#Dwarkanath Tagore

[pooma-education]

Role of Muslims in India’s Freedom Struggle

The famous writer kushwant Singh,once write “ India freedom is written in Muslim blood ,since their participation in the freedom struggle was much more,in proportion to their small percentage of the population “The story and history of Indian's independence are written with the blood of Muslims. According to historical references 65%of those who stood , fought and sacrificed against the British for Indian's independence were Muslim freedom fighters,the hams live reported. Indian Muslims not only contributed significantly to the liberation struggle but also gave their lives in the service of the anti-colonial national battle. 61945 of the 95300 names of independence fighters mentioned on India Gate in Delhi are Muslim names, indicating that 65% of all liberation fighters were Muslims, as reported in an article in Milli Chronicle.

A large number of people from all religions and castes took part I the freedom struggle, undoubtedly. Muslim however , the struggle of many Muslim prominent personalities who also contributed to India's freedom and even sacrificed everything including their lives are little known . Muslim have been at the forefront to oppose the British and stood shoulder with people from other commitments while fighting against them. Getting freedom was not easy ,our ancestors had to go face a lot of struggle and difficulties to get us the freedom that we are enjoying now.

It is impossible to recount the names of hundreds and thousands of Indian Muslims who fought on the streets against the British empire.For all patriotic Indians, it is the worst of times, it is the age of foolishness, it is the epoch of incredulity, it is the season of darkness, it is the winter of despair, we have nothing before us, to paraphrase an epic description of the revolutionary tumult of the French Revolution, by Charles Dickens in his novel The Tale of Two Cities. However, the current situation in India is not about a revolutionary tide. The torrents that India faces today are intensely counter-revolutionary.Even a cursory glance at history would reveal that Indian Muslims not only played a stellar role in the freedom struggle but happily laid down their lives at the altar of the anti-colonial national struggle.The Great Revolt of 1857 was the mightiest joint effort of the Hindus and Muslims under the leadership of the Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar to dislodge the British from India. Zafar was chosen as the leader of the Revolt by the overwhelmingly Hindu upper-caste sepoys (popularly known as poorbeahs) recruited chiefly from the Eastern regions of India. Although the Revolt failed because of myriad reasons, it was the Muslim community that was singled out by the British as the conspirators-in-chief. The tragedy that struck the Muslims of Delhi, which was the epicentre of the Revolt, was gruesome and ghastly.

All Muslims, barring a few rich households, were shunted out of the walled city and could not return to the city till November 1859. Important Muslim shrines were desecrated by the British as an insulting token of revenge. There was a talk of demolishing the Jama Masjid, the Akbarabadi Masjid was destroyed, the Fatehpuri Masjid was sold to the pro-British Lala Chunna Mal and the Zinat-ul-Masjid was used as a bakery. After the embers of the Revolt cooled, the British became aware of a conjoint effort by Hindus and Muslims motivated by a common anti-British sentiment in future. As a result, the system of mixed regiments in the British army was disbanded and replaced by the 'class company model' of mixed ethnic groups.

In the next phase of British rule, a small number of rich and educated Indians were given consultative yet impotent memberships in the Legislative Councils. The Bengal Legislative Council that came into being in 1862 had four members: Raja Partap Chand of Burdwan, Ramaprasad Roy, son of Rammohun Roy, Prasanna Coomar Tagore, cousin of Dwarkanath Tagore, and a lone Muslim member Maulvi Abdul Latif. From the very beginning, the Council fell prey to the interests of the bourgeoisie-landlord combine.

One of the first tasks that the Council set itself to was to bring about a bill that strived to amend Article X of the Tenancy Act of Bengal 1859, under which the poor Bengali tenantry and sharecroppers got some relief from exorbitant exactions by the 'permanently settled' landlords. Out of all the four Council members, it was only Maulana Abdul Latif who voted against the egregious bill and the rest sided with the British planters.Within two years of the founding of the Indian National Congress (INC) in 1885, Badruddin Tyabji of Bombay became its President. Both Badruddin and his brother Qamruddin Tyabji were deeply involved in laying the founding of the INC and were among the four Muslim delegates elected to the first Congress meeting in 1885. It is also interesting to note that Badruddin Tyabji was instrumental in passing the motion that stated that the ‘INC would never approve the discussion of a subject without the unanimity of its Hindu and Muslim delegates’.

Even during the Swadeshi period, Muslim swadeshi leaders were as patriotic as their Hindu brethren. If we set aside the dubious role of prominent landed elements such as Nawab Salimullah of Dacca, we will find immense participation of ordinary and plebian Muslims. The Muslim peasantry of Pabna and Khulna displayed heart-warming scenes of fraternisation during a rally in July 1905. In the same year, on September 23, Hindu-Muslim students of Calcutta marched in unison and organised a ten thousand-strong rally where the Muslim swadeshi Abdur Rasul declared, ‘‘We both Hindus and Mohammadans here belong to the same mother country—Bengal.’’

In Hooghly, the calls of Bande Mataram and Allah-ho-Akbar mingled. Muslim Swadeshi enterprises such as Ghaznavi’sUnited Bengal Company, the Bengal hosiery, and the Bengal Steam Navigation Company played a vital role during the movement. Abul Hussain and Liakat Ali were extremely prominent agitators during the great East India Railway strike of 1906. During the strike, the Muslim locomotive drivers took pledges on the Koran and walked out in their turn in December 1907. The strike went on till the middle of February and was only broken with the help of European drivers loaned from the army.

After the First World War, when the era of mass politics was inaugurated in India, Muslims were not at all lacking in participation. The resolution for complete independence (Poorna Swaraj) was first moved at the 1921 Ahmedabad session of the Indian National Congress by Maulana Hasrat Mohanialong with Swami Kumarananda of the Communist Party of India. B.T. Ranadive records in his article India’s Freedom Struggle published in the journal Social Scientist that ‘‘it was Gandhi who led the opposition to it’’. Similarly, in June 1922, a joint session ofthe Khilafat Committee and Jamiat-ul-Ulema held at Lucknow passed a radical resolution that stated, “The best interests of India and the Muslims demand that in the Congress creed the term 'Swaraj' be substituted by the term 'Complete Independence’’. It should be remembered that the Indian National Congress adopted the complete independence resolution only in December 1929.

The nucleus of the Communist Party of India formed in Tashkent in 1920 consisted mainly of Muslim hijratis who left the fold of the foundering Ottoman Caliphate and made socio-economic emancipation of the Indian masses their goal. Therefore, some of the early Muslim communists went against the euphoria of the age and posed difficult and far-sighted questions to the leadership of Congress. Muzaffar Ahmad, fondly known as Kakababu, was one of the most dedicated members of the Communist Party of India, questioned the concept of Hindu-Muslim unity on the grounds that the leaders who forged this alliance erroneously assumed that the interest of the ordinary people could only be expressed in the idiom of religion.

He implicated the leaders of such movements of dividing the people into communal lines and creating a mentality of communal separation (sampradayik bhedbuddhi), despite the call for communal unity, precisely because of the singular premium put on religious identities and leaving other considerations such as their class and relation to the means of production, out of the question. Kakababu also grasped the class question behind the communalisation of politics.

He argued that communalism from above was a double-edged strategy of the ruling and possessing classes aimed at maximising the internal bargaining position of various upper-class factions while weakening the collective bargaining power of the poor, as the latter responded to communal politics only because they faced dispossession and deprivation in the then existing situation.

