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Santiniketan is located about 100 miles from Kolkata (Calcutta). Here, the great Indian poet and philosopher - who was also the first Indian to win a Nobel prize - Rabindra Nath Tagore founded an unique educational institution known as Visva-Bharati. Visva-Bharati later became an university funded by the Central Government of India.
Visva-Bharati is not just another academic institution. It is a cultural institution. Aside from regular academia, Visva-Bharati is a center for learning fine arts and performing arts such as painting, sculpture, music and dancing. Many of the classes there are still held outdoors, under the shade of trees, the way Tagore started it about 100 years ago! Visiting Santiniketan and Sriniketan (part of Visva-Bharati devoted to rural development) can give the visitor an unique experience. The following stamp was issued by the Indian postal authorities to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Visva-Bharati.
Tagore's original ancestral home was in Jorasanko, Calcutta. But he used to spend a lot of time in Santiniketan after a school was founded there. A Tagore museum called Rabindrasadan (a.k.a. Bichitra) located inside the compound of Uttarayan is a must see if you ever visit Santiniketan. Inside Uttarayan, there are five buildings named Udayan, Konarka, Shyamali, Punashcha, and Udichi. Tagore lived in all of them.
The following links will give readers more information about Visva-Bharati (Viswa Bharati), Santiniketan (Shantiniketan), and surrounding areas:
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