The following is a list of notable people associated with Visva- Bharati University and/or Santiniketan, a neighbourhood in Bolpur city in West Bengal, India:
People in the Tagore family
Debendranath Tagore established Santiniketan in 1861, a small place for prayers and meditation with land from Bhuban Mohan Singha of Raipur.Ghosh, Binoy, Paschim Banger Sanskriti, , part I, 1976 edition, pages 299-304, Prakash Bhaban, KolkataBasak, Tapan Kumar, Rabindranath-Santiniketan-Sriniketan (An Introduction), p. 2, B.B.Publication Rabindranath Tagore started a Brahmacharyaashrama in 1901 and it came to be known as Patha Bhavana from 1925. Founded in 1921 by him, Visva Bharati was declared to be a central university in 1951. In 1913, Rabindranath won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He wrote many of his literary classics at Santiniketan. Rathindranath Tagore, after completing his education first at Santiniketan and then abroad, spent the next four decades of his life serving Santiniketan and Visva Bharati. Pratima Devi was a talented artist and contributed substantially to improvising and popularising Rabindranath's dance dramas. Krishna Kripalani, husband of Nandita, a grand daughter of Rabindranath, taught at Santiniketan for about 15 years, His biography of Tagore was amongst the best ever written. Dwijendranath Tagore, Rabindranath's eldest brother, spent the last twenty years of his life at Santiniketan. He was a poet, musician, philosopher and mathematician. Dinendranath Tagore, grandson of Dwijendranath, was a talented musician. He codified many of the tunes that appeared impetuously to Rabindranath. He named Rabindranath's songs as Rabindra Sangeet. He was the first principal of Sangit Bhavana. Indira Devi Chaudhurani, daughter of Satyendranath Tagore, excelled in both Western and Indian classical music and composed Brahmasangit. She wrote the notations for many of Rabindranath's songs. Abanindranath Tagore, founder of the Bengal school of art joined as chancellor of Visva Bharati in 1942.Samsad Bangali Charitabhidhan (Biographical Dictionary), Chief Editor: Subodh Chandra Sengupta, Editor: Anjali Bose, 4th edition 1998, , Vol I, page 23, , Sishu Sahitya Samsad Pvt. Ltd., 32A Acharya Prafulla Chandra Road, Kolkata. Asit Kumar Haldar, was art teacher in Santiniketan Vidyalaya from 1911 to 1915 and was incharge of Kala Bhavana from 1919 to 1921.
People of foreign citizenship or origin
This list includes names of persons who may have been citizens of British India, but later became citizens of Pakistan/ Bangladesh Charles Freer Andrews (Deenabandhu Andrews) was a lifelong friend of Rabindranath Tagore and assisted in setting up Visva Bharati. Leonard Knight Elmhirst, set up the Institute of Rural Reconstruction at Sriniketan.Leonard Knight Elmhirst, The Straight and Its Origin, 1975, OCLC 2046429 originally serialized in Cornell Alumni News, 1974–75 Khan Abdul Ghani Khan, poet and philosopher, son of Abdul Ghaffar Khan, was sent to Santiniketan, along with Indira Gandhi, by Jawaharlal Nehru. Although known primarily as a poet, he got interested in sculpture, while studying in Santiniketan. He spent his later years in Pakistan. Martin Kämpchen is a Santiniketan-based translator of Rabindranath Tagore's poems from Bengali to German, author, journalist and social worker.
Anand Yang, historian, was born and initially raised here. Savitri Devi, the pseudonym of the daughter of a French citizen of Greek-Italian ancestry and an English woman, born Maximiani Portas, was a political activist and writer. She was at Santiniketan for a short while and acquired her pseudonym there. Affandi, the Indonesian master, was at Santiniketan in 1951. His daughter Kartika Affandi had accompanied him.See for a sketch of Santiniketan hospital by Affandi
Notable alumni
Arts and letters Film and television
Name Class year Notability studied oriental art at Visva Bharati, went on become a legendary film maker.
Writing
Name Class year Notability studied English honours at Visva Bharati, became a Bengali writer and social activist, won Jnanpith Award, Ramon Magsaysay Award, Padma Vibhushan and other honours Shivani well known Hindi writer and Padma Shri award winner, went to Santiniketan in 1936, when she was 12-years old and remained till her graduation. First story Biography at kalpana.it. younger brother of Santidev Ghosh, attended school at Santiniketan. He subsequently became assistant editor of the literary magazine Desh in 1933 and its editor in 1976. He made Desh an institution amongst Bengalis. He was conferred Desikottama. noted Assamese poet, novelist and dramatist, completed his undergraduate education at Santiniketan. He later received the Sahitya Akademi Award and was conferred the Padma Bhusan. Greek-American journalist-entrepreneur, was a student of comparative religion at Visva Bharati. a researcher and writer, did his PhD from Cheena Bhavana and joined McMaster University in Canada. Bhuwan Dhungana1971Nepali poet and storywriter. She received a Diploma in Manipuri dance and Bengali literature.
