https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Dwarkanath_TagoreDwarkanath Tagore - Revision history2026-07-31T00:58:26ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Dwarkanath_Tagore&diff=469567&oldid=prevEulaMatos4236 at 23:03, 20 March 20262026-03-20T23:03:20Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Indian industrialist (1794–1846)}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}<br />
{{Infobox person<br />
| honorific_prefix = ''Prince''<br />
| name = Dwarakanath Tagore<br />{{no bold|দ্বারকানাথ ঠাকুর}}<br />
| other_names = Prince Dwarkanath Tagore<br />
| image = Dwarkanath Tagore-দ্বারকানাথ ঠাকুর Oil Portrait.jpg<br />
| image_size = <br />
| caption = Acad.style: ''Prince Dwarakanath Tagore'', by F.B. Carpenter, c.1840s<br />
| birth_date = 1794<br />
| birth_place = [[Gobindapur, Kolkata|Gobindapur Village]], [[Calcutta]], [[Bengal Presidency|Bengal]]<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1846|8|1|1794|df=y}}<br />
| death_place = [[City of London]], [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Great Britain]]<br />
| father = Rammoni Tagore (biological), Ramlochan Tagore (adoptive)<br />
| mother = Menaka Devi (biological), Aloka Sundari Devi (adoptive)<br />
| children = [[Debendranath Tagore]] +2 others<br />
| occupation = [[Industrialist]]<br />
| spouse = {{married|Digambari Devi|1811|1839}}<br />
| citizenship = [[British Subject|British Indian]]<br />
| family = [[Tagore family]]<br />
}}<br />
<br />
'''Dwarkanath Tagore''' (also spelled '''Dwarakanath Thakur'''; 1794–1846), popularly known as '''Prince Dwarkanath Tagore''',<ref>{{cite news |last1=Ram |first1=Vidya |title=The forgottenTagore |url=https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/know/the-forgotten-tagore/article24714423.ece#:~:text=Dwarkanath%20became%20their%20friend%2C%20philosopher,prefix%20of%20the%20'Prince'. |access-date=18 May 2025 |newspaper=Business Line |date=17 August 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kling |first=Blair B. |title=Partner in Empire: Dwarkanath Tagore and the Age of Enterprise in Eastern India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KVBKeqaYeVwC |year=1976 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0-520-02927-5 |page=320}}</ref> was one of the first Indian industrialists to partner with the British.<ref name=wolpert/> He was the son of Rammoni Tagore, and was given in adoption to Rammoni’s elder brother Ramlochan Tagore. He was the scion of the [[Tagore family]] of Calcutta, father of [[Debendranath Tagore]], grandfather of [[Rabindranath Tagore]], and great-grandfather of [[Abanindranath Tagore]].<br />
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==Ancestry==<br />
Dwarakanath Tagore was a descendant of Brahmins of the Kushari division. They were called [[Pirali Brahmin]] - the word "Pirali" comes from Pir Ali, a convert to Islam who supposedly dined with and converted two Tagore ancestors. Their relatives, still Hindus, were tainted by association and got the name "Pirali Brahmin".<ref name="Thompson_1926_12">{{citation | last1=Thompson | first1=E Jr. |year=2007 |orig-year=First published 1926 |title=Rabindranath Tagore: Poet and Dramatist |publisher=Read |isbn=978-1-4067-8927-0 |page=12 |quote=The [Tagores] are ''Pirili'' Brahmans [sic]; that is, outcastes, as having supposedly eaten with Musalmans in a former day. No strictly orthodox Brahman would eat or inter-marry with them.}}</ref><ref name="Dutta_1995_17-18">{{cite book |last1=Dutta |first1=K<!--rishna-->. |last2=Robinson |first2=A<!--ndrew-->. |author2-link=W. Andrew Robinson |year=1995 |title=Rabindranath Tagore: The Myriad-Minded Man |publisher=Saint Martin's Press |pages=17–18 |isbn=978-0-312-14030-4<!--0312140304-->}}</ref><br />
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Dwarakanath's great grandfather Jairam Tagore made a large fortune as a merchant and as [[Dewan]] to the French government at Chandannagar. He shifted from Gobindapur to [[Pathuriaghata]], when the British constructed the new [[Fort William, India|Fort William]] in the mid-eighteenth century. His eldest son, [[Nilmoni Tagore]] (b.1721 - d.1791), with his wife Lalita Devi and sons, settled at [[Jorasanko]] after leaving the ancestral house at Pathuriaghata following a rift with his younger brother [[Darpanarayan Tagore]]. Nilmoni Tagore built the [[Jorasanko Thakur Bari]] where the Jorasanko branch of the family dwelled, while Darpanarayan Tagore's descendants belonged to the Pathuriaghata Tagore branch.<ref name=f>{{cite book|author=James Wyburd Furrell|title=The Tagore Family: A Memoir|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h3gOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA17|accessdate=5 April 2017|year=1882|publisher=K. Paul, Trench, & Company|page=17}}</ref><br />
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==Childhood==<br />
