Tagore Descendants

[Othon Sdcd]

TheTagore family (also spelled as Thakur)[note 1][1] has been one of the leading families of Kolkata, India, and is regarded as one of the key influencers during the Bengali Renaissance. The family has produced several people who have contributed substantially in the fields of business, social and religious reformation, literature, art, politics and music.[2][3]The most prominent figures of this family include Dwarkanath Tagore, a pioneering industrialist; Rabindranath Tagore, Nobel laureate in literature; Abanindranath Tagore, a distinguished artist and more.[4]

The original surname of the Tagores was Banerjee. They were Bengali Hindu Pirali Brahmin ('Pirali' historically carried a stigmatized and pejorative connotation) and originally belonged to a village named Pithabhog in what is now Khulna, Bangladesh. They were the descendants of Deen Kushari who was granted a village named Kush in Burdwan of West Bengal by Maharaja Kshitisura. Deen became its chief and came to be known as Kushari. The Tagores came to Calcutta from Khulna and started various business enterprises. The name 'Tagore' is an anglicized version of the Bengali name 'Thakur' which means 'Teacher' or 'God', and denotes respect since they were of a Brahmin caste. [5]

Among the family which settled in Pathuriaghata was that of Raja Gopi Mohan Tagore. He was a noted zamindar and philanthropist. His oldest son Hara Kumar Tagore was a Sanskrit scholar, writer and musician. Among Hara Kumar's children, Maharaja Sir Jatinodro Mohun Tagore and Sir Sourindro Mohun became famous.[citation needed]

Dwarakanath Tagore (1794-1846) was the son of Nilmoni Tagore's second son, Rammani Tagore, but was adopted by the childless first son, Ramlochan Tagore. He inherited the Jorasanko property and Ramlochan's vast wealth. Dwarakanath was involved in multifarious activities ranging from being an agent of Mackintosh & Co. to being a serestadar, collector and dewan in the 24 Parganas collectorate. However, it was his business prowess that brought him both wealth and fame. In partnership with William Carr, he established Carr, Tagore and Company, the first equal partnership between European and Indian businessmen and the initiator of the managing agency system in India.[10][11]

Debendranath's third son, Hemendranath Tagore was a strict disciplinarian who was entrusted with the responsibility of looking after the education of his younger brothers as well as administering the large family estates. Like most of Debendranath's children, he had varied interests in different fields. On one hand, he composed a number of "Bromhosangeets" and on the other, wrote articles on physical science which he planned to compile and edit into a textbook for school students. He was known for his physical strength and wrestling skills. Exceptionally for the times, he insisted on formal education for his daughters. He not only put them through school but trained them in music, arts and European languages such as French and German. It was another mark of his forward thinking that he actively sought out eligible grooms from different provinces of India for his daughters and married them off in places as far away as Uttar Pradesh and Assam.[citation needed]

Sharmila Tagore, a well-known Mumbai actress who is connected with Rabindranath Tagore, said that her mother's mother, Latika Tagore, was the granddaughter of Rabindranath Tagore's brother, Dwijendranath.[15] Pragnasundari Debi, granddaughter of Maharshi Debendranath Tagore, married a famous Assam author, Laxminath Bezbarua. She was a literary phenomenon in her own right: her cookbook Aamish O Niramish Ahar (1900, reprinted 1995) was a standard given to every Bengali bride with her trousseau, and earned her the appellation "India's Mrs Beeton".[16] Nandita, daughter of Mira Devi, the youngest daughter of Rabindranath Tagore, married Krishna Kripalani, a freedom fighter, author and parliamentarian.[citation needed]

Several luminaries, including members of Rabindranath Tagore's family, have written to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee against the Visva-Bharati authorities, urging her government to take possession of a century-old heritage road as they fear that access to it might be blocked.

Considering the spree of building high boundary walls in several parts of Shantiniketan and creating a "prison-like atmosphere", there are apprehensions that the 3-km road connecting Visva-Bharati with Tagore's dream village Sriniketan will also be blocked for public soon and a new road come up in its place, said the letter written by 40 eminent persons, including a member of painter Nandalal Bose's family.

"An 8-9 feet high wall is nearing completion on a portion of this old road which is dotted with residences of luminaries like Amartya Sen, Khsitimohan Sen and Nandalal Bose," the letter written in Bengali said.

"Once the wall is completed, this road will be out of bounds for residents of Sripally, Simanta Pally, Pearson Pally, Andrew's Pally, Deer Park, Binoy Bhavan and Sriniketan, and a part of history and heritage of Santiniketan will be lost," it added.

