The 154th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, a paramount figure of Bengali literature and a Nobel laureate, was observed on May 7 in Shelaidah of Kumarkhali Upazila in Kushtia district with due pomp and grandeur. Shelaidah, in Bangladesh, is associated with countless memory of the poems, songs, short stories and dramas written by Tagore, who inherited the zamindari (lordship) of Shelaidah from his father, Debendranath Tagore.
Possibly, many Bangladeshi devotees of Tagore’s literature are not aware of Shelaidah, where Rabindranath Tagore had spent most of his valuable times along with his wife, Mrinalini, and their daughters and sons from 1898 to 1901. Shelaidah is the place where Rabindranath translated Gitanjali into English, for which he was awarded Nobel Prize for literature in 1913.
Prince Dwarkanath Tagore, grandfather of Rabindranath Tagore, had purchased the zamindari of Natore in an auction in 1800. The area of this estate was spread over to Patisar of Rajshahi district, Shahjadpur of Pabna district and Birahimpur of Nadia district. Rabindranath was assigned to look after estates in 1891 due to huge complaints against estate officials by tenants. Numerous stories were carried out by weekly Grambarta Prakashika which was published during the 1800s from Kumarkhali by Kangal Harinath Majumder, himself a reputable poet and writer.
At the time, Kuthibari, where Rabindranath Tagore had spent best part of his life, was the only brick-built bungalow in Shelaidah. It was actually rebuilt by Tagore after dismantling the erstwhile Nilkuthi, built by an English indigo planter, when the latter was being eroded by the mighty waves of the Padma.
The elegant three-storied Kuthibari stands in the middle of large courtyard which includes two tanks, a mango grove and a host of other blooming trees. It has 17 rooms. Rabindranath used a room in the third floor for his creative writings. From this room, he used to watch the fury of Padma and Gorai since Shelaidah once lied at the junction of the two rivers. Two bakul trees were planted by Rabindranath on two sides of the brick-made pond. The rivers Padma and Gorai, once considered sources of inspiration to the poet, lies nowhere in the proximity of Kuthibari. Unfortunately, the entire area has become a dry riverbed due to geological evolution.
The poet says:
“Clouds are roaring and thundering in the sky
Full of rainy season,
Musing and meditating alone on the bank ?
Full of despair.”
Interestingly, Tagore Estate was sold in view of the financial crisis. It went to Sreemati Syamrangini Roy Choudhury, Babu Nandalal Roy and Babu Pulin Krishna Roy of Choudhurani Trust, who purchased the estate in an auction in 1937. Babu Nandalal and Pulin were zamindars and bankers who belonged to Bhagyakul Family. Shelaidah was later inherited by Surendranath Tagore, eldest son of Satyandranath Tagore, himself an elder brother of Rabindranath. This happened in 1922, in the aftermath of an apportionment of the asset of the Tagore Family.
Nevertheless, Rabindranath paid few visits to Shelaidah even after the division. While he decided to stay at Jorashako in Kolkata, Rabindranath felt pangs of separation from Shelaidah. Following his last visit to Shelaidah, Tagore had written that Padma had divorced him! Many stalwarts of Bengal paid visits to Shelaidah to meet the legendary poet. One of those frequent visitors was the great scientist, Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose.
After Pakistan came into being, kuthibari was declared a protected monument under the Ancient Monuments Act of 1904. This was made possible through the contributions of two men – Ataur Rahman Khan, who was at the time, Chief Minister of the erstwhile East Pakistan, and Nooruddin Ahmed (uncle of the writer), former Chairman of the District Board of Kushtia.
Surprisingly, Rabindranath Tagore was not only a poet and writer of international repute but also a successful businessman. He had set up a firm under the name of Tagore & Co. in Kushtia for jute bailing and storing food grains. This company acted as supplier of sugarcane crushers to the croppers of Tagore estate. On receiving complaint from the croppers of Tagore estate about low price offered by the sugarcane crushers of the British firm M/S Renwick & Co., Rabindranath decided to set up a similar firm for the satisfaction of his tenants. His engineer brother helped him to establish a firm in Kushtia which turned out to be M/S Jageswar Engineering Works after his departure from Shelaidah. Strong opinions suggest that Shelaidah and literary minded people of Kumarkhali, such as Lalan Shah, Gagan Harkara and Harinah Majumdar, contributed to the enrichment of Rabindranath Tagore’s literary bent of mind.
The writer is a retired diplomat and former President of the prestigious ‘Toastmasters International Club of America’. He currently resides in Virginia, USA. amjad.21@gmail.com
Rabindranath Tagore and Shelaidah
Mohammad Amjad Hossain | Published: June 06, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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