Twelve Men of Bengal in the Nineteenth Century
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TWELVE MEN OF BENGAL IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY BY F. B. BRADLEY-BIRT INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE With Twelve Illustrations FOURTH EDITION CALCUTTA : S. K. LAHIRI AND CO., COLLEGE STREET [ALL RIGHTS RESERVED] Price Re. I/- Printed and published by S. K. Banerjee at the Cotton Press, 57, Harrison Road, Calcutta for Messrs. S. K. Lahiri & Co. 10-1-27 XX. PREFACE. THE following pages attempt to give a necessarily short but, it is hoped, complete sketch of the lives of twelve among the most prominent men of Bengal in the Nineteenth Century. The difficulty of selection where so many names occur will be obvious. I have, however, by no means attempted to select the twelve most distinguished names of the century, but rather those whose lives may be regarded as typical of the varied conditions of Bengal during that momentous period in its history. The selection has been further guided by a desire to cover the whole of the century so that the book may be not only a record of the lives of Twelve Men of Bengal but a comprehensive though brief sketch of the wonderful revival, social, moral and intellectual, which came to the Province during the period. Among the six Hindus and the six Muhammadans, to whom the present volume has been limited will be found the social reformer and the merchant prince, the religious revivalist and the philanthropist, the Government official and the educationalist, the descendant of a long line of ruling chiefs and the self-made man who won his own way to wealth and influence. If by serving to remind the people of Bengal of the splendid examples that the great men of their own race have set before them, and by bringing home to Englishmen a greater know- iv TWELVE MEN OF BENGAL. ledge of a few of the noble and devoted lives lived by men of Bengal in the Nineteenth Century, this little book may in its own small way increase the respect and sympathy between men of different creeds and races, it will amply fulfil its purpose. Save in the case of Haji Mahomed Mohsin, of whose family I know of no representative surviving and in writing of whom I have had the kind assistance of the Mutwali of the Hooghly Imambara, I have to thank very cordially the representatives of the subjects of these sketches for the material assistance they have given me and for the interest they have taken in the book. F. B. B-B. CONTENTS. PAGE. 1. RAM MOHAN ROY .. .. 1 2. HAZI MAHOMED MOHSIN . 35 3. RAMTANU LAHIRI . 61 x 4. NAWAB AMIR ALI KHAN BAHADUR .. 89 5. MAHARAJADHIRAJ MAHTAB CHAND RAI BAHADUR or BURDWAN . 101 6. NAWAB ABDUL LATIF KHAN BAHADUR ,. Ill 7. KESHUB CHANDRA SEN . 141 8. NAWAB SIR KHAWJA ABDUL GHANI MIA 173 9. MAHARAJA DURGA CHARAN LAW . 185 10. NAWAB BAHADUR SYED WALAYET ALI KHAN .. .. ..199 11. MAHARAJA SIR JOTINDRA MOHAN TAGORE 219 12. NAWAB SIR SYED HASSAN ALI MIRZA KHAN BAHADUB, AMIR-UL-OMRAH . 24.1 Ram Mohan Roy RAM MOHAN ROY. 17721833. AMONG the famous men of Bengal in the nine- teenth century no name deserves a more honoured place than that of Earn Mohan Roy. At once the- pioneer of the great Renaissance that was slowly dawning in Bengal and the first representative of India to the British people, he opened up to his fellow countrymen new paths of progress and reform. When as yet the old traditions and the old beliefs, clothed in the gathering ignorance of centuries, still held their ground unchallenged, he zealously sought fresh knowledge and, when found, proclaimed it unafraid. Against ignorance and superstition he waged constant warfare, striving always to find the truth in all things. Hinduism both in its social and religious aspects had fallen on evil days. Sunk in apathy and fast bound by tradition, it was left to Ram Mohan Roy and his little band of followers to prepare the way for its Renaissance. By his cease- less labours in the cause of education, his successful advocacy of the abolition of Sati, his endeavours to purify the Hindu faith, and by his wonderful bring- ing together of East and West in the last three vears O o *t of his life, he has left an undying claim upon the of his fellow-countrymen. c?gratitude 2 TWELVE MEN OF BENGAL. Ram Mohan Roy was born on May the 22nd. 1772, . at Radhanagar near Krishnagar. He came of a Brahman family, Kulins of the highest caste, which had won rank and wealth in the service of the Nawabs of Bengal. His grandfather, Brajabinode Roy, was like all his family a zealous follower of the Vaishnava