A story of neglect in 150th year of Rabindranath Tagore

Here is a story of negligence which left a lone archway of a big gardened house standing in Khardaha of West Bengal where Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore had spent almost 50 days in various phases.

main gate xxSWM 40442

The house which once stood on the bank of River Hooghly could not hold its ground against the erosion of river banks. As a result, it went to riverbeds in the year 1970 even after a plaque commemorating the poet’s stay was laid on its wall in the centenary of poet in 1960. The erosion then already had started but local authority failed to notice it.

Te house was called by the name of “Shivalaya”. The locals called it Marwaribagan. Renowned poet Kanti Chandra Ghosh informed Tagore about it. And he came here and started living in it. He also used to enjoy the splendour of Ganges from here while roaming in his private boat Padma. Here, from this house several important letters by Tagore were written to Romain Rolland and Hemantabala Devi of royal family of Natore. Besides he went to Persia from here.

Today in Khardaha, if one visits the Shyamsunder Ghat and ferry services he can see the lone archway that still stands in almost broken condition. A very few elderly people still living can remember Tagore in that house. Local municipal authority has put up a statue of Tagore there and the jetty is called Rabindra jetty. “This loss is such that it cannot be compensated”, told local historian Prof. Kanaipada Roy of Barrackpore. Prof. Roy has in his possession a very rare photograph of that now lost house photographed from the opposite bank of River Hooghly. Prof. Roy while doing a research on a book came to a contact in New Delhi which provided him with the rare photo of Shivalaya.

Today's Top Articles:

Scroll to Top