Nilmoni's grandson, Dwarakanath Tagore, was born in 1794 to Rammoni Tagore and his wife Menaka Devi. Soon after birth, he was given in adoption to Rammoni's childless elder brother Ramlochan (b.1759 - d.1807), a rich man of his time and a patron of music. Menaka Devi was the younger sister of Dwarakanath's adoptive mother Aloka Sundari Devi.<ref>{{cite book|title=Thakurbarir Bahirmahal|author=Chitra Deb|publisher=Ananda|year=2018}}</ref><br />
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Dwarakanath studied at the English-medium school of Mr. Sherbourne. In 1807, Ramlochan died leaving a considerable inheritance in trust to Dwarakanath, who was then a minor aged 13. This property consisted of the [[zamindar]]i Berhampore, estates in Orissa, and urban holdings in Calcutta.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kling |first=Blair B. |title=Partner in Empire: Dwarkanath Tagore and the Age of Enterprise in Eastern India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KVBKeqaYeVwC |year=1976 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0-520-02927-5 |page=15}}</ref> Dwarakanath left school in 1810 at the age of 16 and apprenticed himself under renowned barrister, [[Robert Cutlar Fergusson]] and traveled between Calcutta and his estates at Behrampore and [[Cuttack]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kripalani |first1=Krishna |title=Dwarkanath Tagore A Forgotten Pioneer, a Life |date=1981 |publisher=National Book Trust India |isbn=978-812-373-488-0 |pages=305 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yoMeAAAAMAAJ |access-date=26 May 2025}}</ref><br />
[[File:Dwarkanath Tagore National Library.png|thumb|Bust of Dwarkanath Tagore at the [[National Library of India]].]]<br />
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==Marriage==<br />
At the age of 17, Dwarakanath married the 9 years old Digambari Devi, daughter of a zamindar from near Jessore, in 1811. They had 4 sons and 1 daughter - among whom 3 survived - [[Debendranath Tagore]] (b.1817), Girindranath Tagore (b.1820 - d.1854) and Nagendranath Tagore (b.1829 - d.1858). As Dwarakanath started leading an extravagant lifestyle, his married life with his orthodox Hindu wife got strained. She consulted with Hindu Brahmins regarding his behaviour and finally decided to stop interaction with her husband. Whenever she had to speak to him regarding household matters, she used to take a bath in the holy Ganges water. It continued this way for some time. However, after taking such a bath in a cold winter night, Digambari caught fever, and died in 1839 at the age of 37.<ref>{{cite book|title=Thakurbarir Andarmahal|author=Chitra Deb|publisher=Ananda Publishers}}</ref><br />
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==Business life==<br />
[[File:Dwarakanath Thakur.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Dwarakanath Thakur, {{circa|1907}}.]]<br />
Tagore was a western-educated [[Bengali Brahmin]] and a civic leader of [[Calcutta]] who played a pioneering role in setting up a string of commercial ventures—banking, insurance, and shipping companies—in partnership with British traders. In 1828, he became the first Indian bank director. In 1829, he founded Union Bank in Calcutta. He helped found the first<ref name=wolpert/> Anglo-Indian managing agency (industrial organisations that ran [[jute]] mills, coal mines, tea plantations, etc.,<ref name="kulke">{{cite book |last1=Kulke |first1=Hermann |author-link1=Hermann Kulke |last2=Rothermund |first2=Dietmar |author-link2=Dietmar Rothermund |title=A History of India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V73N8js5ZgAC&pg=PA265 |access-date=18 September 2011 |year=2004 |orig-year=First published 1986 |edition=4th |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-415-32920-5 |page=265}}</ref>) [[Carr, Tagore and Company]]. (Earlier, Rustomjee Cowasjee, a Parsi in Calcutta, had formed an inter-racial firm, but in the early 19th century [[Parsi]]s were classified as a Near Eastern community as opposed to South Asian.)<br />
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Tagore's company managed large zamindari estates spread across today's [[West Bengal]] and [[Odisha]] states in India, and in [[Bangladesh]], and held stakes in new enterprises that were tapping the rich coal seams of Bengal, running tug services between Calcutta and the mouth of the river [[Hooghly River|Hooghly]], and growing tea in [[Assam]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kling |first=Blair B. |title=Partner in Empire: Dwarkanath Tagore and the Age of Enterprise in Eastern India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KVBKeqaYeVwC |year=1976 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0-520-02927-5 |pages=94, 123–124, 144–145}}</ref><br />
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Carr, Tagore and Company was also engaged in shipping [[opium]] to China.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kling |first=Blair B. |title=Partner in Empire: Dwarkanath Tagore and the Age of Enterprise in Eastern India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KVBKeqaYeVwC |year=1976 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0-520-02927-5 |pages=90–91}}</ref><br />
