ASIA 
 
CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis bool< is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022932663 
 
THE 
 
 TAGORE FAMILY 
 
THE 
 
 TAGORE FAMILY 
 
 A MEMOIR 
 
 BY 
 JAMES W. FURRELL 
 
 {second edition) 
 printed for private circulation 
 
 CALCUTTA 
 PRINTED BY THACKER, SPINK & CO 
 
 1892 
 
(The rights of translation and of rcprodtiction are reserved:) 
 
 CALCUTTA : 
 FEINTED BY THACKEK, SPINK AND CO. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 •!»*»» 
 
 The Memoir contained in the following 
 pages is based mainly on materials placed 
 at the author's disposal by the Honourable 
 Maharaja Jotendra Mohun Tagore, and, in 
 respect of the life of Dwarika Nath Tagore, 
 on the biography of that gentleman pub- 
 lished some years ago by the late Babu 
 Kishori Chand Mittra. 
 
 Owing to the veil which the conditions 
 of Indian society throw over the inter- 
 course of domestic life, and to the fact 
 that such epistolary correspondence as is 
 preserved in native families is confined, for 
 the most part, to matters of business devoid 
 
e PREFACE. 
 
 of interest to the outside world, it can claim 
 to be little more than a record of the public 
 careers of the leading members of the family 
 whose name it bears. 
 
 In the translation of Indian names the 
 author has adopted the scientific system 
 wherever he felt himself at liberty to do so, 
 the exceptions being those cases in which 
 family usage or common custom has estab- 
 lished a different mode of spelling. 
 
THE 
 
 TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 It has been frequently maintained that 
 between the genius of Western and that of 
 Oriental culture there exists an imcompati- 
 bility so essential and profound that any 
 attempt to combine them, if not altogether 
 futile, must necessarily lead to results either 
 disastrous or grotesque. 
 
 No more convincing refutation of the 
 truth of this opinion could, perhaps, be found 
 than has been furnished to the world by the 
 illustrious family of Brahmans whose history 
 forms the subject of the following pages. 
 
 If any such essential incompatibility as 
 is alleged really existed, it is in the case of 
 the more highly developed products of either 
 
8 THE TAG ORE FAMILY. 
 
 civilisation that we should naturally expect 
 to find it most pronounced. On such a sup- 
 position, there is no family in Bengal, or 
 indeed in the whole of India, in which we 
 could reasonably look for less aptitude for 
 the assimilation of European ideas than that 
 of the Tagores, who trace their descent from 
 one of the most celebrated apostles of Brah- 
 manism, the illustrious Bhatta Narayana 
 himself, and among whom profound Sanskrit 
 scholarship has been hereditary for nearly a 
 thousand years. 
 
 Not only, however, do we find the 
 Tagores conspicuous among the earliest 
 Indian students of the English language and 
 literature, but we shall look in vain among 
 their countrymen for more brilliant examples 
 of success in the practical application of such 
 studies than their ranks have pi-oduced* 
 
 Long before knowledge of English had 
 become a recognised passport to preferment 
 in the public service, or the Government had 
 afforded any special facilities for its acquisi- 
 tion, Darpa Narayan Tagore was a proficient 
 
A MEMOIR. 9 
 
 not only in that language but also in French ; 
 his son, Gopee Mohun Tagore, was equally 
 well versed in English, French, Portuguese, 
 Persian and Urdu ; while the entire career 
 of the late Prosunna Coomar Tagore was a 
 convincing proof that, along with the learn- 
 ing, he had imbibed deeply the true spirit, of 
 Western culture. 
 
 Nor has this success in the cultivation 
 of foreign languages and literature been 
 attended with the reproach of having been 
 purchased at the cost of that native scholar- 
 ship which should be the first aim, as it must 
 always be the chief and truest glory, of every 
 patriotic Indian ; for the Tagore family con- 
 tinues to this day to be distinguished for the 
 same pre-eminence in Sanskrit learning that 
 secured for its renowned ancestors the patron- 
 age of King Adisur, and raised them at 
 once to the front rank of society in Bengal. 
 
 Hurro Coomar Tagore, the son of Gopee 
 Mohun Tagore, was not only justly famed 
 for his patronage of Sanskrit studies, but 
 was himself a Sanskrit scholar of no mean 
 
10 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 eminence. Prosunna Coomar Tagore's nu- 
 merous works, translated from, or based upon, 
 Sanskrit originals, possess a wide-spread re- 
 putation. Maharajah Jotendra Mohun Ta- 
 gore has enriched the literature of the day 
 by numerous dramatic works of great merit 
 in the vernacular, either original or tran- 
 slated from the classical language of the 
 Hindus. Raja Sourendra Mohun Tagore's 
 learned investigations into the recondite 
 subject of Indian music have earned for him 
 world-wide celebrity and honorary distinc- 
 tions and decorations too numerous to detail. 
 
 In short, when we trace the history of 
 the Tagore family from the days of Bhatta 
 Narayana downwards, we may reasonably 
 doubt whether any act of an Indian sovereign 
 has effected more towards the development 
 of learning and the enlightenment of pos- 
 terity than Adisur's importation into Bengal 
 of the five learned Brahmans of Kanouj. 
 
A MEMOIR. 11 
 
 EARLY ANCESTRY. 
 
 In writing a memoir of the Tagore family, 
 the biographer naturally takes his start from 
 an event so memorable in the annals oi 
 Bengal, and of their ancestry, as that just 
 referred to. 
 
 History has left us no means of deter- 
 mining with absolute precision the period 
 of the founder of the great Sena dynasty of 
 Bengal. By combining the evidence regard- 
 ing its genealogy furnished by the well-known 
 l^ajshahai inscription, which is dateless, with 
 the statement of the author of the Samaypra- 
 kasa as to the time of the completion of the 
 Danasagara of Ballal Sena, on the one hand, 
 and that of the Ayin Akbari, which places the 
 commencement of Ballal Sena's reign in a.d. 
 1066, on the other, the learned Babu Rajen- 
 dra Lala Mittra arrives at a.d. 994 as the 
 probable date of the accession of Vira Sena, 
 who was either the immediate successor of 
 Adisura, or, as the Rajshahai inscription 
 just referred to renders not unlikely, and as 
 
12 THE TAOOEE FAMILY. 
 
 Babu Rajendra Lala Mittra suggests, actually 
 identical with that renowned monarch. 
 
 Without aiming at precision, where pre- 
 cision is, in the existing state of our know- 
 ledge, unattainable, we may reasonably ac- 
 cept the latter part of the tenth century of 
 the Christian era as an adequate approxima- 
 tion to the period of Adisur. 
 
 Regarding the manner of Adisur's acces- 
 sion to the throne of Bengal, we know as 
 little as about the exact date of that cele- 
 brated event. This much, however, is es- 
 tablished by a concurrence of testimony — 
 that he conquered the country from, a Bud- 
 dhist sovereign, and that Buddhism had then 
 been the religion of the Court at Gaur long 
 enough to bring about a very general decay 
 of Brahminical institutions and learning in 
 Bengal. 
 
 Tradition runs that, some time after his 
 accession, Adisur, owing to the occurrence in 
 his dominions of severe famine and other 
 portents, which he regarded as evidence of 
 the divine displeasure, determined to perform. 
 
A MEMOIR, 13 
 
 certain expiatory sacrifices. So complete, 
 however, had been the neglect of Brahmin- 
 ical learning and practice among his subjects, 
 that no Brahmans competent to celebrate the 
 necessary rites were to be found in his terri- 
 tories ; and Adisur, having consulted Guna- 
 ram Bhatta, a minister of his Court, resolved 
 to apply to Vira Sinha, the reigning monarch 
 of Kanouj, to send him qualified Brahmans 
 for the purpose. 
 
 Vira Sinha accordingly selected five Brah- 
 mans, Bhatta Narayana, Daksha, Vedagarbha, 
 Chhandara, and Sri Harsha for the task, and 
 despatched them to Adisur. 
 
 On their arrival at his capital, the story 
 proceeds, Adisur, having ascertained, from 
 the reports made him by his oflScers, that 
 they had come riding on bulls, with their 
 sacred threads made of leather ; that they 
 allowed their beards and whiskers to grow ; 
 chewed betel, and in other respects departed 
 from the usual practice of orthodox Brahmans, 
 received them with coldness, if not disrespect ; 
 and the result was that they made up their 
 
14 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 minds to return to Kanouj. Unwilling, 
 however, to leave without first making some 
 attempt to convince the king of his error and 
 vindicate their own reputation, they placed 
 certain sacrificial offerings on a dry tree in 
 the neighbourhood of the king's palace ; 
 and no sooner had they done so than the 
 withered trunk sent forth both branches and 
 leaves. 
 
 Assured by this miracle of the sanctity of 
 his guests, Adisur now hastened to welcome 
 them and bring them into his palace. 
 
 Thereupon Bhatta Narayana, who ap- 
 pears to have been recognised as the chief of 
 the five Brahmans, presented the King with 
 a drama which he had composed, under the 
 title of ' Beni Samhara,' on the subject of 
 the great war between the Kurus and the 
 Pandabas. 
 
 After the sacrifice had been performed, 
 the five Brahmans, according to some, re- 
 turned to Kanouj, laden with presents; but, 
 finding that they had lost caste with their 
 fellow-tribesmen by their late journey, they 
 
A MEMOIR. 15 
 
 made up their minds to settle permanently in 
 Bengal. They accordingly repaired again to 
 the Court of Adisur, who, as a reward for their 
 services and a solatium for their exile, bestowed 
 on them grants of five villages in the Rarha 
 cmintry, where they proceeded to take up their 
 abode. 
 
 Such is the story of the migration of the 
 Kanouj Brahmans to Gaur. Whatever doubt 
 may attach to its details, its main features 
 are as little open to question as is the in- 
 fluence which the event exercised on the 
 subsequent development of society in Bengal. 
 
 Of the subsequent career of Daksha, 
 Vedagarbha, and Chhandara tradition has 
 little to say, though among the ten noble 
 fomiUes so recognised by Ballala Sena, who 
 was probably the fifth in descent from Adisur, 
 and who reigned towards the close of the 
 eleventh century, six were descendants of 
 one or other of these three Brahmans. 
 
 Bhatta Narayana is reputed to have left 
 sixteen sons, among whom was Nri Sinha, or 
 Nanu, a Suddha Srotriya, the ancestor of the 
 
16 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 Thakurs, or, as the name has been anglicised, 
 the Tagores, 
 
 Of his posterity, the first who occupies a 
 conspicuous place in tradition is Dharanid- 
 hara, "who is said to have been the eighth in 
 descent, and is known as the author of a 'Com- 
 mentary on the Institutes of Menu.' His 
 brother, Banamali, was also a distinguished 
 author- 
 
 Dharanidhara had a grandson, Dhananjay, 
 who occupied the office of judge under Bal- 
 lala Sena, and was also the author of a Vedic 
 vocabulary, entitled the Niglianta. 
 
 The social influence which, owing to the 
 commanding acquirements and merits of the 
 Kanouj Brahmans, would probably have been 
 great under any circumstances, was accen- 
 tuated by the system of Kulinism established 
 by Ballala Sena. 
 
 * The main object of this system/ says 
 Babu Rajendra Lala Mittra, ' was to give 
 pre-eminence to the descendants of the five 
 Brahmans and Kayasthas who had been 
 brought to Bengal by Adisura, The parti- 
 
A MEMOIR. 17 
 
 cular qualities which were to characterise his 
 nobles were "good manners, learning, hu- 
 mility, reputation, pilgrimage, faith, fixed 
 profession, austerity, and charity," but, as 
 there was no standard measure for these 
 qualities, and it was difficult to secure them 
 without attaching penalties to personal delin- 
 quencies which could never be enforced, he 
 had recourse to other and more definite 
 means for their perpetuation. He availed 
 himself of the popular notion that children 
 invariably inherit the moral qualities of their 
 parents, and hoped that by maintaining the 
 blood of his newly created nobles pure and 
 undefiled, he would attain his end. He for- 
 bade all intermarriages between the original 
 Brahmans and Kayasthas of the country and 
 the new-comers, and ordained various and 
 complicated rules for the gradual degrada- 
 tion of those families which should permit 
 any stain to fall on the gentUity of their 
 blood.' 
 
 We next come to his son, Halayudha, 
 who was Prime Minister to Lakshman Sena, 
 
 C, TF 2 
 
18 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 the successor of Ballala Sena, and who is 
 known as the author of many valuable works, 
 including the 'Brahmana,' ' Sarvasa,' the 
 ' Nayaya,' ' Pandita,' ' Shiva,' ' Matsya,' and 
 ' Sakta Tantra,' the ' Avidhana Ratnamala,' 
 and the ' Kabi Rahasya.' 
 
 The above genealogy, it will be seen, 
 makes Halayudha the twelfth in descent 
 from Bhatta Narayana, while Lakshman 
 Sena, in whose reign he floui-ished, is, ac- 
 cording to Babu Rajendra Lala Mittra's table 
 of the Sena kings, only the fifth in descent 
 from Adisur. A discrepancy is thus dis- 
 closed which it is impossible to reconcile, 
 and which seems to suggest that either the 
 number of generations between Adisur and 
 Lakshman Sena must be considerably in- 
 creased, or Halayudha must be placed much 
 nearer to Bhatta Narayana. The fact that 
 nothing is known regarding the first seven 
 descendants of Nri Sinha may, perhaps, be 
 considered to favour the latter alternative. 
 The number of generations between Bhatta 
 Narayana and the present representatives of 
 
A MEMOIR. 19 
 
 the Tagores would thus be reduced to twenty- 
 six or twenty-seven. 
 
 Through, his son, Bivu, Halayudha had 
 two grandsons, Mahendra and Ganendra, who 
 were respectively known as the Bara and 
 Chhota Kumar, a title usually restricted to 
 the sons of Rajas. 
 
 Raja Ram, the fourth in descent* from 
 Mahendra, and his grandson, Jagannatha, 
 were both authors of repute, and the latter 
 was honoured with the title of Pandit-Raja, 
 or Prince of Pandits. 
 
 His son, Purushottam, again, wrote a 
 large number of learned works, including the 
 ' Prayaga Ratnamala, ' the ' Mukti Chinta- 
 mani, ' the ' Bhasa Briti, ' the Taikanda 
 Shesha, ' the ' Ekasara Kosha, ' the ' Har- 
 lata,' the ' Haraboli, ' and the ' Gotrapravara 
 Darpana. ' 
 
 In spite of his great learning, Purushot- 
 tam was destined to cast a blot on the 
 escutcheon of his descendants by contract- 
 ing a marriage with the daughter of a man 
 who, otherwise of unstained reputation, had, 
 
20 THE TAGORE FAMILY, 
 
 according to the decision of the pandits, 
 incurred forfeiture of caste by the accidental 
 smelling of forbidden food. While, however, 
 the flaw thus introduced into the pedigree 
 of the family has in no degree aflfected the 
 respect in which they are held by their 
 countrymen, it has invested them with the 
 right of making their own caste laws, and 
 thus conferred on them an immunity from 
 vexatious restrictions which they would not 
 otherwise have enjoyed, and of which, as we 
 shall see later on, they have not been slow to 
 avail themselves. 
 
 Learning still continued to be hereditary 
 in the family, and Boloram, the son of Puru- 
 shottam, added the ' Prohodha Prakasa ' to 
 the long list of works they had already given 
 to the world. 
 
 Panchanana, the fifth in descent from 
 Boloram, appears to have been the first 
 member of the family who received the title 
 of Thakur, which, in its corrupted form of 
 Tagore, they still continue to bear. 
 
 Having left Jessore, which, since the 
 
A MEMOIR. 21 
 
 time of Purushottam, had been the adopted 
 home of the family, he came to the village of 
 Govindpur, on the banks of the Hughli, pur- 
 chased a piece of land there, and built on it 
 a dwelhng-house and a temple, which, true 
 to his ancestral cult, he dedicated to the god 
 Siva. 
 
 Here he came into intimate contact with 
 the future conquerors of Hindustan, and, 
 being a man of parts, soon succeeded in es- 
 tablishing himself in their favour and confi- 
 dence. Thus he had no difficulty in procuring 
 for his son, Joyram, the appointment of 
 Amin of the Twenty-four Parganehs, a post 
 which, imposing on him as it did the duty of 
 conducting the settlement, as well as collect- 
 ing the revenue, of that important district, was 
 one of considerable responsibility. 
 
 The capture of Calcutta by the infamous 
 Siraj-ud-Daulah interrupted for a time his 
 progress towards fortune. The loss which 
 he suffered on the occasion was, however, 
 destined to be more than compensated. For 
 when, after the retaking of the place, it became 
 
25 THE TA GORE FAMIL Y. 
 
 necessary' to construct a new fort, the site se- 
 lected for the purpose was that on which Pan- 
 chanan had built the family house and temple.; 
 The buildings were accordingly purchased 
 by the Government, and other land was given 
 to Joyram in exchange for that taken up by 
 them at Govindpur. Joyram thereupon re- 
 moved to Calcutta ; and, having purchased 
 a fresh site on the river bank at Patharia- 
 ghatta, there erected a new dwelling-house 
 and bathing ghat, which are the property of 
 his descendants to this day. 
 
 He also appears to have been associated 
 in some way with the construction of the 
 new fort, and may possibly have derived 
 some pecuniary advantage from the con- 
 nexion. Certain it is that, during the latter 
 part of his life, he found the means of re- 
 trieving the losses which he had suffered at 
 the time of the taking of Calcutta. 
 
 Joyram died in the year 1762, and left 
 four sons — Ananda Ram, Darpa Narayan, 
 Nilmoni, and Gobinda Ram. 
 
 The first and last of these died without 
 
A MEMOIR. 23 
 
 issue ; but Darpa Narayan and Nilraoni both 
 left sons. 
 
 Darpa Narayan, whose career will be 
 noticed more in detail hereafter, remained at 
 home, and, entering into commercial and 
 land transactions, acquired a large fortune. 
 Nilmoni chose the service of the British 
 Government, and eventually rose to the 
 Serishtadarship of the District Court. 
 
 On his retirement from official life he 
 became involved in a dispute with his more 
 fortunate brother regarding the amount of 
 certain sums of money which he remitted him 
 from time to time for safe keeping ; and in the 
 end, as the result of a compromise, received 
 from him on this account, and in lieu of his 
 share in the paternal property, the sum of a 
 lakh of rupees. Separating thereupon from 
 his brother, he built a family house for him- 
 self at Jorasanko, on a site said to have 
 been granted him by Boystom Das Seth, as a 
 testimony to his piety. 
 
 Nilmoni had three sons, Ram Lochan, 
 Ram Moni, and Ram Ballabh. 
 
24 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 Ram Moni had three sons, of whom the 
 celebrated Dwarika Nath Tagore was the 
 second, and Roma Nath Tagore the third. 
 
 Ram Lochan, having no child of his own, 
 adopted Dwarika Nath Tagore, an excellent 
 account of whose career was published by the 
 late Babu Kishori Chand Mittra. 
 
 Dwarika Nath Tagoee. 
 Like his illustrious cousin, Prosunna 
 Coomar Tagore, Dwarika Nath Tagore was 
 indebted for the elements of an English edu- 
 (Jation to Mr. Sherbourne, who in those days 
 kept a school in the Chitpore Road, Calcutta. 
 The course of study pursued at this institu- 
 tion seems, however, to have been of a very 
 humble character, and Dwarika Nath probably 
 owed much more to the instruction of the 
 Rev. William Adams, who subsequently acted 
 as his tutor, and to the friendly intercourse 
 which, even as a young man, he maintained 
 with Europeans of education and position. 
 
 A circumstance which had a still greater 
 share in the formation of his character, was 
 
A MEMOIR. 25 
 
 his early association with the great Hindu 
 reformer, Ram Mohun Roy. 
 
 The active philanthropy which charac- 
 terised his career was, no doubt, the expres- 
 sion of his own inborn beneficence of tem- 
 perament; but in the catholicity with which 
 that philanthropy was exercised, as well as 
 in the entire freedom from bigotry or narrow- 
 ness which has own personal conduct ex- 
 hibited, the influence of the new teacher may 
 be clearly traced. 
 
 Dwarika Nath's first experience of the 
 practical business of life was in the manage- 
 ment of the modest estates inherited by him 
 from his father. Brought thus into frequent 
 contact with the courts of the country, he 
 became a diligent student of the law ; and, 
 having attained to extraordinary proficiency 
 in this branch of learning, he after a time 
 established himself as a law agent. In this 
 capacity he rapidly achieved a reputation 
 which brought him a numerous and wealthy 
 clientele among the landed proprietary both of 
 Bengal and of the North-Western Provinces. 
 
26 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 So great, however, was his capacity for 
 work, and so many-sided was his genius, that 
 he was able to conduct at the same time, and 
 with no less conspicuous success, an extensive 
 commercial agency. 
 
 In the midst of all this prosperity the post 
 of Serishtadar to the Salt Agent and Collector 
 of the Twenty-four Parganehs became vacant, 
 and, tempted by the prestige which service 
 under the Government conferred, Dwarika 
 Nath was induced to accept it. How com- 
 pletely he gained the confidence of his su- 
 periors is shown by his promotion, six years 
 later, to the Diwanship of the Board of Cus- 
 toms, Salt, and Revenue, which office he filled 
 for several years with distinguished credit. 
 
 Such a career, however, was too contracted 
 and too fettered for a man of Dwarika 
 Nath's large designs and independent cha- 
 racter. In 1834, on the ground of the pres- 
 sure of private business, he, to the great 
 regret of the Board, resigned an appoint- 
 ment which he had filled with exceptional 
 ability; and soon after, in partnership with 
 
A MEMOIR. 27 
 
 Mr. William Carr and Mr. William Prinsep, 
 established the firm of Carr, Tagore, and Co. 
 
 He was thus the first native gentleman 
 to enter into mercantile business in Calcutta 
 on the European model ; and the Governor- 
 General of the day, Lord William Bentinck, 
 considered the event of sufficient importance 
 to make it the subject of a congratulatory- 
 letter to the author of so praiseworthy an 
 example. 
 
 With the original partners in the new firm 
 were subsequently associated, at one time or 
 another. Major H. B. Henderson, Mr. W. C. 
 M. Plowden, Dr. Macpherson, Captain Taylor, 
 Babu Debendra Nath Tagore, and Babu Gi- 
 rendra Nath Tagore ; while Babu Prosunna 
 Coomar Tagore was for some time one of its 
 assistants. 
 
 Previously to the establishment of the 
 firm of Carr, Tagore, and Co., Dwarika 
 Nath had been associated with Messrs. J. 
 G. Gordon, J. Calder, John Palmer, and 
 Colonel James Young in founding the famous 
 and ill-fated Union Bank, of which Babu 
 
28 TEE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 Ramanath Tagore was treasurer, and which 
 during his lifetime enjoyed a career of re- 
 markable and almost unchequered prosperity, 
 to collapse hopelessly not long after his 
 death. Of the only two other banks, besides 
 the Bank of Bengal, then existing in Cal- 
 cutta, the Calcutta Bank was absorbed by 
 the Union, and the Commercial Bank was 
 closed, on the failure of Messrs. Macintosh 
 and Co. in 1829, Dwarika Nath, as the only 
 solvent partner, having to meet all the claims 
 against it. 
 
 Dwarika Nath was the mainstay of the 
 Union Bank, and on more than one occasion 
 interposed with his ample purse to save it from 
 losses which would have injured its credit, if 
 not landed it in ruin. 
 
 The firm of Carr, Tagore, and Co. at once 
 took a place in the front rank of Calcutta 
 houses, and embarked largely, after the man- 
 ner of those days, in indigo, silk, and other 
 commercial enterprises in the interior. As 
 to Dwarika Nath, his rapidly- increasing 
 fortune enabled him to purchase numerous 
 
A MEMOIR. 29 
 
 zemindaries in Rajshahai, Pabna, Rangpur, 
 Jessore, Cuttack, and other districts. 
 