This latter point makes Kakababu’swarning extremely relevant for today’s India.

Within the Congress, there was no dearth of tall, and in the case of the great Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, literally ‘tall’ Muslim leaders. In September 1926, Khan established the Khudai Khitmatgars, an overwhelmingly Pashtun corps whose membership was open to Hindus, Christians, and Sikhs. The members were also called Red Shirts, but unlike the fascist Black Shirts and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh White Shirts of today, they did not carry a weapon, not even a lathi. They only spread the message of peace, unity, and non-violence.

It was during the salt march that Khan became most proactive. His subsequent arrest led to the killing of two to three hundred Khudai Khitmatgars. The violence led him to adopt the creed of non-violence in toto. On Gandhi’s call, he went to Bardoli, where he linked non-violence to Islam. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad remained one of the chief Muslim leaders of the anti-colonial nationalist movement whilst working within the Congress. At 35, he served as the youngest President of the Indian National Congress in 1923. Along with this, he was made to suffer multiple incarceration terms by the colonial state.Even the revolutionary movement of India is adorned by the figure of Shaheed Ashfaqullah Khan, who gave up his life whilst being a member of the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) for the cause of India’s freedom.

To conclude, it is impossible to recount the names of hundreds and thousands of Indian Muslims who fought on the streets against the British empire. The patriotic slogan of Jai Hind was popularised by Zain-ul-Abideenalias Abid Hasanwho was a close associate of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and an officer of the Indian National Army (INA).

[lowkeynando]

laid down in the Trust Deed of the Brahmo Samaj): [1] Debendranath Tagore (15 May 1817

-19 January 1905) was an Indian philosopher and religious reformer, active in the Brahmo Samai (earlier called Bhramho Sabha) ("Society of Brahma", also translated as Society of God).

He joined Brahmo samaj in 1842. He was the founder in 1848 of the Brahmo religion, which today is synonymous with Brahmoism. [2][3]

Born in Shilaidaha, his father was the industrialist Dwarkanath Tagore; [4] he himself had 14 children, many of whom, including Nobel-prize winning poet Rabindranath Tagore, made significant artistic or literary contributions to society. [5][6] Bhadrotsav is a religious festival observed by the Brahmos. The 6th of Bhadra 1234 B.E. (according to the Bengali calendar), or 20 August 1828, was the date when the doors of the first Brahmo Samaj were opened by Raja Rammohun Roy with his friend Tarachand Chakravarty as its first secretary.

The Samaj initially functioned from a rented house belonging to Feranghee Kamal Bose and accommodated the first theistic congregation.

To commemorate this historic event - Brahmos all over the world celebrate Bhadrotsav with divine service or prayers accompanied by devotional songs or Brahmasangeet.

It should also be noted that coincidentally or otherwise other Brahmo Samajees were also opened in this particular month of the year. Ons CLONES

[metamatar]

The term kala pani refers to the taboo crossing of large expanses of water — in this case the Atlantic Ocean to come to the Caribbean — Mehta recasts this crossing as a positive and empowering move. According to the Hindu system of belief, crossing these large bodies of water meant “contamination and cultural defilement”, due to the ways in which such crossings disrupted caste, class, and tradition.

Michelle Ramlagan, Review of Diasporic (Dis)locations: Indo-Caribbean Women Writers Negotiate the Kala Pani by Brinda J Mehta

Scholars of ancient India have noted that a ban on sea travel is mentioned in the fifth-century BC sutra of Baudhayana, while the texts Manu (III. 158, 16–17) and Ausanasasmrti (V. 525–6) record that a brahman who had undertaken a sea voyage was considered a sinner, without, however, specifying that the individual would lose caste and/or become socially unfit.

[...]

In the nineteenth century, there are several recorded cases of prominent individuals facing punitive consequences following sea travel: Swami Vivekananda, returning from the 1893 Chicago gathering of world religions was barred access to a temple, and Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was required to undergo an ‘expiatory ritual’ when he returned to India from South Africa in 1915. Most famously, the early nineteenth-century merchant, banker, industrialist and philanthropist Dwarkanath Tagore (grandfather of Rabindranath Tagore) ‘faced excommunication by the inner circle of his family’ following his return from his first trip to Europe in 1842.

Crispin Bates and Marina Carter, Kalapani Revisted: Indian Labour Migrants and the overseas crossing

we must reject the categorization of desi because it's construction is rooted in the the xenophobic construction of videsh and pardesh and its attendant notions of caste purity

[jiyasimran]

Food and historical places of Kolkata

Kolkata is famous for its food and culture

“Food is symbolic of love when words are inadequate.” and “Culture is a way of coping with the world by defining it in detail.”

Famous food of kolkata

1. Mishti Doi

Made out of fermented sweet yogurt, this Bengali dessert is one of the most popular culinary sweets. Though packed Mishti Doi is available in grocery stores all over the country, you should try the fresh one from one of Kolkata’s legendary sweet corners at least once in your life.

2. Macher Jhol

Fish is an integral part of Kolkata’s kitchen and something Bengali can’t live without. Macher Jhol, fried or curried and paired with rice, makes for a wholesome meal that seafood lovers should try while in Kolkata. It is a spicy curried traditional dish, which includes potatoes and tomatoes other than fish. Seasoned with garlic, onions, grated ginger, and turmeric, Macher Jhol is one of the best dishes in kolkata.

3.) Rasgullas

Who’s not familiar with Rasgullas, right? They are actually small balls of cottage cheese and semolina dough dipped in chashni or sugary syrup. While most people in India believe that Rasgullas are a Bengali dish, it is truly a sweet dish originating from Odisha. Bengali sweet or Odisha snack, no meal in Kolkata is complete without gulping down a pair of Rasgullas. 

4.) Puchke

Puchkas use a mixture of boiled gram lentil and mashed potatoes as the filling, the chutney is tangy rather than sweetish and the water is spicy. Puchkas are also slightly bigger in size and the pani-puris are darker in color.

Famous historical places of kolkata

1.) Howrah Bridge, Kolkata

Howrah Bridge Commissioned in 1943, this grand structure over River Hooghly is a fine example of architectural brilliance and is perhaps the most famous landmark of Kolkata.

Renamed as Rabindra Setu in 1965, this is the world’s busiest cantilever bridge. It shoulders daily traffic of around 100,000 vehicles and more than 150,000 pedestrians.

Location:Howrah, Kolkat

2.)  Victoria Memorial, Kolkata

Victoria Memorial is an outcome of Lord Curzon’s wish to create a fitting memorial to honor Queen Victoria. This white marble memorial, established in 1921, is surrounded by 64 acres of garden and consists of an opulent museum. You can see the figure of the Angel of Victory on top of the memorial’s central dome. The museum houses 25 galleries displaying an array of collections including sculptures, arms, rare and antiquarian books, paintings, etc.

Historical significance together with architectural magnificence make Victoria Memorial one of the most famous tourist places to visit in Kolkata.

Location:Queen’s Way, Kolkata

3.) Fort William, Kolkata

Fort William, one of the must-visit forts in Kolkata, stands as an iconic structure, reminiscent of the city’s colonial legacy. Sitting on the eastern banks of River Hooghly, the fort covers an area of about 70 hectares. Named after King William III, this fort dates back to the year 1696 and is adorned with intricate stonework.

