Culmination of 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Rabindranath Tagore

A Bust of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore was unveiled on 26 June 2012 by Prof. G.L. Peiris, Minister of External Affairs in the presence of Ashok K. Kantha, High Commissioner of India and Prof. Kshanika Hirimburegame, Vice Chancellor, University of Colombo at the Main Library of the University of Colombo.

The Bronze Bust has been gifted by Ministry of Culture, Government of India on the occasion of 150th Birth Anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore.  The greenish bronze bust is sculpted by Janak Jhankar Narzary, a renowned sculptor and Professor of Art History in Kala Bhavana, Visva-Bharati.
 In his remarks, Peiris emphasized the multi-faceted personality of Gurudev Tagore and underlined the principle of Universality espoused by Tagore and called the values preached by Tagore as a uniting force between different civilizations. He also recalled Tagore’s fascination with the universal appeal of Buddhism and dwelt upon the unique experiments in education carried out by Tagore by way of setting up of Shantiniketan and Visva- Bharati. Prof. Peiris recalled his family’s association with Gurudev Tagore and remembered laying down of the foundation of Sri Palee established by Late Wilmot Perera. Prof. Peiris also emphasized that destinies of India and Sri Lanka were bound inextricably together.
In his remarks, High Commissioner Ashok K. Kantha recalled the year long series of activities organized by the High Commission in partnership with the Government of Sri Lanka, University of Colombo and other institutions to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Gurudev Tagore in Sri Lanka. High Commissioner underlined that there was a groundswell of genuine interest in Tagore, his life, his works, his legacy in Sri Lanka. High Commissioner highlighted that Gurudev Tagore was not being put on a pedestal to be remembered once a year on his birth anniversary, but to draw upon Tagore’s life, works and legacy to nurture strong bonds of friendship between our two countries and to strengthen that ancient association of mind between India and Sri Lanka as referred by Tagore himself during his visit in 1934, which have been reinforced during these year-long celebrations.
In her remarks, Vice-Chancellor thanked the High Commission for gifting the bust of Tagore to University of Colombo and highlighted the excellent cooperation between the University of Colombo and the High Commission of India which has also resulted in setting up of a Centre for Contemporary Indian Studies (CCIS) at the University of Colombo.
The unveiling of the bust was the culmination of year and half long celebrations of the 150th Birth Anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore in Sri Lanka which included, inter alia, a series of events such as the release on 7th May 2011 of a special Postal stamp by the Ministry of Postal Services, Government of Sri Lanka and the release of a commemorative volume “Remembering Rabindranath Tagore” with a message from H.E. the President of Sri Lanka.
Some of the other key events organized to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Tagore in Sri Lanka included a Tagore Film Festival focusing on the works of Gurudev Tagore organized from 1- 5 September 2011; re-staging of ‘Shaap Mochan’, a dance drama in which Tagore had personally acted in Colombo and Jaffna in May 1934 which was widely appreciated, including by SWRD Bandaranaike, former Prime Minister, in Colombo, Jaffna, Kandy and Hambantota from 22-28 November 2011 by an ICCR sponsored troupe of Ashimbandhu Bhattacharjee & Bimbavati Devi in form of a fusion of Manipuri and kathak dance performance “Prabhu Amar Priyo Amar”; an Exhibition of Digital re-prints of Paintings by Tagore; and a photo exhibition on Tagore’s Pilgrimages to the East  organized in the first week of December 2011 and ‘An evening of Tagore Songs’ by the famous Rabindra Sangeet singer from Bangladesh Rizwana Choudhary  on 28 March 2011 in association with the High Commission of Bangladesh. A one day seminar focusing on the travels of Tagore to Sri Lanka was organized in association with the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for International Relations and Strategic Studies and the Centre for Contemporary Indian Studies, University of Colombo on 12 June 2012.
Tagore’s three visits to Sri Lanka in 1922, 1928 and 1934 and two transit halts had clearly left an abiding imprint and his extensive interactions with artists and literary personalities of Sri Lanka significantly contributed to the cultural resurgence, inspiring artistes, dancers and singers to develop their genres to classical forms.  Prominent Sri Lankan artists such as Ananda Samarakoon, Chitrasena and Sunil Shantha had attended the Visva-Bharati University.  Tagore was himself impressed by Kandyan dance and mask dance of Sri Lank and he adapted some elements of those dances in his later choreographic productions. During his visit to Sri Lanka in 1934 at the invitation of Dr. Wilmot Perera, Gurudev Tagore also laid the foundation of Sri Palee (where beauty reigns) in Horana, an educational institution modeled on the lines of Santiniketan.