Niishad Shetty at 20:23, 28 December 2025

2025-12-28T20:23:15Z

New page

{{Short description|Indian educationalist (1851–1915)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Aghorenath Chattopadhyay
| image = Aghorenath_Chattopadhyaya.jpg
| honorific_suffix =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1851|10|31|df=y}}
| birth_place = Brahmmangoan, Kanaksar, [[Bikrampur]], [[Bengal Presidency|Bengal]], [[British Raj|British India]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1915|01|28|1851|10|31|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Calcutta]], Bengal, British India
| spouse = Varada Sundari Devi
| children = 8, including [[Sarojini Naidu|Sarojini]], [[Virendranath Chattopadhyay|Virendranath]], [[Harindranath Chattopadhyay|Harindranath]], [[Suhasini Chattopadhyay|Suhasini]]
}}

'''Aghorenath''' (also spelt '''Aghornath''') '''Chattopadhyay''' (1851–1915) was an Indian educationist and social reformer.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bhukya |first1=Bhangi |title=History of Modern Telangana |date=2017 |publisher=Orient Black Swan |location=Hyderabad |isbn=9789386689887 |pages=43 |edition=First}}</ref> The first Indian to secure a D.Sc. (Doctor of Science) degree, he later became the first principal of Nizam College, Hyderabad.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |url=https://edglobal.egnyte.com/dl/ClrbYc2ppd/ |title=Aghorenath Chattopadhyay |website=edglobal.egnyte.com |publisher=The University of Edinburgh |access-date=2020-09-03}}</ref> The poet and Indian political activist [[Sarojini Naidu]] was his eldest daughter.

== Biography ==
=== Early years ===

Aghorenath was born in Bhrahmongaon in Kanaksar Village, [[Bikrampur]] (then in [[Bengal Presidency]], now in [[Bangladesh]]). After completing his schooling in [[Dhaka Collegiate School]], he spent three and a half years in [[Presidency College Calcutta|Presidency College, Kolkata]] before moving to [[University of Edinburgh]] on Gilchrist Scholarship for higher studies.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kumar |first1=Anu |title=Sarojini Naidu: The Nightingale and the Freedom Fighter |date=2014 |publisher=Hachette Book |location=Gurgaon, India |isbn=978935009816-5 |pages=10–12}}</ref> He excelled in his studies and secured the Hope Prize and Baxter Scholarship.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Rangarajan |first1=Uttara |title=Aghorenath Chattopadhyay-UncoverED |url=http://uncover-ed.org/aghorenath-chattopadhyay/ |website=uncover-ed.org |publisher=The University of Edinburgh |access-date=2020-09-03 |archive-date=8 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200108192221/http://uncover-ed.org/aghorenath-chattopadhyay/ |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Sengupta |first1=Padmini |title=Sarojini Naidu: A Biography |date=1966 |publisher=Asia Publishing House |location=New York |pages=12–19 |url=https://archive.org/details/sarojininaidubio00padm/page/n8/mode/1up}}</ref>

=== Career and Politics ===
[[File:Nizam college.jpg|thumb|Nizam College, Hyderabad, Telangana]]
Upon his return to India, he accepted the invitation from Nizam of [[Hyderabad State]] to modernise the education system there. He began with an English medium school. With Nizam's support he founded the Hyderabad College with himself its first principal; this later became the [[Nizam College]]. Later he initiated efforts to start a College for Women as a part of [[Osmania University]]. He was instrumental in implementing the [[Special Marriage Act, 1872]] in the Hyderabad State, which was already in vogue in [[British India]]. Aghorenath was a prominent member of the intellectuals' collective of Hyderabad who debated on social political and literary topics. Around this time Aghorenath also got involved in politics.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Roy |first1=P.C |title=Autobiography of a Bengali Chemist |date=1958 |publisher=Orient Book Company |pages=107}}</ref>

He had differences of opinion with the Nizam on the [[Chanda Rail Project]] and a displeased Nizam suspended him from his job and deported him from Hyderabad on 20 May 1883.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sengupta |first1=Padmini |title=Sarojini Naidu: A Biography |date=1966 |publisher=Asia Publishing House |location=New York |page=16 |url=https://archive.org/details/sarojininaidubio00padm/page/n8/mode/1up}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Deb |first=H.C |date=1883-07-09 |title=Railways (India)-The Nizam's Territory-Hyderabad and Chanda Railway(Hansard,9 July 1883) |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1883/jul/09/railways-india-the-nizams-territory}}</ref> However a few years later he was recalled and reinstated. In fact it was the Nizam who later provided a scholarship for Sarojini to pursue her studies in England.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sengupta |first=Padmini |title=Sarojini Naidu: A Biography |publisher=Asia Publishing House |year=1966 |location=New York |pages=27}}</ref>

