Rathindranath and Shantiniketan(contd-7)

Rabindranath was of the opinion that Jagadananda Roy was not fit to look after the zamindari work at Shelaidah and  appointed him as a teacher in Shantiniketan. He was ready to devote his life to this work and had a deep sympathy for the students. He could not bear the sorrow of a student even when he was punished.  Rathindranath mentioned how he could explain difficult science topics in a simple manner in the form of a story. 

From Rathindranath one gets many important information about  Shantiniketan. He wrote about Rebachand that he was an honest person and could teach English well but was strict in his attitude. He insisted on rules and regulations very strictly. He was a very good cricket player. He wanted to introduce the rules of cricket games in all affairs though Rabindranath did not like it.

The life of Brahmacharyashram without any amenities was very hard. The building proposed by Balendranath and constructed later on was the only accomodations for teachers, students and for holding classes. That one-storied building was divided into three portions. One portion was meant for teacher's residence, the second portion  was for the class-rooms and the third portion was kept as a students' hostel.

Early in the morning at fifteen minutes past five,  students had to get up from their bed and complete their ablutions. Since there was no sanitory toilet they had to go to the 'Bhubandanga Dam' to answer nature's call which was popularly known as "Math kara". Even today this business is termed as 'Math kara'. They used to finish their morning bath in the Bhubandanga Dam. At that time there was classifiaction of dress among the students of different castes. For Brahmins, the colour of the dress was white, for Baidya or Kayastha, it was red and for lower castes, it was yellow. They had to put on a long apron over their normal dress. After  a few days, the sartorial distinction of castes was removed and everybody used deep orange (gerua) coloured aprons. Rathindranath wrote that this system was advantageous to them as they could use dirty or torn clothes under their aprons. Wearing their dress, they took their seat under the trees. Each one had to sit under a separate tree for their prayers. They had to utter sacred text in sanskrit. Then they used to take their breakfast with Haluya made up from suji. Half an hour was alloted for exercise when they dug earth  before the mass-prayer at which when both students and teachers would participate. Then they started their classes.    

At 10 a.m., after the study hour, there was time for play as you like, singing with the harmonium or for reading. At half past 11, a vegetarian lunch was served. Only the Brahmin boys used to sit in a separate line. At half past 12, the  study hour resumed and continued upto half past four with a 15 minutes break at 3 p.m.

Then came the games hour. Rathindranath wrote that as football was less costly, it was loved by all and played by all. Once the Maharaja of Nator gifted enough playing materials to the boys but everyone wanted to play football. At half past 6, the evening prayer started. At 9 p.m., after dinner, everybody went to sleep. At half past 6 in the evening, Rabindranath used to meet the boys when he remained in Shantiniketan. This was the daily routine of the boys of Shantiniketan where Rathindranath amongst others was being brought up.     

Rabindranath's family life

Immediately after Mrinalini's death, even when Renuka, his second daughter was seriously ill and he had taken her for a change of scene to Almorah via Hazaribagh and Giridi, and he felt restless and anxious, he never became too perturbed by worldly disturbances. Bangadarshan ran on schedule. But his mind was filled up with publishing his Kabya Granthas.
Sishu was prepared at this time with the help of Mohit Chandra Sen.  After reading the volume, Sen's wife, Shusila Devi, asked Rabindranath to explain why Khoka was so ubiquitous and there was no Khuki. Shusila Devi had two daughters and no son.
Rabindranath replied that at that time the sweet memory of  his wife and his son inspired him to write the poems.     

(Horisan) First Japanese Student in Santiniketan (Contd-6)

