Santiniketan's Land: When Was It Bought? The Surprising History of Tagore's Ashram

• Santiniketan, famous for Basanta Utsav, was founded on land purchased on March 1st.
• Maharshi Debendranath Tagore bought 20 acres of land in Bolpur in 1863 to build an ashram.
• The land was leased from Raipur landlords for an annual sum of 5 rupees and included two Chatim trees.
• Debendranath Tagore named the place Santiniketan, finding peace there, and later built a guesthouse and ashram.
• Rabindranath Tagore later took over Santiniketan, establishing Patha Bhavana and Visva-Bharati, and initiated Basanta Utsav.