Eminent Tagore scholar Somendranath Bandopadhyay passed away in Calcutta on Friday evening at 96.

Many academics, teachers and veterans in Santiniketan considered his demise the end of an era in Santiniketan and loss to Tagorean research.

Somendranath’s family was associated with Visva-Bharati and Rabindranath Tagore since the time of his grandfather Rajendranath Bandopadhyay.

“He was suffering from pneumonia since last year. He was admitted to a hospital last year but had recovered. Recently the problem of pneumonia recurred and he passed away after a cerebral attack on Friday evening at a Calcutta hospital,” said Soumitra Bandopadhyay, his son.

Born in 1926, Somendranath spent some years as a professor of Bengali literature at Vidyasagar College in Calcutta and joined Visva-Bharati 1957. He retired as a professor from the varsity in 1991 and went on to head the Nippon Bhavana — the institute of Japanese studies.

“He also used to work as a research guide for students of Sangit Bhavana and Kala Bhavana. He wrote several books and received accolades from many Indian universities and the Soka University in Japan,” said Swapan Ghosh, a writer from Santiniketan.

“His book on Tagore’s painting was translated into Japanese,” he added.

Manabendra Mukhopadhyay, a professor of Bengali in Visva-Bharati, considered the demise of the scholar a big loss. “Jagattarini medal of Calcutta University was one of the highest awards given to Somendranath. Notably, it had been given to Rabindranath also,” said the professor.

He added that Somendranath had a deep knowledge of not only Tagore’s literature but also paintings.

Somendranath had written several books like Rabindra Chitrakala: Rabindra Sahityer Patobhumika (Tagore’s paintings: in the backdrop of his literature), Banglar Baul: Kabya O Darshan (The Baul of Bengal: Poetry and philosophy).

Somendranath was also awarded Rabindra Tattvacharya by Tagore Research Institute in Calcutta which was founded by another Tagore researcher Somendranath Bose.

The scholar, known for his use of language in personal speech as well, had travelled to England, Holland and Japan, among others, to spread awareness on Tagore.

Somendranath was not associated with any political parties directly but he had good connections with the Left.

“He was not directly involved in politics but was a progressive Leftist. But during the Left-run state government he was associated with various government projects and had a good rapport with top leaders of our party,” said Gautam Ghosh, CPM’s Birbhum district secretary.