 A memoir which should be merely a 
 record of the assiduous energy, the bold enter- 
 prise, and the unvaried skill which enabled 
 Dwarika Nath to achieve a success in the prac- 
 tical affairs of life almost without precedent 
 among his countrymen, would be but an im- 
 perfect account of the career of a man who 
 contributed more largely than any of his con- 
 temporaries to the wonderful social progress 
 which marked the history of Bengal during 
 the first half of the present century ; a man of 
 whom the Times, commenting on his death, 
 justly said that his name would ' be proudly 
 associated with all the noble institutions 
 flourishing in Calcutta.' 
 
 Reference has been made in general terms 
 to his catholic philanthropy. It remains to 
 give some account of the manner in which this 
 philanthropy was exercised, and the results 
 which have attended it. 
 
 ' When Dwarika Nath saw light,' . says 
 the late Kishori Chand Mittra, in his elo- 
 
30 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 quent biography, ' ignorance and superstition 
 reigned rampant. The Hindoo widows were 
 immolated at the funeral pile of their hus- 
 bands ; the natives were persecuted and pro- 
 scribed as a subject race ; the dark fatality 
 of a dark skin crushed and kept them down ; 
 the crime of colour was considered the most 
 atrocious in the social and political code 
 governing the country; the community was 
 divided into sahib logues and natives. These 
 two classes, composing the dominant few and 
 the subject many, not understanding each 
 other, were estranged and alienated. Now 
 what did Dwarika Nath leave behind ? A 
 Hindoo College and a Medical College ; the 
 revolting rite of suttee abolished and branded 
 by law as murder; a Landholders' Society, 
 representing a most important interest in the 
 country; steam communication; a free Press; 
 an uncovenanted judicial service ; a subor- 
 dinate executive service; and a better un- 
 derstanding between the Natives and the 
 Europeans — being the first step to a fusion 
 of the two races.' 
 
A MEMOIR. 31 
 
 In the inception, or in the completion, 
 of each and all of the reforms on which 
 the above contrast depends, Dwarika Nath 
 Tagore took a leading or an important part. 
 
 Dwarika Nath was an enthusiastic advo- 
 cate of that downward filtration theory of 
 native education which from the time of 
 WuiU^/ Lord^Bentinck to a very late period entirely 
 dominated, and still largely influences, the 
 Government scheme of public instruction, as 
 well as of the view that the English language 
 is the only suitable vehicle of higher educa- 
 tion in Bengal. As a member of the com- 
 mittee of management of the Hindoo College, 
 he took an active part in the reorganisation 
 of that institution, and its erection into 'a 
 seminary of the highest possible description 
 for the cultivation of the English language.' 
 
 No less intimate was his connexion with 
 the success of the Medical College, which 
 was founded on June 1, 1835. In the first 
 year of its existence he placed at the dis- 
 posal of its governing body the sum of two 
 thousand rupees a year for three years, for 
 
32 TEE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 distribution in the form of prizes to native 
 students of merit. But, what was of still 
 greater importance in its influence on the 
 medical education of his countrymen, and 
 reflected yet higher honour on him, was the 
 self-sacrificing devotion with which, when 
 the strong prejudice of the Hindoo students 
 against taking part in the operations of the 
 dissecting-room threatened to mar the use- 
 fulness of the College, he threw himself into 
 the gap, and by his own frequent presence 
 taught his co-religionists to feel that the 
 interests of science in the cause of humanity 
 were paramount to the promptings of per- 
 sonal inclination, or the voice of national 
 tradition. 
 
 In his efforts for the abolition of the cruel 
 rite of suttee, Earn Mohun Roy found in his 
 friend, Dwarika Nath, a zealous and powerful 
 coadjutor. But for his support, the Govern- 
 ment tnight well have hesitated to show the 
 courage of its convictions, and lay the axe to 
 the root of a custom which the great mass 
 of the people regarded as vitally associated 
 
A MEMOIR. 33 
 
 with the foundations _ of moj'ality and . xe- 
 ligion. Less disinterested, perhaps, but cone 
 the less creditable to his public spirit, was 
 the leading part taken by Dwarika Nath in 
 the foundation of the Landholders' Society, 
 which was at once recognised by the Govern- 
 ment of Bengal as a channel of communica- 
 tion with the zemindars, and which for a 
 long time exercised an important influence 
 on its land legislation. 
 
 In the agitation which ultimately led to 
 the establishment of regular steam communi- 
 cation between India and England, Dwarika 
 Nath took a proniinent share ; and through- 
 out the discussion regarding the Press laws 
 he was in the front rank of the champions of 
 freedom.. 
 
 Against the Press Act of 1824 he fought, 
 at considerable cost to himself, an ineffectual 
 fight ; and at the great public meeting held 
 on January 5,,_ 1835, to petition Lord Wil- 
 liam Bentinck for its abolition, we find him 
 one of the principal speakers. 
 
 He it was who seconded the resolution 
 
 C, TF 3 
 
34 THE TAG ORE FAMILY. 
 
 moved by Mr. T. Dickens, that the petition 
 be adopted. 
 
 ' In rising to second the resolution that 
 this petition be adopted,' he said, ' I am only 
 doing that which I did ten years ago. When 
 this Eegulation was first promulgated, I, with 
 three of my own relations, and my lamented 
 friend the late Ram Mohun Roy, were the 
 only persons who petitioned the Supreme 
 Court against it ; but most sincerely do I 
 congratulate the community at large that I 
 now see the whole room of the Town Hall 
 filled both with Europeans and Natives for 
 the purpose of protesting agaiast the Regu- 
 lation. At that time I did not ask any 
 European to sign a petition, his signature 
 to whicli might have subjected him to trans- 
 portation. The same objection, however, 
 did not exist in the case of the Natives, for 
 the Government, even at that day, could 
 hardly have transported them. But none of 
 the Natives could I prevail upon to join me, 
 and I believe it was thought that I should be 
 hanged the next day for my boldness. 
 
A MEMOIR. 35 
 
 'I think the present is the very time we 
 ought to petition against the Regulation, be- 
 cause for the last eight years we have, under 
 the rule of Lord William Bentinck, enjoyed a 
 really free Press in spite of its provisions. If 
 we could only secure Lord William Bentinck 
 as a Governor-General, there would be no 
 need of a petition, for with him this law is a 
 dead letter, as well as many of the Court of 
 Directors' laws ; but we do not know whom 
 we may get next, and, for anything we can 
 tell to the contrary, Mr. Sutherland and Mr. 
 Stocqueler may be turned out by the next 
 Governor-General. This, then, is the time 
 when we ought to petition ; and I have every 
 hope, from the known character of Lord 
 William Bentinck, and from the interest 
 lie has always taken in the welfare of the 
 Natives, and in that of the community at 
 large, that he will repeal the Regulation ; 
 and, when once it is repealed, I think it will 
 be difficult for any future Governor-General 
 to get it enacted again.' 
 
 Though the Regulation was not repealed 
 
„36 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 before. Lord William Bentinck laid down the 
 reins of office, the fear; that his successor 
 might prove less liberal was not realised ; and, 
 just five months later, another public meet- 
 ing, in which Babu Dwarika. Nath Tagore 
 again took a prominent part; was held at 
 the Town Hall, to thank the new Governor- 
 General, Sir Charles Metcalfe^ for the re- 
 moval of all legal restrictions on the freedom 
 of the Press, 
 
 At the dinner given in 1838 to com- 
 memorate this measure, the health of Dwa- 
 rika Nath was proposed by Mr. Parker, as 
 one whose name was inseparably connected 
 with the cause whose triumph they had met 
 that night to celebrate. 
 
 It is to the suggestion of Dwarika Ifath 
 Tagore, put forward in his evidence before 
 the Committee on the Reform. of the Mufasal 
 Police, that Bengal owes the creation of the 
 ofiice of deputy-magistrate, in which so many 
 of his fellow-countrymen have since been 
 able to perform valuable service in the cause 
 :of law and order. The suggestion was 
 
A MEMOIR. 37 
 
 heartily approved ' of by the Government and 
 soon after carried into effect, several Native 
 gentlemen of good family and distinguished 
 pupils of the Hindoo College being appointed 
 to the new office. ' 
 
 In the agitation against what was called 
 the ' Black Act,' Babu Dwarika Nath Tagore 
 took a prominent part, and he was one of 
 the principal speakers at the public meeting 
 held in the Town Hall on June 18, 1836, 
 for the purpose of memorialising the Court 
 of Directors and Board of Control to re- 
 peal Act XI of that year, by which Eu- 
 ropean British subjects were deprived of 
 tlieir right of appeal to the supreme 
 courts against the decisions of the Mufasal 
 tribunals. 
 
 By his vehement denunciation of the state 
 of the latter on this occasion, he did quite as 
 great a service to his own countrymen as to the 
 class whose interests were specially affected by 
 the obnoxious Act in question. 
 
 It may be regarded as a proof of the 
 estimation in which Dwarika Nath was held 
 
38 TEE TA GORE FAMIL Y. 
 
 by the Government, that he was the first' 
 native of India who was appointed a Justice 
 of the Peace, an honour which possessed a 
 much greater significance in those days than 
 it does now. As a matter of fact, he was 
 constantly consulted by Lord Auckland as an 
 exponent of Native opinion, and was a frequent 
 guest of the Governor-General at his country- 
 house at Barrackpore. 
 
 His own hospitality, which was largely 
 extended to Europeans of position, was as 
 highly appreciated as it was profuse, and 
 the entertainments which he was in the 
 habit of giving, on a grand scale, at his 
 villa at Belgatchia, were without rival in 
 their day. 
 
 At the close of the year 1841, Dwarika 
 Nath made up his mind to visit England, for 
 which country he embarked on January 9 
 following, amid general valedictions from all 
 classes of the community. 
 
 His approaching departure from Calcutta 
 was the occasion of a public meeting at the 
 Town Hall, presided over by the Sheriff, at 
 
A MEMOIR. 39 
 
 which a most complimentary address to the 
 hero of the hour was moved by Mr. (after- 
 wards Sir) Thomas Turton, and seconded by 
 Mr. Mansel, of the Civil Service, the Deputy 
 Accountant-General. 
 
 This meeting, which was the first of its 
 kind ever held in Calcutta, was attended by 
 most of the principal residents of the city, 
 European and Native. 
 
 In replying to the address, Dwarika Nath 
 said : ' Gentlemen, this is a proud moment 
 for me and for my country. It is the first 
 time that a native of India has ever received 
 such a testimony of regard from the inhabi- 
 tants of our Eastern metropolis. The main 
 object of my life has been to improve my na- 
 tive land. I viewed, as the best means of 
 effecting this great object, the charitable insti- 
 tutions and social habits of Great Britain. 
 The initiative efforts had already been made 
 by others, and particularly by my lamented 
 friend, the late Ram Mohun Roy. Knowing 
 how imperfect my endeavours have been, I 
 feel conscious that your approbation is rather 
 
40' THE TA GORE FAMIL Y. 
 
 applicable to the attempt than to any success 
 which is fairly ascribable to me. The good 
 work, however, has commenced, to whomso^ 
 ever be the praise, and my hopes are high 
 for the result. Proud am I, indeed, that my 
 motives and conduct should have been so ap- 
 preciated and rewarded by my fellow-citizens, 
 both of England and of India. 
 
 ' The expression of your sentiments is 
 doubly grateful to me, for, while it is a mat- 
 ter of the highest congratulation to me, it 
 is not less so to my countrymen. It proves 
 to them and to the world at large how close- 
 ly the landholders of England and India are 
 united in feelings and in interests, when the 
 humble eflforts of a Hindoo are thus reward- 
 ed by the united approbation of the British 
 community, as well as by his own beloved 
 brethren of his native land. Most heartily 
 do I thank you, gentlemen, for the honour 
 you have conferred, and the flattering terms 
 in which it has been expressed. The little 
 which I have been enabled to do, if not aid- 
 ed by your kind and friendly feeling, would 
 
A MEMOIR. 41- 
 
 riot have entitled me to the kind arid flatter- 
 ing distinctiori of my likeness being placed in 
 the hall of your city. But I will cheerfully 
 accept of the proud distinction, in the hope 
 that it may stimulate others of my country- 
 men to follow in a course which you, have 
 so generously rewarded.' 
 
 Ori Jianuary 11, the 'India' left the Sand- 
 heads with Dwarika Nath and his party, 
 consisting of Dr. MacGowan, his medical 
 attendant; Chuuder Mohun Chatterjea, his 
 nephew ; Purmananda Moittra, his personal 
 attendant ; and four servants. Sir Edward 
 Ryan and Archbishop Carew were among 
 his fellow passengers. 
 
 During the voyage he kept a diary, which, 
 while marked by a certain naivete, not unna- 
 tural under the circumstances, displays no 
 little intelligence and power of observation. 
 
 On February 11 the vessel reached Suez, 
 and on the following day Dwarika Nath and 
 his party started for Cairo, which they reach- 
 ed on the 14th. Leaving Cairo on the 24th, 
 in a small steamer, they reached Alexandria 
 
42 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 the following day. On April 1 they arrived 
 at Malta, whence they embarked on the 11th, 
 in the ' Polyphemus,' for Italy. 
 
 After a rough passage, Dwarika Nath 
 arrived at Naples on the 14 th, and left again 
 on the 21st, for Eome, which he reached on 
 the 23rd, travelling by the road. 
 
 As might have been expected, the latter 
 city impressed him greatly. 
 
 ' Description,' he says, in a letter to a 
 friend in Calcutta, ' can convey but very faint 
 ideas of its beauty. Everything is on a grand 
 scale, and St. John's Church, with which I 
 was so pleased at Malta, and also those at 
 Naples, sink into insignificance when com- 
 pared with St. Peter's, which in size alone 
 would contain about twenty of them, and is 
 far superior in elegance and decoration. One 
 might visit it daily, and always find some- 
 thing new and pleasing to admire. So are 
 the museum, the library, the ruins, statues, 
 paintings, fountains. No doubt Rome stands 
 peerless as far as grandeur and beauty are 
 concerned.' 
 
A MEMOIR. 43 
 
 At Rome Dwarika Nath had the honour 
 of being received by the Pope, and, at a party 
 at Colonel Caldwell's, he met Prince Frederick 
 of Prussia and Mrs. Somerville, the mathema- 
 tician and astronomer. 
 
 From Rome he proceeded to Venice, 
 visiting Florence, among other places, by the 
 way. Thence he travelled, vid Trent, into 
 Germany, passing through Stuttgard, Heidel- 
 berg, Frankfort, and Mayence to Cologne.; 
 From Cologne he travelled by railway to 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, from which place he went 
 to Brussels and Ostend, and, posting thence 
 to Calais, embarked there for Dover on 
 June 9. 
 
 Arriving in London on the following day, 
 he took up his residence in the first in- 
 stance at St. George's Hotel, Albemarle Street, 
 but subsequently removed to the house of 
 Mr. William Prinsep's mother, in Great Cum- 
 berland Street. 
 
 His reputation, and the letters of intro- 
 duction he carried with him to many of; the 
 most distinguished persons in the country, 
 
44 THE T A GORE FAMILY. 
 
 secured him a magnificent reception wherever 
 he went. The Court of Directors, as be- 
 came them, entertained him at a public 
 dinner at the London Tavern ; and, having 
 been presented to the Queen at the Drawing- 
 room held on June 16, he was, a week 
 later, commanded to dine at Buckingham 
 Palace. 
 
 ' Besides Her Majesty and Prince Albert,' 
 says Babu Kishori Chand Mittra, in his bio- 
 graphy, 'there were present at the Royal 
 party Prince and Princess of Saxe-Coburg- 
 Gotha, Earl of Liverpool, Lord Fitzgerald, 
 Cooper, Bart.' (Sir Astley Cooper ?) 'and 
 Baron de Brandestine. Her Majesty and the- 
 Prince Consort entered into an interesting con- 
 versation with Dwarika Nath, of which the 
 themes were chiefly Indian. He then played 
 a game at whist with the Duchess of Kent. 
 Her Majesty presented him with three new 
 pieces of golden coin which had been minted 
 liiat day.' 
 
 Subsequently he was invited by the 
 Queen to pay a visit to, the Royal nursery, 
 
A MEMOIR. 45 
 
 wHere the Princess Royal and the Prince of 
 Wales were brought out to see him. 
 
 Among members of the nobility who en- 
 tertained him at dinner were the Marquis of 
 Lansdowne and Lord . Lyndhurst ; and he 
 attended a grand review of the troops at 
 the special invitation of Her Majesty. He 
 was also a guest at the Lord Mayor's annual 
 dinner, the, Duke of Cambridge, the Duke of 
 Buccleuch, and several of the ministers being 
 present on the occasion.. The Lord Mayor 
 
 • proposed his health, remarking, in the course 
 of his speech : ' The high character and great 
 attainments of my friend on my right render 
 him an ornament to society. The great kind- 
 ness he has shown to our countrymen in 
 India entitles him to the gratitude of every 
 British subject.' 
 
 Dwarika Nath acknowledged the toast in 
 
 an eloquent speech, which occupied half an 
 
 hour in delivery. 
 
 After; seeing the chief sights of London, 
 
 Dwarika Nath left for the manufacturing 
 
 districts, visiting Sheffield, York, Newcastle, 
 
46 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, Birming- 
 ham, Worcester, and Bristol during his tour. 
 At Edinburgh he was admitted as a Burgess 
 and Guild Brother of the City, and presented 
 with addresses by the Unitarian Association 
 and the Emigration and Aborigines Protec- 
 tion Society. 
 
 At Newcastle he was much interested in the 
 mines, of which he gives a minute account in 
 his diary. 
 
 On his return to London, he received a 
 command from the Queen to lunch with her 
 at Windsor Palace, on which occasion Her 
 Majesty and the Prince Consort consented, 
 at his request, to sit for the full-length 
 portraits which now adorn the Town Hall 
 of Calcutta. At the same time the Queen 
 ordered miniature portraits of herself and 
 Prince Albert to be prepared for presenta- 
 tion to Dwarika Nath himself. 
 
 On October 16 Dwarika Nath left Eng- 
 land for France, arriving at Paris on the 
 18th. 
 
 There he made the acquaintance of many 
 
A MEMOIR. 47 
 
 distinguished persons, and was honoured with 
 an interview with Louis Philippe and the 
 Queen, [and with tlie King and Queen of 
 Belgium. 
 
 While in Paris he received a gold medal 
 from the Directors of the East India Com- 
 pany, in recognition of his services to his 
 country. 
 
 This medal was accompanied by the fol- 
 lowing letter : — 
 
 ' SiE, — On the occasion of your return to 
 your native country, the Court of Directors 
 of the East India Company are desirous of 
 presenting you with a testimonial of their 
 esteem, and of the approbation with which 
 they regard the public benefits conferred by 
 you on British India, by the liberal en- 
 couragement you have afforded to the diffu- 
 sion of education, and to the introduction of 
 the arts and sciences; and by the generous 
 support you have given to the charitable 
 institutions of Calcutta, whether established 
 for the relief of the Hindoo or British com- 
 munity. The Court trusts that the noble 
 
48 THE TA GORE FA MIL Y. 
 
 course which, you have pursued will have the 
 effect of contributing to the accompHshment 
 of that object T^hich it has ever been their 
 anxious desire to promote, viz. the. identifi- 
 cation of the feelings and interests, of the 
 Natives to their Government, and thus 
 strengthening ■ the bond which unites India 
 with Great Britain. 
 
 ' Impressed with these sentiments, the 
 Court requests your acceptance of a gold 
 medal, for the preparation of which they 
 have given the necessary instructions. 
 
 ' In making this communication on their 
 behalf, permit us to assure you of the satis- 
 faction which we derive from being the 
 medium of conveying the Court's feelings 
 and wishes, in which we most fully partici- 
 pate ; and to express our sincere hope that 
 your visit to this country has been productive 
 to you of much gratification, and that your 
 future career may be marked bj' happiness 
 and prosperity.' 
 
 The close of the year 1842 saw Dwarika 
 Nath. back in Calcutta, accompanied by Mr. 
 
A MEMOIR. 49 
 
 George Thompson, whom he had invited to 
 visit India. 
 
 On his return Hindoo orthodoxy entered 
 its protest against what it considered his 
 violation of the rules of caste, in crossing 
 the sea and eating with outcasts, by requiring 
 him to perform the expiatory ceremony of 
 Prayaschittra, under pain of excommunication. 
 But he refused to comply with its demands, 
 and after a considerable amount of agitation 
 the movement was abandoned. 
 
 Schemes for promoting the education of 
 Hindoo women, and for raising the status of 
 the Medical College, in which he had always 
 taken so profound an interest, now engaged 
 his attention. 
 
 An attempt to establish a school for Hindoo 
 
 girls under European female teachers fell 
 
 through ; but an offer made by Dwarika Nath 
 
 to pay the passages of two Bengali students 
 
 of the Medical College to England, and the 
 
 expense of educating them there, was readily 
 
 accepted, and supplemented by a similar offer 
 
 on the part of the Government. Four youths^ 
 c, TF 4 
 
5Q THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 •including Bhola Nath Bose and Surjee Coo- 
 mar (afterwards Dr. Goodeve), Chackrabatti 
 (Chuckerbutty), accordingly proceeded to 
 England to complete their studies there under 
 the care of Dr. Goodeve, and ultimately obtained 
 the diploma of the Royal College of Surgeons. 
 
 After starting the Bengal Coal Company, 
 in conjunction with Mr. Deans Campbell, 
 Dwarika Nath again embarked for England 
 on March 8, 1845. 
 
 The vessel which conveyed him from 
 Calcutta was the Peninsular and Oriental 
 Company's steamer ' Bentinck,' and he was 
 accompanied by his youngest son, Nogen- 
 dronath, his nephew, Nobin Chunder Moo- 
 kerjee, his private physician, Dr. Raleigh, and 
 his secretary, Mr. Safe. 
 
 At Cairo he had several interviews with 
 Mehemet Ali Pacha, the Egyptian Viceroy, by 
 whom he was warmly and honourably received. 
 
 After being detained a fortnight in qua- 
 rantine at Malta, he proceeded in H.M.S. 
 ' Aigle,' commanded by Lord Clarence Paget, 
 and towed by a steamer placed at his disposal 
 
A MEMOIR 51 
 
 by the Governor, to Naples ; whence, aftet 
 making the ascent of Vesuvius, he set out 
 for Paris, viA Leghorn, Civita Vecchia, Pisa, 
 Genoa, Marseilles, and Bordeaux. At Paris, 
 where he was a frequent guest of Louis 
 Philippe, he remained a fortnight, and arrived 
 in London on June 24. 
 
 His first concern was to make arrange- 
 ments for the education of his son and 
 nephew. The former he accordingly placed 
 with Dr. Drummond, and for the latter he 
 obtained a situation as assistant in the firm 
 of Robert Michael and Co. 
 
 Soon after his arrival, he was received 
 at a Drawing-room at Buckingham Palace ; 
 and subsequently, on the occasion of a visit 
 made by special invitation to the Palace, he 
 was presented with miniature portraits of 
 Her Majesty and the Prince Consort, to- 
 gether with an autograph. 
 
 In the autumn he crossed over to Ireland, 
 in which country he made an extended tour, 
 visiting, among other places, besides the 
 capital, Belfast, Cork, and the Lakes of 
 
52 TEE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 Killarney. He dined with the Viceroy at 
 Dublin, inspected Lord Eosse's monster tele- 
 scope, and interviewed Daniel O'Connell and 
 the apostle of temperance, Father Matthew. 
 
 Towards the end of June 1846, after his 
 return to London, Dwarika Nath began to 
 betray symptoms of failing health ; and on 
 the 30th of that month, when dining at the 
 house of the Duchess of Inverness, he had a 
 severe attack of ague. A change of air to 
 Worthing was unattended by any improve- 
 ment, and he returned to London, to die there 
 on August 1, at the comparatively early age 
 of fifty-one. 
 
