Tagore family

The Tagore family (also spelled as Thakur) has been one of the leading families of Kolkata, India, and is regarded as one of the key influencers during the Bengali Renaissance. The family has produced several people who have contributed substantially in the fields of business, social and religious reformation, literature, art, politics and music. The most prominent figures of this family include Dwarkanath Tagore, a pioneering industrialist; Rabindranath Tagore, Nobel laureate in literature; Abanindranath Tagore, a distinguished artist and more.

Family history
The original surname of the Tagores was Banerjee. They were Bengali Hindu Pirali Brahmin ('Pirali' historically carried a stigmatized and pejorative connotation) and originally belonged to a village named Pithabhog in what is now Khulna, Bangladesh. They were the descendants of Deen Kushari who was granted a village named Kush in Burdwan of West Bengal by Maharaja Kshitisura. Deen became its chief and came to be known as Kushari. The Tagores came to Calcutta from Khulna and started various business enterprises. The name 'Tagore' is an anglicized version of the Bengali name 'Thakur' which means 'Teacher' or 'God', and denotes respect since they were of a Brahmin caste.

Background
Tagores were Bengali Brahmins. However, Debendranath Tagore (father of Rabindranath Tagore) was one of the founding members of the Brahmo Samaj (Brahmo religion) along with Raja Rammohun Roy.

Europeans started coming to Bengal in the 16th century, resulting in the founding of Ugulim (Hooghly-Chinsura) by the Portuguese in 1579. The Bengal Renaissance of the 19th century was a remarkable period of societal transformation in which a whole range of creative activities – literary, cultural, social and economic – flourished. The Bengal Renaissance was the culmination of the process of emergence of the cultural characteristics of the Bengali people that had started in the age of Hussein Shah (1493–1519). This spread over, covering around three centuries, and had a tremendous impact on Bengali society. The Tagore family attained prominence during this period through its unusual social positioning between Indian and European influences.

The Pathuriaghata family
Among the family which settled in Pathuriaghata was that of Raja Gopi Mohan Tagore. He was a noted zamindar and philanthropist. His oldest son Hara Kumar Tagore was a Sanskrit scholar, writer and musician. Among Hara Kumar's children, Maharaja Sir Jatinodro Mohun Tagore and Sir Sourindro Mohun became famous.

The business base
Dwarakanath Tagore (1794-1846) was the son of Nilmoni Tagore's second son, Rammani Tagore, but was adopted by the childless first son, Ramlochan Tagore. He inherited the Jorasanko property and Ramlochan's vast wealth. Dwarakanath was involved in multifarious activities ranging from being an agent of Mackintosh & Co. to being a serestadar, collector and dewan in the 24 Parganas collectorate. However, it was his business prowess that brought him both wealth and fame. In partnership with William Carr, he established Carr, Tagore and Company, the first equal partnership between European and Indian businessmen and the initiator of the managing agency system in India.

Creative outpourings
Debendranath's third son, Hemendranath Tagore was a strict disciplinarian who was entrusted with the responsibility of looking after the education of his younger brothers as well as administering the large family estates. Like most of Debendranath's children, he had varied interests in different fields. On one hand, he composed a number of "Bromhosangeets" and on the other, wrote articles on physical science which he planned to compile and edit into a textbook for school students. He was known for his physical strength and wrestling skills. Exceptionally for the times, he insisted on formal education for his daughters. He not only put them through school but trained them in music, arts and European languages such as French and German. It was another mark of his forward thinking that he actively sought out eligible grooms from different provinces of India for his daughters and married them off in places as far away as Uttar Pradesh and Assam.

Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) was Debendranath's penultimate son. He was the first Asian to win a Nobel Prize. He also wrote what became the national anthems of India and Bangladesh and coined the title Mahatma for Indian nationalist leader Mahatma Gandhi. The youngest son of Debendranath Tagore was Budhendranath, who died at a very young age.

The younger generation
Rabindranath Tagore's son, Rathindranath (1888–1961), was a multi-talented person. Besides being an agriculturist educated in the US, a talented architect, designer, master-carpenter, painter and writer, he was also the first 'upacharya' of Visva-Bharati University. Rathindranath Tagore's wife, Pratima Devi (1893–1969), was an artist associated with Shilpa Sadan, Visva Bharati and also with dance and dance-drama.

