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| The panaromic entrance |
Thakurbari is held in high reverence not only because of the famous Rabindranath but because of the generations of Thakurs who stayed there during various phases of history. A lineage which would be reverred for times to come grew up there. I was all the more excited because of the subtle amalgamation of art, culture and education; things which the yo-generation of today despises and if at all it is into it does not respect them. Amongst the four-walls of the structure revolves the Bengali story of Bengal, the Renaissance, Bengal's cross-cultural association with the world and the enlargement of the Bengali outlook.
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| The quote at the entrance speaks it all |
The staircase leads us to the first room which is the Bard's dining room. It showcased few items related to the dining like the porcelain articles, few stools, the original wooden chair and the large table (presumably original). It had a rare collection of his photographs all around the walls; these included his visit to Japan (1916), with family members of Rash Behari Basu in Japan, in Burma (1916), with members of the Cosmopoli Club of Illionis USA, with Leornanrd Wright Elmhurst (his secretary) at Shantiniketan (1921), with Jogesh Choudhury and Sarala Devi, in Berlin (1921), Alexandria (1926), with Will Durant in US (1930), felicitation program at Moscoe (1930), in Iran (1932) and with Arab Bedoouins (1932).
Besides this room is the kitchen which was used by Mrinalini Devi (the Bard's wife).
The room next to the dining room is one of the living room of Tagore. It has a huge dressing room and two closets with few clothes worn by the poet. This room is also adorned with rare pictures. One of them is a picture with Upendrakishore Roy Choudhury (grandfather of Satyajit Ray), Priya Nath Sen (great and indispensible critic of Tagore's work), Baikunth Das, Pramathnath Roy Choudhury & Nagendranath Gupta in 1900. The bard is absolutely indistinguishable until keenly searched for few times; he does not possess any of the exteriors which we know him for. We also have separate pictures with Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, with Brojendranath Seal (1926), with Sir J C Bose & Loken Palit, at Visva bharati University inaguration (22 Dec 1921), with Subash Bose at the inaguration of Mahajati Sadan (Kolkata, 1939), with Mahatma Gandhi & Kasturba (1940) and with Satyaprasad, Soumendranath and their music teacher Srikatha.
Next, we are in another living room where we see large portrait of the poet and few pictures of London (1879-80). We also have a picture of Silva Levy taking a class in the presence of Gurudev (in Shantiniketan, 1941). A brahmacharya ashram was established at Shantiniketan in 1901; there is a picture of the same also. The greatness of the poet can be recognised from the very fact that he wrote a musical drama Valmiki Pratibha at the age of 20. This went on to be applauded by Goorudas Banerjee and Bankim Chandra also.
Next was a very vital room of the entire building where the poet breathed his last. It carries a photograph probably of his bedridden days (dt 07 Aug 1941).
“When I go from hence, let this be my parting word, that what I have seen is unsurpassable. I have tasted of the hidden honey of this lotus that expands on the ocean of light, and thus I am blessed—let this be my parting word.
Besides this room is the kitchen which was used by Mrinalini Devi (the Bard's wife).
The room next to the dining room is one of the living room of Tagore. It has a huge dressing room and two closets with few clothes worn by the poet. This room is also adorned with rare pictures. One of them is a picture with Upendrakishore Roy Choudhury (grandfather of Satyajit Ray), Priya Nath Sen (great and indispensible critic of Tagore's work), Baikunth Das, Pramathnath Roy Choudhury & Nagendranath Gupta in 1900. The bard is absolutely indistinguishable until keenly searched for few times; he does not possess any of the exteriors which we know him for. We also have separate pictures with Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, with Brojendranath Seal (1926), with Sir J C Bose & Loken Palit, at Visva bharati University inaguration (22 Dec 1921), with Subash Bose at the inaguration of Mahajati Sadan (Kolkata, 1939), with Mahatma Gandhi & Kasturba (1940) and with Satyaprasad, Soumendranath and their music teacher Srikatha.
Next, we are in another living room where we see large portrait of the poet and few pictures of London (1879-80). We also have a picture of Silva Levy taking a class in the presence of Gurudev (in Shantiniketan, 1941). A brahmacharya ashram was established at Shantiniketan in 1901; there is a picture of the same also. The greatness of the poet can be recognised from the very fact that he wrote a musical drama Valmiki Pratibha at the age of 20. This went on to be applauded by Goorudas Banerjee and Bankim Chandra also.
Next was a very vital room of the entire building where the poet breathed his last. It carries a photograph probably of his bedridden days (dt 07 Aug 1941).
“When I go from hence, let this be my parting word, that what I have seen is unsurpassable. I have tasted of the hidden honey of this lotus that expands on the ocean of light, and thus I am blessed—let this be my parting word.
In this playhouse of infinite forms I have had my play and here have I caught sight of him who is formless.
My whole body and my limbs have thrilled with his touch who is beyond touch; and if the end comes here, let it come—let this be my parting word.”
These were his last words written by him in his own handwriting; the same is displayed albeit enlarged. He was active till his last breath. He dictated a poem before going to the operation theatre few days before his death; the same has been translated by Krishna Kriplani and is also found here. There is vibrancy in the air of this room; dont know why. An old fan rotates and freshens up the air around.