If an alternative new road is carved out for movement between Shantiniketan and Sriniketan, the old road will be blocked by Visva-Bharati as the varsity authorities have been undertaking such projects "unilaterally" without taking into consideration the objection of many ashramites and locals, they alleged in the letter.

"If the road is taken back by the state PWD, such an old thoroughfare will not be made inaccessible to the people and the objective of Tagore to set up Visva-Bharati and Shantiniketan will not be lost," they said.

The ashramites -- the residents of the campus and the neighbourhood, including former students and teachers -- said they had written to Visva-Bharati vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty in February against erecting such high walls but did not get any response.

"We hope that the sentiments of those who had been living in this area for ages before Visva Bharati became a central establishment will be given due recognition by you," they said in the letter sent to the chief minister on Thursday.

Among the signatories of the letter were Supriyo Tagore and Subhra Tagore, descendants of the "Bard of Bengal" and former principals of Pathabhavan and Mrinalini Pathabhavan, besides Nandalal Bose's grandson Suprabuddha Sen.

Dwarkanath Tagore [an anglicised version of Thakur] was the adopted son of Ramlochon Tagore, [who was not] the founder of the Jorasanko branch of the Tagore family. He was also the grandfather of Rabindranath Tagore[1]. He was a descendant of Rarhiya Brahmins of the Kushari (Sandilya gotra) division. No source is given for his birth year of 1794 in the wikipedia article, though it is in reasonable agreement with his age at death as 51 years.

He was actually born the 2nd son of Ramlochon's younger brother Rammon, who was the middle one of the 3 sons of Nilmoni Tagore (1721-1791) the actual founder of the Jorasanko branch[2]. In fact, we find some even more, seemingly confusing information in that the ancestral home of the Jorasanko branch of the Tagore or Thakur family is indicated [incorrectly] to have been built in 1784, by Prince Dwarkanath Tagore, the grandfather of the Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, but was only named - Jorasanko Thakurbari after Debendranath Tagore, father of Rabindranath Tagore[3]. In this case Dwarkanath would have been born well before 1784?!

So where did the title 'Prince' come from - perhaps 'Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh" - that has that "contemporaries called him a prince because he had been to Britain where he was first described as a prince by the people coming in contact with him and also because his lifestyle in Calcutta was marked by princely grandeur and influence"[4]. Here too, we find his dates as (1794-1846). Confusion has arisen over the way a paragraph has been written in this reference. As ref.2 has it, Nilmoni Tagore (1721-1791) was the founder of the Jorasanko branch and the builder of "an imposing new home at Jorasanko where Rabindranath Tagore was born and raised". The 1784 date fits well with that situation!

Dwarkanath or Dwarika Nath, had an English education from a Mr Sherbourne who had a school in the Chitpore Road of Calcutta, but benefited much more from a Rev. William Adams who became his tutor, as well as associating with Europeans (see Sources: James Wybird Furrell, , The Tagore Family: A Memoir, p.18). He also associated with Raja Ram Mohan Roy ... called the father of the modern Indian Renaissance due to the remarkable changes he instituted in 18th and 19th century India[5]. He left school at the age of 16 having already inherited from his adopted father, when only 13 years of age.

His marriage to Roy Chowdhury who would become Digambari Devi goes unnoticed in most references on Dwarkanath, though without her there would be no descendants such as Rabindranath and all his siblings. She was only 9 years old when she married him on 7 February 1811[6].

Business management figured early in relation to the estates he had inherited from his father Ramlochan on 12 December 1807, who died leaving all his property to his adopted son Dwarkanath (see ref.1). This led to him needing an understanding of the law, "and started his legal career very successfully in 1815" (see ref.4), becoming a Law Agent, which brought him a wealthy clientele; then a Commercial Agency. Six years later he became the Diwanship of the Board of Customs, Salt and Revenue, serving for 12 years.

In 1834, he established the mercantile business of Carr, Tagore, and Co. with 2 English partners, becoming the first Indian to start such a business[7]. Carr, Tagore and Company was one of the private companies engaged in the opium trade with China, produced in India, which suggests he did not give much importance to principles, which is also suggested by another article[8], if true.

"By 1840 he stood at the summit of his entrepreneurial life. He had investments in shipping, export trade, insurance, banking, coal mine, indigo, urban real estates and in zamindari estates. He engaged several European managers to look after his concerns" (see ref.4 and for more details). The estates were placed ... in trust for his sons and their descendants in the same year.

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