• RABINDRA SANGEET ONLINE
  www.calcuttaweb.com

• SABRAKAM ER BANGALIANA
  www.banglalive.com

Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore spread the ancient Indian culture world wide through -s songs. Vishwabharti and Shantiniketan both the institutions were created by him and now command respect all over the world.
Rabindranath revolutionized the very concept of culture particularly the Indian cul-ture. which was customarily belittled  by the western  nations. Through varied experimentations he reshaped and redefine! it which is now known as Rabindra culture. Since the demise of Rabindranth his philosophy and ideas till today remain a major subject if discussion not only in India but in far off countries too. Today, in almost all maJ9r cities in we have a Rabindra Bhawan be it Government, Semi Government or privately spon­sored one. engaged in cultural activities with particular reference to the great poet.
Rabindra Parishad. Patna came into being. Thanks to the tenacious efforts of gentries of Patna. Prominent among them who contributed greatly to the Late Dr. Sachin Sen and Late Dr. S.M. Ghosal. Later years were pick-up period : ;-=i_;  , Rabindra Parishad, Patna due to the tireless efforts of Late D. N. Sarkar {Mantu I Smt. Rama Ciakraborty, Late Justice Hemanta Kumar Choudhary and Late Basanto -e-,ere and many other reached a glorious new height. Solemnly, fondly and respectfully we remember them all today.
At the outset Rabindra Bhawan did not have any building of its own. Due to the efforts the then owners of Ananda Bazar Patrika Group of Publications Late Ashok Kumar car a small office started functioning in the premises of Hindustan Standard. Subsequently in this building itself a small library of about 500 books containing volumes of Rabindra Literature and books written by him started functioning. With the increase in num­bers and scope for different activities, need for a building was felt.
In the year 1955, Rabindra Parishad started constructing its own building with the help of Late Sri Krishna Sinha, first Chief Minister of Bihar. Later on in 1958 Government of Bihar donated some more land. But in 1961 only the members themselves took up the con­struction work further to give the Bhawan its present shape.
In the year 1957, On the request of Smt. Roma Chakraborty niece of Gurudev Tagore, Late Indira Devi Chodhary named the musical wing of Rabindra Parishad as Geeta Bhawan. it was started with the sole idea of imparting music specially Rabindra Sangeet and Manipuri Dance. The course of study was formulated by respected Shailaja Ranjan Majumdar. We were fortunate to have Late Nilima Sen and Dr. Roma Chakraborty as advisor on the functioning of Geeta Bhawan. They helped and guided Geeta Bhawan in various ways.

Subsequently, though we had not a seperate building for the musical wing till then, we started Sitar in 1959, Guitar in 1965, Painting in 1968. Eventually foundation stone of 3eeta Bhawan building was laid by the then Chief Minister of Bihar Dr. Jagannath Mishra.

We are grateful to Central Government and Government of Bihar for the help they extended by awarding grants for the building of Geeta Bhawan in 1981.
It is worth mentioning here that Geeta Bhawan is affiliated to Gitabitan of Kolkata established by Gurudev. It is also affiliated to Prayag Sangeet Samiti, Allahabad & also Pracheen Kala Kendra, Chandigarh.
It is heartening to note that out of the proposed three story building of Geeta Bhawan, we could complete the ground floor till 1989. The inauguration ceremony of this building was conducted by the then Governor of Bihar Sri Jagannath Pahadia on 16th May, 1989. One big dance hall and four class rooms were constructed in the 1st phase. The hall was dedicated to the loving memory of Late Harendranath Mukhopadhyay and Late Uma Mukhopadhyay. Other rooms were dedicated respecively to the memory Late Bibhuti Bhushan Mukhopadhyay, Late Basanto Kumar Banerjee, and Late Dipendranath Sarkar. We dedicated a class room in the name of Dr. Smt. Roma Chakraborty to honour her.
We express our gratitude to the Government of India and Government of Bihar for their grants towards construction expenses of Geeta Bhawan. But the completion of even the ground floor would not have been possible without the unstinted support of Patna gentries and few well wishers. It is worth mentioning that Late Harendanath Mukhopadhyay donated Rs. One Lakh five thousand to Geeta Bhawan and his wife Late Uma Mukhopadhyay donated Rs. One Lakh towards construction of 1st Floor.

