Dwarkanath Tagore
Dwarkanath Tagore ( Bengali : দ্বারকানাথ ঠাকুর , Dbārakānāth Ṭhākur ; * 1794 ; † August 1, 1846 in London ) was a Bengali entrepreneur , social reformer and patron from Kolkata .
Life
Rabindranath Tagore's grandfather was a Brahmin of the highest caste who, however , had fallen into disrepute among the other members of the caste group, the Kulin-gotra , because parts of the family had converted to Islam, the so-called Piralis ; Although the name “Thakur” (Anglicized “Tagore”) means something like “Lord, Lord, God”, the inferiority to the high brahmin caste has always remained a thorn in the flesh of the family and can be used as a motive for Tagore's entrepreneurial commitment and the Establishing the Brahmo Samaj . As a landowner, entrepreneur and initiator of countless cultural and economic ventures, Tagore's influence in Kolkata and Bengal in the early 19th century was significant on the modernization of the country and the way India saw itself. In addition to his economic activities, Tagore remained an official of the East India Company throughout his life .
Tagore learned the rules of Permanent Settlement (the land and tax constitution), the Supreme Court and local legal relationships from a British lawyer and was soon fluent in Persian and English; As a successful Zamindar (large landowner and tax collector), he gradually acquired numerous lands, which, in contrast to his Babu country people ( Babu , the counterpart to the Anglo-Indian nouveau riche, the Nabob ), had some European employees cultivated. He used the funds available to him to found and promote those ventures that the monopoly of the East India Company allowed: he founded a bank ( Carr, Tagore and Co. , after the Parsi Bank in Bombay the first Anglo-Indian joint venture), the establishment of coal mines, tea planting in Assam , ship transports with tea to London, shipping companies with contacts as far as China (the sailors transported opium, which the English East India Company officially did not want or was not allowed to import; opium war ) , a steamship company on the Hugli , an insurance company, extensive indigo production and property ownership, and two English-language newspapers.
Tagore enjoyed a high reputation and lived as a nouveau riche d. H. as a successful climber. So he gave lavish parties with elephants, boat trips and ice cream in the converted and newly decorated former palace of the Governor General Auckland, the Belgachhia Villa, for his European and local guests, including the Governor General himself. Until 1838 he ate - according to his mother's wish - not with the guests, so as not to pollute themselves. As an Indian, he had been refused entry to the traditional Bengal Club in the British White Town.
Tagore was also strongly committed to social, cultural and educational institutions. a. the Asiatic Society , of which he was a member since 1829, the Calcutta Medical College and the Sans Souci Theater.
He made his first trip to Europe (1842) via Suez on his own steamship; his encounters with the British Queen Victoria , King Louis-Philippe I of France, the British Prime Minister Robert Peel and the writers Dickens and Thackeray , who himself came from Kolkata, caused a sensation.
Tagore campaigned since 1828 in the religious reform movement Brahmo Samaj together with his contemporary Ram Mohan Roy (1772–1833) , who also came from Bengal, against outdated caste regulations and belonged to the first generation of Hindu reformers, whose strongest supporter from 1839 was his eldest son Debendranath Tagore became. He was followed by Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (1820–1891), Michael Madhusudan Dutt (1824–1873), Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (1838–1894) and finally Vivekananda (1863–1902) during the so-called Bengali Renaissance .
On his second trip to Europe in 1846, Dwarkanath Tagore died in Europe, as did Ram Mohan Roy before him, albeit deeply in debt; the economic crisis of the 1840s and his princely lifestyle had robbed him of his fortune.
On the occasion of his first stay in England in 1842 he took care of the grave of Ram Mohan Roys in Bristol. Dwarkanath Tagore's grave is in Kensal Green, London.
literature
- Blair B. Kling: Partner in Empire. Dwarkanath Tagore and the Age of Enterprise in Eastern India. Calcutta, 1981.
- NK Sinha: The Economic History of Bengal 1793-1848. Vol. III. Calcutta 1984.
Quote
- “Thakur… in Bengal, the name of a Brahmin family which the family members Anglicized to Tagore and among whom were people of character and importance. Best known is Dwarkanath Tagore, a man of liberal streak and entrepreneurial spirit (Wilson) ”- Hobson-Jobson, Anglo-Indian Dictionary, sv Thakur.
Web links
- Dwarkanath Tagore on banglapedia.org
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Tagore, Dwarkanath |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Bengali entrepreneur, social reformer and patron |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1794 |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 1, 1846 |
| Place of death | London |