 The question of the mode in which his 
 obsequies should be performed was the sub- 
 ject of some hesitation and anxiety ; but it 
 was finally decided, with the acquiescence of 
 his son, that he should be buried at Kensal 
 Green. There, accordingly, in the unconse- 
 crated portion of the cemetery, the remains of 
 the Great Indian philanthropist were interred, 
 without any religious ceremony, in the pre- 
 sence of his son, Nogendronath, his nephew, 
 
A MEMOIR. 53 
 
 Sir Edward Ryan, Major Henderson, General 
 Ventura, Drs. Goodeve and Raleigh, Mr. "W. 
 A. Prinsep, Mr. R. Roberts, Mr. Plowden, 
 Mohun Lai, and the Hindoo Medical students 
 who were pursuing their studies in London 
 at his expense. 
 
 ' The funeral,' says Babu Kishori Chand 
 Mittra, ' was also attended by four royal 
 carriages, and the equipages of many of the 
 nobility.' 
 
 Among the numerous letters of condo- 
 lence which were written to his son was the 
 following from the Duchess of Somerset : — 
 
 * Mr Dear Nogendro, — I cannot tell 
 you how I feel for you and all your family 
 under this most heavy bereavement. May God 
 support and comfort you and yours. I trust 
 your health may not suffer from so much 
 anxiety and constant fatigue. The Duke 
 and I feel this sad blow, and I feel indeed 
 as if I had lost a very near and dear friend, 
 and I am very, very unhappy. But I will 
 not intrude upon you at this time ; only 
 believe how anxiously we feel for you, and do 
 
54^ TEE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 tiell me if in anything I can be of the smallest 
 comfort or use to you ; you have only to com- 
 mand my poor services. Accept of my heartfelt 
 sympathy and our most kind remembrances, 
 and believe me always, my dear Nogendro, 
 ' Your very sincere and anxious friend, 
 
 (Sd.) ' M. Somerset.' 
 
 The Press noticed the sad occurrence in 
 terms most appreciative of the merits of the 
 deceased. The Times said : ' The claim 
 that this illustrious personage has on the 
 present generation is for his unbounded 
 philanthropy. No reference to creed stayed 
 his purse in the cause of charity or the 
 advancement of education, in the promotion 
 of colleges, whether for Native or Christian ; 
 and his name will be proudly associated with 
 all the noble institutions flourishing in Cal- 
 cutta. He had an extraordinary power of 
 self-control, far beyond those participating in 
 his own religion, to illustrate which it will-, 
 suffice to instance his devoted encouragement 
 to surgery. When the college i'or Hindoo 
 
A MEMOIR. 55 
 
 youths for the study of anatomy was opened, 
 Dwarika Nath was personally present, and 
 witnessed the dissection of a subject — an ab- 
 horrence of the gravest nature in the eyes of 
 the bigot portion of India — and heroically- 
 suppressed the sickness of heart and body he 
 instinctively felt, for no other motive than 
 that he conceived he was furthering the ad- 
 vancement of science, and doing a duty tO 
 mankind. He went through the ordeal with 
 an unflinching nerve, which had its weight 
 with those of his own particular religion who 
 were there on the occasion.' 
 
 The Morning Herald observed : ' Dwarka- 
 nath Tagore had made a great step in advance 5 
 he had done more good than if he had ad- 
 dressed to his countrymen a score of volumes 
 full of ]irofound philosophical reflections. 
 
 'Tis in the advance of individual minds, 
 
 That the slow crowd should ground their expectation 
 
 Eventually to follow ; as the sea 
 
 Waits aye in its bed, till some one wave 
 
 Of all the multitudinous mass extends 
 
 The empire of the whole, some feet perhaps, 
 
 Its fellows so long time ; thenceforth the rest, 
 
 E'en to the meanest, hurry in at once, 
 
 And so much is clear gained. 
 
56 TEE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 Lines such as these miglit well be inscribed 
 upon Dwarkanath Tagore's tomb. He has 
 made an advance, the one wave before its fel- 
 lows ; and the rest must in due course follow.' 
 
 In Calcutta the news of his death was 
 received with wide-spread regret by all classes 
 of the community ; and on December 2 a 
 public meeting, presided over by Sir Peter 
 Grant, was held at the Town Hall, to per- 
 petuate his memory and give expression to 
 the general sorrow. 
 
 A resolution was proposed by Archdeacon 
 Dealtry and carried unanimously : ' That this 
 meeting publicly record the high estimation 
 which they entertain of the benevolent qua- 
 lities of their lamented fellow-citizen, Dwarika 
 Nath Tagore, and their deep regret at his 
 untimely death. Accumulating vast wealth 
 by talent and assiduity, he liberally employed 
 it in charitable and national objects ; whilst 
 in private life his advice and aid was at every 
 applicant's command, and his house was a 
 home not only to his own countrymen, but to 
 Europeans of every nation.' 
 
A MEMOIR. 57 
 
 This Tras followed by a resolution pro- 
 posed by the Advocate-Greneral, Mr. J. W. 
 Colvile, seconded by Raja Satto Charan 
 Ghosal, and also carried unanimously : ' That 
 a subscription be entered into for the purpose 
 of raising funds, to be vested in the name of 
 trustees of the Dwarika Nath Tagore Endow- 
 ment, to procure for the native youths of 
 India, at the University College, London, the 
 benefit of European education, either general 
 or professional.' 
 
 A third resolution constituted the Presi- 
 dent of the Council of Education for the time 
 being, the Advocate- General for the time 
 being, the Government Agent for the time 
 being, and the Secretary to the Government 
 of Bengal for the time being, the trustees 
 of the Dwarika Nath Tagore Endowment ; 
 while, by a fourth, the official trustees, 
 Rustumjee Cowasjee, Russomoy Dutt, Ram 
 Gopal Ghose, Dr. John Grant, Major Hen- 
 derson, Ram Chunder Mitter, and Dr. W. B. 
 O'Shaughnessy were appointed members of 
 the Committee. 
 
58 TEE TA GORE FAMILY. 
 
 Babu Dwarika Nath Tagore was a 
 patriot of the truest type. To a deep solici- 
 tude for the welfare and advancement of Ms 
 countrymen lie united a knowledge of their 
 necessities, as practical as it was intimate. 
 Endowed by nature with Herculean energy 
 and possessed of princely means, he spared 
 neither the one nor the other to promote the 
 cause he had at heart. A lively sympathy 
 with the spirit of modern progress made the 
 participation of his fellow-countrymen, as far 
 as their circumstances might permit, in the 
 blessings of Western civilisation, the great 
 object of his efforts. Next to his benevo- 
 lence, perhaps, the most conspicuous feature 
 in his character was his moral courage — 
 a quality which was equally apparent in his 
 private and in his public life. With great 
 geniality of disposition and a happy capacity 
 for adapting himself to those about him, he 
 combined a frankness so uncompromising that, 
 at times, men who did not understand him 
 might have been apt to think him aggressive. 
 To those who did know him,, on the other 
 
A MEMOIR. 59 
 
 hand, his kindliness of heart was sufficient 
 guarantee that this was not the case. No man 
 did more in his time to bridge over the gulf 
 that divided the two races, and his death creat- 
 ed a gap in Native society which time alone 
 could repair. 
 
 Besides Dwarika Nath Tagore, Ram Monr 
 had two other sons, the younger of whom 
 was Rama Nath Tagore. 
 
 Rama Nath Tagoee. 
 
 Rama Nath Tagore (afterwards Maharaja 
 Rama Nath Tagore, C.S.I. ), the third son of 
 Ram Moni, was born in the year 1800, and 
 was thus six years junior to his brother, 
 Dwarika Nath, under whose auspices he 
 entered on the business of life, and in most of 
 whose public acts he was intimately associated. 
 
 Like Dwarika Nath, he studied English 
 at Mr. Sherbourne's, where he was a school- 
 fellow of his cousin, the eminent Prosunnar 
 Coomar Tagore, learning Sanskrit, Bengali, 
 and Persian at the same time under private 
 tutors in his father's house. 
 
60 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 After leaving school, he was placed for a 
 time in the well-known firm of Alexander 
 and Cor, where he was initiated into the 
 mysteries of commercial and banking busi- 
 ness. When the Union Bank was started, in 
 1829, he was thus qualified to undertake the 
 duties of treasurer, and was appointed to that 
 responsible post through the influence of his 
 brother. On the failure of the bank he acted 
 as one of its liquidators, and gave great satis- 
 faction to all who had dealings with him in 
 that capacity. 
 
 Associated from an early age with Ram 
 Mohun Roy, Rama Nath became a convert to 
 his theistic views, and, along with his brother 
 and Prosunna Coomar Tagore, took a promi- 
 ment part in the reforms initiated by him, and 
 in the conduct of the afi"airs of the Brahma 
 Sabha, of which he was made a trustee during 
 the absence of Ram Mohun Roy in Eng- 
 land. 
 
 From an early period of his life politics 
 and political economy had a powerful inter- 
 est for Rama Nath, and he joined Prosunna 
 
A MEMOIR. ei 
 
 Coomar in starting the Reformer, a weekly 
 newspaper in English, to be more particularly- 
 mentioned hereafter. He was at the same 
 time a frequent contributor to the columns 
 of the leading Anglo-Indian journals of the 
 day, under the nom de plume of ' Hindoo. ' 
 At the great Free Press Dinner of 1835, 
 already mentioned in connection with the 
 career of Dwarika Nath Tagore, he, in the 
 absence of his brother, responded to the toast 
 of the ' People of India.' He was an ener- 
 getic member of the Landholders' Society, 
 and on its extinction took a leading part in 
 the foundation of the British Indian Associa- 
 tion, of which he was first a Vice-President, 
 and subsequentl}; President for the extended 
 period of ten years. 
 
 ' From the day of the Free Press Dinner, ' 
 says the writer of an obituary notice in the 
 Hindoo Patriot, ' he was looked upon by both 
 Natives and Europeans as a representative 
 man. There was scarcely a public meeting 
 which, he was not invited to address or 
 preside over.' 
 
62 TEE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 In 1866 he was appointed a member of 
 the Bengal Council, and by his independent 
 and spirited advocacy of the rights of the 
 agricultural community in that assembly, he 
 acquired the title of the 'Ryot's Friend.' 
 
 Finance and political economy continued 
 throughout his life to be his favourite studies, 
 and largely occupied his pen. His activity 
 as a political writer continued to an advanced 
 age, and one of his latest works was an able 
 pamphlet in which he exposed the mischief 
 likely to result from the Rent Bill of 1859. 
 
 As a member of the Municipal Corporation 
 of Calcutta, he was a persistent advocate of 
 economy, and headed the party who, in the 
 face of powerful opposition, ' made reform, 
 retrenchment, and reduction of taxation their 
 watchwords.' On the Burning Ghat question 
 he fought on the side of the people, and bore 
 a large share in the task of raising the funds 
 required to carry out the improvements in 
 the ghat which were ultimately decided on 
 as the condition of its retention on the old 
 site. 
 
A MEMOIR, 63 
 
 In 1873 he was appointed a member of 
 the Legislative Council of the Governor- 
 General and created a Raja. 
 
 During the famine of 1874 he was freely 
 consulted by Lord Northbrook on the sub- 
 ject of the measures of relief that should be 
 adopted, and, in recognition of his services in 
 the matter, he was in the following year made 
 a Companion of the Order of the Star of 
 India. 
 
 On the occasion of the visit of the Prince 
 of Wales to Calcutta, he was chosen by his 
 countrymen to act as President of the Com- 
 mittee for the reception of His Royal High- 
 ness at the Belgatchia Villa. The excellence 
 of the arrangements amply justified the choice, 
 and Rama Nath received a handsome ring 
 from the Prince as a souvenir of the occa- 
 sion. 
 
 At the durbar held to celebrate the 
 assumption of the Imperial title by Her 
 Majesty the Queen, Lord Lytton conferred 
 on him the title of Maharaja. 
 
 Though not so wealthy a man as some 
 
64 THE TAOORE FAMILY. 
 
 of the other leading members of the family, 
 Rama Nath was open-handed in his chari- 
 ties, public and private. ' There was not a 
 public object,' says the writer quoted, ' which 
 did not receive pecuniary help from him if 
 an appeal was made to him. He was con- 
 nected with almost all the public societies of 
 Calcutta, literary, scientific, and charitable ; 
 his whole career was a career of public use- 
 fulness and benevolence.' 
 
 In disposition he was one of the most 
 amiable of men : in his manners, while un- 
 assuming, he was frank and affable. He 
 died on June 10, 1877, after a protracted 
 illness. 
 
 A few months previously a movement, 
 supported by the Chief Justice and some of 
 the other Judges of the High Court, Mr. 
 Schalch, Mr. Bullen Smith, and other leading 
 members of society, had been set on foot for 
 the purpose of voting him a suitable public 
 memorial, but it was abandoned on account 
 of his illness. 
 
 His death formed the occasion of the 
 
A MEMOIR. 65 
 
 following letter from Lord Lytton to the 
 Honourable Rai Kristo Dass Pal Bahadur : — 
 ' My dear Sir, — I am deeply grieved to 
 learn, by your letter to Colonel Burne, the 
 sad" news of the death of our friend the 
 Maharaja Rama Nath Tagore Bahadur. It is 
 not mei'ely a private loss, but I lament with 
 you and the Maharaja's numerous friends 
 to whom I beg you to express my sincere 
 personal sympathy in their bereavement. By 
 the Maharaja's death both the Government 
 and the whole !N^ative community of Bengal 
 have lost a wise, an honest, and a trusted 
 adviser, and by none who knew him is his 
 loss deplored on public grounds more truly 
 than by yours, my dear Sir, 
 
 ' Always faithfully, 
 
 (Sd.) 'Lytton.' 
 
 Devendra Nath Tagore. f'"i(.,....;, 
 Babu Dwarika Nath Tagore left three 
 sons, Devendra Nath, Girendra Nath, and 
 Nogendra Nath, the eldest of whom, Deven- 
 dra Nath Tagore, has, by his life of asceticism 
 c, TF 5 
 
66 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 and devotion to religious meditation, acquired 
 a high reputation for sanctity among the fol- 
 lowers of Ram Mohun Roy, and the title of 
 'The Indian Hermit.' 
 
 He was born in 1818, and, after studying 
 first at Kam Mohun Roy's school and subse- 
 quently at the Hindoo College, was placed for 
 a time in his father's firm of Carr, Tagore, 
 and Co., in order that he might qualify 
 himself for commercial pursuits. Devendra 
 Nath's thoughts were, however, fixed on 
 spiritual things, and when he was barely of 
 age, he founded a society, called the Tatwa 
 Bodhini Sabha, for the purposes of rehgious 
 inquiry and discussion ; but he afterwards 
 joined the Brahma Samaj, and established a 
 Brahma school in Calcutta. He was one of 
 the original projectors of the Indian Mirror, 
 which was edited in the first instance by 
 Babu Man Mohan Ghose ; and, on Babu 
 Keshab Chandra Sen, who had succeeded 
 that gentleman in the editorial chair, separ- 
 ating from the Samaj, he started the National 
 Paper. 
 
A MEMOIR. 67 
 
 He was tlie first Brahmist to show the 
 courage of his convictions by marrying his 
 daughter according to the Brahmist rites 
 and abandoning the use of the Brahminical 
 thread. 
 
 Beyond acting for a time as Honorary 
 Secretary to the British-Indian Association, 
 he has taken little part in secular affairs, 
 and he at one time retired for some years to 
 the Himalayas, for the purpose of religious 
 meditation. He is, however, a voluminous 
 writer on religious subjects, and is the author 
 of a large number of treatises and tracts, 
 chiefly dealing with the tenets of Brah' 
 mism. 
 
 He has fisse sons, the second of whom 
 is Satyendra Nath Tagore, who was the first 
 native of India to pass the competitive 
 examination for the Indian Civil Service. 
 
 Though the career of Babu Dwarika 
 Nath Tagore takes precedence of that of his 
 distinguished relative, Prosunna Coomar, in 
 order of time, he was a scion of the younger 
 branch of the family. 
 
68 the ta gore fa mil t. 
 
 Darpa Naeayan and his Descendants. 
 To return to Darpa Narayan, the elder 
 brother of Nilmoni. The wealth which he 
 acquired, partly by commercial transactions 
 and partly by service under the French 
 Government at Chandernagore, enabled him 
 to purchase, at a public sale for arrears of 
 revenue, the immense property of Parganeh 
 otter Seroorper. The lands which were 
 included under this designation, and which 
 formed part of the estates of the Kajas of 
 Rajshahai, then in the hands of the well- 
 known Eani Bhobani, covered an area of na 
 less than 249 square miles. Such, however, 
 was the state of the country at that period of 
 British rule that they yielded to the land- 
 holders a net revenue of only Es. 13,000 a 
 year, and they fell to the bid of the fortunate 
 Darpa Narayan for the sum of Es. 91,500. 
 
 Darpa Narayan had seven sons, Eadha 
 Mohun, Gopee Mohun, Krishna Mohun, Hurry 
 Mohun, Peary Mohun, Ladly Mohun, and 
 Mohini Mohun. 
 
A MEMOIR. 69 
 
 The first and the third of these he disin- 
 herited for misconduct, giving them, however, 
 Rs. 10,000 each for their subsistence. To 
 Peary; Mohun, who was deaf and dumb, he 
 bequeathed Rs. 20,000, while the bulk of his 
 enormous property was left in equal shares 
 to Gopee Mohun, Hurry Mohun, Ladly 
 MohuE, and Mohini Mohun. 
 
 Gopee Mohun Tagobe. 
 
 Never did a splendid patrimony fall into 
 worthier hands than the share of Darpa 
 Narayan's property to which his second son, 
 Gopee Mohun, thus succeeded. 
 
 In the extent, if not in the depth, of his 
 scholarship, he fully maintained the repu- 
 tation of his illustrious ancestry, adding to 
 proficiency in Sanskrit, Persian, and Urdu 
 a competent knowledge of English, French, 
 and Portuguese. Like his father, he held 
 an appointment under the French Govern- 
 ment at Chandernagore, and he extended 
 his already large estates by the purchase of 
 landed properties in Eajshahai, Dinajpur, 
 
70 TEE TA GORE FAMIL T. 
 
 Jessore, and other districts. As a proof of 
 his immense wealth, it used to be said that 
 he never sat without a lakh of rupees by his 
 side ; and, as a matter of fact, the jewelled 
 pandan (betel-box) and hookah, which he used 
 in his boytak-khdneh, were alone worth that 
 sum. What, however, is more to the purpose, 
 he at one time lost twenty lakhs of rupees in 
 opium transactions without being sensibly the 
 poorer for it ; and, when he died, he was in a 
 position to bequeath to his six sons properties 
 which gave each of them a handsome fortune. 
 
 Great as were his accumulations, he was 
 nevertheless profuse in his private expen- 
 diture, liberal in his patronage of art, learn- 
 ing and rehgion, and lavish in his public 
 charities. To pandits and ghataks he was 
 especially liberal, and on the occasion of a 
 certain marriage in his family he is said to 
 have presented several hundreds of the latter 
 class, who attended the ceremony, with a 
 hundred rupees apiece. 
 
 He appears to have possessed a strong 
 passion for Hindoo music, proficients in which 
 
A MEMOIR. 1\ 
 
 art were always sure of a liberal welcome 
 from him. Performances were frequently 
 held in his house, and two of the most 
 famous professors of the day, Sajjoo Khan and 
 Lala Kewal Kishen, received regular monthly 
 stipends from him. Nor was poetry forgot- 
 ten by him. Kali Dass Mukerjea, the com- 
 poser of many popular songs and hymns, 
 surnamed Mirza, from his adoption of the 
 Hindustani costume, and Lakhi Kanta, 
 another well-known lyric poet of the day, 
 were among his pensioners and constant 
 attendants. 
 
 Among the great houses of Calcutta none 
 was so famous as that of Gopee Mohun 
 Tagore for the sumptuousness with which 
 the Annual Durga Puja festival was cele- 
 brated in it. On such occasions the elite of 
 European and Native society were among 
 his guests. The Nawab of Chitpore, whose 
 exclusiveness was proverbial, was an annual 
 visitor at these entertainments, at which an 
 enclosure in the spacious compound used to 
 be set apart for him. 
 
72 THE TA GORE FAMIL Y. 
 
 The well-known twelve Sivas and Temple 
 to Kali, which form so conspicuous an object 
 on the bank of the river Hughli at Mula- 
 jore, were erected by Gopee Mohun. During 
 his lifetime all who resorted to them were 
 liberally entertained at his expense, and large 
 numbers of poor people are still daily fed 
 there. 
 
 He earned a still higher title to the grati- 
 tude of posterity by the part he took in the 
 foundation of the Hindoo College, to which 
 he contributed largely. In consideration of 
 their share in this work, he and the Maha- 
 raja of Burdwan were made hereditary Go- 
 vernors of the institution ; and in the com- 
 memorative marble tablet set up in the 
 Presidency College his name may be seen 
 next to that of the Maharaja. The right of 
 nominating a free student to the College was 
 further confeixed on him and his hereditary 
 descendants, and one of the foundation 
 scholarships was named, after him, the Gopee 
 Mohun Tagore scholarship. 
 
 Gopee Mohun Tagore was a rigid Hindoo,. 
 
A MEMOIR. 73 
 
 but he was capable on occasion of rising 
 above superstitious prejudices unsanctioned 
 by religion. Thus, when the celebrated 
 painter, Chinnery, visited Calcutta, most of 
 the Native nobility were deterred from having 
 their portraits taken by the vulgar notion 
 that the process would entail upon them a 
 premature death. Gopee Mohun Tagore, 
 however, showed himself superior to this 
 idle apprehension, and, though his brothers 
 all held back, consented to sit. The picture 
 that was the result is still preserved as an 
 heirloom in the family. 
 
 Gopee Mohun was noted for the genial- 
 ity of his disposition, and was always ready 
 to avail himself of an occasion for a joke. 
 As an instance of this pleasing feature in 
 his character, a story is told that, on a 
 certain up-country pundit offering to stop 
 by incantations a prolonged fall of rain, 
 which threatened to interfere with the mar- 
 riage procession of his two youngest sons, 
 he promised to reward him hberally if 
 he succeeded. The incantations were 
 
74 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 performed accordingly, but the rain continu- 
 ed unabated. 
 
 ' How now, pundit ? ' said Gopee Mohun, 
 ' in spite of your incantations, the rain is still 
 falling as before.' 
 
 "* Sir,' replied the Brahmin, ' I have un- 
 dertaken to stop the rain falling from the 
 clouds, but I cannot send back that which 
 has already left them. When that has all 
 fallen, the rain will cease.' 
 
 ' The reward which you have not earned 
 by your incantations,' said Gopee Mohun, 
 ' you have merited by your wit ; ' and he 
 gave him the stipulated present. 
 
 The following anecdote, stUl current in 
 Calcutta and its vicinity, at once furnishes 
 an example of his quickness at repartee and 
 illustrates the light in which the Tagore 
 family regard their position in Hindoo society. 
 
 A religious procession, headed by Raja 
 Raj Krishna, who, in his younger days, was 
 somewhat lax in his observance of the rules 
 of Hindooism, was passing the residence of 
 Gopee Mohun. Finding the Raja barefooted, 
 
A MEMOIR. '?5 
 
 taking an active part in the ceremony, Gopee. 
 Mohun asljed him good - humouredly how- 
 many parts he had played in his day. The 
 Eaja's reply was offensive, alluding as it 
 did to the stain on the cast,e of the Tagore 
 family. ' I have, no doubt, played many 
 parts,' he said, ' but I have been unable to 
 find you anywhere.' 
 
 ' No wonder,' rejoined Gopee Mohun, draw- 
 ing himself up and significantly adjusting his 
 Brahminical thread, ' no wonder, Kaja ; I am 
 where you cannot reach.' 
 
