At a time when most Indian children were educated through standardised classroom systems, introduced by the British Government, homeschooling was a way of life at The Retreat. Until 1921, Leenaben and her siblings were being educated at home. Later, they...
In Shahibaug, on the banks of the Sabarmati River in Ahmedabad, a historic 21-acre estate marks its presence as one of the most prominent family properties in the city - The Retreat. A place full of movement and conversations, but also a family home...
As the homeschooling experiment at The Retreat began to develop, the Sarabhai family placed great importance on selecting teachers who could nurture the intellectual curiosity and moral character of the children. One of the earliest and most influential...
The conversation with Rekhaben Gosalia, the niece of Saraladevi, reveals how close Reva (addressed as Sarladevi after marriage) was to her father, Sir Harilal Nemchand Gosalia from Rajkot. This affection was also extended to all the children of the...
The relationship between the Sarabhai family and Rabindranath Tagore began well before Leenaben’s adulthood and developed into an enduring intellectual and emotional exchange. By the early 1920s, Tagore was already a familiar presence at The Retreat in...
In the early twentieth century, England was widely regarded as a global centre of modern education, science, and industrial progress. For many Indian families interested in new ideas and technological advancement, travel to England offered an opportunity...
As the home school at The Retreat grew, Ambalal and Sarladevi Sarabhai continued to widen the circle of teachers guiding their children’s learning. They believed that education was sharpened when children encountered many kinds of teachers—Indian and...
From an early age, travel formed an essential part of Leenaben Sarabhai’s education. These journeys were not undertaken merely as leisure but as extended periods of living, observing, and learning—often involving the movement of the entire household and...
Gira Sarabhai, born on 11 December 1923, was the youngest of the eight Sarabhai siblings. Growing up at The Retreat in Shahibaug, she shared the same unusual childhood as her brothers and sisters—one shaped by home education, travel, and constant...
On one hand, the Sarabhai Archives Timeline by Gira Sarabhai highlights the Anjali magazine. We need to see samples of this magazine from the archive. On the other hand, there is the Bakul magazine, which was started by Leenaben and has been studied as...
Attending her first Montessori Convention in Bhavnagar in 1926 was a formative moment in Leenaben’s educational journey and reveals much about the reformist climate of Gujarat at the time. In her autobiography Akhand Divo, she recalls accompanying her...
Leenben’s travels from across India and abroad introduced her to many important folks, which keeps us wondering about how each one of them has influenced her life. On the Europe Tour in 1928, she met two important French thinkers, Romain Rolland and Prof....
By the late 1920s, Leenaben Sarabhai’s engagement with the arts was not incidental—it was formative. At The Retreat, Indian classical music and dance, along with European forms of movement, were central components of her homeschooling. The family ensured...
Vasumati Chinubhai was a painter and the daughter of Sir Chinubhai Baronet, married to Yashodhar Mehta, a writer and lawyer. Her father-in-law, Narmadashanker Mehta, was a reputed Vedanta scholar, and her son, Nandan Mehta, was born on 26 February 1942,...
On 8 January 1932, Mridula Sarabhai was imprisoned for her role in the Civil Disobedience Movement. The frail child whose delicate health had inspired her name—Mridula—had grown into a committed nationalist. Born the eldest daughter of Sarladevi and...
Leenaben’s engagement with religious texts must be understood within the intellectual culture of the Retreat. At the Sarabhai home-school, children were deliberately introduced to multiple religious and philosophical traditions. Religion was not taught as...
Priya Tandon remembers her interactions with Leenaben and writes:
In 1934, a decisive architectural transformation at The Retreat marked the convergence of education, aesthetics, and lived philosophy within the Sarabhai household. The Retreat estate in Shahibag had earlier origins in the early twentieth century, and by...
Leenaben’s education did not unfold within the fixed walls of a classroom. It travelled. From childhood, movement was part of learning. The entire “Retreat School”—teachers, books, musical instruments, even blackboards—would migrate with the family for...
Leenaben’s time at Santiniketan in the mid-1930s was not just a visit — it became a turning point in how she understood art, learning, and freedom. Santiniketan, founded by Rabindranath Tagore, was unlike conventional schools. Classes were often held...
In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Leenaben’s bond with nature became even more visible. What had begun in childhood as affection for animals slowly grew into something larger — almost a way of life. Earlier accounts describe how she travelled with her...
On 11 December 1937, Leenaben married Madanmohan Mangaldas at The Retreat. In his interview, Kamal Mangaldas does not describe the wedding sentimentally; instead, he anchors it in place. He points to the Burmese pagodas at The Retreat and notes that one...
In 1938, the young artist Meher Contractor exhibited her work at the Glasgow International Exhibition, marking one of the early moments of international recognition in her artistic career. At the time, Contractor had recently completed her training in...
Between 1939 and 1942, the Sarabhai family’s interest in Montessori education moved from intellectual curiosity to direct engagement with Maria Montessori herself. Although the family had already encountered Montessori’s ideas through books and...
From the early 1940s onward, the Sarabhai family’s longstanding commitment to social reform began to take new forms of community engagement. Growing up within this environment, Leenaben Sarabhai witnessed how education, welfare, and civic responsibility...
