Chatterjee
Encyclopedia
Chatterjee ( Chêṭarji) is an Indian family name of a Bengali Brahmin
caste; it is a variant of Chattopadhyay(a) ( Chôṭṭopaddhae).
Chattopadhyay (compound of village name "" and "upādhyāya" denoting "priest, teacher" originally granted with the village named ) is the Sanskritized
form of the local Prakrit
word "chaturjye", anglicized
to Chatterjee. The people belonging to the Chattopadhyaya group are assigned the highest position in the Bengali Brahmin community, followed by the Bannerjees and Mukherjees.
The Chatterjee ancestors are from the great sage Kashyap
, the father of the Devas
and Danavas and thus all Chatterjee's have the same Kashyap Gotra
, which means they are from the same ancestral root. The Chatterjees today form the only existent Gotra
in Bengal descended from a deity, the Sun God, Surya
and are widely regarded as the Suryamshis or the Solar-descendants.
Bengali Brahmins
The Bengali Brahmins are those Hindu Brahmins who traditionally reside in the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent, currently comprising the Indian state of West Bengal, Tripura, Assam and Bangladesh...
caste; it is a variant of Chattopadhyay(a) ( Chôṭṭopaddhae).
Chattopadhyay (compound of village name "" and "upādhyāya" denoting "priest, teacher" originally granted with the village named ) is the Sanskritized
Sanskritisation
Sanskritization or Sanskritisation is a particular form of social change found in India and Nepal. It denotes the process by which castes placed lower in the caste hierarchy seek upward mobility by emulating the rituals and practices of the upper or dominant castes. It is a process similar to...
form of the local Prakrit
Prakrit
Prakrit is the name for a group of Middle Indic, Indo-Aryan languages, derived from Old Indic dialects. The word itself has a flexible definition, being defined sometimes as, "original, natural, artless, normal, ordinary, usual", or "vernacular", in contrast to the literary and religious...
word "chaturjye", anglicized
Anglicisation
Anglicisation, or anglicization , is the process of converting verbal or written elements of any other language into a form that is more comprehensible to an English speaker, or, more generally, of altering something such that it becomes English in form or character.The term most often refers to...
to Chatterjee. The people belonging to the Chattopadhyaya group are assigned the highest position in the Bengali Brahmin community, followed by the Bannerjees and Mukherjees.
The Chatterjee ancestors are from the great sage Kashyap
Kashyap
Kashyapa was an ancient sage , who is one of the Saptarshis in the present Manvantara; with others being Atri, Vashishtha, Vishvamitra, Gautama, Jamadagni, Bharadwaja...
, the father of the Devas
Deva (Hinduism)
' is the Sanskrit word for god or deity, its related feminine term is devi. In modern Hinduism, it can be loosely interpreted as any benevolent supernatural beings. The devs in Hinduism, also called Suras, are often juxtaposed to the Asuras, their half brothers. Devs are also the maintainers of...
and Danavas and thus all Chatterjee's have the same Kashyap Gotra
Gotra
In the Hindu society, the term Gotra broadly refers to people who are descendants in an unbroken male line from a common male ancestor. Panini defines gotra for grammatical purposes as apatyam pautraprabhrti gotram , which means "the word gotra denotes the progeny beginning with the son's son"...
, which means they are from the same ancestral root. The Chatterjees today form the only existent Gotra
Gotra
In the Hindu society, the term Gotra broadly refers to people who are descendants in an unbroken male line from a common male ancestor. Panini defines gotra for grammatical purposes as apatyam pautraprabhrti gotram , which means "the word gotra denotes the progeny beginning with the son's son"...
in Bengal descended from a deity, the Sun God, Surya
Surya
Surya Suraya or Phra Athit is the chief solar deity in Hinduism, one of the Adityas, son of Kasyapa and one of his wives, Aditi; of Indra; or of Dyaus Pitar . The term Surya also refers to the Sun, in general. Surya has hair and arms of gold...
and are widely regarded as the Suryamshis or the Solar-descendants.