 As already remarked, Gopee Mohun 
 Tagore was no less munificent in his private 
 than in his public charities. One among many 
 instances of his liberality to his dependents 
 was his purchase of a valuable estate in the 
 district of Rajshahai for the benefit of Eam 
 Mohun Mookerjee, his dewan ; while the 
 assistance he rendered in the time of need 
 to the father of Raja Baroda Kanta Rai, of 
 Jessore, and to Babu Bishwa JTath Chow- 
 dhuri, shows that his beneficence was not 
 limited to those whose services constituted 
 
76 THE TA GORE FAMIL T. 
 
 a claim upon him. The former was enabled 
 by his assistance to bring to a successful issue 
 a suit which threatened him with the loss of 
 his ancestral property, a service which led to 
 the establishment of the most intimate social 
 relations between the two houses ; and the 
 latter was maintained by him in comfort when 
 in reduced circumstances. 
 
 Gopee Mohun left six sons, Soorjee 
 Coomar, Chundra Coomar, Nunda Coomar, 
 Kal Coomar, Huro Coomar, and Prosunna 
 Coomar, two of whom, Huro and Prosunna, 
 in their lives and their posterity, have added 
 in a memorable degree to the lustre of the 
 family name. 
 
 Soorjee Coomar, the eldest, displayed 
 at an early age a marked aptitude for busi. 
 ness, and, even during his father's lifetime, 
 was entrusted with the management of his 
 extensive estates. Both father and son were, 
 however, in common with other capitalists of 
 experience, outwitted by a needy adventurer 
 of the name of Smith. This man had set on 
 foot an extensive project for the construction 
 
A MEMOIR. 17 
 
 of a dockyard with borrowed capital, and by 
 his plausible representations secured the co- 
 operation of the firm of Barretto and Co., 
 who not only themselves advanced him six 
 lakhs of rupees, but persuaded Gopee Mohun 
 Tagore to come forward with a similar sum 
 for the purposes of the undertaking. Soorjee 
 Coomar was appointed Banian to the firm ; 
 but notwithstanding his circumspection the 
 scheme speedily collapsed, involving both 
 Gopee Mohun and Barretto in heavy loss. 
 
 Soorjee Coomar was also a large share- 
 holder in the Commercial Bank, which was 
 established about that time, and exercised a 
 considerable influence in its management. 
 
 He died at the early age of thirty, with- 
 out male issue, but leaving a grandson on 
 his daughter's side, the well-known Eaj a Dak- 
 hina Ranjan Mukerjea, who subsequently 
 became a Taluqdar of Oudh, and was for a 
 long time secretary of the Oudh Taluqdars' 
 Association. 
 
 Goopee Mohun's second son, Chundra 
 Coomar Tagore,. was well-known to the 
 
78 TEE TAOOEE FAMILY. 
 
 European community of the time for the 
 great and intelligent interest taken by him in 
 public matters, and for his skill as a chess- 
 player. He succeeded his father in the here- 
 ditary governorship of the Hindoo College. 
 Unfortunately, however, he was of a specula- 
 tive disposition, and so seriously involved 
 the family estate by his ventures in the opium 
 market as to render imperative the partition 
 to be presently referred to. 
 
 Nundo Cooraar and Kali Coomar mixed 
 but little in public affairs, but were well- 
 known for tbeir generous dispositions, and 
 Kali Coomar possessed a great reputation 
 among his countrymen as an accomplished 
 Urdu scholar. 
 
 HuEO Coomar Tagoee. 
 Huro Coomar's title to fame rests less on 
 his public career than on his blameless life, 
 his amiability of character and his eminence 
 as a Sanskrit scholar. In common with his 
 brother, Prosunna, and his second cousin, 
 Dwarika Natb, he> was a pupil in Mr; 
 
A MEMOIR. 79 
 
 Sherbourne's school. Thence he was sent to 
 the Hindoo College, in the foundation of 
 which, as has just been seen, his father had 
 taken so prominent a part. 
 
 There, aided by tlte private tuition of 
 Mr. Anselm, the head-master, be made rapid 
 progress in his studies, and became an accom- 
 plished Persian, as well as English, scholar. 
 
 His first Sanskrit teacher was, however, 
 the Guru Mahashay, one Jhoro Guru, a 
 Brahman and a native of Jessore, who had 
 taught him his alphabet. This man's system 
 of instruction, based on the Kalapa Byakarana, 
 appears to have been of a more thorough char- 
 acter than that generally in vogue at the time. 
 But it was not long before the pupil sur- 
 passed the master, and became an enthusiastic 
 student of Sanskrit literature. So complete, 
 indeed, was the mastery he obtained over 
 the language, that he acquired the rare power 
 of conversing in it with fluency, while his skill 
 in composition was excelled by none of his 
 contemporaries. 
 
 It is related that he and' his brother, 
 
80 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 Prosunna, Laving resolved to erect a tablet to 
 the memory of their father at the temple at 
 Mulajore, and offered a prize for the best set 
 of verses in Sanskrit for inscription thereon, 
 Huro Coomar sent in anonymously a set 
 composed by himself. Among the compe- 
 titors were many of the best Sanskrit scholars 
 of the day, .but the judges unanimously 
 selected the anonymous composition for the 
 prize, and Huro's verses were accordingly 
 inscribed on the tablet, where they still bear 
 testimony to his scholarship and poetical 
 genius. 
 
 Huro Coomar's zeal for Sanskrit led him, 
 in after years, to enter upon the study of the 
 Vedantic system, which was regarded with 
 disfavour by the strict Hindoos of those days, 
 as subversive of orthodoxy. In connexion 
 with this circumstance it is related that Huro 
 Coomar's cousin, Wooma Nundun, meeting 
 him one day at a wedding-party, expressed 
 regret at learning that he had engaged in this 
 new study. On Huro Coomar asking him 
 his reason for this feeling, Wooma Nundun 
 
A MEMOIR. SI 
 
 expressed a fear that, from being a staunch. 
 Hindoo, he might become a freethinker. 
 Huro Coomar replied with a smile : — 
 
 ' You should bear in mind, good cousin, 
 that Vyasa, the father of the Vedanta philo- 
 sophy, was also the author of our Puranas ; 
 yet, according to your theory, he should have 
 been the greatest infidel of his time.' 
 
 Gopee Mohun's love of music was in- 
 herited by his son, and Huro not only patron- 
 ised but practised the art, studying it under 
 the well-known Kalawat Hassu Khan, and 
 becoming an accomplished singer and per- 
 former on the sitar. 
 
 Though his tastes did not lead him to 
 engage in public affairs, Huro Coomar, by 
 his admirable management of his own estates, 
 showed himself to be a man of great business 
 capacity. 
 
 The family property was at first held 
 jointly by all the brothers ; but, being led 
 by information received from a trusted ser- 
 vant to suspect that it was being seriously 
 mismanaged, Huro at once consulted with 
 
 C, TF 6 
 
82 TEE TAOORE FAMILY. 
 
 Prosunna Coomar as to the course that should 
 be adopted, and they came to the conclusion 
 that a partition was necessary to save their 
 shares from destruction. After some oppo- 
 sition they succeeded in their efforts for this 
 purpose, and a partition was effected. 
 
 Euro Coomar found his share greatly 
 encumbered and deteriorated, but by dint of 
 thrift and good management he in time 
 succeeded in not only restoring, but increas- 
 ing it. 
 
 He died in the year 1858, leaving two 
 sons, Jotendra Mohun Tagore and Sourendra 
 Mohun Tagore, whose distinguished careers 
 will be noticed hereafter, and a reputation 
 for 'learning, ability, accomplished politeness, 
 probity, and honourable feeling.' 
 
 Pkosdnna Coomar Tagoee. 
 Of a very different type of character from 
 his elder brother, Huro Coomar, was Gopee 
 Mohun's youngest son, Prosunna Coomar 
 Tagore. His equal in rectitude of character 
 and in scholarship, his superior in breadth 
 
A MEMOIR, 83 
 
 of culture, he possessed in the highest degree 
 that pohtical spirit and that taste for public 
 life which the amiable Huro lacked. 
 
 Like Dwarika Nath Tagore, he was 
 essentially a man of action; like Dwarika 
 Nath, too, he was always ready to advance 
 the cause of charity or progress. But his 
 views were those of the statesman, rather 
 than the mere philanthropist ; and he added 
 to forensic eloquence and a profound know- 
 ledge of English and Indian jurisprudence a 
 degree of literary skill and ambition which 
 placed him in the front rank of the native 
 writers of his time. As a Member of the 
 Governor- General's Legislative Council, he 
 reached' the highest pinnacle of political 
 honour to which a Native could aspife, and 
 one to which no Native before him had 
 attained. In his triune capacity of lawyer, 
 counsellor, and author, it is not too much 
 to say, he was the most conspicuous man 
 Bengal has yet produced, and one whose 
 reputation was equally great among his own 
 countrymen and among Europeansv 
 
84 THE TA60RE FAMILY. 
 
 Prosimna Coomar Tagore was bom m 
 Calcutta on Monday, December 21, 1801, 
 being tbus seven years junior to Dwarika 
 Nath. Like his brother, Huro Coomar, and, 
 indeed, in company with him, he received' 
 the rudiments of education under the paternal 
 roof, and was afterwards sent to the school of 
 that Mr. Sherbourne who has already been 
 more than once mentioned in these pages, 
 and whose lot it was to impart the elements' 
 of English to so many oi the distinguished 
 Natives of the day, 
 
 Mr. Sherboui'ne taught at a house near 
 what is now the Adi-Brahmo Samaj, in the 
 Chitpore Road. Little seems to be known of 
 him, except that he was the son of a Brahman 
 mother and took great pride in his lineage ; 
 and, as a proof of the respect in which he wa& 
 held by his old pupils, it is said that he was 
 in the habit of receiving from the well-to-da 
 among them the annual gifts (jpuja barsik), 
 which it is customary to offer ta member* 
 of the twice-born caste. 
 
 From Mr. Sherbourne's school, as was 
 
A MEMOIR. 85 
 
 Stated in the notice of Huro Coomar, Pra- 
 sunna Coomar Tagore was transferred to the 
 Hindoo College, where he continued his studies 
 under Mr. Anselm. Unlike the great bulk 
 of his fellow-countrymen in later days, how- 
 ever, he was not content to lay aside his 
 books on completing his college curriculum, 
 but continued his education diligently long 
 after that period, engaging Mr. Halifax, 
 Professor, of Mathematics in the College, to 
 superintend his studies. 
 
 Prosunna Coomar may, in fact, be justly 
 said to have been a diligent student all his 
 life. Long before he entertained any idea 
 of adopting the law as a profession, he had 
 pursued its study as a pastime ; and, when 
 twitted by an associate with the uselessness of 
 such knowledge to a man of his wealth and 
 position, he had replied that the mind was 
 like a good housewife, who was sure to utilise, 
 some time or other, everything she had in 
 store. 
 
 His subsequent career was destined to 
 farnish a striking illustration of the truth of 
 
86 THE TA60RE FAMILY. 
 
 this reflection ; for, having been induced, by 
 heavy losses incurred in the course of busi- 
 ness, to get himself enrolled as a pleader of 
 the Sudder Court, he achieved so rapid a 
 success as not only to recuperate, but to add 
 largely to, his immense fortune. But he did 
 more than this, and established a lasting title 
 to the gratitude of the profession, which, 
 from being a mere refage for the needy — 
 shunned, as degrading, by men of position—- 
 came, mainly by virtue of his efforts and 
 example, to be looked upon as the most 
 honourable and lucrative career, outside the 
 service of Government, which a Native 
 could follow. The cavalierly treatment, not 
 altogether unjustified by the general calibre of 
 the class, to which the too persevering pleader 
 had hitherto been subjected by even the most 
 amiable of Sudder judges, gave place in the 
 presence of Prosunna Coomar, however much 
 he might insist, to patient and respectful 
 attention. 
 
 Such was the ability with which he con- 
 ducted his cases that, on the death of Mr. 
 
A MEMOIR. 87 
 
 Baly, the Government pleader, lie was nomi- 
 nated by the majority of the Court to suc- 
 ceed him, and, in spite of some opposition 
 on the part of a minority of the judges and 
 a member of the Board of Revenue, on the 
 ground of his holding large landed property 
 within the jurisdiction of the Court, the nomi- 
 nation was confirmed. 
 
 The success with which he discharged his 
 duties in his new capacity established him in 
 the confidence of the Government, and added 
 largely to his professional reputation. ' To a 
 profound knowledge of Indian law,' says the 
 writer of an obituary memoir published in 
 the columns of the Hindoo Patriot of August 
 31, 1868, ' Babu Prosunna Coomar united 
 a hard common sense and keen sagacity 
 which at once secured him the first position 
 in the Bar. Urdu was then the Court lan- 
 guage ; but he Was a first-rate Persian scholar, 
 and had therefore no difficulty in making 
 himself heard. Master of real property law, 
 he was unrivalled in that line, and his deep 
 and painstaking researches into the manifold 
 
88 THE TAGORE FAMILT. ■ 
 
 bearings of the Hindoo law made him also 
 an authority on that subject. Unlike many 
 of his brother pleaders, he was not only inti- 
 mately acquainted with the substantive laws, 
 but with their history from the earliest times. 
 For the last four decades we may say he 
 lived history. There was scarcely any im- 
 portant law, particularly relating to land, 
 which was enacted during the last forty years, 
 regarding which he was not consulted by the 
 Government. But he was also familiar to a 
 degree with the history of the prior Regu- 
 lations and Acts. To us he appeared to be 
 a walking library. Whenever we had doubts 
 respecting the origin, history, or meaning of 
 any laws, the moment we referred to him our 
 doubts were solved.' 
 
 Some idea of the enormous practice he 
 enjoyed may be formed from the fact stated 
 by him in a letter addressed to the Regis- 
 trar of the Court, in connexion with an ap- 
 plication he had made for six months' leave 
 of absence, that on a certain date in the 
 year 1849 he held briefs in no fewer than 
 
A MEMOIR. 89 
 
 ninety-six cases, of thirty-six of wliicli he was 
 in sole charge. 
 
 Though his professional income averaged 
 little less than 20,000?. a year, he abandoned 
 the Bar while still in the prime of life, to em- 
 bark on that less restricted career to which 
 his tastes and his ambitions clearly pointed. 
 But he continued all his life to be freely con- 
 sulted both by the Government and its officers 
 and by private suitors, and was always ready 
 to give those who applied to him the full 
 benefit of his learning and advice, without 
 looking for any other reward than the satisfac- 
 tion derived from the act. 
 
 ' In after life,' says a contemporary, ' he 
 placed the mature fruit of his legal lore and 
 vast experience at the service of his country, 
 free of cost. There has not since been a 
 single case of any importance in which his 
 opinion was not sought, and in which it was 
 not freely and most readily given. Indeed, 
 no man had any confidence in his own case 
 until he had the assurance of Babu Prosunna 
 Coomar, and so great was the anxiety to get 
 
90 THE TAQORE FAMILY. 
 
 his opinion that people travelled hundreds of 
 miles from the furthest parts of India for the 
 purpose.' 
 
 To the extraordinary memory which, con- 
 joined with extensive research, justified the 
 description of Prosunna Coomar as ' a walk- 
 ing library,' there is abundant testimony 
 from many different quarters. Not only ' the 
 date of a particular Government letter ; the 
 number of a particular section of a particu- 
 lar law ; the chapter and verse of some 
 obscure old Smriti,' but 'the whole history 
 of British administration in India, from the 
 most important facts down to the smallest 
 minutiae' is said to have been at his fingers' 
 ends. 
 
 The first instance in which we find Pro- 
 sunna Coomar Tagore taking a leading part in 
 any of the political movements of the day 
 was on the occasion of the passing of Regula- 
 tion III of 1828 by Lord William Bentinck's 
 administration. This was one of a series of 
 measures by which the Government, with but 
 imperfect discrimination and inadequate regard 
 
A MEMOIR. 91 
 
 for the interests of actual possessors, sought 
 to repair the injury done to the Exchequer ia 
 past times by reckless or fraudulent alien- 
 ations of revenue in the shape of grants of 
 lakhiraj, or revenue free, tenures. The osten- 
 sible object of the Regulation was to expedite 
 the adjudication of appeals from the decisions 
 of the revenue authorities in regard to lands, 
 or rents, occupied or collected by individuals 
 without payment of Government revenue, by 
 the appointment of special commissioners for 
 the purpose. The feeling of the Lakhiraj dars 
 was that the real purpose of the measure was 
 to transfer the trial of such appeals from an 
 impartial tribunal to one which would be 
 strongly biassed in favour of the Govern- 
 ment ; and to some extent there can be no 
 doubt that this was its tendency. 
 
 The Regulation, moreover, contained se- 
 veral clauses obviously detrimental to the 
 actual interests of the Lakhirajdars. 
 
 Against this enactment the three friends, 
 Dwarika Nath Tagore, Prosunna Coomar 
 Tagore, and Ram Mohun Roy, drew up and 
 
92 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 forwarded to the Court of Directors a power- 
 ful appeal. The protest was not successful, 
 but the Court of Directors called upon the 
 Local Government for an explanation of the 
 grounds of the enactment, and the example 
 set was one which was destined to bear use- 
 ful fruit in the future. 
 
 The warning it conveyed was, however, 
 so far unheeded or forgotten, that some ten 
 years later, the Government, at the instance 
 of the Board of Eevenue, of which Mr. Ross 
 Mangles was then secretary, was induced to 
 engage in a wholesale crusade against the 
 Lakhirajdars throughout Bengal. Resump- 
 tion proceedings were set on foot simultane- 
 ously in every district, and the device, usual 
 when high-handed action was to be sustained, 
 of appointing ■special officers for the trial of 
 the suits was resorted to. 
 
 These proceedings, as might have been 
 expected, raised a storm of indignation all 
 over the country, and after a period of fierce 
 newspaper controversy, in which Prosunna 
 Coomar Tagore, on the side of the Lakhiraj- 
 
A MEMOIR. 93 
 
 dars, and Mr. Ross Mangles on that of the 
 Government, took leading parts, a great 
 public meeting was convened at the Town 
 Hall on November 30, 1839, by Babus 
 Dwarika Nath, and Prosunna Coomar 
 Tagore and others, who, as the founders 
 and leaders of the Landholders' Society, had 
 constituted themselves, and been recognised 
 by the Government, as the representatives 
 of the landed interest in Bengal. 
 
 Of this Society, which had been estab- 
 lished in April 1838, and which continued to 
 discharge most important functions till it 
 gave place to the British-Indian Association 
 in 1851, Prosunna Coomar Tagore and 
 Mr. Cobb Hurry, at that time Editor of the 
 Englishman newspaper, were the secretaries, 
 and the respect its deliberations commanded 
 must be attributed, in no small degree, to 
 the influence which Prosunna Coomar exer- 
 cised over them, and the ability and discretion 
 with which he discharged the duties of his 
 secretaryship. 
 
 The meeting of 1839 was so largely 
 
84 TBE TAGOEE FAMILT. 
 
 attended, and created so mucli excitement in 
 the community, that the Government was led 
 to adopt extraordinary precautions for the 
 preservation of the peace. It is needless to 
 say there was nothing either in the proceed- 
 ings, or in the temper of the large concourse 
 of people, both Europeans and Natives, whom 
 it drew together, to justify any such anxiety. 
 After the Report of the Committee of the 
 Landowners' Society, drawn up by Mr. Cobl), 
 Hurry and Babu Prosunna Coomar Tagore, 
 had been read and adopted, the meeting 
 was addressed at length by Mr. Dickens, 
 Mr. Turton, Babu Dwarika Nath Tagore, 
 Mr. Leith, Mr. W. F. Fergusson, Mr. Hume, 
 and others, and a series of resolutions were 
 adopted, the most important of which was: — 
 ' That in the present state of the question 
 of resumption of rent-free tenures, and with 
 reference to Mr. Secretary J. E. Grant's 
 letter of November 25, it is expedient to 
 appeal to the authorities in England with the 
 view to obtain complete redress,' 
 
 The final result of the agitation was that 
 
A MEMOIR. 95 
 
 Circular Orders were issued by the Board 
 of Revenue, so far modifying the obnoxious 
 law as to exempt from its operation religious 
 endowments, lands held rent-free since 1790, 
 and parcels of land of not more than fifty 
 bighahs.in a single village. 
 
 Prosunna Coomar's first literary enterprise 
 was the foundation, in conjunction with his 
 friend and relative, Rama Nath Tagore, of a 
 weekly newspaper in the English language, 
 called The Reformer. The writer of the 
 obituary in the Hindoo Patriot^ already re- 
 ferred to, speaks of him as having started 
 this paper when scarcely out of his teens. 
 This, however, is not literally correct, the 
 first number of The Reformer having made 
 its appearance in 1831, when Prosunna 
 Coomar was just thirty years of age. 
 
 His object in embarking in the enterprise 
 appears to have been of a purely political 
 nature — the advocacy of Native rights, which 
 had just then been so rudely assailed ; and 
 The Reformer, while it lasted, did valuable 
 service in this direction. A large share in its 
 
96 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 conduct "was taken by Mr. Crowe, a gentle- 
 man of European parentage and of con- 
 spicuous ability, who was engaged by the 
 proprietors for the purpose. 
 
 Mr. Crowe's own career was a remarkable 
 one, and furnishes a striking instance of a 
 young man surmounting by sheer application 
 the disadvantages arising from the absence 
 of even the most rudimentary education 
 during the period of life usually devoted to 
 school. Brought up at Patna from early 
 infancy by a widowed mother who spoiled 
 him, he reached the age of sixteen not only 
 without learning to read or write, but unac- 
 quainted with any language but Hindustani. 
 Being taken one day by his mother to the 
 district court, where she was engaged in a 
 law-suit, he happened to attract the attention 
 of the presiding magistrate, who reproached 
 him with his ignorance, with the result of so 
 shaming him that he persuaded his mother 
 to take him down to Calcutta, and send him 
 to school. 
 
 Arriving in Calcutta in 1822, he shortly 
 
A MEMOIR. '97 
 
 after became a pupil of the well-known Mr. 
 Drummond, who then occupied the site of 
 what afterwards became the Anunda Bazar in 
 Dhurmtolah Street. 
 
 There, in spite of many obstacles, not the 
 least among them being the persecution to 
 which he was subjected at the hands of his 
 ■more fortunate schoolmates, he applied him- 
 self so diligently and perseveringly to his 
 studies that, when he left the school three 
 years later, he was able to obtain employment 
 in the Quartermaster-General's office on the 
 comparatively handsome salary of a hundred 
 rupees a month. 
 
 So meritorious were his services in this 
 position that in 1830 he obtained the post of 
 head clerk to the Board of Revenue. At the 
 same time he developed a strong talent for 
 literary pursuits, and was a valued contributor 
 to many of the journals of the day. Subse- 
 quently he obtained an appointment as deputy- 
 collector and surveyor, in which capacity 
 he continued to serve the Government with 
 credit and distinction, till his death in 1847. 
 
 C, TF 7 
 
98 THE TAOORE FAMILT. 
 
 Prosunna Coomar Tagore early discovered 
 Mr. Crowe's merits and ability, and was his 
 staunch friend throughout his career. 
 
 In connexion with The Reformer Pro- 
 sunna Coomar also carried on for some time 
 a Bengali paper, called the Unnobadak, con- 
 taining translations of articles from it. 
 
 At an early age Prosunna Coomar came 
 under the influence of Ram Mohun Roy ; 
 and, as in the case of Dwarika Nath Tagore, 
 the consequence was a radical change in the 
 religious views in which he had been brought 
 up. Like his father, Gopee Mohun, and his 
 brother, Huro Coomar, he was in his youth 
 a strict Hindoo, and performed the customary 
 puja daily, in company with the latter. His 
 conversion to the theistic views of his friend 
 was the result of no blind admiration of the 
 genius of the reformer, still less of reckless- 
 ness or a love of novelty, but the outcome 
 of patient and conscientious investigation, 
 prompted by the love of truth alone. Once 
 convinced, he threw his whole soul into the 
 cause of what he believed to be the truth, 
 
A MEMOIR. 99 
 
 and among his earliest literary efforts was a 
 pamphlet entitled ' An appeal \,o his country- 
 men, by Prosunna Coomar Tagore,' in which 
 he upheld in powerful language the worship 
 of one God. 
 
