all hope for her life. Rabindranath stopped all stimulus medicine and applied Homeopathy.As a result some improvement was visible. Blood vomitting was stopped, fever and cough had also subsided. It seemed that Renuka had fought out against her seriousness this time. Rabindranath completed his 'Sishu' kabya grantha just before leaving Alomorah with Renuka.     

Rabindranath thought that there might have been some infection from Renuka's disease. He had undergone electric treatment in a Sanitorium in Calcutta. He was not well physically for a long time and it was only due to his inner urge and mental strength he had to go  with all his work. Moreover, he used to take vegetarian meal this time which might also be the cause of his weakness. After coming to Calcutta with Rabindranath  remained, most of the time, within the house.
Renuka expired on 14th Sept 2003 at Jorasanko (lalbari) Calcutta, just 9 and 1/2 months later than the death of her mother Mrinalini.
She was attacked with tuberculosis which had been had been diagonised sometimes in the last year. At first there was some sore throat and fever. She was advised to get some change of weather. She was taken to Madhupur, Hazaribagh and then to Almorah. Rabindranath took her to Calcutta on 29th Aug and she died on 14 Sept.

Renuka (contd-4)

The youngest son, Shamindra, of Rabindranath on horse back and Surendranath standing.

Daughters of Rabindranth; (sitting from left) Shamindranath, eldest daughter Madhurilata (Bela), (standing right) Mira, left Renuka.

Eldest daughter Madhurilata

1309 Bangabda (1902 ) new years day was celebrated as usal in the presence of renowned persons, the only exception was Rabindranath did not read out his written address this year. Moreover he had  a sad death in advance which came true at the death of his wife Mrinalini. Not only that, this new year appeared before him as dark as possible due to a bad disease (tuberculosis) which attacked Renuka.

She was not improving in Hazaribagh. As a result she was to be transferred to Almorah, a better place.
Rabindranath came to Calcutta to settle about their accomodation at Almorah.
On 3rd May, Rabindranath wrote to Mohit Chandra Sen from Bolpur that he was at last forced to go to Almorah with Renuka. She was not at all good.
On 8th May (25th Baishakh), at his 43rd birth day, he wrote to Mohit Chandra Sen that ultimately they reached Almorah travelling a long and difficult journey with Renuka to Almorah.
Though the journey was too much troublesome but the place was fine, cold weather , the house was big

 Almorah was helpful for Rabindranath's creative activity but no sign was visible of Renuka's recovery.

Renuka (contd-3)

Renuka was gradually becoming seriously ill. Her condition was narrated by Rabindranath to Mohit Chandra Sen.

She was continuing her fever for some days. At the same time she had cough.She did not improve at Bolpur. Rabindranath was in search of a house to take her for change of weather, preferably in the areas of Santal Pargana, Chotonagpur. Rathi had gone to Calcutta for sitting in the examination. Rabindranath was planning to go to some healthy place with Renuka.

Rabindranath went to Hazaribagh with a full team. Along with him accompanied  Aunt Rajlakshmi Devi, brother-in-law Nagendranath Roychoudhury and his wife Nalini Bala, Renuka, Mira and Shamindra.

They took their shelter in the garden house of Kalikrishna  Thakur. Amal Sengupta wrote that the house of Kalikrishna Babu was near  the main post office. This time the people of Hazaribagh who loved literature assembled round Rabindranath and the learned persons became passionate at the presence of Tagore. They met together  to discuss about literature. Girindra Gupta was a local man. In his house they arranged sitting for songs and recitation. They went to Hazaribagh in a narrow gauge train from Madhupur to Giridi and then travelled a long distance with a push car to reach Hazaribagh. A few days ago Rabindranath came to this place with Indira Devi, Surendranath and Akshay Chandra. The journey to Hazaribagh was very difficult as it is now. The condition of Renuka had improved a little. Here there was an M.D. lady Doctor who after thorough examination said that Renuka was not having any problem in her lungs. But suggested to go to Almorah , a better place for change.    