Position in the society
Alongside the Kashyapas of northern India, Chatterjees are thus said to be the children of the Vedic composers. Most of the verses of the Rig Veda and other Vedas were composed by their ancestors. Historically, the Manu Samhita assigns the place of law-maker to the descendants of Kashyap, and Chatterjees occupied the same position in Bengal. They are the first-seaters of Bengali Yajna ceremony.Royal linage
All Chatterjees are considered historically the descendants of Bharata, the founder of India. In the epics Mahabharata and Ramayana, the earth has been referred to as Kashyapi, or the daughter of Kashyap. This is a symbolic concept, revealing a much deeper truth, which can be traced to the time when the Aryavarta was ruled by the various Kashyapa lines. The famed Suryavamsha or Solar Dynasty of India is historically considered to be th source of the Kashyapas of Bengal. Ikkshaku Vamsa or the dynasty of Ikkshaku is another earlier source. Nearly all the people bearing the surname Chatterjee or Chattopadhyay are descended from the kings of Aryavarta, and as per legend, from Bharata, the emperor of India. The weakening of Hindu royal linages gave way to Islamic invasion of Bengal followed by the fragmentation of the Kashyapa people.Chatterjee's
- Shib Avra Chatterjee
- Amarendra ChatterjeeAmarendra ChatterjeeAmarendranath Chatterjee was an Indian independence movement activist. In charge of raising funds for the Jugantar movement, his activities largely covered revolutionary centres in Bihar, Orissa and the United Provinces....
- Freedom fighter - Ananya ChatterjeeAnanya ChatterjeeAnanya Chatterjee is a Bengali film actress known for her National Award-winning role in Abahoman. She started her career as a TV actress. She acted in several TV serials and films, including three directed by Anjan Dutt...
- National award winning actress - Anil ChatterjeeAnil ChatterjeeAnil Chatterjee was a Bengali actor in the Bengali cinema during the early fifties through to the late eighties and was mostly remembered as a character actor. He acted in about 45 movies, both as a character actor and in leading roles with the limited opportunities he received during his time...
- Actor - Anjan ChattopadhyayAnjan ChattopadhyayAnjan Chattopadhyay, the sitar player, born in a Bengali aristocratic family in Calcutta, India, was initiated to the art of sitar playing by his elder brother, a veteran Surbahar player, Pandit Gourisankar Chattopadhyay, a disciple of Pandit Birendra Kishore Roy Chowdhury...
(living) - Sitar maestro - Aroup ChatterjeeAroup ChatterjeeAroup Chatterjee is the author of the book Mother Teresa: The Final Verdict, a work which challenges the widespread regard of Mother Teresa as a symbol of philanthropy and selflessness....
(living) - author - Ashim ChatterjeeAshim ChatterjeeAshim Chatterjee is an Indian politician and a former Naxalite leader. He was a student leader of Communist Party of India in Calcutta...
(20th century) - communist politician and activist - Bankim Chandra ChattopadhyayBankim Chandra ChattopadhyayBankim Chandra Chattopadhyay was a famous Bengali writer, poet and journalist. He was the composer of India’s national song Vande Mataram, originally a Bengali and Sanskrit stotra personifying India as a mother goddess and inspiring the activists during the Indian Freedom Movement...
(1838–1894) - author, poet, and journalist - Basu ChatterjeeBasu ChatterjeeBasu Chatterjee is an Indian film director. His films are very similar to those of Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Like Mukherjee, he built his plots on middle-class lives.He was born in Ajmer, Rajasthan, India....
(born 1930) - film director - Biswajit ChatterjeeBiswajit ChatterjeeBiswajit is a Bengali/Hindi actor. He was born in Calcutta, West Bengal, but later went over to Bombay to do some memorable Hindi films....
- Actor - Biswarup Chatterjee (living) - Actor & Politician
- Debashis ChatterjeeDebashis ChatterjeeDebashis Chatterjee has been a professor for about fifteen years in IIM, Lucknow and IIM, Calcutta. He pioneered and founded the global Center for Leadership and Human Values at the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow . Chatterjee's professional career included experiences in India, the United...
- professor,IIM, Harvard, MIT - Debiprasad ChattopadhyayaDebiprasad ChattopadhyayaDebiprasad Chattopadhyaya was an eminent Bengali Marxist philosopher from India. He made extensive contributions to the exploration of the materialist current in ancient Indian Philosophy...