Presently, the fort serves as the Indian Army headquarters of the Eastern Command and so, entry to the inner sections of the fort is restricted for civilians.

Location:Maidan, Kolkata

4.) Jorasanko Thakur Bari, Kolkata

Jorasanko Thakur Bari, another prominent historical site in Kolkata, is the ancestral home of the Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. This 18th-century residence was built on a piece of land donated to Dwarkanath Tagore, the poet’s grandfather, by the renowned Sett family of Burrabazar.

Also known as Tagore House, this is the home where the poet was born, spent a major part of his childhood, and breathed his last. At present, the house serves as a museum displaying a rich collection of books, manuscripts, and other antique items related to the poet’s life. 

Location: Girish Park, Kolkata

"Its all the beauty of kolkata with food and culture"

[sagarikagolder]

The grave of 'Prince' Dwarkanath Tagore in London : Pt 1

The grave of ‘Prince’ Dwarkanath Tagore in London : Pt 1

I had no idea that except for Raja Ram Mohan Roy, any other famous Bengali was buried in London. Imagine my surprise when I was told that ‘Prince’ Dwarkanath Tagore, grandfather of Rabindranath Tagore was also laid to rest in England.

Since then it became a kind of obsession. So I decided to go and pay my respect to this pioneering entrepreneur from Bengal and one of the harbingers of Bengal…

[legendarycreatorpeanutsuitcase]

Patisar Kacharibari Patisar is a village, situated on the banks of the river Nagor at Atrai upazila under the district of Naogaon. It is 12 km south-east of the Atrai railway station and 26 km from the district town. The headquarters of the Tagore family's zamindari in Kaligram Pargana were located at Patisar. Dwarkanath Tagore, the grandfather of Rabindranath Tagore, purchased this zamindari in 1830. Rabindranath Tagore first came to Patisar in January 1891 and his last visit was 1937. During his stay at Patisar, Rabi Tagore composed various poems, stories, novels etc. Here, he also established schools, charitable dispensaries, and Patisar Krishi Bank (1905). In front of kacharibari, there is a pond, (at রবীন্দ্র কাছাড়ী বাড়ী, পতিসর,আত্রাই,নওগাঁ) https://www.instagram.com/p/CdY10pYPFqU/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[writerss-blog]

Ravindra Nath Tagore

Tagore was born in the city of Kolkata (Calcutta), at 6 Dwarkanath Tagore Lahne, Jorasanko Thakur Bari. He was the youngest of his parents’ 14 children. His father was Debendranath Tagore. His mother was Sharada Devi. Tagore was a Bengali Brahman by birth. His nickname was “Rab” or “Rabi”. Tagore wrote his first poem when he was eight years old. In 1877, at the age of 16, Tagore published his…

[toptenbdreview]

Top 10 Tourist Spot At Khulna || Travel Khulna | Historic Place Banglade...

Welcome To Top Ten Bangladesh.

Today We are Talking About the Top 10 Tourist Spot At Khulna

1. Sundarbans Location: Khulna

Sundarbans is the largest mangrove forest in the world. It extends across Khulna, Satkhira, Bagerhat, Patuakhali, and Barguna districts of Bangladesh.

2. Shaat Gombuj Mosque Location: Bagerhat

The Sixty Dome Mosque Shaṭ Gombuj Moshjid; more commonly known as Shait Gambuj Mosque or Saith Gunbad Masjid), is a mosque in Bangladesh. It is part of the Mosque City of Bagerhat, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is the largest mosque in Bangladesh from the sultanate period (1204-1576). It was built during the Bengal Sultanate by Ulugh Khan Jahan, the governor of the Sundarbans.

3. Rabindranath Tagore's Shilaidaha Kuthibari Location: Kushtia

Shilaidaha Kuthibadi is a place in Kumarkhali Upazila of Kushtia District in Bangladesh. The place is famous for Kuthi Bari; a country house made by Dwarkanath Tagore. Rabindranath Tagore lived a part of life here and created some of his memorable poems while living here.

4. Shahid Hadis Park Location: Khulna

Shaheed Hadith Park is a park located on the west side of Bangladesh Bank Khulna branch on Babukhan road in Khulna city of Khulna district of Bangladesh. After the establishment of the Khulna Municipality in 184, the municipal authorities established a 'Khulna Municipal Park' for the entertainment of the city dwellers. Later, it was named after Sheikh Hadisur Rahman Babu, who was shot dead by police in an anti-Ayub procession during the mass uprising on 21 February 1969.

5. Khanjahan Ali Bridge Location: Khulna

Khan Jahan Ali Bridge is a bridge over the Rupsa River in Khulna, Bangladesh, and named after Khan Jahan Ali. The bridge is also known as the Rupsa bridge.

6. Khulna Museum Location: Khulna

Khulna Divisional Museum is the only museum of Khulna City. It was established by Bangladesh Archaeological Department. It is the second largest museum in Bangladesh after Bangladesh National Museum by area. This museum is full of archaeological evidence, structures & photos of South Bengal.

7. Ghora Dighi Location: Bagerhat

It is said that, Khanjahan Ali had dug several tanks besides building 360 mosques in Bagerhat area. Ghora Dighi is one of those tanks. There are different tales about the naming of Ghora Dighi.

8. Hiron Point Location: Khulna

Hiron Point is a protected wildlife sanctuary in the south of the Sundarbans. Sundarbans is the largest mangrove forest in the world. It is located on the west bank of Kunga River in Khulna district which is in the southern part of Bangladesh.

9. Lalon Academy and Shrine Location: Kushtia

Lalon Academy and Shrine is situated on the banks of the river Kaliganga in the village of Cheuria in Kumarkhali Upazila of Kushtia district, which is known as the capital of literature and culture of this region. The Baul emperor Lalon Shah is buried in Chaueria village. After his death, the disciples built the shrine of Lalon which is locally called "Lalon Akhra".

10. Gilatala Public Zoo Location: Khulna

Gilatala Public Zoo is also known as Bonbilash Zoo. It is situated in only 14 km away from Khulna city next to the Siromony Railway station. Located just beside the Jahanabad Cantonment, all the activities of this Zoo are controlled by Jahanabad Cantonment, Khulna.

খুলনায় ভ্রমনের জায়গা খুলনার দর্শণীয় স্থান khulna top 10 place খুলনা জেলার দর্শনীয় স্থান travel bangladesh খুলনা শহরের দর্শনীয় স্থান tourist place in khulna district khulna city tourist spot historical places of khulna historical places of bangladesh top tourist place in khulna tourist place in khulna city khulna travel khulna travel place khulna khulna district information khulna division khulna city top tourist place in bangladesh most famous heritage site of bangladesh most beautiful tourist place in bangladesh Thanks For Being With us. Keep Watching Top Ten BD

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[guidetourme]