A Japanese Budhist monk named Okakura came to Surendranath when Rabindranath was with him at his Ballygunge home. Horisan, a Japanese student of 25 years, came with him to India to learn Sanskrit. He too was a Budhist priest. After travelling through different places like Bodhgaya and Banaras he came to Belur Math to learn sanskrit. But as he was not keeping well there, Surendranath, on 10 June 1902, sent him to Santiniketan. Rabindranath was happy to receive a foreign student in Santiniketan. He wanted to make Santiniketan a global institution and this was the first step. Rabindranath wrote to Jagadish Chandra on 20 June giving him the good news:
'A Japanese student was admitted in my School at Santiniketan' . He wanted to get the whole world in his nest and this was the beginning and he added, 'The boy is good. He has become close to us. Your friend Mira made him her fan by supplying a cup of flowers everyday and learning a Japanese word every day from him.'
The letter written to Brajendra Kishore by Rabindranath was a bit longer. He wrote, 'A Japanese student got admitted here. His name was Hori but he gave his name as Chidananda. He was very polite and calm. He was so attentive in his lesson that it surprised everybody because he came here from a long distance, leaving all his near and dear ones to live in a so lonely a place. The servants living here are also moved at his polite behavior. His main aim was to study Tripitak, the Budhist religious book,  in sanskrit. He would take much time in learning Sanskrit because he could not pronounce a single sanskrit word. He faltered every time. Once he became ill, but his eagerness to learn did not decrease.'
Rabindranath was also taking care of him. He wrote to Manoranjan Bandyopadhyay 'employ Rathi or someone to look after Hori. Hori might be busy during his Entrance Examination so some senior student should look after his food timely  etc'.
Jagadish chandra became acquianted with Hori after coming from London. He prepared a long programme  on how Hory should complete his study. 

Brahmabandhab Upadhyay-School at Shantiniketan (contd-5)

Brahmabandhab Upadhyay (born Bhabanicharan Bandyopadhtay, 1861-1907) was a complicated, rebellious, and seemingly contradictory man in a turbulent period of colonial  history of Bengal. Inspired from an early life with a patriotic zeal for freeing his motherland from the British, at the age seventeen i.e. in the seventees of the ninetieth century, he decided  not to complete his education or to marry but to devote himself to the struggle for independence as a celibate journalist. In time, as a young adult, he became increasingly attracted to the Brahmo teachings of Keshab Chandra Sen.

But gradually he developed a love for Jesus, which led to his conversion to Roman Catholicism in the mid 1890s. Taking the saffron robes of a Hindu renouncer, going barefoot and wearing a cross, he changed his last name from Bandyopadhyay (venerated teacher) to the simpler Upadhyay (teacher).

Influenced by Swami Vivekananda he retraced his steps back to Hinduism. In 1902, he gave a series of lectures in Europe.  He left Shantiniketan within 4/5 months. 

A young graduate, Monaranjan Bhattacharya, became the Headmaster of Santiniketan after the summer vacation. At first the school was free but when Rabindranath observed that his countrymen did not come forward with financial help on the basis of idealism, he began collecting fees from the boarders since July 1902. The vision of an Ashram free of cost ended in no time.   

School at Shantiniketan (contd-4)

Rabindranath was searching for some dedicated teachers for his School at Shantiniketan. He came across two such persons-- Brahmabandhab and Rebachand (full name was Gnanchand Makhijani who took the name of Animananda).
Brahmabandhab was starting a Math along with Rebachand and another student. But because of  the opposition of the authorities of the Catholic Mission the Math could not function. Brahmabandhab lived in a rented house at Beadon Street, Calcutta. Within a short distance was Bethune Row, where he had established his office to run his weekly magazine Sophia. Rebachand was a born teacher. In Sophia, Brahmabandha wrote an essay, namely, "The world Poet of Bengal", where he acknowledged the poetry of Rabindtanath, and thus Rabindranath came to know him.
Rabindranath was thinking of opening a residential school at Santiniketan for some time. Three years earlier Balendranath had constructed a building for opening a 'Brahma Vidyalaya'  there. Now the residential school was established at this place. Viswabharati Library had its office in the building for a long time. Three rooms and an attached verandah were its earlier shape.
Maharshi Debendranath established in Shantiniketan a temple and an Ashram. But at that time there were no activity there. The school was opened formally on 7th Paush with only 5 students. Rabindranath appointed Brahmabandhab Upadhyaya as an organiser. He was contemporary to Rabindranath. His original name was Bhabani Charan Bandyopadyay. He was the son of Kalicharan Bandyopadhyay's brother. Kalicharan was a follower of Jesus Christ .
Rabindranath wrote in Bangadarshan that he gradually grew close to Brahmabandhab who came to understand that Rabindranath ran the school with his father's consent.
Brahmabandhab joined the school along with some of his disciples. Brahmabandhab began to address Rabindranath as "Gurudev" and the name stuck. In such an address, there was much respect but not unmixed with fear. Brahmabandhab was looked upon as a close relative, but he could never influence the Thakur family.
The residential school  was oriented as a "Brahmaacharyashram" by Brahmabandhab. Rabindranath always tried to explain, in his written letters and essays, the importance of the methods of teaching in the preceptor's house in ancient India. But it was not possible for him to stay in Shantiniketan regularly and conduct the school.  That was done by Brahmabandhab. He stayed there for four months. It was impossible for him also to stay in a fixed place for a long time because he was a patriot who was called by the people of his country.
Brahmabandhab could not take classes regularly. He frequently came from Calcutta and advised Rabindranath about the rules and regulations to be introduced in the school. Rabindranath remembered later that during the formation of the school, Brahmabandhab was with him. Brahmabandhab and he discussed many things while walking through the lanes of the villages. He had tremendous strength in his body and once he defeated a Punjabi wrestler.  In the book 'Ashramer roop o bikash' Rabindranath spoke at length of his association with Brahmabandhab.