- author - Dhritiman Chatterjee - Actor
- Dhruva ChatterjeeDhruva ChatterjeeDhruva Chatterjee was a noted writer/screenplay writer of Hindi movies in the 1960s and 1970s. Memorable movies written and scripted by him include Chirag Kahan Roshni Kahan , Hariyali Aur Rasta , Gehra Daag , Woh Kaun Thi? , Kohra , Gumnaam , Chor Machaye Shor , Dus Numbri and Fakira...
- writer and screenplay writer of Hindi movies - Gautam ChatterjeeGautam ChatterjeeGautam Chattopadhyay was an Indian musician, singer, and one of the founding members and inspirational leader of the band Moheener Ghoraguli, which was formed in the 1975, arguably Bengal's and India's first band...
-(d.1999) - musician * - Harindranath ChattopadhyayHarindranath ChattopadhyayHarindranath Chattopadhyay was an Indian English poet, an actor, and a member of the 1st Lok Sabha from Vijayawada constituency. He was the younger brother of Sarojini Naidu.-Life:...
- poet * - Jogesh Chandra ChatterjeeJogesh Chandra ChatterjeeJogesh Chandra Chatterjee was an Indian freedom fighter, revolutionary and member of Rajya Sabha .-Short biography:...
(1895–1969) - revolutionary, activist - Kamaladevi ChattopadhyayKamaladevi ChattopadhyayKamaladevi Chattopadhyay was an Indian social reformer, freedom fighter, and most remembered for her contribution to Indian independence movement, for being the driving force behind the renaissance of Indian handicrafts, handlooms, and theatre in post-Independence India, and for upliftment of the...
-(1903–1988) - social reformer - Kshetresa Chandra ChattopadhyayaKshetresa Chandra ChattopadhyayaKshetresa Chandra Chattopadhyaya was a distinguished scholar of Sanskrit from India. A scholar of Sanskrit, Veda, grammar, Pali, Prakrit and philology, he was born on October 27, 1896 in village Nimta of North 24 Parganas in what was then Bengal. He came from an illustrious family of Kulina...
(1896–1974) - Sanskrit Scholar - Kiranchandra Chattopadhya(Darbeshji) Famous poet and saint from Khalia.Disciple of Sri Bijoy Krishno Goswami
- Moushmi ChatterjiMoushmi ChatterjiMoushumi Chatterjee is a Bollywood actress, who has also acted in Bengali cinema. She worked with actors like Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Jeetendra and Vinod Mehra.-Personal life and education:...
(living) - actress - Parambrata ChatterjeeParambrata ChatterjeeParambrata Chatterjee is a Bengali Indian male actor and director of television and films.-Career:His directorial debut feature film is [Jiyo Kaka] starred by Rituparna Sengupta and Rudranil Ghosh....
- Actor - Partha ChatterjeePartha ChatterjeePartha Chatterjee is a Subaltern Studies and Postcolonial scholar. He is a multi-disciplinary scholar, with special emphasis on political science, anthropology and history. Chatterjee received Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize in 2009 for his contributions in Academics.-Education:He completed a B.A...
(living) - postcolonial scholar and author - Prasenjit ChatterjeePrasenjit ChatterjeeProsenjit Chatterjee Prosenjit Chatterjee Prosenjit Chatterjee (also Prosenjit Chatterjee or Proshenjit Chattopadhyay , professionally known as Proshenjit, is a Bengali film actor. His fans affectionately called him Bumba Da...
(living)- Bengali film actor - Pratap ChatterjeePratap ChatterjeePratap Chatterjee is an Indian/Sri Lankan investigative journalist and progressive author. He is a British citizen and was raised in India, although he has lived in California for many years. He served as the executive director of CorpWatch, an Oakland-based corporate accountability organization...
(living) - journalist and author - Priyanath ChattopadhyayPriyanath Chattopadhyayis an internationally acclaimed sitar player of the Seni Beenkar Gharana of Maihar of Indian classical music. He has performed Sitar recitals at different concerts globally from the age of eleven...