Jorasanko Thakur Bari

Know about Jorasanko Thakur Bari

The decent footing of the considerable Tagore family, Jorasanko Thakur Bari or Rabindra Bharati Museum is an observer to major chronicled defining moments in present-day Bengali history. By and by arranged inside the introduce of the Rabindra Bharati University in North Kolkata, this house was developed by the wellspring leader of the Thakur family, Prince Dwarkanath Tagore and over-the-top colorfulness characterized each part of his life which obviously runs over when you visit the place. This house saw the conversion of Brahmoism into a religion under the support of the Kaviguru's dad Debendranath Thakur, this house saw the Bengali Bard getting it done, this house takes the stand concerning the formation of design articulations by the ladies in the family that caused a buzz all through the first class society of the city and this house has seen being near the immense Rabindranath Tagore amid the gigantic Bengali Renaissance. The museum built, wonderfully duplicates the way of life of the Tagores and gives you a sentiment the city as it existed all through the rule of Queen Victoria. You should make it a point to visit this place and if conceivable timetable it on the eighth of May or seventh of August, the birth and demise commemoration of Tagore when the college composes terrific capacities to pay tribute to the Bard. Making move shows to composing verse, this man did everything and to experience his inheritance, this is the place you should come. Unparalleled in ability, the Tagore family has delivered stalwarts in the realm of workmanship and writing. The best among them was Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. Likewise affectionately known as 'Kavi guru', which means the poet of poets – he was significance exemplified in the field of craftsmanship and writing. His most admirable work, 'Geetanjali' which means the offering of lyrics, had won him the lofty Nobel Prize honor. Tagore has dependably been a wellspring of motivation for the contemporary poets, writers and craftsmanship sweethearts. The museum has additionally protected works of other prominent individuals from this distinguished family like Maharshi Devendranath Tagore, Jyotirindranath, Abanindranath and Dinendranath Tagore. It has additionally saved the clippings of Tagore and various pictures and sketches of him and the whole family. The blessings got by him on various events are additionally present in the Rabindra Bharati Museum. The museum additionally has a segment that stores old melodic records. The Museum likewise incorporates belonging and data of the other extraordinary identities of the nineteenth and twentieth Century, who exceeded expectations in the field of Literature. History about Jorasanko Thakur Bari The Jorasanko Thakur Bari  was built in the eighteenth century by Prince Dwarkanath Tagore, Rabindranath Tagore's grandfather. The Great Poet and Nobel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore was conceived here. The name 'Jorashanko' appeared from the way that it was named after the twin Shankar (Shiva) sanctuaries situated close to the home. In the year 1961, as a major aspect of the centennial festival of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, Dr. Bidhan Chandra Ray legitimately obtained the house. In this way, it went under the care of the Government. The museum has forty unique artistic creations of Rabindranath gained from Rathindranath Tagore (Rabindranath's child) by the West Bengal Government including a considerable measure of photos that came as a changeless advance from the National Library. The Museum is a vital piece of the Rabindra Bharati University, built up in 1962, for the headway of the most astounding instruction in different orders of Humanities and Performing Arts. Read the full article

[release-info]

Yeakub: In the 8th century, Prince Dwarkanath Tagore and grandfather […] https://ift.tt/2PVKQNs

[smartmeindia-blog]

Dwarkanath Tagore bust unveiled in London

Dwarkanath Tagore bust unveiled in London

Dwarkanath Tagore was among the first Indian industrialists investing in a range of businesses from steam engines to banking in the 1800s.

Prince Dwarkanath Tagore, best known for his significant role in the Bengal Renaissance of the 19th century, has been honoured with a new bust in London. The grandfather of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore was among the first Indian industrialists,…

[monosko]

Tea, ‘the second most commonly drunk beverage after water’ Ellis, is now being cultivated in more than 61 countries (2018), and consumed by not less than 54 nations (2016). There have been so many varieties of tea, prepared and consumed in so many different ways, all tuned in their respective ecological as well as sociological settings. Britain had no tea of its own, India had. Yet it was the British who grew a tea culture of its own since the time of King Charles II, more accommodative than the ceremonial tea of the Chinese and Japanese traditions, which later globally accepted as a standard.

Camellia Sinensis Categories Courtesy:@Leaves of Tea Ring

While the tea culture varies, the tea as such is one and the same everywhere – basically a wild shrub called camellia sinensis. The ancient wisdom of tea processing has been modernized in colonial India. The manufacturing process transforms the tea into six types – black, oolong, green, yellow, white, and pu-erh each having distinctive characteristics requiring special ways of preparing, serving and taking for enjoying the drink most satisfyingly. In the beginning tea was prepared with spices and herbs, and consumed as medicine. The remedial value apart, herbal tea is always a popular beverage in countryside because of its strong aroma and heady taste. Nonetheless, herbal tea is a misnomer as it is made of alternative combinations of herbs and spices, milk and butter, sugars and salts and optionally tea leaves. Gandhian ‘Tea Recipe’, for example, lists no tea at all. Sanyal The recent herbal teas sound like new versions of Gandhian tea now being marketed as Tulsi tea, Adrak tea, Malai tea, Rhododendron tea, and the like. The Kahwa tea, is however different being the soul-warming drink of the Kashmiris and a part of their culture. All these refreshment drinks of dissimilar taste and flavour meant for people of different mind-sets than those who enjoyed tea the way Tagore’s Gora did, or a Nazrul did in Favourite Café.

    Poetic Tea. Lu Yu’s book, the Ch’a Ching, tea ceremony

The branded tea of the modern society is rooted in ancient culture. Kakuzō Okakura found a subtle charm in the taste of tea which makes it irresistible and capable of idealization. It has no arrogance of wine, the self-consciousness of coffee, nor the simpering innocence of cocoa. Okakura The first book on tea, Ch’a Ching, that the gifted poet and tea-expert, Lu Yü (733-804), penned with precise details on tea’s origins, cultivation, processing, and preparation. A thousand year later the British drew upon the classic when they started producing tea themselves. Koehler  It is important to note that the British accepted the practical and spiritual aspects of tea making believing that the magic of making tea comes, when the leaves begin to develop their unique flavours and aromas, almost mystically transforming into something far richer.

Darjeeling Himalayan Railway 1881. Photocredit:Carsten Bockermann

As the process has been simplified from Lu Yu’s instructions formulated thirteen centuries ago, machines instead of hands do the rolling now. Fermented tea is essentially baked rather than pan-cooked—it sticks to ancient principles. In Darjeeling, tea makers remain ‘stridently, adamantly orthodox’ in their processing. Orthodox tea contains just a handful of steps to turn  green leaves into finished Darjeeling black tea before the tea gets sorted, graded, and packed. Koehler From the beginning to end, tea, except low-grade commercial tea/ tea-bags, is dealt with human touch, even when the process is mechanized. Tea is not industrialized, but grabbed the full advantage of industrialization for worldwide distribution and marketing of finished products from the remote gardens whence the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway opened in 1881, cutting travel time and transport costs significantly. Darjeeling tea found its final footing within five years as reflected in 1885 statistics of sales reaching 9 million pounds. Bengal

II

Like most of the colonial things – bungalows, furniture, utensils, dresses or dishes, Indian teas are Indian by origin – pure or crossbred, which the Britishers shaped their way to lead a comfortable and decent life. As we know, Britain never grew tea until 2005, but grew a tea culture over two centuries ago that they enriched a great deal in colonial India, apparently with newly acquired intelligence of Chinese and Japanese tea traditions. The British tea culture follows the ancient norm that ‘tea drinking should be treated with reverence and be accompanied by beauty but also restraint’, moderation is the very essence of tea. Ukers It demands a tad of sophistication nurtured in modern societies. One needs to acquire a taste for the cup of tea that a British queen and a Chinese sage may savour spiritually rather than palatably. When today’s tea culture is overwhelmingly British in character, it is already popular in most of the tea loving nations, including United States. Sirkin Tea grew naturally in Indian soil, while tea culture grew in Indian mind through a long process of social interactions under influences of political and economic events. To my perception, the politics and economics had played a significant part in bringing in the ‘tea habit’, contrary to ‘tea culture’. Taking tea is discouraged by Swadeshi followers on the plea that tea is ‘injurious to heath’ and a ‘foreign’ drink. Gandhian political agenda against tea was directed to ‘tea habit’.

