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Contents
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Page No.
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Preface
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Foreword
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vii
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In the summer of 1959, a Rockefeller grant enabled me to visit
England, the USA and some countries in Europe, to meet writers in different
languages. During my tour I was invited by the Oxford University Press (OUP),
London, and the Grove Press, New York, to write a full length biography of
Rabindranath Tagore which they proposed to publish in collaboration.
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Acknowledgements
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xiii
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The AUTHOR'S sincere thanks are due to the National Book Trust
without whose initiative, persistent pressure and whole-hearted coorperation
this book could not have seen the light of day; to the British Council,
London, for their advice and assistance during his researches in London in
1976; to the Director, Deputy Director and their colleagues in the India
Office Library; to the Librarian, Public Library, Edinburgh, and the
Archivist of the city Council,..
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Abbreviations
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xv
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KCM: Kisori Chand Mittra: Memoir of Dwarkanath Tagore.
KKD: Kalyan Kumar Dasgupta: His notes to the Bengali edition of KCM's Memoir.
KNT: Kshitindranath Thakur: Dwarkanath Thakurer Jivani.
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As Legends Go
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1
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The Tagores, like other high castes of Bengal, trace their
genealogy to an interesting, though not very credible, legend. Myth is the
mother of history everywhere, but perhaps more so in India than elsewhere. The
mother in India is still very much alive.
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From Legend To History
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13
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The story of early Bengal and the ancestry of Tagores-the two
are interlinked-as related so far has drawn mainly on the myths and legends
current in that respect. Myths and legends need not be dismissed as wholly
irrelevant and meaningless, simply because they cannot be historically
verified.
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Birth And Early Years
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23
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Dwarkanath was born in 1974, the second son and fourth child of
Nilmani's second son Rammani and his first wife Menaka. About the same time,
Menaka's sister Alakasundari, married to Nilamni's eldest son Ramlochan, bore
a daughter who, as stated earlier, died in infancy.
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Dwarkanath And Rammohun
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34
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But the most remarkable thing about this ambitious restless and
rising young man was that money-making, however exciting, did not absorb all
his interest. The more he admired the British, the more he wondered why his
own country and people, whose potential was no less abundant than that of
Britain and her natives, should be so steeped in poverty and ignorance.
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Dwarkanath As Zamindar And As Company Servant
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74
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What sort of Zamindar was Dwarkanath? As far as one may judge
from the records available, he was no better and no worse than the majority
of landlords of that period. He was, however, more efficient than most. In
the words of Blair Kling who seems to have made a careful study of the
records: 'As a zamindar Dwarkanath was mercilessly efficient and
businesslike, but not generous.
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Entrepreneur
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82
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Whatever else Dwarkanath was-and he was many things-he was first
and foremost an entrepreneur. What he took in hand he made of it an enterprise.
In that respect he may be said to have been creative. He was daring and
unafraid of risks in exploring new fields.
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Dwarkanath in Public Life
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98
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What was Dwarkanath like as a human being, as a man among men?
What did he look like? He was without doubt good-looking, as the Tagores
generally were, and they took care to marry good looks rather than dowry,
except when fate played a trick, as in the case of the most glamorous of them
all, the poet Rabindranath who married neither beauty nor fortune.
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First Voyage
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152
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Dwarkanath had for some time been contemplating a visit to
Europe and Britain. According to a letter he wrote after arrival in London,
the visit had been 'the object of my twenty years' contemplation'.
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Home Coming
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206
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The Homecoming was no doubt joyous and an occasion for festivity
by his numerous friends and admirers. But there were storms ahead. 'You will
be amused when I tell you,' wrote James Hume to a friend in England, that
Dwarkanath Tagore, the lion of two countries, the favourite guest of Royalty,
has been,-what do you think?-disgraced! Expelled (by) his family, repudiated
by kith and kin!-and why?
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Second Voyage
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226
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The Bentinck left town this morning with about eighty
passengers,' reported Bengal Hurkaru of Saturday evening, March 8, 1845.
Among the eighty were Dwarkanath and party.
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Interlude in Paris
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243
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Nobin Chunder wrote in a letter of 20 November, 1845, 'I hear
the King of the French enquired after my uncle in Paris (and so) he will be
obliged to go there for a short time at least.'
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Last Days
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265
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On 18 March 1846, Dwarkanath was back in London after a three
months' hectic sojourn in Paris during which he must have burnt his candle at
both ends. But such was the exuberance of his vitality-though not
unfortunately of the stamina of health-that there was little visible
indication of fatigue or lassitude or anxiety for some time after his return.
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Epilogue
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283
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It took some weeks before the news of Dwarkanath's death reached
Calcutta. Debendranath was on a boat cruise on the Ganga with his wife
Sarada and three sons, Dwijendra,
Satyendra and Hemendra. The boat was caught in a terrible gale and was with
difficulty moved ashore and the passengers safely landed.
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Dwarkanath's Portraits
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302
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Dwarkanath's love for getting portraits painted is well known.
Kissori Chand Mittra has referred to the portrait he got painted of the
well-known Calcutta barrister Robert Cultar Fergusson to whom he owed his
early legal training.
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Bibliography
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311
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I. Introductory
During his lifetime, at any rate during the last twentyfive years of life,
Dwarkanath Tagore was the most talked-of and written-about Indian of his
time, both in India and abroad. And yet hardly any authentic documentary
material relating to his eventful life and manifold activities has survived.
This anomaly lends credence to the otherwise seemingly incredible allegation
of Dwarkanath's great grandson and biographer, Kshitindranath Tagore, that
his uncle, poet Rabindranath Tagore, had deliberately had all documents and
papers destroyed.
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Index
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323
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