 But, though unable any longer to subscribe 
 personally to the tenets of modem Hindooism, 
 he never ceased to entertain for it that respect 
 which every man of good feeling must retain 
 for the faith of his ancestry and kindred. 
 Nor did he consider it inconsistent with the 
 demands of his new belief to dedicate the 
 silver cot in which his venerated mother had 
 slept, to the service of the family temple at 
 Mulajore, where, towards the close of his 
 life, he had it converted into a throne for the 
 god, thus taking the most effectual step that 
 could be devised for its permanent preserva- 
 tion. 
 
 Prosunna Coomar Tagore always evinced 
 a lively interest in the education of his 
 countrymen. On the death of his brother 
 Chunder Coomar, he succeeded to one of the 
 two Governorships of the Hindoo College, 
 
100 THE TAGORE FAMILT. 
 
 hereditary in his family ; and as early as the 
 year 1841 we find him taking a conspicuous 
 part in the settlement of a scheme of Regula- 
 tions for the schools and colleges under the 
 General Committee of Public Instruction. 
 
 The minute which he recorded on the sub- 
 ject, and which was published by the Govern- 
 ment along with the Regulations in question, 
 shows how clear an insight he possessed 
 into the educational needs of his countrymen. 
 On the importance of vernacular schools he 
 laid hardly less stress than the most advanced 
 reformers of the present day, remarking that, 
 unlike the English seminaries, which were 
 limited in their scope to a particular section 
 of the community, they had a national object 
 in view. This minute shows, further, how 
 thoroughly he was convinced that the only 
 chance of imparting Western ideas to the mass 
 of the people of India, lay in including a sound 
 vernacular education in the curriculum of the 
 higher English seminaries. 
 
 ' The people in general,' he remarked, 'have 
 a natural thirst after learning, but we are 
 
A MEMOIR. 101 
 
 unprovided at present either with the neces- 
 sary works for the purposes of tuition, or 
 with competent teachers. Could we but find 
 a few Native youths qualified in the English 
 arts and sciences, and possessed of sufficient 
 knowledge to express their newly-acquired 
 ideas through the vernacular language, they 
 might, we think, be trained in the combined 
 duties of authors and teachers. This were, 
 at least, the first and safest step eventually 
 to establish a permanent system of Indian 
 national education.' 
 
 With this view he prepared an elaborate 
 scheme, including arrangements for a certain 
 amount of instruction in Sanskrit, for the im- 
 provement of vernacular education in the in- 
 stitutions in question, and drew up a list of ap- 
 propriate books for use in connexion with it. 
 
 Had this, or some similar scheme, been 
 persistently adhered to during the forty years 
 that have intervened between that time and the 
 present, the means available to-day for carrying 
 out a useful system of mass education would 
 probably have left very little to be desired. 
 
103 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 When, during the administration of Lord 
 Dalhousie, it was proposed to reorganise the 
 establishment of the Hindoo College and 
 erect the higher English branch into a sepa- 
 rate institution, under the title of the Presi- 
 dency College, Prosunna Coomap Tagore 
 subordinated all considerations of family pride 
 to the wishes of the Government, and, to- 
 gether with his brother, Huro Coomar, sur- 
 rendered his hereditary rights and privileges 
 into its hands. 
 
 That it was only after a painful conflict 
 of feeling that he brought himself to make 
 this surrender is not to be wondered at, and 
 it is impossible not to sympathise with the 
 sense of just indignation at the high-handed 
 action of the authorities of the day, which 
 finds expression in the following passage in 
 one of the letters on the subject written by 
 him to Mr. Mouatt, then Secretary of the 
 Council of Education : ' Lest my silence 
 should be construed into concurrence, I shall 
 avail myself of the circumstance of the docu- 
 ment' (the draft of the Government letter) 
 
A MEMOIR. i03 
 
 'having been officially communicated to me, 
 to place on record my protest against the 
 radical change of the constitution of the 
 College which is now contemplated. 
 
 ' I cannot, however, refrain on this occasion 
 from expressing my feelings of regret and 
 mortification with regard to a plan which, as 
 it appears to me, is designed, by throwing 
 open the College to all classes of students, not 
 only to change its exclusive character to the 
 entire subversion of the original intentions of 
 its founders, but as much as possible to oblit- 
 erate their names and consign to oblivion 
 the memory of their efforts for the advance- 
 ment of knowledge. Such being the case, I, 
 as a representative of one of the hereditary 
 Governors of the Institution, apart from the 
 consideration of the competency of the parties 
 to give effect to such proposal, or my personal 
 opinion as to the exclusive character of the 
 College, cannot but feel mortified to find that 
 after the College had been founded by my 
 father in conjunction with other public-spirited 
 Natives by private subscription, and by the 
 
104 THE TA60RE FAMILY. 
 
 subsequent accession of aid from Government 
 had continued upwards of thirty-five years on 
 its original plan and reached its present con- 
 dition, during which long period the heredi- 
 tary rights of the Governors were solemnly 
 acknowledged by successive Governments, the 
 Council of Education should now, instead of 
 adopting measures to preserve the eflforts of 
 the founders in the grateful recollection of 
 succeeding generations, have directed their 
 attention to the opposite end, and, though 
 it is proposed that the descendants of those 
 ■who have an hereditary right in the manage- 
 ment of the College should forego that privi- 
 lege for the equivocal advantage of a seat in 
 the Council of Education, no man who has 
 any feeling of respect for his ancestors could 
 with satisfaction join a constitution modelled 
 on such principles. I trust I shall not be 
 placed in a situation so painful as to be under 
 the necessity of declining the offer.' 
 
 This was outspoken, but it was not un- 
 called for. 
 
 On receipt of the final orders of the Bengal 
 
A MEMOIR. 105 
 
 Grovernment, Prosunna Coomar and Ms bro- 
 ther chose the alternative of surrendering all 
 their rights absolutely to the Government 
 rather than become consenting parties to a 
 measure for revolutionising the College, at 
 the same time urging the claims of the foun- 
 ders to some such memorial in the new Insti- 
 tution as might perpetuate the memory of 
 their connexion with it. 
 
 In accepting the offer of the brothers, Lord 
 Dalhousie recorded a minute expressive of his 
 hope that the public spirit of the original 
 founders might be permanently commemorated 
 by the erection of a suitable memorial in the 
 new Presidency College. But, although the 
 Governor of Bengal assented to the justice 
 and propriety of this proposal, it was left to 
 the present head of the family, the Honourable 
 Maharaja Jotendra MohunTagore, after a lapse 
 of a quarter of a century, to carry it into eiFect 
 by the erection at his own expense of a tablet, 
 with a suitable inscription, in the College. 
 
 Though an advocate of the education of 
 Native females under certain circumstances', 
 
106 THE TA GORE FAMILY. 
 
 Prosunna Coomar was opposed to tlie estab- 
 lishment of public schools for the purpose. 
 His views on the subject find full expression 
 in a letter addressed by him to Mr. F. J. 
 Halliday, in connexion with a proposal of 
 Lord Dalhousie to adopt as his own the school 
 founded by Mr. Bethune. Native society, 
 he pointed out, was divided, like that of other 
 civilised countries, into the higher, the middle, 
 and the lower class. Among the first a taste 
 for European knowledge was confined to a 
 few, the majority of the elder portion being 
 still wholly indifferent to it. Even the en- 
 lightened minority were averse to sending their 
 female children or wards to a public school, 
 where they would have to associate with 
 those of a lower social grade. The usage of 
 the country and religious precept, again, made 
 it essential that girls of good family should 
 be married before the age of ten, at the latest, 
 and if a girl were sent to a public school at 
 six years of age, she could remain there as 
 a pupil only three or four years, which would 
 be in sufficient to admit of her completing 
 
A MEMOIR. 107 
 
 her studies. The little education she might 
 take with her from school would be for- 
 gotten in the midst of domestic enjoyment, 
 or, it might be, in a family where female edu- 
 cation was not appreciated. As to the middle 
 class, though, on the whole, they were better 
 educated than the higher classes, their thirst 
 for knowledge was the result of worldly mo- 
 tives, rather than of a desire to improve them- 
 selves. But no such motive would come into 
 play in the case of female education. The 
 lower classes, on the other hand, might, no 
 doubt, be induced by pecuniary temptations 
 to send their daughters to school; but their 
 presence would deter the middle class from 
 encouraging the movement. 
 
 With the exception of the * Appeal' above 
 mentioned, the separate published writings of 
 Prosunna Coomar Tagore were all on sub- 
 jects of Indian law. They are distinguished 
 by a purity and lucidity of style which, for 
 a foreigner writing in so difficult a language 
 as English, are remarkable; by extensive re- 
 search, and by great logical acumen. 
 
108 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 The earliest is ' A Concise Dissertation on 
 certain points of the Hindoo Law, according to 
 the Doctrine of the Mitacshara ; the most im- 
 portant, the ' Vivada Chintamoni, ' a trans- 
 lation from the Sanskrit of the commentary 
 of Vachaspati Misra on the Hindoo law pre- 
 valent in Mithila, with a learned preface by 
 the translator. 
 
 The ' Dissertation, ' which was published 
 in 1847, was suggested by the adverse de- 
 cision of the Sudder Court in the famous 
 Ramnuggur Appeal Case, in which the writer 
 appeared on behalf of the Government, who 
 claimed the right to succeed to the Ram- 
 nuggur Raj in the absence of legitimate heirs. 
 The appellate court, in confirmation of the de- 
 cision of the lower court, ruled that a claimant 
 who held his pretension of heritable right in 
 the sixth degree of the descending genera- 
 tion from the seventh of the ascending com- 
 mon ancestor, was entitled to the estate of a 
 deceased proprietor according to the Mithila 
 school of Hindoo law ; and the object of the 
 'Dissertation' is to investigate the precise 
 
A MEMOIR. 109 
 
 intent and meaning of the law, as prescribed 
 in the ' Mitacshara ' (which the writer held 
 to be applicable to the claimant's case) with 
 respect to Sapinda for inheritance, both in 
 the ascending degree and in the descending 
 generation. 
 
 The ' Vivada Chintamoni ' was published 
 •in 1863 and dedicated- to Sir Barnes Peacock, 
 then Chief Justice of the High Court of 
 Calcutta. 
 
 In the preface the translator has given 
 us a most learned and interesting dissertation 
 on the development of the existing systems of 
 .Hindoo law ; on the origin and position of the 
 four great castes; and on the authority and 
 authenticity of the Code of Menu and other 
 •cognate matters. 
 
 It contains an able and not unsuccessful 
 vindication of the Brahmans against the 
 charges of avarice, arrogance and ignorance 
 ■brought against them by various writers. 
 Contrasting the Christian priesthood with the 
 Brahmans, who, he points out, are not a priest- 
 ■ hood, he says : ' The former profess to be the 
 
110 TBE TAOORE FAMILY. 
 
 successors of teachers who disclaimed wealth, 
 power, and even honour, and only required 
 such a competency as should leave them free 
 to attend to the duties of religion and the in- 
 struction of their flocks. They are expected 
 to be versed in their sacred literature, and 
 are in general amply provided for by the State, 
 often by voluntary contributions, and style 
 themselves or admit the style of reverend or 
 even lord, in contempt of the most positive 
 injunctions of the author of their religion. 
 The latter are clothed with a sacred origin, 
 and thereby entitled to the highest rank and 
 supreme reverence; they are almost limited to 
 learning as a profession, but no provision is 
 made even for their absolute wants. They 
 neither possess temporal power, nor arrogate 
 the disposal of earthly kingdoms. They are 
 altogether dependent for their subsistence on 
 voluntary gifts, and are not even at liberty 
 to receive them from the inferior classes 
 — among whom, in the present day, are in- 
 cluded some of the wealthiest men — or to act 
 indiscriminately as priests without forfeiting 
 
A MEMOIR. Ill 
 
 their position in the opinion of their brethren 
 as well as that of the laity. 
 
 * This comparison is made with a view, 
 not to the reprobation of the habits or prac- 
 tices of the clergy of Europe, but to the ex- 
 culpation of the Brahmans of India. They 
 are, of all sacerdotal classes in the world, the 
 most unassuming and the least grasping. 
 At any rate, they have neither aimed at 
 greater wealth, honour, or power than the 
 sacred law has allowed, nor actually gained so 
 much as they were entitled to by its decrees. 
 It is asserted in works of authority, in which 
 accuracy should be studied, that Brahmans 
 " have maintained a more extensive sway 
 than the priests of any other nation." Could 
 these authors have forgotten to compare the 
 commands of the author of the Christian 
 religion with the history of the Papacy, or 
 the position of the Prince Bishops of Germany 
 and the Lord Bishops of England and France, 
 to say nothing of those of Italy and Spain, or 
 even the beneficiaires of most of the European 
 States, with incomes a thousand times larger 
 
112 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 than any Brahman ever enjoyed, under the 
 most liberal or most bigoted princes of this 
 continent ? ' 
 
 Apart from all question of its merits as a 
 statement of facts and opinions, the discrimi- 
 nating reader must, we think, be struck by the 
 elegance of style, the idiomatic ease, and the 
 remarkable accuracy and purity of diction 
 which distinguish the above passage, an ele- 
 gance, an ease, an accuracy, and a purity 
 which might be envied by many an English 
 writer of repute, and which, in a foreigner, 
 may well excite surprise. Yet the passage is 
 in no respect an unfair example of the writer's 
 literary skill. Look where one may in his 
 published compositions, they are characterised 
 by the same qualities, and the most acute 
 critic would search in vain for any indication 
 that they were not the productions of a highly- 
 cultivated Englishman. 
 
 Prosunna Coomar's other works were the 
 ' Table of Succession according to the Hindoo 
 Law of Bengal,' ' the Rights of Bundhoos ' 
 (cognate kindred) ' according to the Western 
 
A MEMOIR. 113 
 
 School,' the 'Neum-patra, or Zemindaree 
 Guide,' in Bengalee, and a series of short 
 essays on various legal subjects published 
 under the title of ' Loose Papers.' 
 
 It was in the latter end of 1850 that 
 Prosunna Coomar resigned his ofSce of 
 pleader in the Sudder Court, and in the eai-ly 
 part of November of the same year he left 
 Calcutta on a tour in Assam, one of his 
 objects, as described in a letter to Mr. F. 
 A. E. Dalrymple, C.S., announcing his ap- 
 proaching departure, being to penetrate into 
 the interior of that country, and examine 
 the manners and customs of the wild tribes 
 dispersed over it. 
 
 He appears, from an examination of his 
 letter book of that year, to have returned to 
 Calcutta in the beginning of June following. 
 An account of his travels from his own hand 
 would have been interesting ; but unfortu- 
 nately no letters on the subject seem to have 
 been preserved. 
 
 About this time he appears to have en- 
 tertained some intention of paying a visit to 
 
 C, TF 8 
 
1 1 4 THE TA GORE fAMIL T. 
 
 England ; but, finding no fellow-country- 
 man of Ms own class willing to accompany 
 him across the ' black water,' he had to 
 abandon it. 
 
 In the beginning of 1853, however, he 
 set out on a tour in Upper India, and ex- 
 tended his travels as far as Cashmere, which 
 country he describes in a letter written to 
 Prosunna Nath Rae, after his return in the 
 following September, as the paradise of the 
 world in all respects but the habits and man- 
 ners of its people and the character of its 
 ruler. 
 
 During his stay there, which lasted twenty- 
 five days, he paid a visit to the Maharaja at 
 his request, on the express understanding that 
 there was to be no interchange of compli- 
 mentary gifts. At parting he presented His 
 Highness with a telescope, remarking that he 
 had nothing to give worthy of acceptance ; 
 but as a telescope brought distant objects 
 near, he had decided on presenting him with 
 one, in order that it might bring him some- 
 times to His Higlmess's memory. 
 
A MEMOIR. 115 
 
 In the year 1854 Prosunna Coomar was 
 invited by the Governor-General, Lord Dal- 
 housie, to undertake the office of Cldrk As- 
 sistant to the Legislative Council, then newly- 
 constituted under the Presidentship of that 
 nobleman. Though the acceptance of the 
 post must have involved considerable per- 
 sonal sacrifice, he gladly obeyed the summons, 
 and his long familiarity with the laws of the 
 country and their practical operation, enabled 
 him to render in that capacity services of a 
 kind which probably no other man, European 
 or Native, could have done. 
 
 The drafts of the laws submitted by the 
 Indian Law Commission in 1837, and after- 
 wards referred to a Koyal Commission in 
 London, were returned to the Legislative 
 Council in the year 1856, during his tenure 
 of office ; and the Committee of the Council, 
 presided over by Sir Bai-nes Peacock, in pre- 
 senting their first report on the subject, ac- 
 knowledged in the most handsome terms ' the 
 great assistance they had derived from his 
 extensive knowledge and experience,' and his 
 
1 1 6 THE TA QORE FA Jill F. 
 
 ' indefatigable exertions in carrying out their 
 views.' 
 
 He also rendered the committee valuable 
 assistance in the final revision of the Penal 
 Code, and was one of a number of Oriental 
 scholars chosen to examine and correct its 
 translation into the vernacular of Bengal. 
 
 In 1851, the old Landowners' Society 
 having ceased to exist, Prosunna Coomar, in 
 conjunction with Rama Nath Tagore an,d other 
 leading members of Bengalee society, founded 
 the existing British- Indian Association on a 
 wider basis. Up to the time of his death 
 Prosunna Coomar was one of its most active 
 members, and he was largely instrumental in 
 raising it to the position of influence which it 
 still maintains. 
 
 Up to the time of his accepting the Clerk 
 Assistantship to the Legislative Council he 
 vvas a leading member of the committee, and 
 although his official connexion with the Asso- 
 ciation then necessarily ceased for a time, he 
 continued to be consulted on all occasions of 
 importance and to give it the fullest benefit 
 
.1 J/EJfOTR. tl7 
 
 of his counsel. He, moreover, subscribed 
 the princely sum of ten thousand rupees to- 
 wards giving it a permanent habitation, and, 
 on the death of the venerable Sir Radha Kanta 
 Deb Bahadur, he was elected its President, 
 and continued to act in that capacity till his 
 death. 
 
 While Prosunna Coomar Tagore filled the 
 post of Clerk Assistant to the Council, his 
 time seems to have been very fully occupied 
 with his official labours, and more especially 
 with the new Penal Code, which engaged 
 much of the attention of the Committee of 
 the Council. 
 
 From this period up to the time of the 
 Mutiny, he seems to have resided continually 
 in Calcutta, His opinions regarding the great 
 crisis of 1857, a crisis during which his faith 
 in the ultimate triumph of the British Govern- 
 ment never for a moment wavered, possess a 
 special interest. 
 
 The following passage from a letter written 
 by him to Mr. F. A. E. Dalrymple, on May 
 5, 1856, shows how sinister at that date was 
 
1 1 8 TEE TA GORE FAUIL Y. 
 
 the feelinga mong the Mahommedan portion 
 of the community in connexion with the re- 
 cent annexation of Oudh : ' We expect the 
 ex-King of Lucknow by next week. He has 
 taken Dwarika Nath's garden house for his 
 residence. I doubt much if he will have the 
 courage to go to England, as he will have 
 to brave the sea sickness and the boisterous 
 waves. I hear from Outram that even a trip 
 on the Goomtee was a source of alarm to his 
 Majesty. 
 
 ' The followers of the Prophet say : " Look 
 at the effects of injustice and the visitation 
 of the prophet — that Lord Dalhousie fell 
 sick ; Outram is the same ; Haves is about to 
 resign ; Sleeman is gone away on account of 
 bad health ; General Low, who was formerly 
 at Lucknow, and took a share in the annex- 
 ation ' Do not all these concurrent cir- 
 cumstances prove the truth of the visitation 
 of the Prophet? " Lord Canning will neither 
 visit the ex -King, nor receive his visit.' 
 
 ' Something is apparently omitted here. 
 
A MEMOIR. 119 
 
 On June 12, 1857, we find Mm writing 
 to General Low, the Military Member of 
 Council. 
 
 ' My deae General Low, — There is a 
 prophecy in Persian in which the Seikhs and 
 Mahommedans of the North-West Provinces 
 have implicit belief. I send you, with an ab^ 
 stract translation, an extract from it, which 
 I find is in circulation in those parts, and has 
 lately come into possession of the Mahom- 
 medans hereabouts, and of which copies are 
 taken by them and read at their social meet- 
 ings. 
 
 ' You will perceive from this paper that 
 they reckon the rule of the English at a hun- 
 dred years ; and, taking the rise of it from 
 the Battle of Plassy, this is the month which 
 completes that period. This circumstance 
 influences the ignorant and credulous to rise 
 in arms, and is the cause of both Hindoos 
 and Mahommedans of those provinces uniting 
 together. The Hindoos, including the Seikhs, 
 have as much faith in the fakeers as the 
 Mahommedans, as you are well aware. 
 
120 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 ' As you will readily understand that such 
 papers must exercise a very powerful effect 
 on the minds of Mahommedans in. these parts, 
 I have thought proper to communicate it to 
 you. 
 
 NiamatooUa Wullee, a fakeer of the Pan- 
 jaub, published a prophecy in Persian verse, 
 to the number of thirty-eight couplets, in the 
 year of the Hegira 570, or a.d. 1175. 
 
 ' The author, after giving the succession 
 of the Emperors of Hindustan from Timur 
 to Nadir, and declaring that the latter would 
 be succeeded by a powerful king, prophesies 
 that the Seikhs. would be in the ascendant 
 for forty 3'ears. The Nazarenes were then 
 to rule the country for a hundred years. 
 A king from the west would then contend 
 with the Christians, and great slaughter 
 would take place, resulting in his success 
 and the overthrow of his opponent. His 
 reign was to be for forty years. Djezzal, who 
 is represented in the Koran as to come to des- 
 troy unbelievers about the end of the world, 
 was then to appear, followed first by Jesus, 
 
A MEmiR. 121 
 
 and then by Mehdee, as is also foretold in the 
 Koran, to effect the destruction of Djezzal. 
 The prophecy concludes by declaring the 
 sovereignty of the followers of Jesus in the 
 East would be at an end in 1280 Hegira, or 
 A.D. 1864.' 
 
 He appears to have been strongly of 
 opinion that the people of the North-Western 
 Provinces would have shown no sympathy 
 with the movement if the land in that part 
 of the country had been settled permanently 
 with the zemindars, as in Bengal. Thus, in 
 a letter to Mr. Dalrymple, dated July 10, 
 1857, he writes : — 
 
 ' You see the people have in many places 
 joined with the mutineers. Would such a 
 thing have happened had the Zemindary 
 system been introduced there ? There every 
 ryot is a poor cultivator, having no capital 
 to lose and no interest in the soil, and is en- 
 tirely dependent on the village banker. This 
 year the cultivation will be necessarily neg- 
 lected, and with them the village bankers will 
 become insolvent. The ryots have no alter- 
 
122 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 native but to live on the plunder of their 
 neighbouring villages, and the village bankers 
 are the receivers of the ill-gotten property. 
 But in Bengal, in a well-regulated Zemindary 
 where the ryots are attached to the lord of 
 the soil, could they have risen against the 
 will of the Zemindar, whose interest is iden- 
 tical with the interest of the British Govern- 
 ment under the permanent settlement ? If 
 there be any symptom of a rise among any 
 class in any Zemindary, and tlie Zemindar 
 throw his turban before them, would they ever 
 desert him? I have spoken in this way to 
 the members of Government, and they seem to 
 feel the force of my arguments. 1 hope, at the 
 next settlement of the North- West Provinces, 
 Lord Wellesley's promise of a permanent 
 settlement on the Zemindaree system will be 
 redeemed.' 
 