Gandhiji and other leaders during the Swadeshi Movement

Gandhi, once himself a tea lover, recommended his atypical ‘Tea Recipe’ for the mass that had no tea leaves in it to risk habit formation. Sanyal  It seems to be his Swadeshi fervor that made a scientist like Acharya P.C. Ray to declare tea a poisonous drink ignoring factual findings. In response, the Tea Board did publish a statement of Dr. Meghnad Saha in favour of tea, to counter Swadeshi deterrent. There had been also a section of Brahmos and their sympathizers who boycotted tea in protest of British planters’ inflicting torture on the coolies found and reported first by Ramkumar Vidyaratna and Dwarkanath Ganguly, two volunteers of Sadharan Brahmosamaj Banerjee. The political aversion to tea was an issue reflected in Naukadubi of Rabindranath, Parinita of Saratchandra, and possibly many more contemporary stories. Interestingly, both the writers and most of their contemporaries and immediate successors happened to be tea devotees. So was Swami Vivekananda.Vivekananda The kind of tea they enjoyed was generally the British black tea, with milk/ sugar, or none just like the one Abdul Rahman served to Syed Mujtaba Ali in 1930’s Kabul (vide Deshe-Bideshe).

When people drink tea, they are expected to acquire certain manners and behave in a particular way, in terms of which a tea culture is defined. Tea etiquette, styles of tea-ware, ambience of tearooms – all contribute to a tea culture distinguished from all others. Close interactions between any two cultures enrich both. We have understood this better in this era of rapid globalization, which is also an era of collaborative entrepreneurship. The manufacturing of Chinese tea-pots in British fashions is a case in hand. The Chinese, so far we know, brewed tea directly in the cup instead of using a teapot, which they never had. The traditional Chinese teacups had a lid but no handles, presumably because they liked to feel the warmth of the tea while holding the cup. If it’s too hot to hold, it’s too hot to drink. Fixing handle, or ear, to a cup is an idea implemented by the British. The design of teapot we use today is basically European. The first teapots created in Europe were of a heavy cast with short, straight, replaceable spouts. “At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the East India Company recognized the growing demand for such items as teapots and began importation in larger numbers. The company commissioned china directly from Chinese artists and craftsmen, using patterns sent from England and geared to European tastes, stereotypes, and market values”. Designs fell into four main areas (1) mock-ups of Oriental designs, (2) designs adapted from European prints, (3) coat of arms for major European families,(4) and the innovative teapots -such as those with the now standard internal spout drain. The Company directors were especially concerned that teapots not drip and so stain the valuable linen that they also marketed. Anonymous]

Kyūsu back hand(le) teapot), Taishō era ca. 1921-1925

e and white ceramic tea-set of China

Uwade kyūsu top hand(le) teapot

Kyūsu – a common Japanese teapot, often with its handle on the pot’s side and spout crafted with an angle

Gaiwan or zhong is a Chinese lidded bowl without handle used for the infusion of tea leaves and the consumption of tea. Ming dynasty. It consists of a bowl, a lid, and a saucer. Courtesy: Sözdizimi Kullanıcı deneyimi

Not only teapots but the entire range of tea-ware was fashioned by the British, often with Indian motifs and materials, and increasingly by Indian artisans in spite of their being obliged to do work by hand, while the Europeans both accelerated and perfected by means of machinery. Williamson  The tea-set, including cups and saucers, tea-spoons and tea-strainers, milk-jug and sugar-pot, teapot, tea cozies, tea-mats, sets the mood of a tea drinker before s/he takes tea. Tea-drinkers ‘take tea’ in a special way, which, I fear cannot be described aptly by any English verbs that we know. Surely, it is not that we ‘drink’ tea as we do drink milk or water, or even coffee. We do not sip tea like sherbet either, but do it by faint smacking of our lips inaudibly on the brim of the tea cup and relish slowly the enigmatic taste and aroma of the golden liquid afloat inside.Tea retains a strong association with nature. A good tearoom must be having a like ambience with windows to allow natural light, and flowers around.

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Newspaper Reading. Courtesy: @Sholoana Bangaliana

Flury’s 2008. Courtesy: Flury’s

Tearoom at Tea-Pot, Fort Kochi

Tearoom is quite different from a coffee shop, which often tend to be set up more like a bar, offering quick coffee drinks that can be drunk while standing or while seated on a bar stool or similar chair unsuited for long sitting.Goodwin Tearoom needs everything there should be styled to allow sitting for hours long as tea incites endless parleying – being an acknowledged stimulant for adda, or rap sessions without agenda. Tea and adda are inseparable components of tea culture.

TeaTable @Purwaaii. – Friends Caffe. Courtesy: Kolkata on Wheel. – Adda. Courtesy: @Scoopwhoop. – India Coffee House, Albert Hall

The word ‘adda’, found in Sanskrit and Pali literature was used in various senses by ancient writers, like Bharata and Chanyakya. Das As it was broadly indicated, adda once meant a place of assemblage for a purpose, like the ‘Buddhist adda’ once found in old Dhurrumtollah Street. The modern usage of the word broadens its import. As Collins Word online suggests, ‘It is a form of intellectual exchange among members. They talk about almost everything in jovial mood’. In context of tearoom, adda simply means chatting or free discussions with no agenda, participated by regulars and casuals as often as they like. It is a process of exchanging minds on any subjects imaginable. It is a common privilege of the tea-room goers to take part in adda but not without submitting to the unspoken norms of tea-culture prevailing there. While the tea-room-adda is a global trend, its pattern of behavior differs widely depending on the given living standards and traditions.

Japanese takes no sugar in tea, and their teahouse never serves sugar determinedly, but obliges customers cordially if they want it for sweetening an English tea instead. The English, while taking tea, detests letting out audibly a ‘ssss’ sound of breath through the mouth past the tongue. Appreciation of sound depends on one’s culture. It needs a cultured refinement to appreciate a pianissimo in western or Hindustani classical music, when a bursting sound of fireworks needs no cultural refinement at all. Appreciation of a quality black tea can never be expected from uninitiated tea drinkers to whom an herbal tea is the best choice and an orthodox black tea insipid.

Fortune the China Tea Smuggler © 2019 Les Films de la Mémoire

Agents of the Assam Tea Company of Prince Dwarkanath. Source: . @cambridgeDigitalLibrary

We learnt from history that India have had tea before the British smuggled the Chinese tea to India. Along with the tea plants they also brought in India the stolen Chinese know-how of tea gardening, which India never had occasion to know because of not having any tea gardens but forests of tea trees.  The tea habit in India was grown initially by the British through massive propaganda launched by the governmental agencies and industries for economic gain. Their objectives were only to introduce tea to the people and promote sales. One has only to glimpse through the old newspaper ads and publicity posters to realize nothing was there to motivate a tea culture. Neither the study books tell about the tea etiquette, nor any leaders spoke anything contributing to the tea culture, yet the India historically speaking has imbibed a strong cultural affinity toward tea. And that culture, largely in British way, but certainly not exclusively British, as we have already exemplified in my last post ‘Ways of life in colonial Calcutta’. The scenario of Calcutta tea culture found in the hundred year old Favourite Cabin crowded by the firebrand intellectuals had little in common with Flury’s grand ambience except that they both served black tea in ceramic cups. It is unthinkable for the Favourite Cabin to keep Flury’s gentle silence with the presence of a buoyant Nazrul at tea table.