(living) - sitar player, entrepreneur - Priyanshu ChatterjeePriyanshu ChatterjeePriyanshu Chatterjee . who hails from Delhi, is an Indian model and actor.-Personal life:Priyanshu is a commerce graduate from Delhi University. Whilst doing an internship to become a chartered accountant, he took up modelling. He modeled for five years, working on projects such as Digjam's Print...
- Actor Bollywood - Purnendu ChatterjeePurnendu ChatterjeePurnendu Chatterjee is a Bengali industrialist and entrepreneur. He is the Founder and Chairman of The Chatterjee Group and also serves as Executive Director to Indian School of Business in Hyderabad.- Education :...
- Businessman, founder of TCG - Punya Chatterjee - Successful online celebrity
- Ramananda ChatterjeeRamananda ChatterjeeRamananda Chatterjee was founder, editor, and owner of the Calcutta based magazine, the Modern Review. He has been described as the father of Indian journalism.- Early life :...
- founder, editor and owner of the Calcutta based Modern ReviewModern ReviewModern Review has been used as a name for a number of magazines:* Modern Review * Modern Review * Modern Review... - Sri Sri Ramkrishna Paramhansa (Gadadhar Chattopadhyay)
- Sabitri ChatterjeeSabitri ChatterjeeSabitri Chatterjee is an Indian Bengali female actor whose career as an actor spans more than 50 years. She was born in Comilla, in British India .-Early life:...
- Actress - Sanjib Chattopadhyay (living) - author
- Sankar ChatterjeeSankar ChatterjeeSankar Chatterjee is a paleontologist, and is the Paul W. Horn Professor of Geosciences at Texas Tech University and Curator of Paleontology at the Museum of Texas Tech University. He earned his Ph. D. from the University of Calcutta in 1970 and was a Post-doctoral Fellow at the Smithsonian...
(living) - paleontologist - Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay (1876–1938) - Novelist and short story writer
- Sarojini NaiduSarojini NaiduSarojini Naidu , also known by the sobriquet The Nightingale of India, was a child prodigy, Indian independence activist and poet...
née Chattopadhyay (1879–1949) - freedom fighter, poet - Saswata ChatterjeeSaswata ChatterjeeSaswata Chatterjee is a Bengali Indian male actor of television and films.-Career:Saswata started his career with a Hindi serial directed by Saibal Mitra, based on Samaresh Majumdar’s Kaalpurush. He gained popularity by portraying the character of Topshe in a television series directed by Sandip...
- Actor - Shakti ChattopadhyayShakti ChattopadhyayShakti Chattopadhay was a Bengali poet and writer, widely regarded as one of the greatest poet of 20th century Bengali literature. -External links:...
(born 1934) – poet - Sharat Chandra ChattopadhyaySharat Chandra ChattopadhyaySarat Chandra Chattopadhyay is one of the most popular Bengali novelists and short story writers of early 20th century.- Background and writing :Sarat Chandra was born into poverty in Debanandapur, Hooghly, India...
(1876–1938) - author - Shiba P. ChatterjeeShiba P. ChatterjeeShiba Prasad Chatterjee was a Professor of Geography at the University of Calcutta. He was the President of the International Geographical Union, and suggested the name Meghalaya for one of the states in India. Chatterjee received a Murchison Award in 1959, and the Padma Bhushan in 1985.- Sources...
- professor, former president of International Geographical UnionInternational Geographical UnionThe International Geographical Union is an international geographical society. The first International Geographical Congress was held in Antwerp in 1871. Subsequent meetings led to the establishment of the permanent organization in Brussels, Belgium, in 1922. The Union has 34 Commissions and four... - Somnath ChatterjeeSomnath ChatterjeeSomnath Chatterjee is an Indian politician who had been associated with the Communist Party of India for most of his life, though he is currently an independent...
