Tagore family

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The Tagore family (also spelled as Thakur)[1][2] 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 and music.[3][4]

Family history[edit]

The original surname of the Tagores was Kushari. They were Pirali Brahmin ('Pirali' historically carried a stigmatized and pejorative connotation)[5][page needed][6][page needed] and originally belonged to a village named Kush in the district named Burdwan in West Bengal. The biographer of Rabindranath Tagore, Prabhat Kumar Mukhopadhyaya wrote that "The Kusharis were the descendants of Deen Kushari, the son of Bhatta Narayana; Deen was granted a village named Kush (in Burdwan zilla) by Maharaja Kshitisura, he became its chief and came to be known as Kushari."[7]

Background[edit]

Tagores are Bengali Brahmins.[8]

Europeans started coming to Bengal in the 16th century, resulting in the founding of Ugulim (Hooghly-Chinsura) by the Portuguese in 1579.[9] The Bengal Renaissance of the 19th century was a remarkable period of societal transformation in which a whole range of creative activities – literary, cultural, social and economic – flourished.[10] The Bengal Renaissance was the culmination of the process of emergence of the cultural characteristics of the Bengali people that had started in the age of Hussein Shah (1493–1519).[11] This spread over, covering around three centuries, and had a tremendous impact on Bengali society. The Tagore family attained prominence during this period through its unusual social positioning between Indian and European influences.[citation needed]

The Pathuriaghata family[edit]

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.

The Jorasanko family[edit]

The business base[edit]

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.[12][13]

Creative outpourings[edit]

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]

Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) was Debendranath's penultimate son. He was the first Asian to win a Nobel Prize. He also wrote what became the national anthems of India and Bangladesh and coined the title Mahatma for Indian nationalist leader Mahatma Gandhi.[14] The youngest son of Debendranath Thakur was Budhendranath, who died at a very young age.

The artists[edit]

The younger generation[edit]

Rabindranath Tagore's son, Rathindranath (1888-1961), was a multi-talented person. Besides being an agriculturist educated in the US, a talented architect, designer, master-carpenter, painter and writer, he was also the first 'upacharya' of Visva-Bharati University.[15] Rathindranath Tagore's wife, Pratima Devi (1893-1969), was an artist associated with Shilpa Sadan, Visva Bharati and also with dance and dance-drama.[16]

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.[17] 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".[18] Nandita, daughter of Mira Devi, the youngest daughter of Rabindranath Tagore, married Krishna Kripalani, a freedom fighter, author and parliamentarian.[citation needed]

The family environment[edit]

The environment at Jorasanko was filled with literature, music, painting, and theatre. They had their own education system. In the earlier days, the women educated at home. Swarnakumari Debi has recalled how in her early days the governess would write something on a slate which the girls then had to copy. When Debedranath discovered this, he at once stopped such a mindless and mechanical method and brought in a better teacher, Ajodhyanath Pakrashi – a male outsider in the women's quarters. Some of the sons like Ganendra, Gunendra and Jyoitrindra set up their own private theatre. To start with men played in the role of women, but over a period of time the women participated.[19] The family environment played a major role in the development of its members. Even Rabindranath Tagore, who went to win the Nobel Prize in literature, had very little formal education.[citation needed]

Family tree[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Original Bengali word is ঠাকুর
  2. ↑ From Thakur to Tagore, Syed Ashraf Ali, The Star May 04, 2013
  3. ↑ Deb, Chitra, pp 64–65.
  4. ↑ "The Tagores and Society". Rabindra Baharati University. Retrieved 24 April 2007.
  5. ↑ Ahmad, Zarin (14 June 2018). Delhi's Meatscapes: Muslim Butchers in a Transforming Mega-City. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-909538-4.
  6. ↑ Fraser, Bashabi (15 September 2019). Rabindranath Tagore. Reaktion Books. ISBN 978-1-78914-178-8.
  7. ↑ Mukhopadhyaya, Prabhatkumar, Rabindrajibani o Rabindra Sahitya Prabeshak, 1985, Visva Bharati, p 3
  8. ↑ Thompson, Edward (1948). Rabindranath Tagore : Poet And Dramatist. Oxford University Press. p. 13.
  9. ↑ Sengupta, Nitish, pp 119–126
  10. ↑ Sengupta, Nitish, pp 209–216
  11. ↑ Sengupta, Nitish, "History of the Bengali-speaking People", 2001/2002, UBS Publishers' Distributors Pvt. Ltd., ISBN 81-7476-355-4 p 210, 212–213.
  12. ↑ Deb, Chitra, Jorasanko and the Thakur Family, Pages 64-65, in Calcutta: The Living City, Volume I, edited by Sukanta Chaudhuri, Oxford University Press.
  13. ↑ Sarkar, Suvobrata. "Bengali Entrepreneurs and Western Technology in the Nineteenth Century: A Social Perspective" (PDF). Indian Journal of History of Science, 48.3 (2013) 447-475. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  14. ↑ Sengupta, Subodh Chandra and Bose, Anjali (editors), (1976/1998), Sansad Bangali Charitabhidhan (Biographical dictionary) Vol I, in Bengali, Sahitya Sansad ISBN 81-85626-65-0 pp 454–455.
  15. ↑ "New book discloses Rabindranath Tagore son's untold story". DNA. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  16. ↑ "Pratima Devi (1893-1969)". Visva-Bharati. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  17. ↑ "The Tagore connection!". The Times of India.
  18. ↑ Utsa Ray, Culinary Culture in Colonial India (Cambridge University Press 2015): 63. ISBN 9781107042810
  19. ↑ Jorasanko and the Thakur Family by Chitra Deb in Calcutta, the Living City, edited by Sukanta Chaudhuri, Vol I, page 66

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

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