sect. Nothing but the most unusual circumstances, therefore, accounted for the fact that his fifth son Ram Kanto Roy, the father of Ram Mohan Roy, was married to a girl whose father not only was a Bhanga Kulin, one who had broken his Kulin caste, but was also a priest of the rival sect of the Saktas. Brajabinode Roy, it is said, lay dying on the banks of the Ganges when a priest suddenly appeared before him and craved of him a boon. The dying man, anxious to comply with a priest's request, gave the required promise and further at the priest's request .swore by the holy Ganges to fulfil it. The priest thereupon asked to be allowed to bestow his daughter in marriage upon one of Brajabinode's sons. This was' a request that Brajabinode, as an orthodox Kulin, would have scouted had he not sworn by the sacred river, but, having done so, he had no alternative save to fulfil his promise. So, calling his sons, he turned to the eldest and bade him espouse the girl, only to meet with a determined refusal. His next three .sons also declined in their turn. Ram Kanto Roy, the fifth son, however, unwilling to refuse his father's last request reluctantly consented to take the unwel- RAM MOHAN ROY. 3 <come "bride and in due course married her. It was a strange union from which to spring so ardent a reformer as Ram Mohan Roy. Brought up in the midst of such orthodox surroundings Ram Mohan early showed signs of a religious bent of mind. His father, having retired from the service of the Nawab, was spending his days in pious meditations and religious exercises at Radha- nagar and he early took steps to secure for his son a sound classical education. When the latter had finished -his first course of study at the local patshala considerable where he hajl already acquired profi- ciency in Persian, he was sent to Patna and Benares to acquire Arabic and Sanskrit. Here his studies appear to have been somewhat more liberal than those usually indulged in at the time and he is said to have become acquainted with Arabic translations of Euclid and Aristotle as well as with the Koran. The latter made a deep impression on his mind and it is probable that it was this early study of it that later led him to question the orthodox beliefs in which he had been brought up. His first religious enthusiasms, however, were naturally for the old faith. It is said that at the age of fourteen nothing but his mother's, earnest entreaties withheld him from leaving home as a sannya&i. Every home influence ran on orthodox lines. Already long before he had reached an age of discretion he had been married three times according to Kulin Brahman 4 TWELVE MEN OF BENGAL. usages. There is no record of the first marriage1 but he was married for the second and third time when he was only nine years old. His father, zealous and devoted, from the first continually- instructed him in the religious observances of his faith, while his mother having accepted her husband's beliefs showed all the enthusiasm of a convert. It is thus evident that from his earliest years nothing but the most orthodox influences surrounded the future reformer. How great a hold they retained over him through all his schemes for advancement and reform his future actions show. The sacred Brahmanical thread was worn by him till the end, being found upon him after his death in England fifty years later. Yet so eager had been his thirst for knowledge- that* before he had reached his sixteenth year he was able to discuss religious matters on an equality with his father. Gradually the discussions, grew 1 into arguments, respectful always on Ram Mohan's - side yet none the less determined and sincere, until at last father and son realised that they differed .fundamentally and hopelessly on matters of belief. It was a terrible blow to Ram Mohan's orthodox parents and relations. Hinduism, as they practised as with it, he regarded overlaid superstition and idolatry. Already his studies in the sacred books of his faith had led him to regard the modern practice of it as a false and degenerate RAM MOHAN ROY. 5 exposition of the pure original belief. With Hinduism as yet he had no quarrel, but with the abuses that had crept into it he thus early began his long and gallant struggle. So incompatible had his views become with the orthodox home life of his family and so great was his desire for more knowledge that he decided to leave home -at least for a time. Eager to study other religions, to see if they had preserved the truth he so much desired to find, his thoughts turned towards Buddhism and Tibet.