Renuka, the second daughter of Rabindranath, was married at the age of 10 and a half.. After  marriage her husband went to England and returned back unsuccessfully when the second marriage of Renuka took place.
After few days Renuka had her second marriage.Renuka had shown to be attacked with fever and cough. At first Rabindranath experimented with Homeopath. Indira Devi wrote that after the diagonosis of the disease of Renuka she was  taken to Madhupur by Maharaja of Natore. Due to the nursing of Amala Das and change of weather Renuka improved a lot.  Amala Das had some exchanges of letters with Indira Devi. But Jagadish Chandra prescribed alternative treatment for Renuka. He wrote that he was going to send a machine to generate Ozone and gave instruction how to use it. He also gave some instruction of breathing to inhel maximum amount of ozone. He also explained it by giving a drawing to it for clarification. 

Renuka (contd-2)

(Renuka standing left) It was only one month and 24 days, after the marriage of Madhurilata, on 9th Aug 1901, Renuka was married to an  LMF passed Dr. Satyendranath Bhattacharya. He consented to marry Renuka as he received a dowry  of going to foreign for higher education. But a fickle minded person Satyendranath could not complete his studies there and returned to his place and remained through out the rest of his life on the shoulder Rabindranath.
At first it was decided that he would go to America for studying Homeopath but he went to London for higher studies in Medical Sciences. From the office of Tagore family he was sent 10 pounds a month (equivalent to Rs.151/- at that time) and along with this monthly expenses he was also sent 3 pounds for his dresses.It was only  75 pounds  was sent to him through Thoms Cook and sons Bank for his coming back to Calcutta.
Mira Devi, the youngest daughter of Rabindranath, wrote that their brother-in-law Satya Babu was a very simple man. He was brought up as a middle class family member and hence could not acquire foreign style. When her father heard the news of his coming back, he was not annoyed. Moreover , he felt sympathy for him for he was not able to come back successfully. At that time Mira was only eight years old and the story told by her was based on hear say.

When Satyendranath returned home, Renuka was eleven years 11 month's old. As per the customs of Tagore family Renuka had her second marriage after attaining womanhood on 5th oct, 1902.

Rabindranath's wife, Mrinalini Devi  was also ill and under treatment of Dr. D.N.Chattopadhyay and Dr. D.N.Roy.
Renuka's health was not good since birth which was visible from the photograph . She seemed to be slim in comparison with other sisters.According to Mira Devi, She was too much resolute. She was not in favour of keeping well dressed. All the girls were not born for maintaining a family life. She was of that type.She was seen to read books always.. She did not like to gossip. When she came to learn that Satya Babu returned being unsuccessful, she bacame morosed.On his return Satya Babu became a topic of discussion amongst females. For a few days back Ranidi was suffering from fever but she dd not disclose it. She was not willing to live more.  

Satish Chandra and Santiniketan (contd-30)

Rabindranath was eager to get Nishikanta Sen, a friend of Ajit Kumar Chakraborty and Satish Kumar Roy, as a teacher in Santiniketan. But he had some apprehension to appoint him with a small amount of remuneration because he was a star in the University.He wrote to Satish Chandra from Selaidah that he did not think when he appointed Satish Chandra as his entry in Santiniketan took place easily and automatically. But the prospect of Nishikanta in any field was very clear. Nishikanta did not join, he became rgistrar of Delhi University but he maintained good relation with Rabindranath
In the mean time, a sad news came to Santiniketan. Satish Chandra Roy and Dinendranath went to  Budha Gaya, Agra and some other places in North India during winter vacation. after coming back to Santiniketan Satish became serously attacked with small pox. Rajendra Lal Bandyopadhyay was principal at that time when Satish Chandra came being seriously attacked by small pox. Sufficient arrangement was made for his treatment but he died very soon i.e. on  1st February, 2004.   

