Tagore Bhavan&TagoreTop 2 Tagore’s Special Love

A few days ago I visited Almora(where Tagore Bhavan located). A small beautiful town at the foot of a hill. The small town of Uttarakhand is rich in history. World-famous people like Guru Dev Rabindranath Tagore father of Bengali literature, Swami Vivekananda, and Sister Nivedita visited to the historical place. This place of Uttarakhand district lies within the higher ridge of the Himalayas range. Almora has the benefit of a constant pleasant climate, one of the historical places in India. Almora consists of an age-old habitation. The ancient Almora was under the reign of Katyuri king Baichal deo. He gifted the major portion of this land to a Gujrati Brahmin Sri Chand Tiwari. Afterward, when Chand established the Baramandal kingdom, the Almora was built in central possession in 1568 by King Kalyan Chand. Then it was called Rajapur rightly described the historical place in India. The name “Rajpur” is mentioned in many locally found ancient copper plates. Still, we can find one locality called “Rajpur” in Almora. The name “Almora” is derived from a type of grass called vilmora or kilmora. These are small commonly found grass there used to clean the vessels of Katarmal Sun Temple. The devotees used to bring the Bhilmora or Kinlmora grass which was called “Almora” later. Gradually this place was named “Almora”. Presently Almora is a thinly populated place near Nainital and is visited by many tourists every year from all over the world. Almora is situated 1638 meters beyond sea level and surrounded by four important districts of Uttarakhand Pithoragarh, Garhwal region, Bageswar, and Nainital. The Map of Almora is shaped like a horseshoe-shaped ridge of a mountain. This place is considered one of the business hubs for the Kumaon region since the British regime.

Malla Ramgarh Tagore Top: tourist place in India for summer

The great poet, musician, painter, writer, and educationist, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore was always fascinated and motivated by nature. His fascination for these mountains has drawn him time and again to various hill stations in India. His love for Kumaun range is familiar to many people. He came to this place several times. Gurudev Rabindranath resided in the Malla Ramgarh near Nainital and Almora. This place is called Mahesh Khan on Bhowali-Ramgarh Road. Ramgarh is a picturesque little hamlet nearby Kathgodam & Mukteshwar in the Kumaun region. The cottage where Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore stayed was surrounded by apple orchards and pine trees. It seems to be a green gables heritage place. The charming small village is also acknowledged as a ‘Fruit bowl of Kumaon’ for its fruit orchards of plums, apricots, peaches, apples, etc.

This time He had come here to stay along with his 2nd daughter Renuka who was suffering from tuberculosis and youngest son Shamindranath. We can understand what the kind of pain is and ache that the poet used to feel that days. He had influenced the solace in the serene Himalayas and wrote the series of poems “Shishu” (The Child) that became known as “The Crescent Moon” for his children.This is the translated version of Rabindranath Tagore’s poems in English. While in Ramgarh in 1903 he also composed some verses of “Gitanjali”. Guru Dev found inspiration for his epic, Gitanjali here which led him to bag the Nobel Prize. Finally Guru dev rabindranath tagore achieved the nobel prize for gitanjali. This lonely place inspired Rabindranath Tagore who intend to the achievements and awards like Nobel Prize. Renuka died late in 1903 after returning to Kolkata. The gentle peaceful atmosphere of the Kumaon Himalayas left a deep impression on him.So he went to Ramgarh again in 1914 one year after receiving the Nobel Prize in 1913. You can coin this as a secret hideout of the first Nobel Laureate of India as well as Aisa. Few tourists knew about “Ramgarh Tagore top” who visits Uttarakhand. Anyone has to trek around 4–5kms to reach Tagore Top Hill, Malla Ramgarh. The cottage is now in decaying condition. In 2020 Human resource development Minister/Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank made a great announcement that it will be a 2nd campus of Visva-Bharati University, Shantinekitan, soon. “Approval has been granted by the university last month. It was a proud moment for Uttarakhand and Kumaon that our land was blessed with the presence of such a legend. The campus will enable students to explore hordes of opportunities in multiple streams,” stated the honorable education minister. The minister mentioned that the campus will add to the prosperous legacy of the Kumaon division of Uttarakhand. Young former Cambridge University alumni Piyush Mandal has taken a noble initiative by raising crowdfunding to renovate this cottage. He also feels that it’s an excellent initiative taken by the govt. to turn this house into another campus of Visva- Bharati University. (News Published in “The New Indian Express” on 8th July 2020). The cottage is now waiting for its restoration.

Tagore Bhavan Almora one of the famous historical places in India

Rabindranath again visited Almora in 1927 and 1937 which was the last visit to Almora before 4 years of his heavenly abode. Last time he was invited by agricultural Scientist Basiswar “Boshi” Sen. He stayed in St. Marks House during his Almora visit(Tagore Bhavan). This house was named “Tagore Bhavan” in 1961 on the occasion of the “Rabindranath Tagore” centenary year. Tagore Bhavan is located in the district’s cantonment area. Now this house is the cantonment board office.

Let me give a brief introduction of the host “Boshi Sen”. Many things remain incomplete without introducing “Boshi Sen” here. Basiswar “Boshi” Sen (1887 — Aug 1974) was an agricultural scientist in a domicile of Bishnupur, Bankura district West Bengal. He was the youngest son of Rameswar Sen and Prasannamoye Devi. Rameswar Sen was 1st graduate of Calcutta University from the Bankura district of Bengal. His elder brother Sureswar Sen was the direct disciple of the holy mother Maa Sarada Devi. He was very close to eminent personalities starts including 1st Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Julian Huxley, D.H.Lawrence and Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose, sister Nivedita( the direct Dikshit of Swami Vivekananda), etc. whom he invited to Almora. The place (Almora) became prosperous with the arrival of these virtuosos. Boshi Sen was a pioneer of the green revolution movement that altered the food scene of India by growing profuse food grains. He was successful in the production of hybrid maize seeds and hybrid onions in his research center Vivekananda Laboratory which was transferred to the Government of Uttar Pradesh in 1959. Govt. of India was awarded Prof. Boshi Sen Padma Bhushan in 1957 and the Watmull Award in 1962. He is the only person who reduced the possibility of famine in the country. He was involved in the Ramakrishna Vivekananda movement. His Wife was an American author Gertrude Emerson Sen.

During his stay in St. Marks House(now Tagore Bhavan), he wrote many literary works some of them being ‘Senjuti’, ‘Nabojatak’, and ‘Akash Prodip’. These are the few legendary Rabindranath Tagore poems in Bengali. Many poems of ‘Chorar Kobi’ and lastly the modern science-based book ‘Biswa Porichoy’. The poet painted some pictures with local colors. Gurudev Rabindranath used to hum Indian national anthem lyrics “Jana Mana Gana….” here. After the conversion of the cantonment board office(Tagore Bhavan), they preserved the sofa where Gurudev used to seat there.

You may also like 

Kainchi Dham Uttarakhand : 1 Right Complete Guide

Despite its rich historical importance, Tagore Bhavan remains an anonymous place due to the administration’s negligence towards this heritage place in India. The administrative body did not think of the proper plan for the advertisement of this heritage house(Tagore Bhavan). Only a few Bengali tourists visit Tagore Bhavan and Tagore Top during their visit to Almora. Local people want that the administration should pay attention to making this tourist spot(Tagore Bhavan) popular so they will also financially benefit. As alumnae of Visva- Bharati University, Santiniketan, to me, the visit to Tagore Bhavan is a sacred act. I cannot avoid the responsibility of my roots. I fondly described an amazing historical place I have visited last month.

FAQ

Encore Audio Visual of Tagore Bhavan