Brajendranath De: Difference between revisions

Dey, who was born in a Bengali (বাঙালি) Hindu (হিন্দু) Uttar Rarhi Kayastha (উত্তর রার্হি কায়স্থ)-Brahmo (ব্রাহ্ম) family, was the son of Durgadas Dey (দুর্গাদাস দে (দেব সরকার)), a Junior Scholar of Hindu College (later Presidency College) Calcutta (1847-1849) and a Registrar in Lucknow, and Trailokyamohini Debi (ত্রৈলোক্যমোহিনী দেবী) (nee Basu). His paternal family, which was settled in Bhowanipur in Calcutta from the 18th century, were originally members of the Vaishnavite sect but, influenced by the Bengal Renaissance, joined the Brahmo movement from the middle of the 19th century. His maternal family, popularly called the ''garhkata Basu paribar'' of Anarpur in Barasat, was settled in Maniktala in Calcutta, where he was born. He was born in his maternal grandparents' home at 123, Maniktala Street, Calcutta.<ref name='reminiscences'>Maniktala, a neighbourhood in North Calcutta is named after either Raja Manikram Bose or Manik Pir, both of whom lived there in the 18th and the 19th centuries. Since Manikram or Manikchand Bose, the caretaker of Alinagar (i.e. Calcutta) during Alivardi Khan's reign and an agent of the Nawabs of Oudh, lived in the 18th century and Manik Pir lived in the early 19th century, and a map of Calcutta of 1784 shows the existence of Maniktala then, it is surmised that the locality is, indeed, named after Manikam Bose. Manikram Bose was an ancestor of Brajendranath's maternal grandfather, Rajendralal Basu, a managing clerk of a Scottish solicitor's firm in Calcutta and a lawyer, who fought a case for the Nawab of Farukkhabad in the aftermath of India's first war of independence in 1857. For details see Brajendranath De, "Reminiscences of an Indian Member of the Indian Civil Service", Calcutta, 1925-29.</ref>