Satyendranath Tagore
Encyclopedia
Satyendranath Tagore was the first Indian to join the Indian Civil Service. He was an author, song composer, linguist and made significant contribution towards the emancipation of women in Indian society during the British Raj
.
and grandson of Dwarkanath Tagore
of the Jorasanko branch of the Tagore family
of Calcutta (now Kolkata
), he learnt Sanskrit
and English at home. A student of Hindu School
, he was part of the first batch of students to appear for the entrance examinations of the University of Calcutta
in 1857. He was placed in the first division and was admitted to Presidency College.
As was the custom of the day, he was married early in life to Jnanadanandini Devi in 1859. The same year, he and Keshub Chunder Sen accompanied his father on a visit to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka
).
It was a daunting task to go to England and compete with the British for a position. However, his friend Monomohun Ghose
offered encouragement and support, and both of them set sail for England in 1862 to prepare for and compete in the civil service examinations.
Satyendranath was selected for the Indian Civil Service in June, 1863. He completed his probationary training and returned to India in November 1864. Monomohun Ghose did not succeed in the examination for the ICS but was called to the bar. Satyendranath was posted to Bombay presidency
, which then covered western parts of present-day Maharashtra
, Gujarat and Sindh
. After initial posting of four months in Bombay (now Mumbai
), he had his first active posting at Ahmedabad
.
With postings at numerous towns he travelled across the country. Because of his long stay away from home many in his family visited him and stayed with him for long periods. Amongst his regular visitors were his younger brothers Jyotirindranath Tagore
(1849–1925) and Rabindranath Tagore
(1861–1941), the Nobel-prize
winning poet, and his sister Swarnakumari Devi
.
His posting outside Bengal helped him to learn several Indian languages. He translated Bal Gangadhar Tilak
’s Geetarahasya and Tukaram
’s Abhang
poems into Bengali. Rabindranath Tagore had also translated some poems of Tukaram. Satyendranath took an active interest in the activities of the Brahmo Samaj
wherever he was posted, as for example at Ahmedabad
and Hyderabad, Sindh
.
While in the Maharashtra region he had close contacts with many of the leading reformers and Prarthana Samaj
figures — Mahadev Govind Ranade
, Kashinath Trimbak Telang, Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar
and Narayan Ganesh Chandavarkar.
He served in the ICS for about thirty years and retired as Judge of Satara
in Maharashtra
in 1897.
found Hindu women ‘uneducated and illiterate, deprived of property rights, married before puberty, imprisoned in purdah
, and murdered at widowhood by a barbaric custom of immolation known as sati
.’ By the time Satyendranath was born sati had been banned (in 1829), and the process of reformation had set in.
The position of women in his society troubled him from a young age. He used to think that the purdah system in his family was ‘not that of our own nation but a copy of Muslim practices’. His visit to England where he witnessed more freedom for women helped him understand the relatively poor position of women in Indian society.
After his marriage, he found in Jnanadanandini Devi an ideal partner to fulfill his thinking. When he was thrilled to witness the progress of women in the advanced society in England, he wanted to take her to England to witness the same, but his father, Devendranath Tagore, stood in the way.
Back in India, Satyendranath took Jnanadanandini Devi to Bombay, where she tried to live in the manner and style of the wives of the English officers of the ICS. When the couple returned to the ancestral home at Jorasanko for a holiday, they created a sensation in Calcutta society. They were invited to a party in the Government House (now Raj Bhavan
). Breaking all traditional rules, Jnanadanandini Devi accompanied her husband to the party. There she was – ‘a lone Bengali woman in the midst of hundreds of English women.’ Prasanna Coomar Tagore
of the Pathuriaghata
branch of the family, who was present in the party, could not bear the sight of a wife of a family member in such an open place and left immediately ‘in shame and anger’.
In 1877, he sent Jnanadanandini Devi to England with an English couple. She went with three children, a daring task in those days. They initially stayed with the family of Prasanna Coomar Tagore’s son Gnanendramohan Tagore
, who had converted to Christianity and was the first Indian to qualify for the English bar. Later they shifted to Brighton
and lived on their own there.
Subsequently, Satyendranath accompanied Rabindranath Tagore in what was the latter's first visit to England. All of them returned to India in 1880. It was not only with his wife, but also his sisters that he took the lead to change things. His sister Soudamini Devi wrote, ‘The mocking we faced when we went out in the carriages is difficult to believe now.”
Thus were laid the foundations of freeing the upper and middle class women from the purdah. It was a major achievement of Satyendranath Tagore.
