1. Rathindranath Tagore served as the first vice-chancellor of Visva-Bharati University, which was founded by his father, Rabindranath Tagore.
17 Facts About Rathindranath Tagore
1. 2.
Rathindranath Tagore was born on 27 November 1888 to Rabindranath Tagore and Mrinalini Devi at Jorasanko Thakur Bari in Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India.
3.
Rathindranath Tagore was one of the first five students at the Brahmacharya asrama at Shantiniketan.
4.
Rathindranath Tagore built a soil testing laboratory, imported plant-seeds, borrowed tractors and customized the farming equipment to the requirements of the area.
5.
On 27 January 1910, Rathindranath Tagore married Pratima, a widowed niece who was five years his junior; it was the first instance of widow remarriage in the Rathindranath Tagore family.
6.
From his private letters, it can be inferred that Rathindranath Tagore was quite happy during this period.
7.
At different times Rathindranath Tagore was a teacher and an administrator, serving as Karma Saciva, Santiniketan Saciva and the in-charge of Sriniketan.
8.
Rathindranath Tagore made an enormous contribution to developing the Rabindranath Tagore memorial and archives.
9.
Once Visva Bharati was formally established, Rathindranath Tagore initially served as a faculty-member and subsequently as its chairman.
10.
In 1951, Rathindranath Tagore became the first upacharya of Visva-Bharati after it was selected to be a central university.
11.
Reportedly, Rathindranath Tagore disliked the change as it added what he regarded as unnecessary bureaucracy.
12.
Rathindranath Tagore continued his friendship with Mira and Nirmalchandra despite criticism from his family and some residents of Shantiniketan.
13.
When Nehru asked Rathindranath Tagore to "remove" Nirmalchandra and Mira from Shantiniketan, he felt insulted and, instead, resigned citing "ill-health".
14.
Rathindranath Tagore left the premises on 22 August 1953, calling it the day of his freedom from the folds of Visva-Bharati.
15.
Rathindranath Tagore wrote to Nirmalchandra demanding that Mira be "handed-over" to him; Nirmalchandra obliged and Mira and her son 2-year old Jayabrato accompanied Tagore to Dehradun.
16.
In Dehradun, Rathindranath Tagore built a house called "Mitali" on Rajpur Road.
17.
Guha-Ghar, which was built by Rathindranath Tagore and served as his residence at Shantiniketan, houses the museum and displays many of his art works.