 He seems also to have regarded our main- 
 tenance of the independent Native States as 
 an error of policy. 
 
 ' The great mistake of Akbar, ' he remarks 
 (also in a letter to Mr. Dalrymple, written 
 
A MEMOIR. 123 
 
 in the autumn of 1857), 'was that, when he 
 conquered a country, he rehistated its sover- 
 eign as a tributary, thinking that gratitude 
 would make him faithfuL But after his death, 
 as the Government became weak, these princes 
 invariably shook off the yoke, and hence so 
 many petty Eajpoot and other States. Our 
 mistake was not to conquer many States, but 
 to keep them in subjection and alliance, with 
 the same view and expectation of gratitude. 
 The result we see now. ' 
 
 His correspondence shows him to have been 
 throughout this time a warm admirer of the 
 policy of Lord Canning, and he was one of the 
 foremost in getting up the loyal demonstra- 
 tions of 1857, and in the presentation of the 
 address of confidence to that nobleman. 
 
 In the spring of 1858 an attack of facial 
 paralysis obliged Prosunna Coomar to take six 
 months' leave from his arduous duties of Clerk 
 Assistant to the Council, and seek change of air. 
 He did not start, however, till the opening of 
 the river in July, on the 21st of which month 
 he left Calcutta, in his own private pinnace. 
 
124 THE TAOORE FAMILY. 
 
 for Monghyr. There he staid in his own house, 
 prettily situated at Peer Pahar till November, 
 in the early part of which month he re-: 
 turned to Calcutta, much recruited in health. 
 
 On December 20, 1859, he again left Cal- 
 cutta on a tour to Rangpur and Assam, in the 
 steamer Karatoya, which he had lately had 
 built, and did not return till thefoUowing July. 
 In the year 1861 Prosunna Coomar was- 
 made a member of the newly-constituted Muni- 
 cipal Commission, and an Honorary Magis- 
 trate, and in the beginning of the follow- 
 ing year he was appointed a member of the 
 Council of the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, 
 in the proceedings of which body he took an 
 active part whenever his health permitted hin^ 
 to attend the meetings. 
 
 He took an early opportunity to bring in 
 a Bill, drafted by himself, for the Eegistra- 
 tion of Hindoo Wills and Powers of Adoption, 
 which was, however, thrown out on a division 
 on technical grounds. 
 
 Among the many subjects on which Pabu 
 Prosunna Coomar Tagore was consulted by 
 
A MEMOIR. 125 
 
 the Government or its officers, was the ques- 
 tion of the comparative salaries which should 
 be allowed to Europeans and Natives holding 
 similar appointments and discharging similar 
 duties, a question which had presented itself 
 for consideration in connexion with the general 
 scheme of the revision of official salaries, then 
 under preparation by Mr. Ricketts. 
 
 Prosunna Coomar was of opinion that there 
 ought, on principle, to be no difference in the 
 salaries of members of the two races so circum- 
 stanced. 
 
 'The Government should not, for the sake 
 of colour, or caste, or any other personal con- 
 sideration, ' he urged in a letter to Mr. Rick- 
 etts, * expend the public revenue in unequal 
 proportion among officers of equal responsibi- 
 lity; and even if one of these officers possess 
 superior qualifications in any pai'ticular branch 
 of knowledge not actually required for the 
 discharge of his duties, the State should not, 
 in consideration thereof, subject the public 
 fund to any additional charge. The State 
 should look to the capacity of persons for office 
 
1 26 THE TA GORE FAMIL Y. 
 
 and fix certain salaries as remuneration for 
 the performance thereof ; and whoever is found 
 qualified in all respects for the post is entitled 
 to such allowance, but the salaries should not 
 vary with reference to difference of com- 
 plexion or place of birth of the person holding 
 office. 
 
 ' On the other hand, it is alleged that the 
 circumstances of the country should not be 
 overlooked. Regarding this country as a 
 dependency of Great Britain, the rulers would 
 probably, from other considerations than the 
 general principles above adverted to, wish 
 to see Europeans holding the larger portion 
 of the more important public offices. The 
 advocates of the system of distinction between 
 European and Native officers urge that per- 
 sons of the former class cannot come to the 
 country or live in it but at a considerable 
 personal expense, to which the Natives are 
 not liable; that they also run much risk in 
 serving in climates not congenial to their con- 
 stitutions, and that it is therefore fit that they 
 should be compensated by receiving a higher 
 
A MEMOm. 127 
 
 rate of salary, and being allowed to return 
 to their native land after a moderate period 
 of service, on suitable retiring allowances. 
 These are confessedly arguments founded on 
 personal and relative considerations, and ad- 
 missible on the score of expediency only. It 
 is, however, a maxim with politicians that 
 measures not founded on sound principle are 
 of limited duration, as well as troublesome 
 in their operation, and will consequently soon 
 be changed for others. Hence, if the arrange- 
 ment in contemplation be intended to be last- 
 ing in duration, and beneficial in the working, 
 it is advisable to resort to sound principle, 
 instead of being guided by feelings and- pre- 
 possessions.' 
 
 Prosunna Coomar was not only a liberal 
 patron of education, but was always ready 
 to encourage literary merit. The ' Daya- 
 bhaga,' with commentaries, and the ' Dattaka 
 Siromoni,' edited by Bharut Chunder Siro- 
 moni ; the ' Badi-Bibada-Bhanjana,' by Pun- 
 dit Broja Nath Bidyaratna, and the ' Krishy 
 Sangraha,' by Grish Chunder Bidyaratna, 
 
1 28 THE TA GORE FAMIL Y. 
 
 were all brought out under his auspices and 
 with his aid. 
 
 The first attempt on the part of Natives 
 of Bengal to produce anything in the shape 
 of a dramatic representation beyond the old 
 Hindoo ' Jattra,' was due to his efforts. In 
 his garden at Sura, with the assistance of a 
 number of friends who had been his fellow- 
 students at the Hindoo College, and others, 
 he organised an amateur theatre, where Wil- 
 son's Encflish version of the ' Utter Ram 
 Charita' and Shakespeare's ' Merchant of 
 Venice' were performed to large audiences, 
 among whom were many distinguished Euro- 
 peans. 
 
 He held strong opinions regarding the 
 importance of the Sanskrit language as a 
 means of enriching the vernacular, and fitting 
 it to become the vehicle of Western scien- 
 tific knowledge. As has been already seen, 
 he advocated the introduction of Sanskrit 
 studies even into the higher English schools, 
 and he himself endowed a purely Sanskrit 
 school at Mulajore in connexion with the 
 
A MEMOIR. 129 
 
 family temple, where rhetoric, Nyaya philo- 
 sophy, and Smriti are still taught on the 
 system prevailing in the Bengal Toles, and 
 some forty students are assisted with monthly 
 stipends. 
 
 In his charities he was at once liberal 
 and discriminating. Upwards of a hundred 
 poor people, including many schoolboys, were 
 fed daily at his house, and his annual gifts to 
 learned pundits at the time of the great Dus- 
 serah festival exceeded those of any of his 
 contemporaries. Among the numerous pub- 
 lic institutions of a benevolent character be- 
 friended by him were the Chandny Hospital, 
 of which he was a Governor, and the Garhan- 
 hatta Dispensary, of which he was long the 
 mainstay. 
 
 What he gave publicly affords, however, 
 but an imperfect measure of his expenditure 
 on good works. The number of private re- 
 cipients of his bounty, whether in the shape 
 of annual allowances, or of occasional help in 
 the hour of need, was legion, and included 
 many poor Christians as well as Natives. 
 
 C, TF 9 
 
130 THE TAG ORE FAMILY. 
 
 Among prominent instances of Prosunna 
 Coomar's public spirit were his erection, at 
 Patharia Ghatta, of the handsome and com- 
 modious bathing ghat, designed especially for 
 the convenience of respectable females, which 
 forms so conspicuous a feature in the ripa- 
 rian architecture of Calcutta ; his determined 
 and successful opposition to the attempt of the 
 .{rovernment to appropriate to its own uses 
 the Strand bank lands, made over by his an- 
 cestors and others conditionally for the bene- 
 fit of the town, and the works which, at great 
 cost and in the face of immense natural diffi- 
 culties, he carried out with the view of render- 
 ing the River Karatoya, which flowed through 
 his estates in the Bogra district, navigable for 
 laden country boats. Both in the. matter of 
 the erection of the Patharia Ghatta Ghat, and 
 in that of the construction and maintenance 
 .of the Karatoya works, he had to contend 
 .agaiiist an amount of , official obstruction and 
 pettifogging contentiousness which would have 
 quenched the , ardour of any less determined 
 man. 
 
A 2IEM0IU. 131 
 
 He sat on the committee appointed under 
 the Presidentship of Mr. Seaton-Karr to revise 
 the municipal constitution of Calcutta, the 
 report of which formed the basis of Act VI 
 of 1863. As a member of the Corporation, 
 he rendered the most valuable services on the 
 finance committee, and, along with Maharaja 
 Rama Nath Tagore and Babu Ram Gopal Ghose, 
 earned the thanks of the Hindoo community 
 by his sti'enuous opposition to the removal 
 of the Burning Ghat. When, in the end, 
 it was decided that the ghat should remain 
 where it stood, on the condition of its being 
 remodelled upon a plan consistent with the 
 requirements of sanitation and decency, he 
 was largely instrumental in raising the neces- 
 sary funds for the purpose. 
 
 In his private, as in his public, life Pro- 
 sunna Coomar's bearing was marked by an 
 absence of ostentation as rare among Natives 
 of India of his wealth and social position as it 
 was characteristic of the man. When he visited 
 his estates, he, much to the astonishment and 
 probably the disappointment of his tenants, 
 
1'32 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 'travelled in a common wooden palanquin, 
 such as one of his own Amlah, or any ordi* 
 nary traveller, might have used ; and when a 
 kumber of his tenants, being told by him in 
 ctnswer to their inquiries on the subject, that 
 he could not afford a silver palanquin, sub- 
 scribed together the sum necessary for the 
 purchase of such a luxurious equipage, he in- 
 sisted on their taking back their money, re- 
 marking that a silver palanquin would be less 
 convenient for his purpose than a wooden one. 
 ' Prosunna Coomar paid the common pen- 
 alty of well-known public benefactors. The 
 beggar, official as well as private, was ever at 
 his gate. But he knew how to refuse when the 
 object was of doubtful merit. Thus, when 
 the Magistrate of Hughli applied to him for a 
 subscription in aid of a road from Bidyabati 
 to the shrine at Tarkessur, for the accommoda- 
 tion of pilgrims, he very properly replied : — 
 ■ ' SiE, — I am favoured with your letter 
 inviting subscriptions for a road from Bid- 
 yabati to Tarkessur for the convenience of 
 pilgrims. 
 
A MEMOIR. ' 13a 
 
 ' You are no doubt aware that the teipple, 
 at Tarkessur yields large profits to its ov^ner^' 
 or Mohunt, derived from the eudpwni«nts, at- 
 tached to it and the offerings of the pilgrims* 
 To facilitate access to the temple; in thei' 
 manner you propose, would therefore be an 
 encouragement to many to flock to itat^all| 
 seasons of the year, and thereby promote the 
 profits of the owner. , 
 
 ' "Were the party himself to set such a plan 
 on foot, no person could blame him for taking 
 care of his interests ; but no man; on public, 
 grounds, could justify a,ny assistanqe being 
 given to the project exclusively for the; ac- 
 commodation o pilgrims who may resort to 
 the shrine, when the annual income of the 
 temple is more than sufficient to carry the 
 contemplated object into effect. 
 
 ' To make the road in question by public 
 subscription would, in fact, be for the benefit of 
 the Mohunt of the temple, who should be called 
 uj)on primarily to contribute for the purpose. : 
 
 ' Taking this view of the matter, it iS 
 questionable whether one-half of the expense 
 
134 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 of the road should be contributed by the 
 Government from the general revenue. It is' 
 true that all improvements in the means of 
 communication must be beneficial in the end ; 
 but in this instance the Government, as well 
 as those private persons who contribute, will 
 be encouraging at their expense the improve- 
 men of the resources of the Mohunt, or owner 
 of the temple. 
 
 ' I trust that the motive which has led you 
 to promote this work will induce you to re- 
 consider the matter, after making such local 
 inquiries as may be necessary to show the 
 real state of things.' 
 
 Prosunna Coomar was always scrupulously 
 exact in even the smallest matters of business. 
 The discharge of an obligation, however tri- 
 fling in itself, was in his eyes a sacred duty, 
 from which he never willingly allowed himself 
 to be excused. 
 
 On one occasion, when a friend at Bhagal- 
 pur, whom he had commissioned to procure 
 him some specially fine tobacco, declined to 
 receive payment for it, he wrote : ' According 
 
A MEMOIR. 135 
 
 to the rules of etiquette, if you persist, I shall 
 be obliged to comply with your wishes ; but 
 it will prevent me from asking you for your 
 kind assistance on future occasions, should I 
 require anything from Bhagalpur.' 
 
 The following letter to the Hon'ble Ashley 
 Eden, then Secretary to the Government of 
 Bengal, is interesting, not only as embodying 
 an expression of Prosunna Coomar's opinion 
 on the special question dealt with in it, but 
 as showing the view he took of the proper 
 attitude of the Government in respect of 
 projects of reform which, however desirable 
 in themselves, are in advance of Native 
 opinion : — 
 
 ' My dear Sik, — I have the pleasure to 
 acknowledge the receipt of your favour of the 
 11th instant, enclosing a copy of a correspon- 
 dence on the subject of the Hindoo practice 
 of taking sick people to the river-side to die, 
 and requesting me to submit to His Honour 
 the Lieutenant-Governor my opinion on the 
 following points: — 
 
 ' ( 1 ) Whether the practice of taking the 
 
136 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 sick to thfe river-side prevails, and to what 
 extent ? 
 
 '(2) Whether there is reason to believe 
 that it is used as a means of getting rid of 
 persons who are obnoxious or troublesome to 
 their relations ? 
 
 ' (3) Whether the dread of exclusion from 
 caste, and the belief in the efficacy of a river- 
 side death, act as inducements to the destruc- 
 tion of life in. the case of those who are taken 
 to the river- side to die? 
 
 ' (4) Whether the prohibition of the prac- 
 tice would be distasteful to the intelligent 
 portion of the Hindoo; population? 
 
 ' With regard to the first point, I beg to 
 state that the practice of removing sick people, 
 particularly of advanced age, to the river- side, 
 prevails generally in the Gangetic portion of 
 Lower Bengal, and is considered by their near- 
 est relatives as a duty incumbent upon them. 
 I quote in a separate paper authorities from 
 Shasters which have given rise to the practice, 
 and show its necessity for spiritual advantage. 
 From the purport of the texts quoted, His 
 
A MEMOIR. 137 
 
 Honour will observe that the custom of taking 
 the sick to the river-side, that they may die 
 with one-half of their body immersed in the 
 water and the other half placed on the bank, 
 is enjoined by religion. 
 
 ' In reply to the second point, permit me 
 to state that I never heard of an instance 
 in which the practice was used as a means 
 of getting rid of persons who were obnoxious 
 or troublesome to their relatives, and I do 
 not believe that such a means is adopted for 
 the purpose, when numerous easier means, 
 such as poisoning, oi: administering poisonous 
 medicines, may be had recourse to to get rid 
 of such persons. Nor have I ever heard that 
 a descendant or relation has been prompted 
 to participate in such an inhuman and unna- 
 tural deed for securing reversionary interest, 
 not to say that it is contrary to religious 
 injunctions and checked by worldly fear. 
 
 ' With reference to the third point, I have 
 to say that I know of several cases, some even 
 in my own family, of the return home of the 
 sick men from the river-side, when they were 
 
138 THE TA GORE FAMIL T. 
 
 removed and immersed in the river water 
 hastily, or by the advice of uneducated phy- 
 sicians, but they were never excluded from 
 caste. The only ceremony observed on such 
 occasions is the offering of poojah to the 
 Ganges, or other presiding deity of the river. 
 
 ' The Hindoos believe in the efficacy of a 
 river-side death, but the destruction of human 
 life is deemed so heinous an offence that the 
 one has no connexion with the other. The 
 object of river-side death is eternal happiness 
 of the deceased; and not the commission of 
 the atrocious crime of the destruction of 
 human life. 
 
 ' In answer to the fourth point, I beg to 
 state that the practice in question is so much 
 rooted in the minds of the Hindoos, whether 
 intelligent or not, by usage, custom, and the 
 injunction of the Shasters, that any authori- 
 tative interference would be distasteful to and 
 considered by all of them as the exercise of 
 a power by the ruling authorities. The word 
 " intelligent " is very vague and bears an ex- 
 tensive meaning, but it cannot be concluded 
 
A MEMOIR. 139 
 
 tliat men of intelligence will look without 
 dissatisfaction upon the abolition of a time- 
 honoured practice, especially as it is a duty 
 incumbent on the relations for the spiritual 
 welfare and faith of the dying, that is per- 
 formed without violating the rules of natural 
 law. 
 
 'In conclusion, I beg to observe that the 
 mind of the community is not yet prepared 
 for the abolition of the- practice ; but the time 
 will come when education will exercise greater 
 influence over the Hindoos, and when they 
 themselves will gradually discourage such 
 practices, first, by strictly adhering to the 
 spirit of the tenets of the Shasters, and then 
 restricting the observance to persons of ad- 
 vanced age. The observance will be spared 
 in the case of sick young persons, who are 
 now in a great many instances not. precipi- 
 tately removed to the river-side. From the 
 time of the celebrated reformer Kaja , Ram 
 Mohun Roy (I had the honour of being his 
 coadjutor), I always entertained the opinion : 
 — Let us begin the good work, and, as educa- 
 
140 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 tion spreads, the gradual disappearance of all 
 objectionable superstitious practices wUl be 
 the necessary result. Any authoritative inter- 
 ference will only make the people more obsti- 
 nate in their adherence to the practice. Let 
 the matter be left in the hands of the school- 
 master, who is already abroad and doing well, 
 and the object will be eventually gained. 
 His Excellency the Governor-General has very 
 justly doubted whether much weight can be 
 attached to the article in the Dacca Prokash. 
 It may be known to you that there are two 
 newspapers in the town of Dacca ; one is 
 called the Hindoo Hitoishini, and the other the 
 Dacca Herald. The former is the organ of 
 the orthodox Hindoos, and the latter that 
 of the Brahmos. The majority of the inhabi- 
 tants belong to the orthodox section of the 
 community. Their opinion should not, there- 
 fore, be lightly treated and their feelings dis- 
 respected.' 
 
 A similar view is expressed by him in a 
 letter to the Maharaja of Burdwan, on the 
 subject of a Bill which that nobleman 
 
A MEMOIR. 141 
 
 proposed to introduce for the suppression of 
 Kulin polygamy, 
 
 After observing that the Bill would be un- 
 likely to receive support, Prosunna Coomar 
 "writes : ' I do not think a body politic ought 
 to be allowed to interfere with our domestic 
 concerns, however objectionable they may be 
 in principle. Education and change of the 
 habits, notions, and ideas of the people will 
 suppress polygamy, and it has been gradu- 
 ally suppressed to a large extent,' 
 
 In the month of June 1866, Prosunna 
 Coomar Tagore was created a Companion of 
 the Star of India, and he was present at the 
 Viceregal Durbar at Agra in November of the 
 same year. 
 
 This was his last visit to the North-West- 
 ern Provinces. Early in the following year 
 his health began again to fail, and a severe 
 attack of rheumatism confined him to his 
 house. In October, his continued indisposi- 
 tion compelled him to resign the member- 
 ship of the Bengal Council. So anxious, how- 
 ever, was the Government to do him honour, 
 
142 THE TAG ORE FAMILY. 
 
 that, in December, he was, notwithstanding, 
 appointed a member of the Legislative Coun- 
 cil of the Viceroy, the privilege of the private 
 entree to Government House having been con- 
 ferred on him some days previously. 
 
 In the attainment of this honour he felt 
 that his highest ambition was fulfilled, and 
 the letters which he wrote to his friends on the 
 occasion show that he still expected to be able 
 to do some service to his country in his new 
 capacity. So anxious was he to take part in 
 the work of legislation that he abandoned a 
 projected visit to Moughyr to enable him to 
 attend the winter session. But his desire 
 was not to be gratified. For early in the fol- 
 lowing year he grew so much worse that he 
 was unable to take his seat, and was at last 
 obliged to obtain leave of absence, first for 
 a month, and then for the remainder of the 
 session. 
 
 Every remedy that European or Native 
 skill could devise, including even the milk of 
 the camel, was called into service, but without 
 material benefit to the patient. 
 
A MEMOIR. 143 
 
 On July 22 we find him, in what was 
 destined to be his last letter to his old friend 
 Mr. Dalrymple, writing : 'I am very weak. I 
 don't think I shall be able to visit Monghyr.' 
 
 On August 18 his nephew writes to a 
 friend that he is somewhat better. But the 
 improvement was of short duration, and on 
 the 30th of the same month he breathed his 
 last. 
 
 The disposition which he made of his 
 private estate by will was typical of the man 
 and worthy of his great reputation. The 
 legacies and bequests for religious, charitable, 
 and educational purposes amounted to nearly 
 seven lakhs of rupees. 
 
 The largest of these was a sum of three 
 lakhs of rupees left in trust to the Calcutta 
 University for the foundation of a law profes- 
 sorship, to be called the ' Tagore Law Profes- 
 sorship,' 10,000 rupees to be paid annually as 
 salary to the Professor, and the residue to be 
 applied to the printing of the lectures, and the 
 ;gratuitous distribution of at least 500 copies 
 ;o£ each course. To the District Charitable 
 
144 THE TAGOBE FAMILY. 
 
 Society he left 10,000 rupees ; and a similar 
 sum to the Calcutta Native Hospital. 
 
 For the maintenance of a hospice and dis- 
 pensary, and for the service of the temple at 
 Mulajore, he left a lakh of rupees, besides the 
 estate of Mulajore and the surrounding vil- 
 lages, yieldiag an income of 16,000 rupees a 
 year ; and a sum of 35,000 rupees was fur- 
 ther set apart for the erection of a building 
 for the accommodation of the Sanskrit Col- 
 lege at the same place, already mentioned. 
 To various dependents he bequeathed upwards 
 of a lakh of rupees. 
 
 But perhaps the noblest of all the pro- 
 visions of the will was one by which the de- 
 ceased left a sum of 100 rupees for every rupee 
 of monthly salary to all his servants of ten 
 years' standing or upwards, and a sum of fifty 
 rupees for every rupee of monthly salary to 
 all his servants of five years' standing and 
 upwards. 
 
 His vast landed estates he bequeathed 
 to the direct elder male representative of the 
 senior branch for the time being of the 
 
A MEMOIR. 145 
 
 family of his brother, Babu Hurro Coomar 
 Tagore, and upon failure of his lineal male de- 
 scendants, to the testator's own general heirs. 
 
 After a long and expensive litigation, the 
 provisions of this will were, however, materi- 
 ally modified by the Privy Council. 
 
 On October 29, on the requisition of the 
 British-Indian Association, a public meeting 
 was held in the hall of that institution to do 
 honour to the memory of Prosunna Coomar. 
 
 Among those present were Mr. John 
 Cochrane, the Hon. Mr. Skinner, Mr. H. L. 
 Dampier, Mr. J. B. Roberts, Mr. C. Paul, Mr. 
 W. P. Davis, Mr. R. Turnbull, Mr. Orr, Raja 
 Satto Charan Ghosal, Raja Norendra Krishna, 
 Kumars Sattyananda Ghosal, Harendra Krish- 
 na, and Grish Chunder Singh ; Babus Digum- 
 ber Mitter, Doorga Churn Law, Peary Chand 
 Mitter, Debendra Mullick, Rajendra Lai 
 Mittra, Kishori Chand Mitter, Roma Nath 
 Law, Koonja Lai Banerjea, Persad Dass Dutt, 
 Persad Dass Mullick, Moulvi Abdul Luteef 
 Khan Bahadur, Manockjee Rustomjee, Esq., 
 Cowasjee Rustomjee, Esq., and many others. 
 
