Santiniketan is a town located in the Birbhum district of Bolpur subdivision in West Bengal, India. The site’s climatic conditions include perpetuating hot and dry summers, heavy monsoon showers, and cool winters with freezing nights.
The year 1901 was not only an establishment of Santiniketan but a year to make the world a living for the better. It also realms between the ceaseless link nature and humankind have been sharing for centuries. The town portrays the notable narrative of Rabindranath Tagore who enhanced the town by initiating the concept of “Gurukul” through residential school and university. The establishment of these educational facilities was to educate those in need to nurture and protect the surrounding flora and fauna.
Outstanding Universal Value
Santiniketan stands on the principles and values of Debendranath Tagore and noble prize holder of literature Rabindranath Tagore, son of Debendranath Tagore. Santiniketan was first established by Devendranath Tagore when he took a lease of 20 acres and built a guest house named Santiniketan translating as abode of peace. Later his son Rabindranath Tagore built educational institutions, a school based on the Gurukul concept and a university, and the whole area was named a Santiniketan.
The town falls under UNESCO’s outstanding universal value through its refining and philosophical values of Rabindranath Tagore. The diverse town incorporates spaces like school, university, ashrams, and gardens which are based on the traditions and culture of Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Burmese, Persian, and Balinese. Transcending all the culture and regional boundaries and reviving the craft belonging to the Bengal School of Art.
Criteria
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has set certain criteria before declaring any place as World Heritage. A synopsis for criteria selection is given under Operational Guidelines Under Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, the guidelines had gone through certain revisions i.e., by the end of the year 2004 sites were selected based on six cultural and four national criteria, after revision of guidelines for World Heritage Convention, only one group of ten criteria prevails. Now based on present status, there are 10 criteria out of which if even one outstanding universal value is satisfied then the site is included in the World Heritage List.
Santiniketan falls under two criteria of Operational Guidelines Under the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention: (iv) and (vi). As stated in UNESCO’s official website for criteria selection of World Heritage Site, criteria (iv) states that to be an exemplar of traditional settlement, land-use and sea-use embodying human interaction with surrounding or symbolism of respective culture distinctly when it has gone through irrevocable transitions, Santiniketan a blend of nature and human settlement incorporates establishment of educational facilities and decoration through frescoes and motifs dating back in time of birth of Sri Chaitanya of the Bhakti movement.
Other Details
Intricate details in designing of Santiniketan are- the school based on the gurukul concept, the open classrooms amidst nature psychologically lead to better learning and help in developing a sense of belonging towards mother nature, the residence of Rabindranath Tagore- Udayana brings forth art belonging to Buddhist caves and the meticulous woodwork revokes Japanese tearooms design, the Ghantalas of Santiniketan.
The fascinating fact about Santiniketan is that the houses built after 1919 were designed by an artist Surendranath Kar under the guidance of Rabindranath Tagore. He was even successful in inculcating Tagore’s values through design, one of the reasons being he was a companion to most of Tagore’s travels which brought an immense awareness to him of art, culture, and traditions followed in East and West. Kar efficiently acquired all the knowledge of his past travels and infused all these in a single institution, an Institution of beliefs and values that Tagore aspired to build Santiniketan with.
Overall, the town achieved all the values and morals it meant to address through its architecture. The essence of Santiniketan i.e., abode to peace was brought through school based on the gurukul concept and structures like Path Bhavana, Chaiti, Kalo Bari, five buildings of Uttarayan complex, and many more. It became one of UNESCO’s heritage centres through its diverse and distinct design and the idea of fusion of all cultures and traditions practised worldwide resulting in cohering humankind irrespective of caste, gender, religion, etc.