ANYTIME TEA TIME Courtesy: Tea-Pot, Fort Kochi

Their tea-table manners were also more like Indian. As the expert admits that whatever tea seeds you sowed in Darjeeling, it grows to a ‘Darjeeling tea’; similarly, the British tea culture grown in India turns into Indianize British tea culture, more Indian than British. European ladies and gentlemen have always some fixed times for socialization over warm cups of tea, while in Indian culture it is anytime a tea time

Here, in India, it is adda that takes the first position in defining tea culture. The old deshi tea-rooms in Calcutta never cared much for manners and etiquette unlike the British ones. The tea-rooms were being used in Calcutta as meeting spots for lively exchange of minds and hearts, sharing views and news with known, half-known folks or even strangers. The spirit was somewhat akin to the Oxford coffeehouses of 1650s, where ‘the mind-stimulating benefits of the beverage complemented the spirit of sober academic discussion and debate evident at the university there’.White After 1860s, tea took the place of coffee as the major beverage and served in the British coffee houses, including ‘Mr. Lloyd’s Coffee-house’ in London, favoured by ship owners, merchants, and marine insurers – the origin of the celebrated insurance firm, Lloyd’.

Interior of a London Coffee-house, 17th century. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Edward Lloyd’s coffee house in the late seventeenth century

These archaic coffeehouses were called ‘penny universities, because for a penny any man could obtain there a pot of tea, a copy of the newspaper, and engage in free conversation with wits. They served as a basic model for the English gentlemen’s private clubs popularized by English upper middle-class men and women in the late 19th century and early 20th century. By the close of the 18th century the popularity of coffeehouses had declined dramatically. Already by the 1750s consumption of tea, which many people found to be a sweeter, more palatable drink of choice, easy to make and cheaper, was beginning to rise. Cowan

The Club. Engraving by James Doyle

Literary and Political Clubs rose in popularity and the frivolities of coffee-drinking were lost in more serious discussion. Tea was also gaining in importance as Society’s beverage of choice. The East India Company at this time had a greater interest in the tea trade than the coffee trade. The Government’s policy was to foster trade with India and China and it offered encouragements to anything that would stimulate the demand for tea. Tea had become fashionable at Court and in the Tea Houses and was growing in popularity with the public. Boswell

India never had a coffee culture parallel to English one, its production and consumption being confined in some South Indian states, yet it seems that the bygone institution of British coffeehouse had surprising similarity with the tearoom culture developed in colonial Calcutta.

III

This century begins with a startling fresh digital memory of billions of terabytes to absorb the swiftly outdating modern-time and an alarmingly fast growing social dementia making the yesterdays already fuzzy in public mind. I fear, we have already forgotten many old acquisitions. The tea culture is one such thing.  The millennium citizens become insentient to identify its fine distinctions. We pain to see tea is now being redefined in terms of the medicinal masala chai that was in vogue before the beginning of the tea cultivation  – a long stride backward.

The real tea has lost its relevance in the 21st century society. A recent opinion survey of NDTV on Tea versus Coffee discloses the increasing popularity of coffee among Indians. It was ‘a moment of triumph for the coffee shops walked into a tea-drinking country’ offering a luxurious and genteel beverage as alternative.Channi-Tiwary Some historians of coffee-house culture, however, were skeptical of the innate politeness of coffee since there were also some coffee-houses like a Molly King’s Coffee-House, notorious haunts of London’s lowlife.White

As indicated before, coffee-culture in India has been geographically restricted and historically insignificant, contrary to the British experience. Coffee had the same place in London and Oxford of 17th and 18th centuries as the tea had in colonial India. Coffeehouses were then club-house like joints somewhat akin to Indian tearooms in spirit. The rejoinders of NDTV survey marked a reverse trend of opening up across the country tearooms like Chaayos, Taj Mahal Tea House, Bubble Tea Café, etc. These offer the comfort of a beverage many of us love, reinvented and served in a relaxed and casual café environment. Channi-Tiwary

April this year, Quora published an interesting response to their question ‘Why do the majority of Indians like tea rather than coffee?’ The responder claims it was not tea but coffee, black or espresso, what the majority of Indians prefer. It was also observed that some senior citizens still stick to tea out of habit, and currently many people take green tea because it is good for health. Quora The tea habit is a concept closely related to tea culture, which is still being maintained by the senior citizens, and most likely it will end with them, leaving an assortment of reinvented herbal chai for the newer generations broken away from nearly two thousand year tradition of Lu Yü to start a new one from zero.

Before Calcutta bids it a farewell, we may recite a requiem to the tea culture, remembering some good things it did to our society:

The early tearoom in Calcutta was a place to take tea, talk, read news, and collect worldly knowledge paying a thin dime just for the cup of tea; everything else were free. We may call those tearooms by the name of Penny University as the Londoners did for their Coffee shops operated in mid-18th Century as cheap learning centres. Among other things tearooms in Calcutta helped bringing about necessary attitudinal change to tolerate differences in socio-cultural values and political idiosyncrasies.

Tea has been popular among rich and poor. It had an egalitarian character that incited rich social mixing. Vernacular tearooms, or deshi tearooms, offered space for meeting with friends and strangers free from the social conventions of class and deference.

Tea has no arrogance of wine, the self-consciousness of coffee, neither the simpering innocence of cocoa. Okakura The cups that cheer but not inebriate.Cowper The tearoom has a ‘civilizing’ atmosphere, and a role in urbanizing the migrants from less advantaged locations. It was analogous to musafirkhana where travelers get first taste of the city life, or where students get oriented to new campus life.

Tea was instrumental in bringing family together. Even before the introduction of instant tea bag, making a cup of tea has always been a simple and quick process for anyone to perform. Taking tea comfortably at home prepared by the caring hands of fair ladies was a good reason for meeting family members and family friends more frequently.

Tea-making happens to be also a new occupation for a housewife. Women for the first time through tea parties, take leading position in social gatherings, administering tea-shops or running tea-stalls.

Tea in India and many other places, like Ireland, is served as a gracious offering to guests as welcoming gesture. Tea has been a symbol of bonhomie in tribal as well as in civilized society. To the writer of Religion of Man, Rabindranath Tagore, making tea personally for his guests was always a pleasure. Chanda.

Tagore with Count Okuma, PM Japan at tea in 1916

Every human institution decays, so does the tea culture. History records ups and downs, and often interprets every step in terms of their relationship with immediate past and latest trends. Likewise we may consider the followings as possible reasons why the tea culture goodbying Calcutta, the city that nurtured it.

It is the altering value systems of the city that destabilized the climatic condition necessary for the tea culture to sustain. To the millennium everything advertised in the name of ‘tea’, for example, gulabi tea, mallai tea, etc. are readily acceptable as tea. Except the manufacturing companies, not many are there who can smell the difference between a bagged black tea and orthodox leaf tea..