(born 1929) - Speaker of the Lok SabhaLok SabhaThe Lok Sabha or House of the People is the lower house of the Parliament of India. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by direct election under universal adult suffrage. As of 2009, there have been fifteen Lok Sabhas elected by the people of India... - Soumitra ChatterjeeSoumitra ChatterjeeSoumitra Chatterjee or Soumitra Chattopadhyay is an iconic Bengali actor from India, known among other things for his frequent collaborations with the great Bengali film director Satyajit Ray and his constant comparison with the Bengali screen idol Uttam Kumar.-Background:Soumitra graduated from...
(born 1935) - actor - Sourav ChatterjeeSourav chatterjeeSourav Chatterjee is a mathematician, specializing in mathematical statistics and probability theory. Chatterjee is credited with work on Stein's method on Spin Glasses and also the Universality of Lindeberg principle. For these achievements, he was awarded a Sloan Fellowship in 2007 from the...
- Mathematician - Srabanti Chatterjee - Actress
- Subhendu ChatterjeeSubhendu ChatterjeeSubhendu Chatterjee was an Indian actor of television and films in Bengali.-Career:He started his film career with Mrinal Sen's Akash Kusum in 1965. He was appreciated for his restrained portrayal of the honest friend who would fail to prevent his go-getting friend from the path of corruption and...
- Actor - Subir Chatterjee (living) - IVF Doctor
- Sudip ChatterjeeSudip ChatterjeeSudip Chatterjee , nicknamed Tulu, was an Indian international football player. He started his career as a centre back and then moved to the right back position before switching to the midfielder role...
- cricketer - Sudeep Chatterjee - Cinematographer
- Suman Chatterjee (now Kabir Suman, born 1950) - JeebonmukhiMusic of West BengalWest Bengal is a state of India. It is part of the region of Bengal , which has a rich tradition of Bengali music and the city of Darjeeling, which has a large number of Nepali people, is a center for Nepali rock too.-Baul sangeet:...
musician - Suniti Kumar Chatterjee linguist
- Swapan ChattopadhyaySwapan ChattopadhyaySwapan Chattopadhyay is a noted accelerator physicist. He is currently the director of the Cockcroft Institute for accelerator science, and holds a Chair in Physics at Liverpool University.-Biography:...
- Director of the Cockcroft InstituteCockcroft InstituteThe Cockcroft Institute is an international centre for Accelerator Science and Technology in the UK. It was proposed in September 2003 and officially opened in September 2006. It is a joint venture of Lancaster University, the University of Liverpool, the University of Manchester, the Science and... - Tannishtha ChatterjeeTannishtha ChatterjeeTannishtha Chatterjee is an Indian actress.She is best known in the west for her performance in the British film Brick Lane , the film adaptation of Monica Ali's best selling novel of the same name. She was nominated for the British Independent Film Awards as the best actress for Brick Lane...
- Actress - Tara ChatterjeaTara ChatterjeaTara Chatterjea is an author and philosopher specializing in Indian philosophy.- Education :Chatterjea studied philosophy at the University of Calcutta, India, and did her D.Phil. under distinguished scholar Professor Jitendra Nath Mohanty...
philosopher - Upamanyu ChatterjeeUpamanyu ChatterjeeUpamanyu Chatterjee is an Indian Bengali author and administrator, notable for his work set in the milieu of the Indian Administrative Service, especially his novel English, August. He was born in Patna, Bihar and was educated at St. Xavier's School and St. Stephen's College, in Delhi...
(born 1959) - author - Utpal ChatterjeeUtpal ChatterjeeUtpal Chatterjee is a former Indian cricketer. He was a left arm spinner and a low order batsman. He had his early education at the prestigious Shyambazar A.V School and Calcutta Boys' School in Kolkata, India....
(living) - cricketer - Uttam KumarUttam KumarUttam Kumar is one of the most famous names of Indian Bengali Cinema.Born Arun Kumar Chatterjee in 1926 at Ahiritola, North Calcutta he is widely known as Uttam Kumar and Mahanayak . He remains as much of a cultural icon as he had been in his lifetime...
(Arun Chatterjee) - Iconic Bengali Actor - Virendranath ChattopadhyayaVirendranath ChattopadhyayaVirendranath Chattopadhyaya alias Chatto was a prominent Hindu Indian revolutionary who aimed to overthrow the British Raj in India by using violence as a tool...
(1880–1937) - revolutionary