Satish Chandra and Santiniketan (contd-29)

There were other troubles between students and teachers. Mohit Chandra , On 26th July 2003, Mohit Chandra wrote,

I was shocked at the news of worst mischievous act of Prem (Premanada Singh). In the letter written by Satish Chandra very recently.I was aware that Prem would do some mischievous act. He should have no place now in the school.I wrote his guardian to enquire about his whereabout. He is  incorrigible. Now it is our duty to  protect others from the touch of this sinful activities. On August 1, Mohit Chandra and Ramani Mohan came to Santiniketan. 4 Aug. he wrote informing the total information,
In the last week there was a bad incident ( not of minor nature) in Santiniketan .The new big boy, named Samar, went there. Bipin Babu scolded him because the boy told a lie. At this the boy answered sharply . Haricharan Babu also could not stop him, rather he felt insulted. Then Dinu Babu (Dinendranath Thakur) took the side of the boy and said something bad of him in front of the students  He told that  his  relative founded this School and he had to see complain against them. The last word was said to Bipin Babu. In the night of Saturday Mohit Chandra called the teachers , read out the rules regulations of the school and made Nagen babu the Principal of the School and gave all charges to maintain discipline. There was an apprehension about Dinu so that he could not take the upper hand..

SMARAKA GRANTHA - Foreward

This foreward is attached to the small gift 'a selected portion of Smaraka Grantha' offered to the children of Summer camp, is being held from 15.5.11 to 25.5.11 at COSMOS hall ,Hiland Park. 

Satish Chandra and Santiniketan (contd-27)

On 17th May, 2003, Rabindranath wrote to Satish Chandra from Almorah,
"Now, I'm reading a book titled Human Personality and its survival after death written by Myers. I became deeply absorbed in the pshychological analysis of the book. The peculiarity is this that I,too, expressed such ideas in my poetry in different lines. I have touched in different ways the unreachable souls and  untouchable senses. In most of the cases I didnot consciencely wrote such words, It was my innerself that did it through my hands.He didn't make me aware."
This effort of innerself is visible even today.
Rathindranath and Santosh Chandra remained in Santiniketan during Summer vacation. This time they became very close to Satish Chandra. By this time Rathindranath acquired some brilliancy in  Bengali, English and Sanskrit. He wrote,
" During day time Satish Chandra taught us Kalidas and Shakespeare keeping all doors and windows closed. The method of his teaching was such that hardly we feel, we are studying a difficult lesson. In the summer vacation they used to lie down in the open sky in the night and many nights were passed to hear different Kabya from Satish Babu. He was reciting poetries so passionately and undauntedly that the inner neaning of the poetry became open before us, even if the poetry was a very difficult one.The literary senses Satish  Roy gave us  was unlimited. We became astonished to think how much our mind were overwhelmed with the feeeling he poured into our mend were very difficult to express. We remained indebted to him for our life long.      
Rabindranath's mind was full of managing the school perfectly well. He wrote to Satish Chandra on 7 June, 2003,
' the routine you have sent to me seems to be burden on your shoulder. In such a case you will not be able to manage. You need at least one teacher. No problem, if you don't get a engineering student at present. you try to find a suitable teacher. Otherwise you will be in difficulty.If you don't get Nagendra Babu, try to to find Narendra Babu'.
Rabindranath's respect on Satish Chandra was the reason of his thought. Rabindranath was moved by reading "Duyo Rani" written by Satish Chandra and published in Bangadarshan in Jaishtha, 68-72 issue. At the request of Rajendra lal Mitra Satish Chandra wrote this. Rabindranath in later days wrote a drama, Chandalika and a dance drama of the same title baased on this plot, The Sanskrit Budhist Literature of Nepal. He wrote Satish Chandra,
"You are not meant for teaching only. You are to read, write and think. You should not spoil your ownself". In this way Rabindranath encouraged him for his improvement.
Ajit Kumar Chakraborty passed a few days in Santiniketan with his friend Satish Chandra.

SMARAKA GRANTHA - Some correspondence with Dr. Samita Sen and me.

