Campus Life
The twin towns of Santiniketan and Sriniketan are surrounded by Bolpur to the north, Kheya to the south, Surul to the east and Prantik to the west. The towns and the university are not far from the river Kopai which flows to the south.
This university is especially famous for its cultural festivals:
- Basanta Utsab (Spring Festival): This festival is identified with doljatra or holi, which is held on the grounds in front of Patha Bhavana.
- Poush Mela (Winter Fair): It is the annual winter fair which is held every Poush which coincides with December on Purono Melar Maath opposite the ashram and next to the Uttarayan complex, as well as on Melar Maath (Bhubandangar Maath), which is next to the administrative block. The fair is meant to encourage the local people of Birbhum and outlying districts to come and exhibit and sell their wares. Jatras, such as Alkap, are staged and Bouls perform at the fair. On the first day of the fair, (23 December), the university organises an Upasana Sabha at Chatimtala (under a chatim tree), the spot where Maharshi Debendranath Tagore established his ashram for the first time in 1863. On 24 December the university organises a display of lights and fireworks on Melar Maath, a custom started by the poet, Rabindranath Tagore himself. On Christmas Day, the university organises the Christo Utsab, which is meant as a mark of respect for all religions.
Read more about this topic: Visva-Bharati University
Famous quotes containing the word life:
“Since the Greeks, Western man has believed that Being, all Being, is intelligible, that there is a reason for everything ... and that the cosmos is, finally, intelligible. The Oriental, on the other hand, has accepted his existence within a universe that would appear to be meaningless, to the rational Western mind, and has lived with this meaninglessness. Hence the artistic form that seems natural to the Oriental is one that is just as formless or formal, as irrational, as life itself.”
—William Barrett (b. 1913)