Translating the Modern: A Walk Around Santiniketan, Part II
Translating the Modern: A Walk Around Santiniketan, Part II
Translating the Modern: A Walk Around Santiniketan, Part II
collection stories
Translating the Modern: A Walk Around Santiniketan, Part IIChaiti Nath The City as a Museum, Kolkata 2025’s tribute to the innovations in Bengal Architecture begins with a series of programmes exploring the unique architectural and cultural sites of Santiniketan. We approach them not as static monuments and sites but as living, evolving experiments, in the second and final part of our story. |
Chittaprosad
Terracotta from Bengal (detail)
1955, 7.0 x 3.2 in.
Collection: DAG
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Tagore in Shyamali
Courtesy: Rabindra Bhavana, Visva Bharati
Shaymali, Photographed in 2025
Detail of Shaymali, Photographed in 2025
In a spirit of experimental revivalism, within the Uttarayan complex Santiniketan’s architect and design team turned to the enduring prototype of the Buddhist chaitya hall, akin to those at Ajanta and Bagh. This exploration culminated in Shyamali (The dark one, 1935), a name derived from its construction from locally sourced mud, with the earlier Chaitya (Chaiti) serving as its direct pilot project. Its frontal façade and structural plan faithfully echo the chaitya form, characterized by a solid mass with few openings. The surface is animated by numerous relief sculptural panels by Ramkinkar Baij and Nandalal Bose. |