Mrinalini Devi (contd-8)

Rabindranath's wife died after a brief illness in 1902. He wrote the smaran poems to enshrine her memory. "Mrinalini Devi loved to live a joyful life with her relatives", wrote Prafullamayee Devi, the mother of Balendranath.  

In 1903, Renuka (Rani) died, nine month's after her mother's death. In 1907, the same fate befell his youngest child Samindranath (Sami). Sami was then only eleven years old and died of Cholera while on a visit to Monghyr in Bihar. While nursing Rani in Almora in her last days, Rabindranath wrote the 'Sisu' poems to amuse Sami who had to be left with relatives. Bela died in 1918. The only two children who lived were his elder son, Rathindranath (Rathi), and his youngest daughter, Mira. In 1906, Rathindranath was sent to the University of Illinois at Urbana to study agriculture so that he would have the expertise on his return to work for the improvement of rural life. The following year, Mira was married to Nagendranath Ganguli, who too was sent to Urbana to study agriculture. The marriage did not last, and Rabindranath did not compel Mira to return to her husband. If anything, as is evident from his letters in this context, he blamed himself for Mira not marrying again. He worried about Mira and was heartbroken when her son Nitindranath (Nitu), his only grandson, died at the prime of his life in 1932, aged  twenty-one. During 30 years from 1902 to 1932, Rabindranath lost  five important lives in his life; his wife, his three children, and one grandson.

Rabindranath once suffered a nervous breakdown of which the only record is a letter he wrote to Rathi, very probably in 1915. Inspite of all that went wrong in his life, he continued with every activity and kept his personal pain to himself.        

Mrinalini Devi (contd-7)

He wrote to Mrinalini from Shelaidah in June 1901,

"I have arrived here  after quite a dangerous journey. There were whirlwinds during the first three days which made it  impossible for the boat to move. When we finally but slowly started again we fell into a beel.  As you know, a beel is like a sea, everywhere there is lot of water. All one could see was submerged grain peeping out above the water, or villages looking like small islands as they tried to stay afloat. The cows cannot graze, the people have no ground to walk on. They move from village to village by boat.You cannot imagine such a scene from Bolpur. Every where there is moss floating on the waters, the lotus, the blue flower, also black weed - all producing such a rotten smell. I see kites floating over our heads to catch fish. My mind turns wistful in the evenings on these endless still waters. Things are much more varied when one is on the sea. Also, the sea makes a noise- that is not so here. It is absolutely quite all around. Just the sound of the water from the passing ferry boat.

When the faint moonlight falls on the scene, I really wonder if I am in the world of the dead. I switch off my light, draw my armchair out near the window, and sit absolutely still in the moonlight.The peace of this massive water touches my heart fully. Day before yesterday, there was a storm over this beel from clouds gathering from the western sky.Luckily for us, our boat was floating on a rice field so that we could drop an anchor quickly and somehow manage to cling to the earth below. We started out as soon as the storm was over. But as our luck would have it there was another storm suddenly. This time, too, we  found a safe place by God's grace. Or else there was no knowing where the storm would have taken us.

On arrival here I was informed that I shall have to appear in court this coming Monday. So I must set out tomorrow. I may not get the time to write to you while  I am in Calcutta,  given that there is always so much going on there. That is why I am writing from here. I feel better for having lived on the waters these few days in absolute quite and peace. if I want to recover my broken health , the only way for me is to surrender to these waters. Yet another storm has risen while I am writing to you. Topsi is dropping anchor . I hope to get news from you once I am in Calcutta."

This letter was written by Rabindranath from Kaligram in 1901.