 C, TF 10 
 
146 TBE TAOORE FAMILY^ 
 
 On tlie motion of Raja Satto Charan Gho- 
 sal, the chair was taken by Mr. Cochrane, 
 who read the following letters : — 
 
 ' TO THE RAJA STJTYA SAKAN GHOSAL 
 
 BAHADOOE, C.S.I., Vice- President, B. I. A. 
 
 ' Sobiia Bazar Bajbaree, October 29, 1868. 
 
 ' My deak Raja, — I have just received 
 the printed letter, and much regret that un^ 
 certain health prevents my attendance at 
 the public meeting, called by you this after- 
 noon, to commemorate the good name of our 
 citizen, the late lamented legislator, the Hon. 
 Prosonno Coomar Thakoor, C. S. I., with 
 whom I was intimately associated from the 
 beginning. 
 
 ' His public career as well as his private 
 virtues are so well-known to the community, 
 that it needs no support from me in the 
 proceedings of the day. In conclusion, allow 
 me to offer my mite of deep condolence to 
 the Thakoor family for the personal bereave- 
 ment. 
 
 ' Trusting his memory is in the grateful 
 
A MEMOIR. 147 
 
 keeping of the meeting, under God's provi- 
 dence. 
 
 ' I remain, yours faithfully, 
 ' Kalikrishna, Raja Be.' 
 
 ' to the chairman 01" the meeting to 
 commemorate the memory of hon.- 
 prosonna coomar tagore, c.s.i. 
 
 ' Ooterparah, October 29, 1888. 
 
 ^ Dear Sir. — I regret exceedingly that 
 owing to ill-health I shall not be able to 
 attend the meeting that has been called for 
 to-day for the purpose of commemorating the 
 memory of Hon. Prosonno Coomar Tagore, 
 C.S.I., but I yield to no one in the grateful 
 appreciation of the important public services 
 which my late lamented friend rendered to 
 our country, and in deploring the national 
 loss which his death has created amongst us. 
 From the commencement of his public career 
 he was always a staunch and independent 
 advocate of our political rights, and a zealous 
 promoter in the cause of social reform. In 
 the columns of his own paper (the Reformer) 
 
48 I'HE TAOORE FAMILY. 
 
 he first began to demand for the Natives 
 those political rights some of which it was 
 his delight in maturer years to see conferred 
 on his countrymen, and also to impress on 
 the people the necessity of a wide diffusion of 
 education, which has since tended so much 
 towards the progressive advancement of the 
 nation. He took a principal part in the agita- 
 tion which took place throughout this Presi- 
 dency in consequence of the indiscriminate 
 resumption of Lakhiraj lands by Government, 
 and his exertions resulted in greatly modi- 
 fying the severity of the Resumption Law. 
 The benefit which he conferred on the country 
 and on the Native Bar by enlisting himself as 
 a member of the latter body, and raisino- the 
 Bar to a position of dignity and independence, 
 will be long remembered. He was one of 
 the original projectors and afterwards one of 
 the active members of the Landholders' So- 
 ciety and also of the British-Indian Associa- 
 tion, and there was scarcely a movement 
 during the last forty years, either for the 
 assertion of the political rights or for the 
 
A MEMOIR. 149 
 
 social advancement of the people, in which he 
 was not either the originator or one of its 
 warmest supporters. The assistance which he 
 rendered to Government, both in his capacity 
 as Clerk Assistant to the late Legislative 
 Council and as a Member of the Bengal Coun- 
 cil, and by his written opinions to different 
 officers of Government, must have been in- 
 valuable from the intimate acquaintance he 
 had with the condition of every class of the 
 Native community, and the extensive store of 
 information which he possessed on all sub- 
 jects connected with the administration of the 
 country, and which he used on all occasions 
 with a power of generalisation and a clearness 
 of judgment which are rare even in this ao^e 
 of intellectual advancement. His princely 
 public donations and his private charities are 
 also well known, and his contributions to the 
 Hindoo legal literature, and the depth of his 
 knowledge of Indian law and procedure, had 
 gained for him not unjustly the sobriquet of 
 Lord Lyndhurst of Bengal. The death of 
 such a man we cannot sufficiently deplore, 
 
150 THE TAGORE FAMILY 
 
 and I shall be glad to subscribe to any 
 measure wbicb the meeting might adopt for 
 doing honour to his memory. His death has 
 been a personal loss to me, who have had the 
 honour of associating with him and benefiting 
 by his counsel for upwards of thirty years. 
 
 ' In conclusion, I beg to request the favour 
 of your submitting this expression of my 
 views to the meeting. 
 
 ' Yours very truly, 
 
 'JOYKISSEN MOOKEEJEA.* 
 
 The Chairman having addressed the meet- 
 ing in a speech in which he bore testimony to 
 the high character of the deceased ; to his per- 
 sistent advocacy of the rights, and his constant 
 efforts to promote the education, of his country- 
 men ; to his kindness and liberality, especial- 
 ly to his dependents, and to the benevolent in- 
 junctions he had left regarding the protection 
 of the tenantry on his estates, Kumar Sattya- 
 nand Ghosal moved the first resolution : — 
 
 'That this meeting desires to record its 
 deep sense of sorrow at the death of the late 
 
A MEMOIR. 151 
 
 Hon. Prosonno Coomar Tagore, C.S.I., who 
 by his eminent abilities as a lawyer, thorough, 
 knowledge of the condition and wants of the 
 Native community, large experience, active 
 co-operation in all public matters, great social 
 influence, and liberal support of projects of 
 general usefulness, rendered services which 
 entitle his memory to the grateful respect of 
 the Indian public' 
 
 The motion was seconded by Babu Ra- 
 jendralala Mitra, in an eloquent and feeling 
 speech, and, being put, was carried by accla- 
 mation. 
 
 The second resolution was moved by 
 Raja Norendra Krishna : — 
 
 ' That a marble bust of the late Hon. 
 Prosonno Coomar Tagore, C.S.I., be placed 
 in the hall of the British-Indian Association 
 as a memorial of his eminent public services, 
 and that public subscriptions be invited in 
 furtherance of this subject.' 
 
 This resolution, which was seconded by 
 Babu Kishori Chand Mitter, was also car- 
 ried, and a Committee formed to carry it out; 
 
1 52 THE TA G ORE FA MIL T. 
 
 and the bust referred to in it now adorns the 
 Calcutta Town Hall. 
 
 Prosunna Coomar Tagore collected, at 
 great cost, one of the finest legal libraries in 
 the country, which is now in the possession 
 of his nephew, the Hon. Maharaja Jotendra 
 Mohun Tagore, Bahadur, C.S.I., and which 
 contains many rare Oriental works not easily 
 procurable elsewhere. 
 
 He left one son, Ganendra Mohun Tagore, 
 who is a convert to Christianity, and was 
 disinherited by his father. 
 
 HuERY Mohun Tagoee. 
 
 Hurry Mohun Tagore, the fourth son of 
 Darpa Narayan, was celebrated for his piety 
 and his strict adherence to Hindoo religious 
 usages. He daily offered oblations to tire, 
 and performed certain arduous Brahminical 
 ceremonies. 
 
 Bishop Heber, who on one occasion visited 
 his country-house, thus describes his impres- 
 sions in one of his letters : — 
 
 ' I have become acquainted with some of 
 
A MEMOIR. 153 
 
 the wealthy Natives of -whom I spoke, and we 
 are just returned from passing the evening at 
 one of their country-houses. This is more 
 like an Italian villa than what one should 
 have expected at the residence of Baboo 
 Hurree Mohun Thakoor. Nor are his car- 
 riages, the furniture of his house, or the style 
 of his conversation of a character less de- 
 cidedly European. He is a fine old man, 
 who speaks English well, is well informed on 
 most topics of general discussion, and talks 
 with the appearance of much familiarity on 
 Franklin, chemistry, natural philosophy, &c. 
 His family is Brahminical and of singular 
 purity of descent ; but about four hundred 
 years ago, during the Mahoraraedan invasion 
 of India, one of his ancestors having become 
 polluted by the conquerors intruding into 
 his zenanah, the race is conceived to have 
 lost claim to the knotted cord, and the more 
 I'igid Brahmins will not eat with them. 
 Being, however, one of the principal landr 
 holders in Bengal, and of a family so ancient, 
 they still enjoy to a great degree the veneration 
 
154 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 of the common people, which the present 
 head of the house appears to value, since I 
 can hardly reconcile in any other manner his 
 philosophical studies and imitation of many 
 European habits, and the daily and austere 
 devotion which he is said to practise towards 
 the Ganges (in which he bathes three times 
 every twenty-four hours ), and his veneration 
 for all the other duties of his ancestors. He is 
 now said, however, to be aiming at the dignity 
 of Raja, a title which at present bears px'etty 
 well the same estimation here as a peerage in 
 England, and is conferred by Government in 
 almost the same manner. 
 
 ' The house is surrounded by an extensive 
 garden, laid out in formal parterres of roses, 
 intersected by straight walks, with some fine 
 trees, and a chain of tanks, fountains, and 
 summer-houses not ill-adapted to a climate 
 where air, water, and sweet smells are almost 
 the only natural objects which can be relished 
 during the greater part of the year. 
 
 * There are also swings, whirligigs, and 
 other amusements for the females of his family, 
 
A MEMOIR. 155 
 
 but the strangest was a sort of "Montagne 
 Russe" of masonry, very steep, and covered 
 with plaster, down which the ladies used to 
 slide, Of these females, however, we saw 
 none — indeed, they were all staying at his 
 town-house in Calcutta. He himself received 
 us, at the head of a whole tribe of relations 
 and descendants, on a handsome flight of steps, 
 in a splendid shawl by way of mantle, with a 
 large rosary of coral set in gold, leaning on 
 an ebony crutch with a gold head. Of his 
 grandsons, four very pretty boys, two were 
 dressed like English children of the same age ; 
 but the round hat, jacket, and trousers by no 
 means suited their dusky skins so well as the 
 splendid brocade caftans and turbans covered 
 with diamonds which the two elder wore. On 
 the whole, both Emily and I have been greatly 
 interested with the family, both now and 
 during our previous interviews. TVe have 
 several other Eastern acquaintances, but none 
 of equal talent, though several learned MooUahs 
 and one Persian doctor, of considerable reputed 
 sanctity, have called on me.' 
 
156 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 The account given by the Bishop of the 
 circumstance owing to which the ancestors of 
 the Tagores were held to have forfeited their 
 title to wear the Brahminical thread differs 
 somewhat, it will be seen, from that given in 
 the earlier part of this Memoir, and there is 
 a conflict of tradition on the subject which, 
 at this distance of time, it would be impossible 
 to decide with certainty. 
 
 The suspicion apparently entertained by 
 liim that the austerity of Hurry Mohun 
 Tagore's worship of the Ganges was dictated 
 by regard for Native opinion rather than by 
 conviction, is opposed to all that is known of 
 his character. 
 
 Hurry Mohun was an advocate of the 
 practice of Suttee, and, on the occasion of a 
 meeting of Hindoo gentlemen, held for the 
 purpose of voting an address of thanks to Lord 
 Hastings, on the eve of his departure fr^m 
 Bengal, he seconded an amendment, proposed 
 by Babu (afterwards Raja) Radha Kanta Deb, 
 that Lord Hastings should be specially thank- 
 ed for the protection and encouragement he 
 
A MEMOIR. 157 
 
 had given to that rite. The amendment was, 
 however, rejected by a large majority. 
 
 In 1824 Bishop Heber gave a grand even- 
 ing party at his house, at which Lord and Lady 
 Amherst, and also a large number of Native 
 gentlemen of rank were present. Hurry Mohun 
 Tagore was amohg the guests, and was intro- 
 duced by Bishop Heber to the Chief Justice. 
 A discussion arose during the evening on the 
 subject of the seclusion of Hindoo women, in 
 which the Bishop, Hurry Mohun, and lladha 
 Kanta Deb all took part ; the Bishop arguing 
 that the custom was not sanctioned by ancient 
 Hindoo usage, but had been introduced after the 
 Mahommedan invasion, and Hurry Mohun re- 
 plying that it was too late now, after so many 
 centuries, to think of going back to old cus- 
 toms, while Radha Kanta Deb insisted on the 
 necessity of education as a condition precedent 
 of the abandonment of the existing usage. 
 
 A curious story is told of the recovery of 
 Hurry Mohun from a dangerous illness with 
 which he was attacked during a visit to his 
 estates in Dinajpur. 
 
158 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 After he had been given up -by all the 
 attendant Kobu'ajes, and removed into the 
 open air, according to Hindoo custom, to 
 die, an old woman suddenly appeared on the 
 scene and offered to cure him if he were 
 placed under her care. As there appeared to 
 be no other hope, his attendants consented, 
 whereupon the old woman punctured the top of 
 the patient's head with a sharp fish-bone and 
 applied a small quantity of some grey powder 
 to the wound. Strange to say, in about an 
 hour's time Hurry Mohun recovered his senses, 
 and in a few days he was completely restored 
 to health. 
 
 Out of gratitude he settled a large piece 
 of land in perpetuity on the old woman whom 
 he believed to have effected the marvellous 
 cure. 
 
 Hurry Mohun left an only son, Wooma 
 Nundun Tagore, more famiharly known as 
 Nundo Lai Tagore, who was distinguished 
 for his scholarship, and, Hke his father, was 
 a staunch adherent of orthodox Hindooism. 
 He attacked the theistic views of Ram Mohun 
 
A MEMOIR. J59 
 
 Roy in a work called the 'Pashundo Puran,' 
 and was answered by the great reformer in 
 the Paihya Pradhan. 
 
 He possessed also, in a conspicuous de- 
 gree, the passion for music that seems to have 
 been hereditary in the family, and was him- 
 self an accomplished singer and player on 
 the sitar. The musicians of Calcutta looked 
 upon him as their patron, and at the festival 
 of Basanta Phnchami annually assembled in 
 his house and presented him with the Basanta 
 gadwa, an offering made by votaries of the 
 art to their patrons, and consisting of a brass 
 or earthenware vase, surmounted with fresh 
 mangoe leaves and yellow flowers, emblem- 
 atical of spring, and years of corn, symbolis- 
 ing plenty. 
 
 He is said, too, to have been the Bengali 
 Beau Brummel of his time, and was recognised 
 as the leader of fashion in matters of dress. 
 
 He left three sons, Lalit Mohun, Woo- 
 pendra Mohun, and Brojendra Mohun. 
 
 The former was of a retiring disposition, 
 and devoted his time largely to the study of 
 
160 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 the Hindoo violin, on which he attained to 
 great proficiency. He again, left two sons, 
 Judoo Nundun and Raghoo Nundun, the 
 latter of whom is still living. 
 
 Woopendra Mohun, the second son of Woo' 
 ma l^undun, who also is still living, mixed a 
 great deal in English society in his younger 
 days, but, owing to the state of his health, 
 has long retired from active life. 
 
 Brojendra Mohun, the youngest son, was 
 an excellent man of business, and managed 
 the paternal estates even during his father's 
 lifetime. He died young, leaving an only 
 son, Anunda Mohun, who studied for the lavr 
 and was enrolled as a pleader of the High 
 Court, but, owing to ill-health, never practis- 
 ed. He was well known for his fondness for 
 literature, and for the excellent library which 
 he possessed and placed freely at the disposal 
 of his numerous friends. 
 
 The youngest son of Darpa Narayan was 
 Mohini Mohun Tagore, who died at an early 
 age, but not without acquiring a great reputa- 
 tion for liberality. He bequeathed a sum of 
 
A MEMOIR. 181 
 
 Rs. 64,000 for the building of a temple, which 
 is at present deposited in the High Court. 
 
 He left two, sons, Kanay Lai and Gopal 
 Lai, the latter of whom was well-known for 
 his amiable character and his extensive chari- 
 ties, both private and public. At his death 
 he bequeathed handsome sums of money to 
 • the District Charitable Society of Calcutta, 
 the Mayo Hospital, the Fever Hospital, and 
 the Police Hospital, and a lakh of rupees, 
 together, with land, for the building, of a 
 temple. a^ec^ ^i,^^ 
 
 His son, Kally Kristo Tagore, who is 
 still living, has followed in his father's foot- 
 steps, and is a large donor to most of the 
 principal charities and educational institutions 
 of the metropolis, including the District 
 Charitable Society, the Mayo .Hospital, the 
 North Suburban Hospital, the Roman Ca- 
 tholic Orphanage, the Science Association 
 (started by Dr. Mahendra Lai Sarkar), and 
 the Oriental Seminary. 
 
 He is a man of liberal education and en- 
 lightened views, but,. owing to bad health, he 
 
 C, TF 11 
 
162 TBM TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 mixes but little in public life. He is, bow- 
 ever, a skilful man of business, and one of 
 tbe best and most popular landlords in the 
 country. 
 
 JOTENDEA MOHUN TaGORE. 
 
 Huro Coomar Tagore, the eldest brother 
 of Prosunna Coomar Tagore, had two sons, 
 Jotendra Mohun Tagore, now the Hon. 
 Maharaja Jotendra Mohun Tagore, Bahadur, 
 C.S.I., and the head of the family, and Sou- 
 rendra Mohun Tagore, now Raja Sourendra 
 Mohun Tagore, CLE. 
 
 Maharaja Jotendra Mohun Tagore was 
 bom in Calcutta in the year 1831. After 
 acquiring the elements of a sound vernacular 
 education at home, according to the custom 
 of his family, he, when eight years of age, 
 entered the Hindoo College, and continued 
 his studies there till the age of seventeen. 
 After leaving the College he completed his 
 English education at home under the private 
 tuition of Captain D. L. Richardson, the 
 well-known scholar and poetical writer, the 
 
A MEMOIR. 163 
 
 Rev. Dr. Nasli, and other competent Euro- 
 pean instructors. 
 
 Along with that devotion to Sanskrit 
 studies which we have seen to have been 
 hereditary in the family for a long series of 
 generations, he displayed from an early 
 period a marked taste for literary composition 
 both in English and in the vernacular, and 
 especially for poetry, as the verses contri- 
 buted by him to the Frovakar, then edited 
 by the well-known Bengalee poet, Ishwar 
 Chundra Gupta, and in the Literary Gazette 
 testify. 
 
 At a comparatively early age he turned 
 his special attention to the drama, and has 
 not only, by his liberal patronage and per- 
 sonal exertion, done more than any man 
 living to develop and raise the character of 
 the Native stage, but has himself composed a 
 large number of Bengalee dramas aud farces 
 in the vernacular, among which the ' Bidya 
 Suhdara Natak ' occupies the foremost place, 
 and is entitled to rank among the classical 
 compositions of the day. 
 
164 TEE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 His Eesthetic taste soon led him to see 
 that an improved orchestra was the necessary 
 complement of an improved stage. Here his 
 musical knowledge stood him in good stead, 
 and, along with his brother, Sourendra Mohun 
 Tagore, he applied himself with success to 
 the task of developing a new system of con- 
 certed music, which has now been generally 
 adopted for dramatic and other purposes. 
 
 He was largely instrumental in the or- 
 ganisation of the theatrical entertainments at 
 the Belgatchia Villa which helped so much 
 to popularise the Bengalee drama .in its 
 modern form, and thus paved the way for 
 the establishment of public Native theatres. 
 
 Though theatrical performances by pro- 
 fessional Native artistes are now, thanks to 
 the stimulus thus given to the taste of the 
 people, almost nightly occurrences in Cal- 
 cutta, the private dramatic entertainments 
 still given by the Maharaja in his house have 
 not only lost none of their old attraction, but 
 occupy a position of pre-eminence in the 
 public estimation, and are attended by the 
 
A MEMOIR. 166 
 
 &"fe of both tlie European and the Native 
 community. 
 
 Maharaja Jotendra Mohun Tagore has 
 been, from the commencement of his public 
 career, an active member of the British 
 Indian Association, and, after filling for some 
 time the office of Honorary Secretary, he 
 was, in 1879, elected its President. 
 
 In the beginning of the year 1870 Sir 
 William Grey appointed him a Member of 
 the Bengal Council, in which capacity he 
 rendered such excellent service that in 1871 
 he was nominated for a further term of 
 membership by Sir George Campbell. 
 
 The following letter, inviting him to re- 
 tain office, testifies to the high opinion enter- 
 tained of him by a Lieutenant-Governor who 
 was above flattery : — 
 
 'Belvedere, Alipore, October 5, 1S71. 
 
 ' My deak Raja, — I hope you will allow 
 me to nominate you for another term in the 
 Bengal Legislative Council. Your high cha- 
 racter and fair mode of dealing with all ques- 
 
166 TBE TAGOEE FAMILY. 
 
 tions render your assistance especially valu- 
 able, and I have much confidence that you 
 are a man not bound to class interests, but 
 prepared to look to the good of the whole 
 community, high and low alike. 
 
 'Believe me, very truly yours, 
 
 (Sd.) ' G. Campbell. 
 
 • Raja Jotendra MchnB Tagore, &c.' 
 
 Previously to his retirement, Sir George 
 Campbell's predecessor in office, Sir William 
 Grey, had strongly recommended Jotendra 
 Mohun to the Government of India for a suit- 
 able title, and on March 17, 1871, Lord Mayo 
 accordingly conferred on him the rank of 
 Eaja Bahadur. 
 
 In making this recommendation, Sir Wil- 
 liam Grey wrote : — 
 
 * Babu Jotendra Mohun is a man of great 
 enlightenment, and has had a thoroughly good 
 English education. He is one of the leading 
 members of the native community, is of 
 unexceptionable private character, and is held 
 by his fellow countrymen in the highest 
 
A MEMOIR. 167 
 
 respect. He is a useful member of the Council 
 of the Lieutenant-Grovernor, and takes a deep 
 and thoughtful interest in the progress of the 
 country. He has estates in the districts of 
 Midnapore, Faridpore, Moorshadabad, Raj- 
 ehahye, Nuddea, and the Twenty-four Par- 
 gannas, and during his lifetime enjoys the 
 revenue of the large estates of the late Rai 
 Prosunna Coomar Tagore in Rungpore and 
 other places. He has always been found 
 ready to contribute liberally to schools, roads, 
 and other objects of public interest, both in 
 Calcutta and in the districts in which his 
 estates are situated, and has helped to promote 
 science and literature amongst his countrymen 
 by large contributions to that end. He regu- 
 larly maintains eighteen poor students in 
 Calcutta, and he fully accepted the obligation 
 of his position in the famine, 1866, remitting 
 the rents of his ryots, and feeding 250 
 paupers daily in Calcutta for a period of three 
 months.' 
 
 The ceremony of investiture was per- 
 formed by Sir George Campbell, who thus 
 
les THE TA GORE FAMILY. 
 
 addressed Raja Jotendra Mohun Tagore on 
 the occasion : — 
 
 ' I have to convey to you the high honour 
 which His Excellency the Viceroy, as the 
 representative of Queen Victoria, has been 
 pleased to confer on you. I feel a peculiar 
 pleasure in being thus the channel of con- 
 veying this honour to you, 
 
 ' You come from a family great in the 
 
 annals of Calcutta, I may say great in the 
 annals of the British dominions in India, 
 conspicuous for loyalty to the British Govern- 
 ment and for acts of public beneficence. 
 
 ' But it is not from consideration of your 
 family alone the Viceroy has been pleased to 
 confer the high honour upon you. You have 
 proved yourself worthy of it by your own 
 merits. Your great intelligence and ability, 
 distinguished public spirit, high character, 
 and the services you have rendered to the 
 State deserve a fitting recognition. 
 
 ' I have had the pleasure of receiving 
 your assistance as a rnember of the Bengal 
 Council, and can assure you that I highly. 
 
