Tagore family

The Tagore Family, with over three hundred years of history,^[1] has been one of the leading families of Calcutta, India, and is regarded as a key influence during the Bengal Renaissance.^[1] The family has produced several persons who have contributed substantially in the fields of business, social and religious reformation, literature, art and music.^[1][2]

Background of Tagore

Tagores are Bengali Brahmins ^{[3][4][5][6][7][8][9]} (Kushari) who came from eastern part of Bengal (now in Bangladesh) and settled in the region situated on the right bank of river Hooghly (Rarh) in the 14th century.

Europeans started coming to Bengal in the 16th century, resulting in the founding of Ugulim (Hooghly-Chinsura) by the Portuguese in 1579.^[10] The Battle of Plassey in 1757 resulted in the deposition of the last independent Nawab of Bengal. After the battle of Buxar, British East India company was given the right to collect revenues from Bengal and by 1793 the British East India Company abolished Nizamat (local ruler) and took control of the former Mughal province of Bengal.

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.^[11] 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).^[12] This spread over, covering around three centuries, and had a tremendous impact on Bengali society. Incidentally that coincided with the rise of the Tagore family. The Tagore family attained prominence during this period through its unusual social positioning between Indian and European influences.

To quote Chitra Deb,^[13] "Though the cultural role of the Thakurs has received the greatest attention by far, their importance on final assessment is a composite one: commercial and political as well as literary and musical. They played a collective role in every patriotic movement of their times: Nabagopal Mitra’s Hindu Mela, the Congress and the National Conference, the Rakhi Festival of 1905, and the Nationalist Movement generally. The story of the Thakurs is inseparable from the story of Calcutta, Bengal and India."

The Pathuriaghata family

Gopimohan Tagore (1760–1819) was well known for his wealth and in 1822, made what may be the largest ever gift of gold to the Kali temple at Kalighat.^[14] He was one of the founders of Hindu College, the institution that initiated western education in the country. He was fluent in English, and familiar with French, Portuguese, Sanskrit, Persian and Urdu, apart from Bengali.^[15]

Prasanna Coomar Tagore, (1801–1868), son of Gopimohan Tagore, was one of the leaders of the Landholders' Society and later the president of the British Indian Association, the earliest organisations of Indians in the country. He had started as government lawyer but later turned his attention to family matters. Apart from being a director of Hindu College, he was involved with the activities of several institutions. Tagore Law lectures are still organised by Calcutta University on the basis of donations he made. He was founder of the first local theatre – the Hindu theatre.^[16] He was the first Indian to be appointed to the Viceregal Legislative Council.^[17]

Gnanendramohan Tagore (1826–1890), son of Prasanna Coomar Tagore, converted to Christianity and married Kamalmani daughter of Krishna Mohan Banerjee. He was disowned by his father and disinherited, so he went to England and read for the bar from Lincoln’s Inn, and became the first Indian to be qualified as a barrister. For some time afterward, he taught Hindu Law and Bengali at the University of London.^[18]

Maharaja Sir Jatindramohan Tagore, GCIE, KCSI (1831–1908), son of Harakumar Tagore, inherited the wealth of the Pathuriaghata branch. He contributed substantially to the development of theatre in Kolkata and was himself a keen actor. He inspired Michael Madhusudan Dutt to write Tilottamasambhab Kabya and published it at his own expense. In 1865, he established the Banganatyalaya at Pathuriaghata. He was a keen patron of music as well and actively supported musicians, one of whom, Kshetra Mohan Goswami, introduced the concept of orchestra into Indian music for the first time in this country. He was president of the British Indian Association and was the first Indian to be member of the Royal Photographic Society.^[19]

Ramanath Tagore (1801–1877) and Jatindramohan were major patrons of European art. Their palatial home, the Tagore Castle^[20] at Pathuriaghta had a major collection of European paintings. Subsequently, members of the family took to painting in oils themselves. Shoutindramohan Tagore (1865–98) was one of the first Indians to have studied at the Royal Academy.^[21]

Sourindramohan Tagore (1840-1914), son of Harakumar Tagore, better known as Raja Sir Sourindro Mohun Tagore^[22][23] or simply S. M. Tagore, was a great musicologist who was awarded a Doctor of Music degree by the University of Pennsylvania in 1875 and a D. Litt (Honoris Causa) by Oxford University in 1896. He was proficient in both Indian and Western music. He founded the Banga Sangeet Vidyalaya in 1871 and the Bengal Academy of Music in 1881. He was honoured by the Shah of Iran with the ‘Nabab Shahzada’ title. The British government made him ‘Knight Bachelor of the United Kingdom’. He was also a playwright and Justice of the Peace. He was also a leading philanthropist of his time.^[24]

Actress Sharmila Tagore (b. 1944), the widow of Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi Nawab of Pataudi (d. 2011), and mother of actor Saif Ali Khan (Nawab of Pataudi) and actress Soha Ali Khan and jeweller Saba Ali Khan, believed to have stems from this branch.^[25] Her career in film was most active in the 1960s. In 1969, she married Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, a well-known cricketer and royal personage who was the captain of the Indian cricket team. She converted to Islam to marry Pataudi as Ayesha Sultana, but is usually known by her maiden name. Her late younger sister Oindrilla played Mini in Director Tapan Sinha's 1957 film, Kabuliwala.

