As the country observes the 156th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, Kolkata celebrates it in a unique way. 

On Rabindranath Tagore's 156th birth anniversary, Visva-Bharati has decided to pay tribute to some of the most talented women of the Tagore household,. These women are the pioneers of societal change in 19th century Bengal. A museum ‘Thakurbarir Kalyani’ has come up inside Rabindra Bhavan in Visva-Bharati to celebrate at least 25 of these women whose achievements were not well documented all this while. 

Tagore helped all these women by being a catalyst to help them achieve their greatness.

Starting with Tagore's mother Sarada Devi, the museum takes visitors through the lives of his sisters, sisters-in-law, daughters and nieces who thought ahead of their times.

Being country’s first fashion designer, Tagore’s sister-in-law Gyanadanandini Devi was a believer of free environment and thoughts in the society. She designed modern way of wearing saree accompanied with jackets. 

Together with Tagore, she started 'Balak' magazine, converted two popular fairy tales into plays and regularly wrote essays for 'Bharati' magazine.

Two of Tagore's elder sisters, Soudamini Devi and Swarnakumari Devi were at that time considered to be equally good writers. While the former translated Hafez, wrote a treatise on father Debendranath and penned songs, with Tagore dedicating his 'Bouthakur-anir Haat' to her, the latter was the first novelist of the Tagore household.

Among the others who have been included in the exhibition are Tagore's sisters-in-law Kadambari Devi and Prafullamoyee Devi, his wife Mrinalini, daughter-in-law Pratima Devi, nieces Indira Devi Chowdhurani and Sarala Devi and sister Barna Kumari Devi.

According to a report published in The Times of India, Visva-Bharati VC Swapan Kumar Dutta said, “As we delved deep into the lives of these brilliant women, we were amazed at their depth and their contribution to modern Bengal. Very little had been known about them so far and this is our tribute to Tagore this year. However, this is just the beginning and we will keep adding to the collection.”