A MEMOIR. ' 169 
 
 appreciate the ability and information which 
 you bring to bear upon its deliberations. 
 Indeed, nothing can be more acceptable to 
 me than advice from one like yourself. It is 
 true -we have had occasion to diflfer, and 
 honest differences of opinion will always pre- 
 vail between man and man; but, at the same 
 time, I can honestly tell you that when we 
 have been on the same side, I have felt your 
 support to be of the utmost value, and, when 
 you have chanced to be in opposition, yours 
 has been an intelligent, loyal, and courteous 
 opposition.' 
 
 The liberal measures of relief mentioned 
 in the above address as having been adopted 
 by the Raja on his estates in Midnapore 
 during the famine of 1866 gained for him the 
 special thanks of the Government. 
 
 At the assemblage held at Delhi on Jan- 
 uary 1,' 1877, on the occasion of the assump- 
 tion of the Imperial title by Her Majesty 
 the Queen, the title of Maharaja* was further 
 conferred on him by Lord Lytton, the sanad 
 
 * This title was recognised as hereditary on January I, 1891 . 
 
170 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 being presented to him by Sir Ashley Eden 
 at a durbar at Belvedere, in which he occu- 
 pied the place of honour, on August 14 
 following. 
 
 In the meantime, on February 1 of the 
 same year, the Maharaja had been appointed 
 a Member of the Legislative Council of the 
 Governor-General ; and so valuable was the 
 assistance rendered by him in the deliberations 
 of the Council, especially in the discussion of 
 the provisions of the Civil Procedure Bill, 
 that he was reappointed in 1879. 
 
 In the course of the debate on the above 
 Bill, Sir A. Hobhouse, the Legal Member of 
 Council, said : — 
 
 ' Whatever can be said on that subject 
 will be said by my friend Maharaja Jotendra 
 Mohun Tagore ; for in Committee he has sup- 
 ported the views of the objectors with great 
 ability and acuteness, and I must add with 
 equal good feeling and moderation.' And 
 again : 'If the clause stood as in Bill No. IV., 
 I confess I should not be able to maintain my 
 ground against such an argument as we have 
 
A MEMOIR. IVl 
 
 heard from my honourable friend, Maharaja 
 Jotendra Mohun Tagore. I have shown that 
 conviction in the most practical way by suc- 
 cumbing to his arguments in Committee, and 
 voting with him on his proposal to alter Bill 
 No. IV.' 
 
 On July 28 in the same year, Maharaja 
 Jotendra Mohun Tagore was created a Com- 
 panion of the Order of the Star of India.* 
 
 He is also a Justice of the Peace for the 
 Town of Calcutta, Fellow of the University of 
 Calcutta, Trustee of the Indian Museum, and 
 Governor of the Mayo Hospital. 
 
 Besides inheriting extensive lande^ pro- 
 perty from his father, the Maharaja holds for 
 life the usufruct of the estates of the late 
 Prosunna Coomar Tagore, and is thus a 
 large landholder in as many as a dozen dif- 
 ferent districts of Bengal. The population on 
 his various estates is estimated to aggregate 
 nearly 600,000 souls ; and the revenue he 
 
 * The Maharaja was made a Koight Commander of the 
 aforesaid Order on May 24, 1882. On January 1, 1890, the title 
 of Maharajsk Bahadur was conferred upon him. 
 
172 TEE TAG ORE FAMILY. 
 
 pays to Government amounts to between three 
 and four lakhs of rupees a year. 
 
 The Maharaja is a Hberal donor and sub- 
 scriber to most of the public institutions of 
 Calcutta, and made a free gift to the Trustees 
 of his interest in the land on which the new 
 Chandny Hospital at Pathariaghatta is built. 
 
 Among the services which he has rendered 
 to the cause of Native education is the founda- 
 tion of two scholarships of Rs. 20 each, one 
 for Sanskrit, in the name of his father, Huro 
 Coomar Tagore, and the other for law, in the 
 name of his uncle, Prosunna Coomar Tagore 
 and a further scholarship for Sanskrit, of the 
 value of Rs. 8 per mensem, in the name of 
 Prosunna Coomar Tagore. 
 
 His country seat, the ' Emerald Bower,' 
 where he had the honour of entertaining 
 General Grant, the ex-President of the United 
 States, during his late visit to Calcutta, is one 
 of the most handsomely furnished villas in 
 the neighbourhood of the metropolis, and 
 contains a collection of paintings which is 
 probably the finest in India. 
 
A MEMOIR. 173 
 
 SOURENDEA MoHtJN TaGORE. 
 
 Huro Coomar Tagore's second son, Souren- 
 dra Mohun Tagore, now Kaja Sourendra Mo- 
 hun Tagore, CLE., whose learned investiga- 
 tions into the theory, and efforts for the 
 advancement of the art, of Hindoo music have 
 secured him a world-wide reputation and an 
 unprecedented number of honorary distinc- 
 tions from the governments and from learned 
 societies of almost every civilised country, 
 was born in the year 1840. 
 
 At the age of nine he entered the Hindoo 
 College, where he remained nine years. While 
 still a schoolboy, he displayed unusual literary 
 talent, and at the age of fifteen wrote a 
 concise outline of the history and geography 
 of Europe, which was published in the year 
 1857, under the title of ' Bhugol o Itihas 
 ghatita Brittanto,' while a year later he pro- 
 duced an original drama in the vernacular,, 
 entitled the ' Muktabali Natak,' and sometime 
 afterwards a translation into Bengali of the 
 * Malabikagnimitra ' of Kali Das. 
 
174 THE WA OOEJE! FAMIL T. 
 
 At about the same age he commenced the 
 study of the art to which the greater part of 
 his subsequent leisure may be said to have 
 been devoted, and, after mastering its elements, 
 took lessons under the well-known teachers 
 Latchmi Prasad Misr, and Professor Khettra 
 Mohan Goswami. 
 
 Convinced that any advance on existing 
 methods must be based on comparative investi- 
 gation, he applied himself to the study of 
 English music also, and engaged a German 
 professor to teach him the pianoforte. 
 
 "With a view to a thorough examination of 
 the different theories of music, he further made 
 an extensive collection of the principal works 
 on the subject, ancient and modern, European 
 and Oriental. The result was the composition 
 of the ' San git- Sara,' a work on the theory of 
 music, compiled from ancient authorities, and 
 a long series of musical treatises and original 
 compositions. 
 
 Among these may be noticed : — 
 
 Jatiya Sangita Bizhayaka Prostava, or a Discourse 
 on I^ational Music, in Bengali. 
 
A MEMOIR. 175 
 
 Tantra-Khettra-Dipilea, or a treatise on the Sitara, 
 containing precepts and examples on the rudiments of 
 Hindoo Music, intended as an introduction to the study 
 of the above instrument. Illustrated with various 
 exercises and ninety-four airs arranged according to the 
 present system of Hindoo notation. 
 
 Mridanga Manjari, a treatise on the Mredanga (a 
 percussion instrument). 
 
 ^katana, or the Indian Concert, containing the ele- 
 mentary rules of the Hindoo musical notation with a 
 description of the signs most frequently used in airs 
 intended for the jEkatana, 
 
 BarmoniuntrSutra, or a treatise on the Harmonium. 
 (Translation.) 
 
 Hindoo Music, from various authors. Part I. (Com- 
 pilation.) 
 
 Hindoo Music, reprinted from the Hindoo Patriot, 
 September 7, 1874. 
 
 Yantra-Koaha, or a Treasury of the Musical Instru- 
 ments of ancient and modern India and of various other 
 countries, in Bengali. 
 
 Victoria-Gitika, or Sanskrit Verses, celebrating the 
 deeds and virtues of Her Most Gracious Majesty, Queen 
 Victoria, and her predecessors, composed and set to music 
 by the Author (with a translation.) 
 
 Sangit-Sara-Sangrdha, or Theory of Sanskrit Music, 
 compiled from the ancient authorities, with various criti- 
 cisms and remarks by the Author. 
 
176 THE TAOORE FAMILY. 
 
 English Verses, set to Hindoo Music, in honour of 
 His Eoyal Highness the Prince of Wales. 
 
 Prince Fanchasat, or Fifty Stanzas in Sanskrit, in 
 honour of His Eoyal Highness the Prince of Wales, 
 composed and set to music by the Author (with a trans- 
 lation). 
 
 Six Principal Ragas, with a brief view of Hindoo 
 Music and with their emblematical representations. 
 
 Victoria Samrajyan,av Sanskrit Stanzas (with a trans- 
 lation) on the various dependencies of the British Crown, 
 each composed and set to the appropriate national music, 
 in commemoration of the assumption by Her Most 
 Gracious Majesty, Queen Victoria,. of the Imperial title. 
 
 Of these, the volume on the six principal 
 Ragas, composed with a view of imparting an 
 idea of Indian melodies to the Prince of Wales, 
 and handsomely illustrated with lithographic 
 pictures of the Ragas, is, perhaps, the most 
 interesting to the general reader. 
 
 The following notice of this work from the 
 Pall Mall Gazette gives a good idea of its 
 contents : — 
 
 Hindoo Music* — In a quarto volume, handsomely illus- 
 trated with lithographic engravings by a Nativeartist, Doctor 
 Sourindro Mohun Tagore has taken in hand to give a lucid 
 
 * Six Principal Hayas, with a Brief View of Hindoo Music, By 
 Sonrindro Molmn Tagore, Mus, Doc, Calcutta, 1875. 
 
A MEMOIR. 177 
 
 exposition of the origin and characteristics of Hindoo music. 
 To begin with the beginning, the Sanskrit word sAngita has 
 the three-fold signification of song, percussion, and dancing. 
 The works that describe the jjrinciples and laws of vocal 
 and instrumental music and of all kinds of spectacular enter- 
 tainments are called sdngita sastras. Trom the scientific 
 point of view, a sdngita sastra may be considered as treating 
 ' of the origin and propagation of nada, or sound ; of the 
 doctrine of srutis, or the theory of Sanskrita intervals ; of 
 the doctrine of swaras, or musical sounds ; of the formation 
 of the different species of scales ; of the rules of murch- 
 chhanaa and tanas ; of the composition of ragas and their 
 various modifications and variations ; of the variety of taJas, 
 or times conformable to regular metre ; and of the rules and 
 directions with respect to the various styles of theatric 
 representation, considered as an art. It lays down the 
 necessary directions for the cultivation of the human voice, 
 for the performance of instrumental music, and for the 
 various motions and gestures in dancing' There are two 
 kinds of sdngita, the one of divine origin, and therefore 
 universally venerated ; the other secular, and reflecting the 
 peculiar habits, customs, and feelings of the tribe or people 
 out of whose daily life it has sprung into existence. In these 
 degenerate days, however, little regard is paid to the severe 
 rules touching ragas and raginis laid down by Sanskrit 
 authorities; while dancing has long since' ceased to be a 
 moving presentment of ' sacred love and affection ' such as 
 ' animated the heart of the ancient Hindoos.' 
 
 The mystery of Hindoo music consists largely in its 
 srutis, or minute intervals, distinctly perceptible to an 
 Indian ear, but which the duller European organism fails to 
 appreciate. There are twenty-two kinds of sruti to each 
 saptaha, or octave, the compass of the Hindoo scale being 
 limited to three octaves of seven notes each. Strictly speak- 
 ng, i t is understood that no human voice can compass more 
 than two-and-a-half saptakas, and that consequently has 
 
 n Tl? 1 9. 
 
178 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 become the limit of instrumental music. A sruti is a 
 quarter-tone, or the third of a tone, according to its posi- 
 tion in the scale. In the arrangements of intervals it is 
 admitted that Sanskrit writers were not mathematically 
 accurate, but on the other hand, it is contended that ' sense 
 and a ' well-cultivated ear ' are more necessary than mathe- 
 matics for the comprehension of music. The aggregate 
 result of a number of srutis is called a swara or musical 
 sound, and is said to exercise ' a calm and soothing influence 
 on the ear.' In number the Hindoo notes are the same as 
 those of western nations, and their initial letters serve to 
 exhibit the gamut or saptaha, which, though called an 
 octave, has actually only seven notes, sa, ri, ga,7na,pa, 
 dha, ni. These various gradations of sound are supposed 
 to have been derived from the cries of animals and the songs 
 of birds. The first, sa, say the Sanskrit writers, ' was imi- 
 tated from the call of the peacock ;' the second, ri, ' from 
 the bellowing of the ox ; ' the third g^a, ' from the bleeting 
 of the goat ; ' the fourth ma, ' from (he howling of the jackal, 
 or from the voice of the crane ,' the fifth, pa, ' from the call 
 of the blackbird, called kokhilla ; ' the sixth, dha, ' from the 
 sound of the frog, or from the neighing of the horse ; ' and 
 the seventh, ni, 'from the noise of the elephant.' The 
 imitations are happily more melodious than the originals. 
 riats and sharps are respectively named komala and tivra, 
 and are produced by raising or depressing a note the value 
 of one or two srutis. The difference between the vikrita 
 swaragrama of the Hindoos (the seven notes of the saptaha 
 form twelve nkritas ; and the English chromatic scale lies 
 in this — that the former proceeds by semitones and srutis, 
 and the latter by a regular succession of semitones. The 
 early Sanskrit writers ranged the notes under four castes — 
 Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, and Sudras — corresponding 
 to the major tones, minor tones, semitones, and the chromatic 
 notes of western music. The predominant character of 
 Hindoo music being melody, harmony is regarded as alto- 
 gether insignificant, though occasionally used for quite 
 
A MEMOIR. 179 
 
 exceptional purposes. Passing over an extremely learned 
 disquisition on the nature and attributes of murchahhanas, 
 seven of which belong to each saptaka, or octave of seven 
 notes, we come to the tala or Hindoo time. A tala, which 
 literally means the beating of time by the clapping of hands, 
 is ' metrically divided by a certain arrangement of matras,' 
 and it takes four matras to constitute a measure. 
 
 Several pages having been devoted to showing what a 
 raga is not, the reader is at length informed that it ' signifies 
 an effect on the mind produced by the agreeable relation 
 of successive notes, each raga having some aiBnity with a 
 certain feeling or affection of the mind.' The sentiments 
 they are supposed to illustrate are love, mirth, tenderness, 
 anger, heroism, terror, disgust, and surprise. They are 
 usually sung once in their simple form, and then repeated 
 with variations. In the formation of a raga at least five 
 notes are required, and when rhythm is imparted it receives 
 the character of gita, a name applied to ' all measured strains 
 of music, whether vocal or instrumental.' The six original 
 ragas, whose names need hardly be transcribed, ' are re- 
 stricted for their performance to particular times and seasons. 
 They are each represented as a demigod, wedded to six 
 roffinis or nymphs.' 
 
 To attempt to give an intelligible idea of the Indian 
 system of notation would require far more space than the 
 subject deserves ; but it may be stated that only one line is 
 used, with the initials of the seven notes and with certain 
 subsidiary signs. 
 
 From a scientific point of view, the high- 
 est value probably attaches to the ' Sangit- 
 Sara-Sangraha,' which teems with quotations 
 from the Sanskrit classics, and the ' Yantra- 
 Kosha,' which contains a full account, in 
 
180 THE TAG ORE FAMILY. 
 
 Bengali, of the construction of the musical 
 instruments of various countries in ancient and 
 modern times, both of which works have been 
 very highly praised by the learned Professor 
 Weber. 
 
 Much as Raja Sourendra Mohun Tagore has 
 done to promote a knowledge of Hindoo music 
 by the publication of these works, his great- 
 est service to the cause has been his establish- 
 ment of the Bengal Music School, an insti- 
 tution for the teaching of Hindoo music on 
 scientific principles, which is fast placing the 
 practice of the art in Bengal on a sound footing, 
 and has already popularised its study to an 
 extent hitherto unknown in India in modern 
 times. 
 
 This institution, which has been founded 
 and maintained entirely at the expense of the 
 Eaja, was opened on August 3, 1781. To it 
 is attached a branch school, called the Kolhu- 
 tolah Branch Musical School, and also main- 
 tained at the expense of the Eaja. 
 
 The students, who are taught by compe- 
 tent professors, are charged only a nominal fee, 
 
A MEMOIR 181 
 
 and valuable prizes are awarded at the periodi- 
 cal examinations. 
 
 Tlie Raja himself frequently visits the 
 school and displays the greatest interest in its 
 progress. The annual musical festival and 
 distribution of prizes is attended by large 
 numbers of Europeans interested in Native 
 education, and its usefulness has been recog- 
 nised in the warmest manner by the educa- 
 tional authorities of the country, and by suc- 
 cessive Viceroys and Lieutenant - Governors, 
 as well as by Her Majesty the Queen-Empress 
 herself, in a certificate presented to the Raja 
 in her name by Sir Richard Temple. 
 
 Raja Sourendra Mohun Tagore's patronage 
 of music and musical studies is not confined 
 to his own school. He contributes a liberal 
 monthly stipend for the maintenance of a 
 teacher of music at the Calcutta Normal 
 School, besides awarding annually two silver 
 medals to the most successful students ; sup- 
 plies music-masters and musical books to 
 numerous public and private schools at his 
 own expense, and is always ready with Ma 
 
1 82 THE TA GORE FAMIL T. 
 
 purse to encourage musical artistes and 
 authors. 
 
 His efforts for the diffusion of a hetter 
 knowledge of the principles and practice of 
 Hindoo music abroad are no less conspicuous 
 than his exertions for the promotion of the 
 art at home. A mere enumeration of the 
 governments, museums, learned societies, and 
 universities that are beholden to him for col- 
 lections of books on the subject, or of speci- 
 mens of Indian musical instruments, would 
 occupy several pages of this Memoir. 
 
 The following list of some of the orders, 
 titles, distinctions and decorations conferred on 
 him will convey an idea of the extent of his 
 reputation : — 
 
 India. — Companion of the Order of the Indian Em- 
 pire; Sanad of the Title of Raja, with Khilat ; Certifi- 
 cate of Honour from the Government, as Founder of the 
 Bengal Musical School ; Fellow of the University of 
 Calcutta ; the gold Decoration of the Gurkha Star of 
 Nepaul ; Degrees of Sangita Silpa-Bidyasagara and 
 Bharatiya-Sangita-Nayaha from Nepaul. 
 
 America. — Degree of Doctor of Music (April 1875). 
 
 England. — Member of the Royal Asiatic Society, and 
 
A MEMOIR. 183 
 
 Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature ; Honorary 
 Patron of the Society of Science, Letters, and Art, of 
 London. 
 
 France. — Officer of the Academy, Paris ; Officier de 
 I'Instruction Publique, France ; Honorary Member of 
 the First Class of the Academic Montreal. 
 
 Portugal.^ChevsiW&c of the Eoyal Potuguese Mili- 
 tary Order of Christ. 
 
 Sardinia. — Patron of the Athenaeum of the Royal 
 University of Sassari. 
 
 Sicily. — Honorary Member of the Royal Academy, 
 Palermo. 
 
 Italy. — Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of 
 St. Cecilia, Rome ; Honorary Member of the Societa 
 Didiisealica Italiana ; Academic Correspondent of the 
 Royal Musical Institute, Florence ; Co-operating Mem- 
 ber of the Academia Pittagorica, Naples (with a silver 
 medal) ; Corresponding Member of the Royal Academy of 
 Rafiaelle, Urbino (with a medal) ; Honorary Member of 
 the Philharmonic Academy of Bologna ; Benemerito of 
 the Royal University of Parma ; Ordinary Member of the 
 Oriental Academy, Florence ; Corresponding Member of 
 the Royal Academy, Turin ; Honorary Member of the 
 Societa Operaria di Lucca ; Gold medal from the Reale 
 Societa Didasoalica Italiana, Roma. 
 
 Switzerland. — Corresponding Member of the Geneva 
 Institute. 
 
 Austria. — Commander of the Most Exalted Order of 
 
184 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 Francis Joseph ; Corresponding Member of the Oriental 
 Museum, Vienna. 
 
 Saxony. — Knight Commander of the first class of the 
 Order of Albert. 
 
 ^eZ^jMm.— Knight Commander of the Order of Leo- 
 pold ; Associate Member of the Royal Academy of 
 Science, Letters, and Fine Arts, Brussels. 
 
 Holland. — Foreign Member of the Royal Philological 
 and Ethnographical Institution of Netherlands India at 
 the Hague ; Corresponding Member of the Society of 
 Amsterdam. 
 
 Sweden. — Honorary Member of the Royal Musical 
 Academy, Stockholm, with a gold medal. 
 
 Greece. — Honorary Member of the Archseological So- 
 ciety of Athens. 
 
 Turkey. — The Imperial Order of Medjidie of the 
 second class from His Majesty the Sultan of Turkey. 
 
 Egypt. — Chevalier of the Imperial Order of Medji- 
 die. 
 
 Ceylon. — Honorary Member of the Royal Asiatic 
 Society, Ceylon. 
 
 iSza/n.— Decoration of the Order of Basabamala from 
 His Majesty the King. 
 
 Java — Corresponding Member of the Society of Arts 
 and Sciences, Batavia, and a Medal struck on the occa- 
 sion of the first centennial of the Society. 
 
 Australia. — Honorary Member of the Philharmonic 
 Society of Melbourne. 
 
A MEMOIR. 185 
 
 Franc Chevalier of tbe Order of tbe Knights of the 
 Holy Saviour, Montreal, Jerusalem, Rhodes, and Malta. 
 
 Knight of Honour of the Order Caballeios Hospital- 
 aros of Spain. 
 
 First Class of the Celestial Imperial Order of the 
 Precious Star of China. 
 
 High Protector of the Order of the Humanitarian 
 Academy of the White Cross, Leghorn. 
 
 Cavalier of Honour of the Academic Order of Buenos 
 Ayres (South America). 
 
 Honorary President of the Propaganda di Scieuza 
 Popolare, Naples ; with a Gold Medal. 
 
 Imperial High Order of the Lion and Sun from His 
 Imperial Majesty the Shah of Persia. 
 
 Fellow of Trinity College, London. 
 
 The Title of Nawab from His Impelial Majesty the 
 Shahen Shah of Persia. 
 
 The list might be considerably extended 
 and a still longer one made of the medals, 
 acknowledgments, and complimentary pre- 
 sents of photographs, autographs, books and 
 musical instruments, which the Raja has re- 
 ceived from royal and eminent personages, and 
 learned societies, in various parts of tlie world. 
 
 On January 1, 1880, Sourendra Mohun 
 .Tagore was invested with the Companionship 
 
 C, TF 13 
 
186 THE TAGORE FAMILY. 
 
 of the Order of the Indian Empire, and on 
 the third of the following month the title of 
 !Raja, long previously conceded him by cour- 
 tesy, was formally conferred on him by Lord 
 Lytton, whose warm personal congratulations 
 he received on both these occasions. 
 
 Besides the works already mentioned, 
 Kaja Sourendra !&Iohun Tagore is the author 
 of the ' Eight Principal Rasas of the Hindoos' 
 a translation of the Veni Sanhara Natak, or 
 * Binding of the Braid ;' Rome Kavya, a 
 poetical history of Rome, from its foundation 
 to the present day, in Sanskrit ; and the 
 Manimala, a voluminous and learned poly- 
 glot work on gems, compiled from various 
 sources. Oriental and European, and replete 
 with curious as well as practical information. 
 
 Kaja Sourendra Mohun Tagore is an 
 Honorary Magistrate and Justice of the 
 Peace for the Town of Calcutta, and is joint 
 owner, with his brother, of the vast hereditary 
 estates which have already been mentioned 
 in the Memoir of the latter. 
 
 He has two sons, Kumar Promodh Tagore 
 
A MEMOIR. 187 
 
 and Kumar Pradyota Kumar Tagore,* the 
 former of whom was married with great edat 
 on January SI, 1880, on which occasion the 
 Raja presented the munificent sum of Rs. 
 8,000, besides large quantities of clothes, to 
 the District Charitable Society of Calcutta. 
 
 * Pradyota Kumar has been adopted by Maharaja Baha- 
 door Sir Jotendro Mohun Tagore, K.C.S I. 
 
 PRINTED BT THAOEKR, SPINK AND CO., CALCUTTA.