CHEENA BHAVANA Visva-Bharati University

CHEENA BHAVANA,  Visva-Bharati University in 1984

中國學院, 印度國際大學
 CHEENA BHAVANA
 Visva-Bharati University

Tagore (1861-1941)

Tan Yun-shan 譚雲山 (1898-1983)

Visva-Bharati University was establisged in 1922.

CHEENA BHAVANA at Visva-Bharati was established under guidance of Tagore himself with the help from  Prof. Tan Yun-shan 譚雲山 in April 1937.

During the time of Tagore and Tan Yun-shan 譚雲山, scholars from Europe craved to study and research at Cheena-Bhavana, Visva-Bharati. 

Famous French sinologist, Sylvain Levi (1863-1935) joined Visva-Bharati as the first Visiting Professor who taught Chinese and Tibetan and present during the inauguration ceremony of Visva-Bharati. 

Xu Beihong徐悲鴻 (1895-1953) from China researched and taught at Visva-Bharati, Cheena-Bhavana.

Cheena-Bhavana was established with the lofty ideals of strengthening the age old cultural ties between India and China, promote Sino-Indian understanding, translate back Buddhist scriptures into Indian languages and become a pivotal research centre in Sino-Indian studies.

But recent decades it has shrunk as a ‘department of Chinese language’ and the whole department has not been able to produce a single research paper in a referred journal in the recent few years.

However, there is strong sign of changes recent years after the University signed MoU with a university in China. And a few more MoU with other Chinese Universities are on planning.

After brief war between China and India September-October 1962, Nehru came to Visva-Bharati for annual convocation on 24 December 1962. 

Nehru was very hurt after China war and was criticizing China in a vicious manner in his convocation address.

However, when Nehru saw Prof. Tan Yun-shan 譚雲山, crying bitterly under a tree in white-clad Ashram suit, he changed his speech. He proclaimed,

“In Visva-Bharati you have got various departments. You have got the Cheena-Bhavan under a distinguished Chinese scholar (Tan Yun-shan). That is a good thing to remind you always that you are not at war with China’s culture or the greatness of China in the past or present. (See Jawaharlal Nehru’s Speeches, vol. 4, p. 27.). ”

Prof. Tan Yun-shan 譚雲山 was close to Nehru, Gandhi and Tagore.

http://muktodhara.org/?p=3465

Tagore and Tan Yunshan

1984, I came to Shantinagathan and stayed for two nights in a hostel mentioned in Lonely Planet travel guide book. (I might came once earlier in 1983, but memories at this age of 62 is unclear now. I never wrote any diary while in India for 2.5 years)

I strolled around the campus and met an African student majoring Comparative Religions and a subject in Arts. He brought me around and to see his art classroom. There were sculptures. He show me his drawing of an Indian potrial.  This is a drawing practise in his class and the model for this drawing was a rickshaw man in real life. The school invite him sometimes to be their model in drawing lessons. The school chosen him because this rickshaw man has a unique.

This African friend I newly met also took me for a walk to the nearby rice farm.  The rice farms were very different from the padi (rice) farms back home in Malaysia. My maternal  grandmother in Sabah also has a big rice farm which I been to once.

This rice farm in Shantinagatan is vast and one felt like to run over the vast big field. See images belows.