Visual arts Name Class year Notability master printmaker at Atelier 17 and sculptor, studied at Kala Bhavana. pioneering printmaker and graphic artist; first Indian principal of Government School of Art & Craft, Kolkata went to school at Santiniketan in its earlier days. an artist staying and working in Paris, graduated from Kala Bhavana. an artist based in Berlin, studied at Santiniketan. was a student of Kala Bhavana and is credited with having developed the adaptation of the national emblem and designed other pages of the Constitution of India. one of the illustrators of the Indian constitution, was a student of Kala Bhavana. painter, studied at Kala Bhavana. He was later conferred Padma Shri. came to Santiniketan at a young age and went on to become a legendary sculptor and artist. He was one of the 'greats', who made Santiniketan, a notable centre of modern art. He was elected a Fellow of the Lalit Kala Academy and conferred Padma Bhushan, Desikottama by Visva Bharati and D Litt by Rabindra Bharati University. was a student of Kala Bhavana and later joined the faculty. A brilliant artist, he was elected a Fellow of the Lalit Kala Academy and conferred Padma Vibhushan and Desikottama. noted painter and Padma Vibhushan award winner, was a student of Kala Bhavana and later came back to teach at Santiniketan. the renowned artist and illustrator of the Indian constitution, was a student at Kala Bhavana and later also associated actively. was a noted painter who had studied at Kala Bhavana and later as principal reshaped it for contemporary art practices. who was student at Santiniketan and was later actively associated with it. He was conferred with Desikottama and Padma Shri.
Music
Name Class year Notability the Rabindra Sangeet exponent was a student of Sangit Bhavana. noted painter and Padma Bhusan award winner, was a student of Kala Bhavana. came to Santiniketan to study Chemistry and became a renowned singer specialising in Rabindrasangeet. exponent of both Carnatic and Hindusthani classical music. After learning Carnatic classical music as a child from her mother, she came to Santiniketan to study philosophy and got attracted towards Hindusthani classical music. a prominent Rabindra Sangeet singer, was born and educated at Santiniketan. joined as a student in the ashrama and later became a teacher and Principal of Sangit Bhavana. An exponent of music and dance, he was elected for the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, conferred Desikottama by Visva Bharati and honorary D Litt by Burdwan University. was trained at Sangit Bhavana, and later joined the institution as a teacher and went on to become its principal. She was conferred Desikottama. She had over 300 gramophone discs to her credit and sang regularly in numerous programmes in India and abroad. was a student and later a teacher at Santiniketan. Rabindra Sangeet exponent, was a student at Santiniketan and later joined the faculty at Sangit Bhavana. Bangladeshi singer, was a topper at Sangit Bhavana. Bangladeshi musician, singer and composer, spent 17 years at Santiniketan. composer and musician, who had composed the Sri Lankan national anthem, had studied at Santiniketan for a short spell. the Bangladeshi exponent of Rabindra Sangeet, was trained at Santiniketan. She was conferred the Independence Day Award, the highest civilian award in Bangladesh in 2016.
Performing arts Name Class year Notability joined Santiniketan in 1939.
Scientists and academics
Name Class year Notability who was born at Santiniketan and studied at Patha Bhavana, later won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. a molecular biologist, who did his Ph D from Visva Bharati University, was the chief scientist at the Institute of Microbial Technology. He is an elected fellow of all three Science Academies in India - the National Academy of Sciences, Indian Academy of Sciences and the Indian National Science Academy. scientist and coordinator, Bio Informatics Centre, Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata, had studied physics at Santiniketan. plant molecular biologist, biochemist, inventor and a senior scientist at the National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR), New Delhi. He is known for his studies on the molecular and biochemical basis of seed vigor, longevity and seedling establishment. He completed his post graduation in botany at Santiniketan. neurobiologist, senior scientist at National Brain Research Centre, Manesar, Gurgaon, completed his pre-doctoral studies in life sciences at Visva Bharati University. who studied history of art at Kala Bhavana, later joined as faculty and became its principal, is a leading art historian and has curated numerous art exhibitions. did his Ph D from Visva Bharati University and went on hold important academic positions as a Chinese scholar. He was conferred with Desikottama, Padma Bhusan and other awards. was one of the earliest students of Visva Bharati and later became a professor of Islamic history and culture. He also taught the German language at Visva Bharati. He was a Bengali author, academic and linguist. stayed after his graduation at Santiniketan, where he studied Buddhism and Bengali and taught Italian, Chinese and Tibetan. Ragadeepika Pucha2010–2015completed MSc in physics, and became astrophysicist at the University of Arizona and the University of Utah. She has produced the largest 3D map of the universe and discovered the most number of dwarf galaxies and black holes.
Government and law Parliamentarians
Name Class year Notability studied at the Patha Bhavana, Santiniketan, later became Prime Minister of India.
Judges Name Class year Notability who studied at Patha Bhavana, Santiniketan, and became Chief Justice of India. Biography on Supreme Court of India's NIC webpage
Activists Name Class year Notability civil rights and freedom activist, studied at Santiniketan. She later married Nabakrushna Choudhuri. President of Rotary International in 2011–2012, was a student at Santiniketan.
Others Name Class year Notability then princess of Cooch Behar and later Maharani of Jaipur, was a student at Santiniketan.
Notable faculty