Satish Chandra and Santiniketan (contd-26)

Even after he had gone to Almorah with his ailing daughter Renuka,, Rabindranath could not get himself free from thinking about the school and Rathindranth. He wrote to Manoranjan Bandyopadhyaya,

"I've not yet settled about Rathi. But if I have to send him to Europe or America, it is useless for him to waste time by sitting for F.A examination. If he starts just now then during these two years he may proceed to some steps in his studies.Though he has no examination just now, his studies should not be  neglected. So far as I know he is going on with his studies attentively."

He wrote to Satish Chandra, " I'm sure that the studies Rathi undergoing under your guidance are going on smoothly.Rathi's lesson in literature might be taken care  by you and not by any other person. Not only in literature you can also teach him about humanity."

On the same day, Rabindranath wrote a long letter to Rathi also, " I hope that you are going on well with your studies and you are doing this with great care and discipline. ......."  

Satish Chandra and Santiniketan (contd-25)

The School at Santiniketan was declared closed due to excessive heat of the Summer. Keeping Rathindra and someother students of the school after the vacation under the charge of Satish Chandra Rabindranath decided to go to Almorah with Renuka who was suffering from Tuberculosis. He wrote to Srish Chandra that after passing the Entrance examination Rathi would be sent to Japan for training in Mining or would be sent to some other places for training in the subject with practical classes.My intention was to make him trained in some techinical subject which he would teach the students of Santiniketan. Santosh also coul;d be sent for similar purpose. Expenses for this training was not much, only rs. 60/- per month. There was facilities for  being trained in any subject. He again wrote that he was thinking about the accomodation Rathi should be provided to make him sit for F.A, examination.He was asking Subodh to bring the information about the feasibility of sitting for the examination, privately, from Bolpur.But he could not get information till now. If it was possible to sit for the examination from Bolpur, then it would be better. Moreover, antosh and Rathi would read together. After three years both of them were sent to America for being trained in Agriculture. Before that they were trained in Santiniketan with special attention.
Rabindranath informed  Manoranjan Bandyopadhyay  his latest decision. He was happy to see that arrangements could have been done For Raathi to study from Santiniketan. He gave up the temptation of getting Rathi graduate because he had other plan for Rathi.
Rabindranath wrote an essay at the middle of the month of Phalgun titlted "BasantaYapan" describing the relation  of nature with human being. Depicting the unity of man and nature and their unity. This is the greatness of man to establish a close relation with nature. man is an all round being. Satish Chandra Roy read the essay before its publication and became overwhelmed with joy which was not undisclosed in the his letter written to Ajit Kumar Chakraborty. He said that Rabibabu wrote a beautiful prose. Now the Bengali literature had opened a new avenue because Rabi took his pen to write prose in Bwengali.     

Satish Chandra and Santiniketan ( contd-24)

Rathindranath wrote,
"Because the growth of this school was the growth of my life and that of a mere carrying out of my doctrines, its ideal changed with its maturity like a ripening fruit that not only grows in its bulk and deepens in its colour, but undergoes change in the very quality of its inner pulp."
Rabindranath wrote in his book "My School",
"Fortunately for me I had a place ready to my hand where I could begine my work. My father, in one of its numerous travels, had selected this lonely spot as the one suitable for his life of communion with God. This place, with a permanent endowment, he dedicated to the use of those who seek penance and seclusion for their meditation and prayer. I had about ten boys with me when I came here and started my new life with no previous experience whatsoever." ( Rabindranath Tagore, 'My School' reprint, London, Macmillan.)
Literary work of Rabindranath was as usual, not only in writing poetry, he wrote one novel 'Noukadubi'. In fact, in his early youth he had been to Gazipur and his happy remembrance had been described here nicely.
He also mentioned his concern in the letters written to Kunjalal and Satish Chandra Roy. The letter written dated 5.4.1903 by Satischadra was important as it contained the methods of teaching of the ideals of Brahmacharyashram and how he was applying them in Santiniketan. He wrote,
" the students were, now, absorbed in literature. According to their choice Hembabu's poems were better than that of Michael Babu's.I read before them the similar poetry when I used to teach them a poetry........I didn't prescribed anything about philology."
Ranbindranth's method of teaching was also like that of Satish Chandra. He liked Satish Chandra for that reason.