Shilaidaha
Kuthibadi a historic place associated with RABINDRANATH TAGORE and a
tourist spot. It stands on the south bank of the river Padma in
Kumarkhali upazila in Kushtia district and is five miles north of the
district headquarters across the Gadai and opposite to the Pabna town
on farther north across the Padma. Shilaidaha is also famous for the
kachhari (office) of the Birahimpur zamindari and the historic
kuthibadi of the Tagore family of Jorasanko.
Shilaidaha
is a relatively modern name; its old name was Khorshedpur. Before the
Thakurs of Jorasanko acquired the village in the middle of the 19th
century there stood an indigo-Kuthi reportedly built by a planter,
named Shelly. A deep daha (whirlpool) was formed there at the
confluence of the Gadai and the Padma, and hence the village came to be
known as 'Shelly-daha', which ultimately took the form of 'Silaidaha'.
DWARKANATH TAGORE, grandfather of Rabindranath Tagore, became the
owner of this zamindari in 1807 by means of a will executed in his
favour by Ramlochan Tagore. Rabindranath assumed the responsibility of
looking after the zamindari and came to Shilaidaha for the first time
in November 1889.
Rabindranath
Tagore in his adolescence and even later occasionally stayed there
during his periodic inspection of the zamindari estate. But later the
Padma began to devour its banks during high flood close to the old
Kuthibadi. Alarmed at the devastating erosion it was dismantled and its
building materials were used for the erection of the new Kuthibadi.
There the poet lived for more than a decade at irregular intervals
between 1891 and 1901. During his stay there, eminent scientists,
litterateurs and intelligentsia of Bengal such as Sir JAGADISH CHANDRA
BOSE, DWIJENDRALAL ROY, PRAMATHA CHOWDHURY, MOHITLAL MAJUMDER,
Lokendranath Palit visited him on various occasions. Sitting at his
desk in the Kuthibadi or on a boat on the Padma, Rabindranath wrote a
number of masterpieces: Sonar Tari, Chitra, Chaitali, Katha O Kahini,
Ksanika, most of the poems of Naibedya and Kheya, and the songs of
GITANJALI and Gitimalya. It was here, in 1912, that the poet started
his translation of Gitanjali into English, which earned him the Nobel
Prize in 1913. Rabindranath had a deep attachment for Shilaidaha and the
Padma, which is evident in his Chhinna Patrabali. The poet once wrote
in a letter, 'The holy place of my literary pursuits during my youth
and middle age was the village of Shilaidaha kissed by the waves of the
Padma'.
Kuthibadi
is a picturesque three-storied terraced bungalow, constructed with
brick, timber, corrugated tin sheets and Raniganj tiles. Silaidaha
Kuthibadi is nestled within about eleven acres of beautiful orchards of
mango, jackfruit and other evergreen trees, a flower garden and two
ponds. Silaidaha has an enchanting natural beauty and rural landscape.
The Villa, enclosed within a boundary wall, is entered through a simple
but attractive gateway on the south. It accommodates about 15
apartments of various sizes with a large central hall on the ground and
the first floors. Each of the open terraces on the ground and the first
floors is partly covered with a sloping roof of Raniganj tiles, while
the central part over the ground floor has a pitched roof with gable
ends. A short pyramidal crest farther variegates the roof over the
second storey. Silaidaha Kuthibadi is now a protected national monument
where a Thakur Memorial Museum has been established by the government.
Rabindranath
started his experimental work with village development and modern
methods of cultivation at Shilaidaha, which he later undertook at
PATISAR. He established a primary school there in the name of Pratima
Devi, his daughter-in-law.
The
birth and death anniversaries of the poet are observed at Silaidaha on
a national level on 25 Baishakh and 22 Shraban respectively. Many
scholars from home and abroad attend these celebrations and take part
in discussions on the life and works of Rabindranath. Cultural
functions follow, during which prominent artistes present TAGORE SONGS
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