The litterateur and intelligentsia, like Nazrul Islams and Subhas Boses, ceased to be seen in deshi tearooms. The plebian city sticklers occupied the empty seats there for quick energizing sips. The newspaper in tearoom has lost importance. Current affairs and general knowledge are now readily and cheaply available in social media. The dwindling leisure time in modern life is almost entirely used up by mobile chatting, which is largely responsible for making the generation lonely and egocentric,  apathetic to tearoom culture.

∞

REFERENCE

Anonymous. (2009). History of Tea, LGOL27 Portal. Last updated : 23-Feb-09. https://www.gol27.com/HistoryTeaChina.html

Banerjee, Dipankar. (2006). Brahmo Samaj and North-East India. Delhi: Anamika. https://books.google.co.in/books?id=GE2o4QQV7UgC&pg=PA35&lpg=PA35&dq=Ramkumar+Vidyaratna+and+Dwarkanath+Ganguly&source=bl&ots=6ominLanpJ&sig=ACfU3U2mTX2VU3Z25u5yr1of9Og3mh2bBQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiNgLjk7cbmAhV_zjgGHYewBpQQ6AEwA3oECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=Ramkumar%20Vidyaratna%20and%20Dwarkanath%20Ganguly&f=false

Bengal District Gazetteers: Darjeeling ; Ed.by Arthur Jules Dash. (1947). Calcutta: G.P.Press. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.150149

Boswell, James. (1791). The life & times of Doctor Samuel Johnson. Stories of London – portahttp://stories-of-london.org/samuel-johnson-5/

Chakraborty, Sumita. 2016. “শান্তিনিকেতনে চিন ও জাপান.” Parabas, 2016. https://www.parabaas.com/rabindranath/articles/pSumita_china-japan.html

Chanda, Rani (2007). Gurudev. Calcutta: Visvabharati. https://archive.org/details/Gurudeb-Rani-Chanda

Channi-Tiwary, Harnoor. (2018). Tea vs Coffee: Which is India’s Favourite Hot Beverage? In: NDTV Convergence, Updated: March 12, 2018 https://food.ndtv.com/opinions/tea-vs-coffee-which-is-indias-favourite-hot-beverage-1246860

Cowan, Brian. (2005). The Social Life of Coffee: The Emergence of the British Coffeehouse. Yale UP. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjq4JGVmsfmAhUpzjgGHb0hB-MQFjABegQIAhAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fbhsecglobal.files.wordpress.com%2F2014%2F03%2Fsocial-life-of-coffee.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2ynOBv82H95N20ip5E-Ikg

Das, Jnanendra Mohan. (1917). Bangla Bhasar Abhidhan ( বাঙ্গালা ভাষার অভিধান). Allahabad: Indian Press. https://archive.org/details/Bangla_Bhasar_Abhidhan_1917_by_Jnanendra_Mohan_Das

Ellis, Markman. (2014). Tea, the second most widely consumed drink, after water — a meme. Tea in Eighteenth-Century Britain April 21, 2014. https://qmhistoryoftea.wordpress.com/2014/04/21/tea-the-second-most-widely-consumed-drink-after-water-a-meme/

Goodwin, Lindsey (2017) Coffee Bar Definition. The Pruce Eats Portal. Updated 11/27/17 https://www.thespruceeats.com/coffee-bar-definition-765033

Koehler, Jeff. (2015). Darjeeling: a history of the world’s greatest tea. London: Bloomsbury. https://www.goodreads.com/user/new?remember=true

Lu Yu. (1974). Cha ching. The classic of tea. Boston; 1st ed. Little, Brown https://www.amazon.com/Classic-Tea-Origins-Rituals/dp/0880014164/ref=pd_sbs_14_t_1/147-0179330-7137150?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0880014164&pd_rd_r=dddc49fc-6a1f-4754-b82c-ffc76e13cbcb&pd_rd_w=zAATb&pd_rd_wg=mR0UB&pf_rd_p=5cfcfe89-300f-47d2-b1ad-a4e27203a02a&pf_rd_r=HC08A16M8H6139AZTY99&psc=1&refRID=HC08A16M8H6139AZTY99

Mandelslo, Johann Albrecht von. 1669. Voyages Celebres & Remarquables, Faits de Perse Aux Indes Orientales. London: John Starkey, and Thomas Basset. https://archive.org/details/voyagescelebresr00mand/page/n8.

Okakura, Kakuzō . (1906), The Book of Tea. London: Putman’s https://archive.org/details/bookoftea00okakrich/page/n8

Quora, Opinion survey (2015).Why most of the Indians like tea but not coffee? Quora Portal. Ap 14 2015 https://www.quora.com/Why-do-the-majority-of-Indians-like-tea-rather-than-coffee

Sanyal, Amitava. 2012. “Mahatma Gandhi and His Anti-Tea Campaign.” BBC News Magazine, May 2012. https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-17905975.

Sirkin, Austin. (2013). Hey, America—You’re Drinking Your Tea Wrong! In: WonderHowTo Portal. 01/10/2013. https://steampunk.wonderhowto.com/how-to/hey-america-youre-drinking-your-tea-wrong-0141235/

White, Matthew. (2018). Newspapers, gossip and coffee-house culture. In: British Library newsletter; 21 June 2018. https://www.bl.uk/restoration-18th-century-literature/articles/newspapers-gossip-and-coffee-house-culture

TEA: ITS SOCIOCULTURAL DIMENSIONS IN COLONIAL INDIA

Tea, ‘the second most commonly drunk beverage after water’ Ellis, is now being cultivated in more than 61 countries (2018), and consumed by not less than 54 nations (2016).

TEA: ITS SOCIOCULTURAL DIMENSIONS IN COLONIAL INDIA Tea, ‘the second most commonly drunk beverage after water’ Ellis, is now being cultivated in more than 61 countries (2018), and consumed by not less than 54 nations (2016).

[lowkeynando]

laid down in the Trust Deed of the Brahmo Samaj): [1] Debendranath Tagore (15 May 1817

-19 January 1905) was an Indian philosopher and religious reformer, active in the Brahmo Samai (earlier called Bhramho Sabha) ("Society of Brahma", also translated as Society of God).

He joined Brahmo samaj in 1842. He was the founder in 1848 of the Brahmo religion, which today is synonymous with Brahmoism. [2][3]

Born in Shilaidaha, his father was the industrialist Dwarkanath Tagore; [4] he himself had 14 children, many of whom, including Nobel-prize winning poet Rabindranath Tagore, made significant artistic or literary contributions to society. [5][6] Bhadrotsav is a religious festival observed by the Brahmos. The 6th of Bhadra 1234 B.E. (according to the Bengali calendar), or 20 August 1828, was the date when the doors of the first Brahmo Samaj were opened by Raja Rammohun Roy with his friend Tarachand Chakravarty as its first secretary.

The Samaj initially functioned from a rented house belonging to Feranghee Kamal Bose and accommodated the first theistic congregation.

To commemorate this historic event - Brahmos all over the world celebrate Bhadrotsav with divine service or prayers accompanied by devotional songs or Brahmasangeet.