Sharmila Tagore, a well-known Mumbai actress who is connected with Rabindranath Tagore, said that her mother's mother, Latika Tagore, was the granddaughter of Rabindranath Tagore's brother, Dwijendranath. Pragnasundari Debi, granddaughter of Maharshi Debendranath Tagore, married a famous Assam author, Laxminath Bezbarua. She was a literary phenomenon in her own right: her cookbook Aamish O Niramish Ahar (1900, reprinted 1995) was a standard given to every Bengali bride with her trousseau, and earned her the appellation "India's Mrs Beeton". Nandita, daughter of Mira Devi, the youngest daughter of Rabindranath Tagore, married Krishna Kripalani, a freedom fighter, author and parliamentarian.

The family environment
The environment at Jorasanko was filled with literature, music, painting, and theatre. They had their own education system. In the earlier days, the women educated at home. Swarnakumari Debi has recalled how in her early days the governess would write something on a slate which the girls then had to copy. When Debedranath discovered this, he at once stopped such a mindless and mechanical method and brought in a better teacher, Ajodhyanath Pakrashi – a male outsider in the women's quarters. Some of the sons like Ganendra, Gunendra and Jyoitrindra set up their own private theatre. To start with men played in the role of women, but over a period of time the women participated. The family environment played a major role in the development of its members. Even Rabindranath Tagore, who went to win the Nobel Prize in literature, had very little formal education.

Family tree

 * Nilmoni Tagore
 * Dwarkanath Tagore
 * Girindranath Tagore
 * Ganendranath Tagore
 * Gunendranath Tagore
 * Gaganendranath Tagore
 * Kanakendranath Tagore
 * Gitindranath Tagore
 * Sharmila Tagore, m. Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi
 * Saif Ali Khan, m. Amrita Singh (divorced), m. Kareena Kapoor
 * Sara Ali Khan
 * Ibrahim Ali Khan Pataudi
 * Taimur Ali Khan Pataudi
 * Jehangir Ali Khan Pataudi
 * Saba Ali Khan
 * Soha Ali Khan, m. Kunal Khemu
 * Oindrila Tagore
 * Romila Sen
 * Abanindranath Tagore
 * Samarendranath Tagore
 * Sunayani Devi, m. Rajanimohan Chattopadhyay
 * Binayani Devi, m. Seshendra Bhushan Chattopadhyay
 * Pratima Devi
 * Debendranath Tagore
 * Rabindranath Tagore
 * Rathindranath Tagore
 * Nandini Devi, m. Giridhari Lala
 * Shamindranath Tagore
 * Renuka Devi
 * Meera Devi
 * Madhurilata Devi
 * Satyendranath Tagore
 * Surendranath Tagore
 * Kabindranath Tagore
 * Indira Devi Chaudhurani, m. Pramatha Chaudhuri
 * Hemendranath Tagore
 * Hitendranath Tagore
 * Kshitindranath Tagore
 * Ritendranath Tagore
 * Pragyasundari Devi, m. Lakshminath Bezbaroa
 * Purnima Devi, m. Sir Jwala Prasada
 * Kunwar Jyoti Prasad
 * Jitendra Prasada
 * Jitin Prasada
 * Jahnavi Prasada
 * Pratibha Devi
 * Abhi Devi
 * Manisha Devi
 * Shovana Devi (Shobhanasundari Mukhopadhyay)
 * Sushama Devi
 * Sunrita Devi
 * Dwijendranath Tagore
 * Sudhindranath Tagore
 * Saumyendranath Tagore
 * Dwipendranath Tagore
 * Arunendranath Tagore
 * Nitindranath Tagore
 * Kritindranath Tagore
 * Birendranath Tagore
 * Balendranath Tagore
 * Jyotirindranath Tagore
 * Somendranath Tagore
 * Swarnakumari Devi, m. Janakinath Ghosal
 * Jyotsnanath Ghosal
 * Sarala Devi Chaudhurani, m. Rambhuj Dutt Chaudhari
 * Hiranmoyee Devi
 * Sukumari Devi, m. Durgadas Choudhary
 * Manmatha Nath Chaudhuri
 * Devika Rani, m. Himanshu Rai
 * Saratkumari Devi
 * Barnakumari Devi
 * Soudamini Devi
 * Nagendranath Tagore