Gouri Sen, Hari Ghosh, Banamali Sarkar, Gobindram Mitter, Umichand, and Huzoorimal are some legendary personalities, who have survived in public memory in Bengal or what are now the Bengali speaking areas of India and Bangladesh through popular rhymes or sayings. Some of them were based in Kolkata and others were linked to the growing metropolis.
Gouri Sen (1580 - 1667) lived in the 17th century. He was born and hailed from Balir More (Near Bandel Church) of Hooghly Town of Hooghly District, West Bengal. He was the son of Nandaram Sen. The family belonged to the Subarna Banik caste, people who are engaged in business. Gouri Sen earned enormous amounts of money from the family export-import business and was well known in business circles. He donated freely to repay debts of other people or to help those who were in trouble over payments to be made to the royal exchequer[ citation needed ] . This was the source of the Bengali saying laage taka debe gouri sen – "If money is required Gouri Sen will give it". Many people think that he constructed the Gourishankar Shiva temple at his birthplace at Boral Lane also known as Boral Goli Hooghly and many people used to visit this temple to offer puja. [1]
Hari Ghosh (1720 – 1806) was dewan of Munger fort of British East India Company. He had command over Bengali, Persian and English languages. On retirement, he settled down in Kolkata. He donated freely for social requirements. Many poor students, who went to the city for studies availed of the free facilities of food and lodging in his house in north Kolkata. Many people gathered in his sitting room to participate in idle discussions and then had dinner in his house. Thus arose the saying Hari Ghosher goal – "Hari Ghosh’s cattle shed". [2]
There is a Bengali rhyming proverb:
Banamali Sarkar was the first dewan to the resident at Patna and subsequently deputy trader to the British East India Company at Kolkata. [4] His grand house was built in Kumartuli during the period 1740 to 1750. [5]
Gobindram Mitter was one of the earliest Indian officials under the British rule and earned a reputation for his tyranny, wealth and extravagance. [6]
Umichand (also known as Amin Chand or Amir Chand) was a Sikh businessman who had come to Kolkata from Amritsar when the British were just making forays into the country. He played a major role in establishing the British in India. He had earned fabulously in business with the British East India Company and donated all his wealth for religious purposes at the time of his death. [7] [8] He was known as 'the Rothschild of his day' - and lives in history by reason of his deception at the hands of Clive. [9]
Huzoorimal was a Sikh friend of Umichand. He had earned fabulously and was famous for acts of public beneficence – a tank at Baitakkhana, a bathing ghat south of where Howrah Bridge now stands (later known as Armenian ghat), the steeple of Armenian church, and a ghat near the Kali temple at Kalighat. [10]
Mahesh Chandra Ghosh (1868–1930) was a Bengali Indian philosopher. He was conferred the title of Vednataratna for his immense knowledge of the religious scriptures and philosophy.
Aghore Nath Gupta (1841–1881) was a scholar of Buddhism and a preacher of the Brahmo Samaj. He was designated Sadhu (saint) after his premature death in recognition of his pious life. Sivanath Sastri wrote about him, "His unfeigned humility, deep spirituality and earnest devotion were a new revelation to the members of the Samaj."
Hindu School is a state government-administered school in Kolkata (Calcutta), India. This is the Oldest Modern Educational Institution in Asia. The institution played a key role during Bengal Renaissance period. It is located on College Street, in the vicinity of Hare School, College Square, Presidency University, Sanskrit College, Calcutta Medical College and the University of Calcutta.
Beni Madhab Das was an erudite Bengali scholar, a renowned teacher and a great patriot in British India. Subhas Chandra Bose was his student at Ravenshaw Collegiate School and he left an indelible mark in the mind of his young student, as acknowledged in his book Bharat Pathik. When Bose was under internment and had decided to leave India, he wanted the blessings of his teacher, and so a clandestine meeting was organized for the purpose. A number of his other students occupied important positions in life. His personal life of dedication and devotion inspired all his students on to an eventful life. He was what was referred to as an exemplary teacher.
Barasat Kalikrishna Girls' High School is a high school for girls in Barasat, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
Bharatchandra Ray Gunakor was an 18th-century Bengali and Sanskrit poet and song composer. He is mostly known for his poetic work, Annadamangal or Annapurnamangal. He is often referred to simply as Bharatchandra. Maharaja Krishnachandra of Nadia conferred him with the title Gunakor, after which he became famous as Ray Gunakor Bharatchandra.
Sir Rajen Mookerjee was a pioneering Bengali Indian industrialist.
Gobindram Mitter was one of the earliest Indian officials under the British rule and earned a reputation for his wealth and extravagance.
Ramanath Tagore, also spelled Roma Nath Tagore, was one of the leading social figures in 19th-century Kolkata, British India. The son of Rammani Tagore of the Jorasanko branch of the Tagore family, he was younger brother of Dwarkanath Tagore and a cousin of Prasanna Coomar Tagore. Later, he acquired the family property at Battala, one of the Kolkata neighbourhoods.
Rai Bahadur Hara Chandra Ghosh was one of the prominent leaders of the Young Bengal group. He was the first Bengali to be a judge of the Calcutta Small Causes Court from 1854 to 1868. H.E.A. Cotton says, "In his youth, he was a favourite pupil, as the Rev. K.M.Banerjee had been of David Hare and Derozio: but unlike others he maintained his Hinduism." He earned fame as a judge and was not involved in religion and social reform.
Bipradas Pipilai was a 15th-century poet. He was the son of Mukunda Pipilai, the family hailed from Baduria-Batagram in 24 Parganas, now in the Indian state of West Bengal.
Mahendralal Sarkar CIE was a Bengali medical doctor (MD), the second MD graduated from the Calcutta Medical College, social reformer, and propagator of scientific studies in nineteenth-century India. He was the founder of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science.
Raja Digambar Mitra was one of the leading Derozians and first Bengali Sheriff of Kolkata.
Akshay Chandra Sarkar was a poet, an editor and a literary critic of Bengali literature. He was an editor weekly Sadharani (1874).
The Hindoo Patriot was an English weekly published from Kolkata in the later half of the nineteenth century in Bengal.
Jiban Ghoshal alias Makhanlal was an Indian independence activist and a member of the armed resistance movement led by Masterda Surya Sen, which carried out the Chittagong armoury raid in 1930.
Manindra Nath Nayak was a Bengali revolutionary and Indian independence activist.
Deben Sen, was an Indian trade union activist.