After returning to Hyderabad, Aghorenath continued his political activism and, consequently was forced to retire early and relocate to Kolkata. He and his wife Varada Sundari Devi set up residence at Lovelock Street, Kolkata.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}

=== Personal life ===
[[File:Golden Threshold in Abids, Hyderabad.JPG|thumb|Golden Threshold, [[Abids]], Hyderabad]]
Aghorenath married Varada Sundari Devi before he left for Edinburgh. During his absence, Sundari was an inmate at the Bharat Ashram, an educational centre run by Keshab Chandra Sen. She accompanied him to Hyderabad in 1878. The couple had 8 children - four daughters and four sons. Sarojini was the eldest. Sarojini described her father as a dreamer and an intellectual with unending curiosity. It was this curiosity that turned him into an alchemist in search of a recipe for gold.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sengupta |first1=Padmini |title=Sarojini Naidu: A Biography |date=1966 |publisher=Asia Publishing House |location=New York |pages=9 |url=https://archive.org/details/sarojininaidubio00padm/page/n8/mode/1up?q=Aghorenath}}</ref> After she published her first collection of poems "Golden Threshold", the house where the family stayed in Hyderabad came to be called [[Golden Threshold]]. This is currently a museum. Second daughter Mrinalini completed her studies from [[University of Cambridge]] and later became the principal of Gangaram Girls' High School, Lahore, which is now known as [[Lahore College for Women University]]. Third daughter Sunalini was a [[Kathak|Kathak dancer]] and film actress.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rewind: When Hyderabad shaped India's silent film era |work=[[Telangana Today]] |url=https://telanganatoday.com/rewind-when-hyderabad-shaped-indias-silent-film-era}}</ref> Youngest daughter [[Suhasini Chattopadhyay|Suhasini]] was a political activist and first female member of the Indian Communist party. She married [[A. C. N. Nambiar]] and they later divorced.

Aghorenath's eldest son [[Virendranath Chattopadhyaya|Virendranath]] was a leftist and was in the British Crime register for alleged revolutionary activities.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ker |first=James Campbell |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.12832/page/n7/mode/1up |title=Political Trouble in India 1907-1917 |publisher=S. Ghatak from Indian Editions |year=1960 |location=Calcutta |pages=181–82}}</ref> He spent his time in Europe, gathering support for activities against the British. During his stay in [[Moscow]], he fell victim to [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin's]] [[Great Purge]] and was executed on 2 September 1937.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Liebau |first=Heike |date=2017-12-14 |title=Chattopadhyaya, Virendranath |url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/chattopadhyaya_virendranath |access-date=2020-09-06 |website=International Encyclopaedia of the First World war}}</ref> Youngest son [[Harindranath Chattopadhyay|Harindranath]] was an activist, poet and actor. He received the Indian civilian award [[Padma Bhushan]] in 1973.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Padma Awards |url=https://padmaawards.gov.in/ |url-status=live |access-date=2020-09-06 |website=padmaawards.gov.in |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160514041952/http://www.padmaawards.gov.in/ |archive-date=14 May 2016 }}</ref>

=== Death ===
Aghorenath died at his Lovelock Road residence on 28 January 1915.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ray |first=P.C |date=1962-11-15 |title=Aghorenath Chatterjee: A Gallant Freedom Fighter and a Pioneer |journal=Amrita Bazaar Patrika}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Sengupta |first=Padmini |title=Sarojini Naidu: A Biography |publisher=Asia Publishing House |year=1966 |location=New York |pages=91}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chattopadhyay, Aghorenath}}
[[Category:19th-century Bengali people]]
[[Category:20th-century Bengali people]]
[[Category:Bengali Hindus]]
[[Category:1851 births]]
[[Category:1915 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Munshiganj District]]
[[Category:People from Bikrampur]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Scholars from Kolkata]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Osmania University]]
[[Category:Scholars from British India]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian scholars]]
[[Category:Educators from British India]]
[[Category:People from the Bengal Presidency]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian educators]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educators]]
[[Category:Indian social workers]]
[[Category:Indian social reformers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educational theorists]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian educational theorists]]
[[Category:Pogose School alumni]]
[[Category:People from Kanaksar]]

Aghorenath Chattopadhyay - Revision history

Niishad Shetty at 20:23, 28 December 2025