Different Functions
We have previously mentioned in our silver jubilee souvenir about Geeta Bhawan's some important events from 1957 to 1980. Now here we are only mentioning events from 1981 to 2007.
From 8th May, 1981 to 13th May, 1981 we celebrated 120th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore. We arranged a melodious Rabindra Sangeet Sammelan along with some famous artists from Kolkata on the 9th May. Amongst the stalwart celebrities Sri Dwijen Mukhopadhyay, Smt. Banani Ghosh and Smt. Bandana Singha participated.

22nd Sravana
We arranged a four day programme on the 41st Death Anniversary of Gurudev Tagore. Sri Santosh Majumdar gave a illuminative discourse on Rabindranath on this occasion. Students of Geeta Bhawan presented Habindra Sangeet on this occasion. A beautiful marble bust of Kaviguru made by famous sculpture Sri Salim Munshi of Shantiniketan, installed in front of Rabindra Bhawan Office. The beautiful marbel bust of Kabiguru was inaugurated by the then governor of Bihar Sri A. R. Kidwai, donated Rs. 5000/- and Dr. Jagannath Mishra, Chief Minister of Bihar also donated 1000/- to meet the partial cost of the sculpture.

25th Baishakh, 1982
121st Birth Anniversary was celebrated with a four day function. Dance Drama 'Chitrangada1 was presented jointly by Kolkata and local artists besides students and teach­ers of Geeta Bhawan to the full appreciation of all.

1982 was Silver Jubilee Year of Geeta Bhawan. On this occasion we have organised competition such as classical vocal, Rabindra Sangeet and Rabindra Dance.
We have also conducted different seminars. The audience and invitees had appreciated such effort. Felicitations were offered to renowned Rabindra Sangeet and teacher Sri Shailaja Ranjan Majumdar. Silver Jubilee celebration started on 7th Aug. 1982 and was inaugurated by the then Deputy Minister Sri Kumud Ranjan Jha.
On 9th Aug. 1982 students of Geeta Bhawan presented a beautiful 'Jalsa1. On 10th Aug. 1982 recitation Tagore s poem and different aspects of rainy season were presented through Rabindra Sangeet under the able guidance and direction of Sri Debojyoti Dutta Majumdar.
In the 2nd Phase we arranged competitions on Rabindra Sangeet and Classical Vocal Sangeet. We also decided to conduct such functions in the years to come.
In the year 1982, three of our students were awarded 'Geet Bharti' from Gitabitan, Kolkata. All students who appeared from Prayag Sangeet Samiti were successful and one student was awarded Sangeet Prabhakar'. We rewarded the two Geet Bharti awardees by appointing them as teachers at Geeta Bhawan.
In the year 1985 under the able guidance of Dr. Debjyoti Dutta Majumdar a sympo­sium named 'Influence of Bhairavi Rag on Rabindra Sangeet1 was presented by Geeta Bhawan students on 12th May. On 13th May we celebrated jointly with local talents 'Rabindra Nazrul Evening'. On 14th April, 1986 Geeta Bhawan students and teachers presented Rabindranath's 'Nevin . On 13th May they presented Dance Drama 'Saap Mochan'. On 22nd May, 1986 Patna local group 'Gharoa' Along with students and teachers of Geeta Bhawan Presented 'Samanya Kshati1.
On 14th April 1987 students and teachers of Geeta Bhawan presented 'Shishu Bholanath'. On 5th May they presented 'Chandalika' in Hindi.
During 1987 we were invited by Government of Tripura to participate in Rabindra
Mela as representative of Bihar State where we presented 'Natraj'. Besides this our
students presented Rabindra Sangeet in  Bengali & Hindi and earned fame. On 12th May,
1987 students and teachers again  presented 'Chitrangada'.
On 24th September, 1987 students and teachers of Geeta Bhawan conducted a programme and presented a cheque for Rs. 2500/- to Government of Bihar towards flood relief fund. On 13th May, 1988 we along with artists of Shantiniketan presented Dance Drame 'Shyama'. On 13th April. 1989 we presented' Rituranga' during Varsha Shesh celebration.
128th Birth Anniversary-Tagore's birthday was celebrated at exactly 02.36 37 midnight by members of Raoindra Parishad and teachers and students of Geeta Bhawan.
On 13th May, 1989 'Mayar Khela' was presented by teachers and students of Geeta Bhawan. On 16th May, 1989 house warming of New building was celebrated by the stu­dents and teachers through a painting exhibition which was inaugurated by the then Gover­nor of Bihar, Sri Jagannath Pahadia.
On 31st Jan, 1990 they presented Folk Nritya of different States of India and the day
was also celebrated as Nehru Centenary.
To Complete the ambit of Geeta Bhawan as full fledged Sangeet Vidyalaya we starte: classes on Kathak, Rabindra Nritya and Painting. Over the years number of Students o' Geeta Bhawan have increased which can be seen by the under noted figures :