This room opens up to a balcony where we have huge bust of the poet. In the same we also have a model of the compartment of the train in which Tagore made his last visit train visit (Shantiniketan to Kolkata in 1941); this was gifted by the Railways to the museum. This overlooks a huge open centrestage courtyard (probably was used for family gettogethers) with a Roman theatre (styled archs).
Next was a gallery in Eastern style. This contained paintings done on him and by his family members; the same is properly stored within a airtight chamber. Most of the paintings are 1910 onwards. The date and year is mentioned only on very few paintings. It has the paintings of Abindranath Tagore, Rathindranath Tagore, Gorachand Sugar (Portuguese Church, Hoogly), Hand All Bose, Devi Prasad Roy Choudhury, Sushil Sen, Pratima Devi, Kamini Roy, Sukhamoy Mitra (Boil), Gaganendranath Tagore, Kamalaranjan Thakur, Kalipada Ghoshal, Kshitindranath Mazumbdar, Pranakrishna Paul, Manindra Bhusan Gupta, Nirod Majumbdar, Ramkinkar Baiz, Roop Krishna (gifted to Gurudev), Manik All Banerjee and Indy Rakshit.
The next room is a gallery in Western style. It includes various posters with Gurudev's photograph but I could not make much of it because of the written stuff being in Bengali. It contains various postage stamps issued on Gurudev namely USSR (1961), Argentina (1961), Brazil (1961), Romania (1961), Bangladesh (2011), Venezuela (1997), Vietnam (on the occasion of his 125 the birthday) and Bulgaria (1982). Amongst all the other important stamps, we have the Swedish Nobel Day stamp and two stamps of the Bard designed by Satyajit Ray and another by M F Hussain. We have stamp displaying Einstein and a stamp on Dak That (his famous play). The first stamp on the Bard was of 15 NP....for the uninitiated, it stands for Naya Paisa. Within the hall but in a separate partition, we have huge portraits of Babu Nundoo Colmar Tagore, Babu Surendra Mohan, Raja Sir Surendra Mohun Tagore CIE, Probodhendu Tagore, Maharaja Bahadur Sir Prodyot Colmar Tagore (by Porash Nath Sen), Saradindra Mohan Tagore, Cally Kissen Tagore, Soutindra Mohan Tagore, Gopal All Tagore, Gunendra Bath Tagore (Parash Math Sen, 1903), Prosonno Coomar Tagore CIE and Dwarika Nath Tagore (Parash Bath Sen, 1902). Each of the portraits are huge in size and speaks of elegance of the individuals, the regale of the family and the aristocracy in the looks.
Next we have two rooms filled with simple household items and there is also the family tree. We also have a a family maternity room; here the Bard was born like many of his family members. It has photograph of a 13 year old Rabindranath, a large portrait of his father and of his mother, Sarada Devi.
Next we have a gallery supported by Mitsubishi Corporation which highlights the Japanese linkage to Tagore. This is a super-chilled chamber and is beautifully decorated in the Japanese style. We find details of the famous art, historian and curator Kakuzo Tenshin Okakura. Between Tagore and him, there was great mutual respect and influence; both shared major thoughts on Westernization and Renaissance. Needless to say, interexchange of ideas was reflected in the art by each of them. The gallery also has pictures of Vivekanand, Sister Nivedita and Lord Buddha. In fact the later is present not only in various forms but also in various representation and one gets a peek into Japanese art and styles too. There is a painting of Tagore and Okakura and their are details of the Japanese influence in Shantiniketan in their course work. There is a huge repository of information on Kampo Arai and his association with Shantiniketan. There is a huge area dedicated to pictures of Tagore in Japan. Quotations of the Poet written in "Japan Yatra" is mentioned. Another huge painting which is distinctly visible is that of Nand Lal Bose, Taikkan, Hishida, Kampu Arai and others (1924).
Similar to the Japanese-dedicated area, there is also a Chinese dedicated area which tells tales of Indian association and also Tagore's association with the country. I came to know that the grandfather of Tagore was a frequenter to China and he was also instrumental in strengthening the Silk Route. The rooms are tastefully decorated with Chinese lanterns which we normally see during their New Years' celebrations. Chang Kien was the founder of Silk Route; was enlightening for me. There are details of the ship of the family i.e. Opium Clipper Water witch. The collection also contains letters written by Gurudev to his Chinese friends. Some of the books which have been translated to Chinese are also exhibited.
The last part of the house was the Vichitra Bhawan which showcases some household objects of the family and that of Renaissance. Here also we have rare photographs of The Bard with Hellen Keller (1930), with Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan (Shantiniketan, 1940), with C F Andrews & Raman and Chatterjee and in his own exhibition in Paris (1930). We also have the personal room of Mrinalini Devi with some of her belongings and letters written to her by the poet. We also have a chronological map of all the trips made by the poet abroad.