Prodyot Coomar Tagore (1873-1942), son of Jatindramohun Tagore, was a leading philanthropist, art collector, and photographer. He was the first Indian member of the Royal Photographic Society.

The Jorasanko family

Spiritual pursuits

After Dwarkanath Tagore, the leadership of the family passed on to Debendranath Tagore (1817–1905) and Girindranath Tagore, the two sons of Dwarkanath Tagore. Debendranath Tagore founded the Brahmo religion and also started its journal Tattwabodhini Patrika. His children continued in the Brahmo Samaj. Girindranath Tagore also joined the Brahmo Samaj but his children, Ganendra and Gunendra, did not. Gunendra’s sons, Gaganendra, Samarendra and Abanindra branched out but retained cordial relationship with the Jorasanko family.^[26] Debendranath Tagore took over the reins of the Brahmo Samaj in 1843 and not only resurrected it but also enriched it in many ways. It became the inspiration for the Bengal Renaissance.^[27] It was he who gave the Brahmo movement the trappings of a separate faith and introduced its own unique rituals. The Brahmo Samaj cast a very wide-ranging influence on its parent Hindu society, much wider than its limited membership would ostensibly permit.^[28]

Creative outpourings

Several of Debendranath Tagore’s children were brilliant. Dwijendranath Tagore (1840–1926) was a great scholar, poet and music composer. He wrote extensively in the newspapers and magazines of the day on literature, philosophy and religion. He was editor of "Bharati" and Tattwabodhini Patrika. A pioneer in Bengali shorthand, he was one of the organisers of the Hindu Mela.^[29]

Satyendranath Tagore, (1842–1923), was the first Indian to join the Indian Civil Service.in 1864. Earlier, he and his brother Ganendranath were among the first students to pass the Entrance Examination of Calcutta University in 1857. Even while serving in an adminsistrative job, he was a prolific writer, poet and song composer. Many of his nationalist songs are still sung. He was editor of "Tattwabodhini Patrika" and took an active interest in the Hindu Mela. He encouraged his wife, Jnanadanandini Devi, to adopt western ideas and for that purpose took her to a governor’s party and also to England, something unthinkable in those days.^[30]

Debendranath's third son Hemendranath was a strict disciplinarian who was entrusted with the responsibility of looking after the education of his younger brothers as well as administrating 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. If his untimely death had not prevented him from completing the project, this would certainly have been the first science textbook to be written in Bengali. He was known for his physical strength and wrestling skills. Exceptionally for the times, he insisted on a 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.

Jyotirindranath Tagore (1849–1925) was a scholar, artist, music composer and theatre personality. He knew several languages – Bengali, Sanskrit, English, Marathi and Persian. In 1924, he translated Gita Rahasya of Bal Gangadhar Tilak into Bengali. He also translated several other books. He wrote several plays, and directed and acted in them. He composed songs that are still available in CDs. Around 2,000 of his paintings are in possession of Rabindra Bharati. A selection of his paintings were published in London in 1914, at the instance of Rothenstein.^[31]

Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941), was his penultimate son. He was the first Asian to win a Nobel Prize, and was exceptionally talented and the most famous in the family. Rabindrinath is best remembered in history for writing what became the national anthems of the nations of India and Bangladesh and for coining the title Mahatma for Indian nationalist leader Mohandas Gandhi.^[32] The youngest son of Debendranath Thakur was Budhendranath, who died at a very young age.

Amongst his daughters Swarnakumari Devi (1855–1932) was a gifted writer, editor, song-composer and social worker. She was editor of Bharati, a remarkable accomplishment in an age when very few girls went to school. She also edited a children's magazine Balak and developed Sakhi Samiti as a means for improving the lives of women. She was the author of several books.^[33] Her husband Janakinath Ghosal was one of the founders of the Indian National Congress, so she participated in nationalist activities with him.

The artists

After Rabindranath, the most notable in the Jorasanko family were Gaganendranath Tagore (1867–1938), Abanindranath Tagore (1871–1951), and Sunayani (1875–1962), who made immense contributions to Indian art.^[34] Even earlier, Abanindranath Tagore’s grandfather, Gindranath (1820–1854), and father, Gunendranath (1847–81), and subsequently Abaindranath Tagore’s cousin, Hitendranath Tagore (1867–1908) and his nephew Jaminiprakash Ganguli, were all gifted and prolific painters, specialising in a genre of dusky landscapes and romantic studies of peasant life.