The early 1940s marked a period of emotional transition and quiet transformation in Leenaben Sarabhai’s life. On 2 October 1943, Karunashankar Kuberji Bhatt — widely known as “Karunashankar Master” — passed away (Sarabhai Family Archives, 1943). For...
The year 1946 marked one of the most difficult moments in Leenaben Sarabhai’s life. On 21 February 1946, her young daughter Kalpana Mangaldas passed away. The loss of a child is an experience that words rarely capture, and in many accounts of Leenaben’s...
On 15 November 1947, only a few months after India gained independence, Shreyas School began its journey at the Khajuri Bungalow in Shahibaug, Ahmedabad (Shreyas Foundation Archives, 1947). Even today, the exact identity of “Khajuri Bungalow” remains...
The years immediately following the founding of Shreyas in 1947 were marked by rapid experimentation and steady expansion. What had begun modestly at the Khajuri Bungalow and surrounding sheds in Shahibaug soon evolved into a growing educational...
By the early 1950s, Shreyas had begun evolving beyond its initial classroom experiments into a broader educational environment shaped by experience, observation, and creativity. Leenaben Mangaldas believed that children learn most meaningfully when they...
In 1986, Shreyas Foundation organised Veer Bharat, its final major fair. This event was inspired by an earlier fair called Balbharat, first held in 1954 (Shreyas Foundation Archives [SFA], 1954). By revisiting this theme after more than thirty years,...
By the early 1950s, Shreyas had moved far beyond its modest beginnings at the Khajuri Bungalow. What had started as a small educational experiment was gradually developing into a wider movement in child-centred education. Theatre, cultural fairs, crafts,...
The mid-1950s marked the beginning of an energetic and transformative decade for Shreyas. By this time, the institution had moved well beyond its early experimental phase at Khajuri Bungalow and was steadily gaining recognition for its distinctive...
‘Bal Bharat’, ‘Vyakti chitro’, ‘Shreyas Aheval Paddhati’ and ‘Asmani Challi’ are published, as mentioned in the main timeline by Sarabhai Foundation. We can get into some details about these books, but also take this opportunity to write about the...
By the late 1950s, Shreyas had begun to imagine a future beyond its early spaces in Shahibaug. The acquisition of land at Vasana–Fatehpura had opened the possibility of creating a dedicated campus where the school’s expanding educational philosophy could...
The year 1958 was one of the most vibrant years in the early life of Shreyas. The Saurashtra Fair transformed the campus into a living village. Students did not simply display crafts — they recreated the life of the people through songs and dance. Folk...
At Shreyas, learning did not stay inside classrooms. One of the most loved traditions was Varshamangal, the monsoon festival. Children came with their parents to plant saplings on campus. The soil was prepared beforehand, and families worked together to...
An early edition of a publication that puts the pedagogy and philosophy behind Shreyas Foundation into a literary work. Apart from summarising this book, we should ponder the reason behind making these works. One is that Leenaben must have liked writing...
Pratishtan Din (Foundation Day) has been an important tradition at Shreyas Foundation since its early celebrations beginning in 1961. More than simply marking the anniversary of the institution, the day symbolised the ideals on which Shreyas was...
By the beginning of the 1960s, Shreyas was finally beginning to take architectural form on the hill at Vasana–Fatehpura. What had started more than a decade earlier as a modest educational experiment in repurposed bungalows was now evolving into a...
In 1961, Shreyas Foundation organised one of its most immersive regional fairs—the Kashmir Fair—transforming the Tekra campus into a vibrant representation of the cultural landscape of the Valley. The event was part of Shreyas’ broader pedagogical...
By 1962–63, Shreyas had evolved into a vibrant cultural campus where architecture, literature, and global imagination met on one stage. At the heart of this transformation stood Bharati Sarabhai—scholar, playwright, and patron of the arts. A graduate of...
Between 1962 and 1964, Shreyas entered a new and deeply humane phase in its development. Until this time, the institution had primarily focused on education through cultural activities, theatre, fairs, and experiential learning. During these years,...
By 1964, Shreyas had become a space where learning was creative, bold, and deeply child-friendly. That year, the Shreyas U.S. Festival transformed the campus into a vibrant exploration of another land. The United Shreyas Times (1964) announced the...
In April 1965, Shreyas Foundation dedicated its annual three-day fair (24–26 April) to Assam, Manipur, NEFA and Nagaland, transforming the Shreyas hill campus into an immersive study of India’s eastern region (Shreyas, 1965a). The Fair was the culmination...
By the mid-1960s, the early experiment of providing family-based care for abandoned children at Shreyas had begun to take clearer institutional shape. The impulse had emerged soon after the campus shifted to the Shreyas Tekri in 1961, when Smt. Leenaben...
Udta Beej is a collection of Leenaben’s poems and songs. She used to write since her early days, which can also be referenced in Bakul and Anjali (?). It might be important to observe how her writing has changed over the years and the intent behind...
By 1967, Shreyas Balgram had moved beyond its experimental beginnings and was entering a period of consolidation and recognition. What had begun in 1962 with one mother and four boys was now being observed at the state, national, and international levels.
These are new additions from the main timeline shared by Sarabhai foundation, and we need to look into these books to summarise them.
These are new additions from the main timeline shared by Sarabhai foundation, and we need to look into these books to summarise them.