Those who are with us now and continue to inspire and come to our aid when needed are :- Smt. Dr. Rama Chakraborty (who has been the back bone of Geeta Bhawan at the time of its inception),  Dr. Sudhin Das, Dr. Mala Ghosh, Sri Subhendu Palit, Dr. DM Sen, Smt. Jayanti Gupta, Ujjal Gupta, Sri Chittranjan Bose. We can name few more pe sons who have been helping us for betterment of Rabindra Parishad and Geeta Bhawan -Sri     Gaur     Ghosh,     Sri     Sanjeev     Ghosh,     Sri     Manabendra     Bhattacharyi Smt. Bani Sen, Sri Jibon Moy Dutta, Smt. Tripti Bose, Sri Ashutosh Chakraborty, Sri Kartftl
Chakraborty, Sri Kailash Mitra, Dr. Mamata Das Sharma, Sri Tapas Mukherjee, Sri Ajit Chakraborty. Sri Sunil Banerjee, Smt. Shikha Das, Sri Anjan Sinha, Sri Soumendranath Mukherjee, Sri Sumanta Sikdar, Smt. Stuti Ghosh, Sri Ujjawal Maity, Smt. Sharmila Paul, Sri Sibashish Mukherjee. Smt. Chinmoy Baneerjee, Sri Gangadhar Pathak, Sri Shankar Guha, Sri Kali Ghosh, Sri Kalyan Sunder Bose, Sri Priti Ranjan Bose, Sri Dilip Sen Gupta, Sri Deepak Goswami. Sri B.S. Sen Sharma, Sri Sanjay Bhattacharya, Sri Sanjay Majumdar, Sri Probir Aikat. Sri Binoy Roy, Sri Shyamal Chakraborty, Sri Kinshuk Biswas, Sri Ashok Talapatra (Kalu), Sri Alok Tarafdar, Sri Sujit Mukherjee, Sri Gautam Bhattarcharya (Gora), Sri Pranabendu V ukherjee, Sri Mishit Kumar Bose, Sri Sadhan Mustafi, Ranjan Ray, Sri Mrina! Majumdar, Smt. Runa Majumdar, Smt. Chaitali Dutta, Sri Arnab Chakraborty, Sri Debabrata Mukherjee (Nimai), Sri Prabir Ghosh, Sri Shyamal Das, Sri Partho Mitra, Sri Pradip Dutta, Sri Kaustab Adhikari. Smt. Shrabani Roy, Sri Subroto Baneerjee, Smt. Chaitali Talukdar, Sri Sandip Roy, Sri Pradipto Mukherjee, Miss Ruma Aikat, Sri Debopriya Ghosh, Sri Partho Das, Sri Pradeep Roy and Sri Debashish Roy, Smt. Rina Sinha, Smt. Sanchita Sarkar, Smt. Rajita, Smt. Arpita Chatterjee, Smt Sushmita Biswas.
I am happy to inform that the sub-committee members of Geeta Bhawan & all mem­bers of the executive committee of Rabindra Parishad have been whole heartedly helping us to manage the affairs of Geeta Bhawan. I express my grateful thanks and co-operation to the parents and students for helping us to stage the programme of Geeta Bhawan.
I shall be failing in our duty if we do not mention the name of our present chairman Sri Shayama Prasad Mukherjee who has been a pillar of strength to us in conducting the day to day affair of Geeta Bhawan and Rabindra Parishad for their betterment.