Santiniketan, Feb. 16: Visva-Bharati will for the first time organise an exhibition of letters exchanged between Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore on the occasion of 100 years of the Father of the Nation's first visit to Santiniketan on February 17, 1915.

The pro-vice-chancellor of Visva-Bharati, Swapan Kumar Dutta, will inaugurate the exhibition tomorrow at Rabindra Bhavana.

Apart from at least a dozen letters, there will be on display photographs of Gandhi's several visits to Santiniketan.

"We have a collection of letters Gandhi and Tagore wrote to each other. We will display the letters for visitors tomorrow at Rabindra Bhavana. On February 17, 1915, Gandhiji visited Santiniketan for the first time. We will observe the centenary of the occasion," said Tapati Mukhopadhyay, the director of Rabindra Bhavana.

University sources said Gandhi came to Santiniketan eight times between 1915 and 1945. On the first occasion, he came with his wife Kasturba. However, Tagore was in Calcutta at that time.

Mukhopadhyay said Tattvabodhini Patrika, a now-defunct periodical, carried an article about Gandhi's first visit to Santiniketan. "In the article, Sudhakanta Roychowdhury, the secretary to Tagore, had quoted Gandhi expressing his delight at the welcome he received at Visva-Bharati."

Gandhi's quote in Tattvabodhini Patrika reads: "The delight I feel today I have never experienced before. Though Rabindranath, the Gurudev, is not present here yet we feel his presence in our heart. I am particularly happy to find that you have arranged for the reception in the Indian manner."

A Rabindra Bhavana official said a copy of that issue of Tattvabodhini Patrika would be displayed at the exhibition.

Visva-Bharati sources said that during his first visit, Gandhi had stayed for a couple of days.

"Gandhiji came to Visva-Bharati again on March 6, 1915, and met Tagore for the first time," the official said.

"With the approval of Tagore, Gandhiji started a self-help movement in Santiniketan on March 10, 1915. The day is still observed in Santiniketan as Gandhi Punyaha. On that day, all students and teachers clean the campus themselves," said Mukhopadhyay, the director of Rabindra Bhavana.

According to the sources, Gandhi met Tagore again at Santiniketan on May 29, 1925, and the use of the charkha figured prominently in their discussions.

"During that time, the Indian freedom struggle was gaining momentum under the leadership of Gandhiji and Congress workers and volunteers were campaigning in favour of homespun cloth. The charkha was used at that time in many households," the Rabindra Bhavana official said.

Narrating an anecdote during Gandhi's trip in 1925, Rabindra Bhavana director Mukhopadhyay said Tagore had taken the Mahatma to the first floor of Santiniketan Griha, the house where the poet was staying at that time.

Mukhopadhyay said: "The room was decorated with flowers and leaves. Gandhiji asked Tagore: 'Why bring me to this bridal chamber?' Tagore replied with a smile: 'Santiniketan, the ever-young queen of our hearts, welcomes you."'