Gaganendranath was a pioneer in many ways – in adopting Indian styles of painting after training in western art, and then absorbing Japanese styles.^[35] However, it was his brother Abanindranath who inaugurated what became known as the "Bengal school" or "Neo-Oriental school". Its influence spread across the country while it incorporated various strains of South Asian influence.^[36]

The younger generation

The younger generation also contributed substantially. Dwijendranath’s second son Sudhindranath (1869–1929) was a renowned author. His son Soumyendranath (1901–74) was well known as a leftist politician. Soumyendranath was anti-Nazi and was briefly arrested in 1933 in connection with a plot to assassinate Hitler . Satyendranath's son Surendranath (1872–1940) also had political links. Satyendranath's daughter Indira (1873–1960) distinguished herself in literature, music and in the women’s movement. She married Pramatha Chowdhury, a distinguished scholar and writer. The list does not end here. All of them had enormous talent and were brought up in an ideal environment of literary debates and discussions, musical compositions, painting, and theatrical performances. Sharmila Tagore, a well-known Mumbai actress who is connected with Rabindranath Tagore, in an interview stated that her mother's mother, Latika Tagore was the granddaughter of Rabindranath Tagore's brother, Dwijendranath.^[37] Pranati Tagore is a renowned and eminent elocutionist, news reader and Bengali actor. She is married to Sunando Tagore, the great grandson to Satyendranath Tagore. Pragnasundari Debi, grand daughter of Maharshi Debendranath Tagore, married the most famous Assam author Sahityarathi 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 earning her the appellation "India's Mrs Beeton".

The family environment

The environment at Jorasanko was filled with literature, music, painting and theatre. They had their own education system. In the earlier days, the women did not go to school but they were all 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 even the women joined.^[38] The environment in the family 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.^[39]

Being somewhat conservative, Debendranath Tagore had put in many restrictions about members of the family participating in certain types of activities outside the house. Therefore, they brought the outside world into their house and the entire family, including the women participated. Two small examples will illustrate the environment:

“A baiji named Saraswatibai, renowned for her singing, had come from Kashi. We wanted to listen to her singing. She charged six hundred rupees for a single night’s performance. We sent Shyamsundar, “Go and bargain, see what you can manage.” Shyamsundar went and could fix her up for three hundred rupees. He came back and said, “Three hundred rupees and two bottles of brandy.” On hearing about the brandy we were taken aback, mummy could object. Shyamsundar said, “She cannot sing without taking brandy.” Everything was ready. Saraswati entered the gathering. She was demure, round nosed, nothing great. Natore said, “Abanda, what have you done? Just thrown away three hundred rupees.” She was going to sing two songs. Natore was ready to accompany her on the mridangam. As the clock struck ten she started singing. One song and it was eleven at night. Natore was paralysed with the mridnagam in his lap. The wonderful voice of Saraswati reverberated around that dance-hall. How wonderfully she had tuned her voice. Some of us with pillows in our laps, others with hands close to our hearts, we were all wonderstruck. The gathering was won over with just one song. Everyone was still immersed in the song, when Saraswati said, “Aur kuch farmaiye.” (present your wish). After listening to her, no one dared to put anything forward. Then I told Shyamsundar, “Ask her to sing a bhajan. We have heard that bhajans of Kashi are very famous.” She sang a bhajan known to all, “Ao to Brajachandalal...” (Come oh, Lord!) Everybody was dumbfounded...

"... The atarwala (scent seller) had come, we used to call him Gabriel Saheb, a genuine Jew. It was as if Shylock from Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice had come alive and travelled all the way from Istambul to sell atar (scent) on the southern veranda of the Jorasanko house... so many types of people came and so much happened..."^[40]

Although the Jorasanko branch of the family had close links with Shilaidaha, in Kushtia District, now in Bangladesh and Santiniketan, where Rabindranath developed Viswa Bharati,^[41] their roots were in the Jorasanko house. It was popular as Jorasanko Thakur Bari of the Tagores and now houses the Rabindra Bharati University.

References

• Deb, Chitra, Jorasanko and the Thakur Family, in Calcutta, the Living City, Vol I, edited by Sukanta Chaudhuri, pp 64–67, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-563696-1
• Kopf, David (1979), The Brahmo Samaj and the Shaping of the Modern Indian Mind, Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-03125-8 
• Sengupta, Nitish, "History of the Bengali-speaking People", 2001/2002, UBS Publishers’ Distributors Pvt. Ltd., ISBN 81-7476-355-4
• 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
• Devi Choudhurani, Indira, Smritisamput Vol I (1997/2000), in Bengali, Rabindra Bhaban, Viswa Bharati.
• Tagore, Abanindranath and Chanda, Rani, Jorasankor Dhare (By the side of Jorasanko) in Bengali,(1944/2003), Viswabaharati Publications Division.
• Sastri, Sivanath, Ramtanu Lahiri O Tatkalin Banga Samaj in Bengali, (1903/2001), New Age Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
• Dr.S. Radhakrishnan "Rabindranath tagore A Centenary Volume 1861-1961" Sahitya Academy ISBN 81-7201-332-9
• Banerjee, Hironmoy and Mazumdar, Biplab K. "The Tagores of Jorasanko" Gyan Publishing House ISBN 81-212-0488-7
• Mukherjee, Mani Shankar "Timeless Genius" Pravasi Bharatiya April–May 2010 p 89-90

Notes

External links

• Tagore family genealogy Queensland University
• Rabindra Bharati Museum, Kolkata - family chronology
• Calcuttaweb - family tree
• Hindu School, Kolkata