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[[File:Portrait_of_Dwarakanath_Tagore.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Dwarakanath Tagore at [[The Bengal Club]]]]<br />
In 1832, Tagore purchased a coal mine at Raniganj, the oldest, largest, and richest coal mine in India. It eventually became the Bengal Coal Company.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kling |first=Blair B. |title=Partner in Empire: Dwarkanath Tagore and the Age of Enterprise in Eastern India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KVBKeqaYeVwC |year=1976 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0-520-02927-5 |pages=94, 101}}</ref><br />
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==Death==<br />
[[File:Monument of Dwarkanath Tagore at London.png|right|thumb|Monument of Dwarkanath Tagore at Kensal Green Cemetery, London.]]<br />
[[File:Commemoration at Kensal Green Cemetery on 11 August 2018.jpg|right|thumb|A commemoration to Dwarkanath Tagore at [[Kensal Green Cemetery]] on 11 August 2018 was organised by Bengal Heritage Foundation.]]<br />
Dwarakanath Tagore died "at the peak of his fortune"<ref name=wolpert>{{cite book |last=Wolpert |first=Stanley |author-link=Stanley Wolpert |year=2009 |orig-year=First published 1077 |title=A New History of India |url=https://archive.org/details/newhistoryofindi0000wolp_i0v9/page/221/mode/1up |edition=8th |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=221 |isbn=978-0-19-533756-3}}</ref> on the evening of 1 August 1846 at the [[Treehouse Hotel London|St. George's Hotel]] in London.<br />
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In his obituary, ''The London Mail'' newspaper of 7 August wrote:<br />
{{blockquote|text=Descended from the highest Brahmin caste of India his family can prove a long and undoubted pedigree. But it is not on account of this nobility that we now review his life but on far better grounds. However gifted, his claims rest on a higher pedestal – he was the benefactor of his country... They testified to his merits in the encouragement of every public and private undertaking likely to benefit India.<ref name="kripalani">{{cite book|last=Kripalani|first=Krishna|title=Dwarkanath Tagore, A Forgotten Pioneer: A Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yoMeAAAAMAAJ|year=1981|publisher=National Book Trust, India|location=New Delhi, India|pages=246–7|isbn=978-81-237-3488-0 }}</ref><br />
}}<br />
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==Family tree==<br />
{{main|Tagore_family#Family_tree}}<br />
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==References==<br />
{{Reflist|40em}}<br />
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==Further reading==<br />
* {{cite book |last=Sinha |first=Narendra Krishna |title=The Economic History of Bengal, 1793–1848 |volume=III |year=1970 |location=Calcutta |publisher=K.L. Mukhopadhyay |oclc=1368861703}}<br />
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==External links==<br />
{{commons category}}<br />
* {{Internet Archive author}}<br />
* {{cite book |last=Islam |first=Sirajul |year=2012 |chapter=Tagore, Prince Dwarkanath |chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Tagore,_Prince_Dwarkanath |editor1-last=Islam |editor1-first=Sirajul |editor1-link=Sirajul Islam |editor2-last=Jamal |editor2-first=Ahmed A. |title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |edition=Second |publisher=[[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]]}}<br />
* {{cite encyclopedia |editor1-last=Sengupta |editor1-first=Subodh Chandra |editor2-last=Basu |editor2-first=Anjali |year=1988 |orig-year=First published 1976 |script-title=bn:দ্বারকানাথ ঠাকুর |trans-title=Dwarkanath Tagore |script-encyclopedia=bn:সংসদ বাঙালি চরিতাভিধান |encyclopedia=Saṃsada bāṅāli caritābhidhāna |trans-encyclopedia=Parliament Bengali Biographical Dictionary |url=https://archive.org/details/Samsad-Bangali-Charitabhidhan-Ed2/page/%E0%A7%A8%E0%A7%A8%E0%A7%A9/mode/1up |language=bn |volume=1 |edition=2nd |location=Kolkata |publisher=Sahitya Samsad |page=223}}<br />
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{{Bengal Renaissance}}<br />
{{Tagore family}}<br />
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{{Authority control}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tagore, Dwarkanath}}<br />
[[Category:1794 births]]<br />
[[Category:1846 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:People from the Bengal Presidency]]<br />
[[Category:Industrialists from British India]]<br />
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[[Category:Bengali zamindars]]<br />
[[Category:Businesspeople from Kolkata]]<br />
[[Category:Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery]]<br />
[[Category:Tagore family|Dwarkanath]]<br />
[[Category:Indian businesspeople in the coal industry]]<br />
[[Category:Bengali Hindus]]<br />
[[Category:Indian businesspeople in mining]]<br />
[[Category:Indian businesspeople in the textile industry]]<br />
[[Category:Indian businesspeople in the sugar industry]]<br />
[[Category:Indian social workers]]<br />
[[Category:Social workers from West Bengal]]</div>EulaMatos4236