Spare Chhatimtala, plead ashramiks

Updated on: Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Santiniketan: When members of Visva-Bharati’s Karmi Sabha went to Chhatimtala — the heart and soul of Tagore’s abode of peace — around 10 am on October 24, little did they know that the man against whom they had planned their agitation, vice-chancellor Rajat Kanta Ray, had already taken up place. Since then, Chhatimtala — the sanctum sanctorum of Santiniketan — has been the epicentre of the latest controversy to rock what can now be called the “abode of neglect”.

The agitators are seen in the background as Rajat Kanta Ray sits at Chhatimtala, ‘waiting for a message from the Maharshi’, on Sunday
The venue has left the ashramiks — who want both the warring sides to go elsewhere — fuming. Posters adorn the fences around Chhatimtala with hordes of people, mostly agitating employees and a few curious onlookers, gathering at the site every morning.

In fact, the ashramiks blame the vice-chancellor for this “unprecedented assault” on Chhatimtala. “The vice-chancellor has shown them the way,” said Somendranath Bandyopadhyay, an ashramik.

On a number of occasions, Ray had organsied prayer meetings at Chhatimtala, asking students to join him. On January 9 2008 — two days after the sensational murder of a Sangeet Bhavan student Saswati Pal —Santiniketan woke up to find Ray sitting at Chhatimtala. For the entire day, he had prayed and sung Tagore’s songs.

“I have never seen any vice-chancellor going to Chhatimtala when there’s no formal occasion. The first time he did this, I was surprised. How can a Visva-Bharati vice-chancellor do this? The agitators are simply following him. Time has come to take a stern decision on this matter,” said Bandyopadhyay.

Chhatimtala is the spot from which Santiniketan sprouted. Rabindranath’s father, Maharshi Debendranath Tagore, had camped at this very place.

“Apart from the upasana for Poush Mela and memorial services held for luminaries like Raja Ram Mohun Roy, no other programme is allowed at Chhatimtala. In the long years that I have spent here, this has been the practice. Even now, Chhatimtala should be spared. I am not sure any of the sides will listen though,” said Supriya Tagore, a former teacher at Patha Bhavan and a direct descendant of the Tagore family.

Rabindra scholar Amitrasudan Bhattacharya also blames the vice-chancellor. “Visva-Bharati has always been a one-man show with the vice-chancellor calling the shots on any matter. Nobody stopped him or protested when he started sitting at Chhatimtala. Now everybody is doing the same,” he said.

The agitators, though, don’t feel they have done any wrong. “Those raising such questions should explain what they mean. The sanctity of Chhatimtala is revered by all and we are following the vice-chancellor’s footsteps. We have been holding an agitation at Chhatimtala, but there has been no sloganeering,” argued Kishor Bhattacharya, president of the Adhyapak Sabha.

Spare Chhatimtala, plead ashramiks

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