A floor above that is the Renaissance gallery. It has belongings of Thakurdas Bandopadhyay (father of Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar) and Vidyasagar. We also have the pictures of Max Muller, William Carey, David Hare and Henry Louis Derozio. The belongings of Abanindranath is displayed. Among the prized possessions is the CIE commemoration; the easel used by him is also displayed.
At the end, I stayed silent for few minutes reminiscing the family that was built over the generations. Rabindranath was just one of the many illustrious Tagores of his family; there were so many accomplish-ers in his family. One pauses to think of creating a generation; the name thus created shall surpass one's life on this earth rather than any materialistic assimilation.
As I always say, brickbats and bouquets welcome....
Goodbye, till the next story
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| The courtyard I just mentioned above |
The next room is a gallery in Western style. It includes various posters with Gurudev's photograph but I could not make much of it because of the written stuff being in Bengali. It contains various postage stamps issued on Gurudev namely USSR (1961), Argentina (1961), Brazil (1961), Romania (1961), Bangladesh (2011), Venezuela (1997), Vietnam (on the occasion of his 125 the birthday) and Bulgaria (1982). Amongst all the other important stamps, we have the Swedish Nobel Day stamp and two stamps of the Bard designed by Satyajit Ray and another by M F Hussain. We have stamp displaying Einstein and a stamp on Dak That (his famous play). The first stamp on the Bard was of 15 NP....for the uninitiated, it stands for Naya Paisa. Within the hall but in a separate partition, we have huge portraits of Babu Nundoo Colmar Tagore, Babu Surendra Mohan, Raja Sir Surendra Mohun Tagore CIE, Probodhendu Tagore, Maharaja Bahadur Sir Prodyot Colmar Tagore (by Porash Nath Sen), Saradindra Mohan Tagore, Cally Kissen Tagore, Soutindra Mohan Tagore, Gopal All Tagore, Gunendra Bath Tagore (Parash Math Sen, 1903), Prosonno Coomar Tagore CIE and Dwarika Nath Tagore (Parash Bath Sen, 1902). Each of the portraits are huge in size and speaks of elegance of the individuals, the regale of the family and the aristocracy in the looks.
Next we have two rooms filled with simple household items and there is also the family tree. We also have a a family maternity room; here the Bard was born like many of his family members. It has photograph of a 13 year old Rabindranath, a large portrait of his father and of his mother, Sarada Devi.
Next we have a gallery supported by Mitsubishi Corporation which highlights the Japanese linkage to Tagore. This is a super-chilled chamber and is beautifully decorated in the Japanese style. We find details of the famous art, historian and curator Kakuzo Tenshin Okakura. Between Tagore and him, there was great mutual respect and influence; both shared major thoughts on Westernization and Renaissance. Needless to say, interexchange of ideas was reflected in the art by each of them. The gallery also has pictures of Vivekanand, Sister Nivedita and Lord Buddha. In fact the later is present not only in various forms but also in various representation and one gets a peek into Japanese art and styles too. There is a painting of Tagore and Okakura and their are details of the Japanese influence in Shantiniketan in their course work. There is a huge repository of information on Kampo Arai and his association with Shantiniketan. There is a huge area dedicated to pictures of Tagore in Japan. Quotations of the Poet written in "Japan Yatra" is mentioned. Another huge painting which is distinctly visible is that of Nand Lal Bose, Taikkan, Hishida, Kampu Arai and others (1924).
Similar to the Japanese-dedicated area, there is also a Chinese dedicated area which tells tales of Indian association and also Tagore's association with the country. I came to know that the grandfather of Tagore was a frequenter to China and he was also instrumental in strengthening the Silk Route. The rooms are tastefully decorated with Chinese lanterns which we normally see during their New Years' celebrations. Chang Kien was the founder of Silk Route; was enlightening for me. There are details of the ship of the family i.e. Opium Clipper Water witch. The collection also contains letters written by Gurudev to his Chinese friends. Some of the books which have been translated to Chinese are also exhibited.
The last part of the house was the Vichitra Bhawan which showcases some household objects of the family and that of Renaissance. Here also we have rare photographs of The Bard with Hellen Keller (1930), with Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan (Shantiniketan, 1940), with C F Andrews & Raman and Chatterjee and in his own exhibition in Paris (1930). We also have the personal room of Mrinalini Devi with some of her belongings and letters written to her by the poet. We also have a chronological map of all the trips made by the poet abroad.
A floor above that is the Renaissance gallery. It has belongings of Thakurdas Bandopadhyay (father of Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar) and Vidyasagar. We also have the pictures of Max Muller, William Carey, David Hare and Henry Louis Derozio. The belongings of Abanindranath is displayed. Among the prized possessions is the CIE commemoration; the easel used by him is also displayed.
At the end, I stayed silent for few minutes reminiscing the family that was built over the generations. Rabindranath was just one of the many illustrious Tagores of his family; there were so many accomplish-ers in his family. One pauses to think of creating a generation; the name thus created shall surpass one's life on this earth rather than any materialistic assimilation.
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| Mesmerised and captivated... |
As I always say, brickbats and bouquets welcome....
Goodbye, till the next story
U are great dear....thnx ...I am inspired to visit this place....feeling Nostalgic with your blessings....
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