It should also be noted that coincidentally or otherwise other Brahmo Samajees were also opened in this particular month of the year. Ons AND

[bengaliupdatenews]

Rani Rashmoni Biography

  Rani Rashmoni  ( রাণী রাসমণি ) (28 September 1793 – 19 February 1861) was the originator of the Dakshineswar Kali Temple, Kolkata, and remained intently connected with Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa after she named him as the cleric of the sanctuary. Her other development works incorporate the development of a street from Subarnarekha River to Puri for the travelers, Babughat (otherwise called Babu Rajchandra Das Ghat), Ahiritola Ghat and Nimtala Ghat for the ordinary bathers at the Ganges. She likewise offered significant philanthropy to the Imperial Library (presently the National Library of India), the Hindu College (presently Presidency University).

History

She was conceived on 28 Sep­tem­ber 1793. Her fa­ther, Harekr­ishna Das, lived in Kona vil­lage, in pre­sent-day Hal­isa­har, North 24 Par­ganas.Her mother Ram­priya devi kicked the bucket when she was only seven years of age. Ex­cep­tion­ally beau­ti­ful, she was mar­ried to Babu Ra­jachan­dra Das (Marh) of Jan­bazar, Kolkata, a mem­ber of a well off za­min­dar fam­ily, when she was eleven years of age. After her hus­band's passing in 1836 she assumed responsibility for the za­min­dari and finances.​She was 43 years in age at that time.​They had four daugh­ters Pad­ma­mani, Ku­mari, Karunamoyee and Ja­gadamba. Karunamoyee kicked the bucket in 1833 after child­birth while Ku­mari passed on in 1837. Pad­ma­mani was mar­ried to Ram­chan­dra Ata. Ku­mari was mar­ried to Pai­r­i­mo­han Biswas. Karunamoyee was ini­tially mar­ried to Math­ur­mo­han Biswas. After her passing, Ja­gadamba was mar­ried off to him.

She started look­ing after the za­min­dari after her hus­band's demise. She before long substantiated her­self a nat­ural pioneer. While the pres­tige of the za­min­dari developed, Rani Rash­moni, being devout from child­hood, con­tin­ued to lead an ex­tremely re­li­gious and aus­tere life, be­fit­ting a widow in en­gali Hindu so­ci­ety. Rani Rash­moni kicked the bucket on 19 Feb­ru­ary 1861.

The Rani and her conflicts with the British in India became family stories in her time. By obstructing the transportation exchange on a piece of Ganges she constrained the British to abrogate the duty forced on angling in the waterway, which compromised the work of poor anglers. When Puja parades were halted by the British on the charge that they upset the harmony, she opposed the requests. The British needed to pull back the punishment forced on her despite open resistance and revolting in her help.

Rani Rashmoni likewise had surprisingly various altruistic works and different commitments to society. She directed the development of a street from Subarnarekha stream to Puri for travelers. She financed the development of ghats, for example, Babughat (in memory of her significant other), Ahiritola Ghat and Nimtala Ghat for the day by day bathers in the Ganges. She gave liberally to the then Imperial Library (presently the National Library of India) and Hindu College (presently Presidency College). Prince Dwarkanath Tagore had sold a piece of his Zamindari in now South 24 Parganas (some portion of present-day Santoshpur and bordering regions) to Rani Rashmoni for his entry to England. This piece of land which was then a piece of the Sunderbans was mucky and practically dreadful with the exception of certain groups of hooligans who found the region advantageous to remain and wander out for loots in far away places mounted on stilts. Rani Rashmoni convinced these families and helped them to develop fisheries in the encompassing water bodies that later transformed into huge rich bheris. They progressively surrendered their 'calling' of pillaging and changed into a network of anglers. This was an extraordinary social change that the Rani had started.

A celestial disclosure drove her to establish the well known sanctuary Dakshineswar Kali Temple complex on the banks of the Ganges at Dakshineswar in the North 24 Parganas. Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa (at that point known as Gadadhar) was selected its head minister under her support.

In spite of the fact that having such an extraordinary otherworldly nature the general public at that point had segregated her. Being conceived in Kaivarta family (Mahishyas) and being a center rank Shudra origin[3], no Brahmin was prepared to be the cleric in her sanctuary.

Rani Rashmoni's House at Janbazar was setting of customary Durga Puja festivity every pre-winter. This included conventional pageantry, including throughout the night jatras (people theater), as opposed to by amusement for the Englishmen with whom she carried on a running quarrel. After her demise in 1861, her children in-law took to observing Durga Puja in their separate premises

[amazondotcom]

Jewels in museum

Additionally in plain view will be hair adornments with peacock outlines from Myanmar dated eighteenth century.

A couple of lotus-molded hoops from Nepal has eight petals studded with 16 bits of turquoise. Worn by highborn women of yore, the hoops were much looked for after as lotus was an image of virtue and heavenly nature meaning complete liberation and awesome soul.

The trimmings from the Tagore family unit have smaller than expected Rajasthani canvases in ivory and mounted on gold.

"The Indian Museum got them in 1973 from an individual from the Tagore family," said Nita Sen Gupta, accountable for the workmanship segment of the exhibition hall.

Other than adornments, a few valuable things, for example, a wine glass and sword monitor of Mughal sovereign Jehangir and a nineteenth century precious stone relic coffin from the Tepe removal will appreciate place of pride. "These are from our pre-Independence gathering," said Purohit.

Gandhara stone models with different stories relating to Buddha that have not been shown in the gallery can likewise be seen on the web, alongside anthropological ancient rarities and design pieces from Pataliputra.

The online show will likewise be show on a screen close to the exhibition hall entrance and furthermore at intelligent stands in the galleries.Chowringhee: Precious gems, adornments and uncommon relics from the Indian Museum vault can be seen at the snap of a mouse from this month-end.

The online shows will incorporate gems from the Tagore family unit, for example, a couple of armlets that had a place with Prince Dwarkanath Tagore and his better half Digambari Devi's studs.

"This is the first occasion when we are making available our accumulations from the vault and hold," said Indian Museum chief Rajesh Purohit. "These things can't be shown at the gallery due to security concerns. In any case, individuals can see the gathering on our site  under another segment 'selective online presentation'."

Titled Rare and Precious Artifact of Indian Museum: An Online Exhibition, the virtual show will incorporate adornments from Nepal, Tibet, Myanmar and Bangladesh of seventeenth and eighteenth century vintage separated from the Tagore family's gems.

A wonderful peacock crown of Lord Krishna going back to the eighteenth century and a seventeenth century pendant of Lord Ganesha - both from Nepal - are a piece of the accumulation. The gold crown is studded with rubies, emeralds, turquoise, corals, pearls, sapphire and moonstones. The pendant has Ganesha, Kirtimukha and Naga couple made of valuable stones like corals, rubies, emeralds, turquoise, pearls, sapphire, lapis lazuli and moonstones.

[sagarikagolder]

The Story of a forgotten grave: Pt 2

The Story of a forgotten grave: Pt 2 I have tried to recreate the story of the funeral and the forgotten grave through the documents mentioned in the few books written about Dwarkanath Tagore.

The grave of ‘Prince’ Dwarkanath Tagore in London

It was cold, cloudy and stormy on that Saturday morning, the 1st of August, 1846, with bouts of thunder, lightning and heavy rains lashing throughout the city of London. ‘Prince’ Dwarkanath had been ill for a while. The attending doctors, Dr. Chambers and Dr. Martin of Lower Grosvenor Street, had said the day before that he was ‘somewhat easier…