Jnanadanandini Devi contributed in some unique ways also. As she had to go out in society, she developed a style of wearing the sari, which is broadly followed by Indian women today. She also introduced the use of proper undergarments.
Jnanadanandini Devi took special interest in children’s matters and started the system of observing birthdays of children in the family, giving them gifts and celebrating the occasion. She started and edited a magazine named Balak for children in 1885. It was possibly the first magazine for children in the Bengali language. The magazine motivated Rabindranath to write for children. Many of the pieces included in his book Sishu were first published in Balak
. The magazine was wound up after a year and merged with the family magazine Bharati.
He was one of the persons associated with the Hindu Mela organised to arouse patriotism in people. When the first session was held in April 1867, he was away in western India. However, he was present in Calcutta for the second session in 1868. He composed the patriotic song mile sabe Bharat santan, ektan gaho gaan (Unite India’s children, sing in unison) for the occasion. The song was hailed as the first national anthem of India. Satyendranath wrote a number of other patriotic songs.
In England, even when he was busy with other work, he found time to preach the ideals of Brahmo Samaj
. Later, when he was posted in Ahmedabad, he sent a report about Brahmo Samaj to Max Müller
. It was included in Max Muller’s biography written by his wife.
, W.C. Bannerjee
, Krishna Govinda Gupta, and Bihari Lal Gupta, all important people of the age in Kolkata.
His house on Park Street was the centre of a literary majlis (gathering). The deliberations were noted in a book which was not to be circulated outside the family and it was not printed. Among the subjects discussed were “Bengali language and the Bengali character”, “The elements of poetry”, “Chivalry”, “Love in women and in men”.
He was president of Vangiya Sahitya Parishad
from 1900–01, and presided over the 10th session of the Bengal provincial conference held at Natore in 1897.
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
.
Formative years
The second son of Debendranath TagoreDebendranath Tagore
Debendranath Tagore was one of the founders in 1848 of the Brahmo Religion which today is synonymous with Brahmoism the youngest religion of India and Bangladesh....
and grandson of Dwarkanath Tagore
Dwarkanath Tagore
Dwarkanath Tagore , was one of the first Indian industrialists and entrepreneurs, was the founder of the Jorasanko branch of the Tagore family, and is notable for making substantial contributions to the Bengal Renaissance.-Childhood:...
of the Jorasanko branch of the Tagore family
Tagore family
The Tagore family, with over three hundred years of history, has been one of the leading families of Kolkata, and is regarded as a key influence during the Bengal Renaissance...
of Calcutta (now Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
), he learnt Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
and English at home. A student of Hindu School
Hindu School, Kolkata
Hindu School is a school in Kolkata , India. It is located on College Street, in the vicinity of Hare School, College Square, Presidency College and Calcutta University....
, he was part of the first batch of students to appear for the entrance examinations of the University of Calcutta
University of Calcutta
The University of Calcutta is a public university located in the city of Kolkata , India, founded on 24 January 1857...
in 1857. He was placed in the first division and was admitted to Presidency College.
As was the custom of the day, he was married early in life to Jnanadanandini Devi in 1859. The same year, he and Keshub Chunder Sen accompanied his father on a visit to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
).
Civil service
For a long time, only British officers were appointed to all covenanted posts. In 1832, the posts of musif and sadar amin were created and opened to Indians. In 1833, the posts of deputy magistrate and deputy collector were created and opened to Indians. The ICS Act of 1861 established the Indian Civil Service. The Act of 1853 had already established the practice of recruiting covenanted civilians through competitive examinations.It was a daunting task to go to England and compete with the British for a position. However, his friend Monomohun Ghose
Monomohun Ghose
Monomohun Ghose was the first practicing barrister of Indian origin. He is notable for his contributions towards the fields of women’s education, for arousing the patriotic feeling of his countrymen and for being one of the earliest persons in the country in organised national politics...
offered encouragement and support, and both of them set sail for England in 1862 to prepare for and compete in the civil service examinations.
Satyendranath was selected for the Indian Civil Service in June, 1863. He completed his probationary training and returned to India in November 1864. Monomohun Ghose did not succeed in the examination for the ICS but was called to the bar. Satyendranath was posted to Bombay presidency
Bombay Presidency
The Bombay Presidency was a province of British India. It was established in the 17th century as a trading post for the English East India Company, but later grew to encompass much of western and central India, as well as parts of post-partition Pakistan and the Arabian Peninsula.At its greatest...
, which then covered western parts of present-day Maharashtra
Maharashtra
Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...
, Gujarat and Sindh
Sindh
Sindh historically referred to as Ba'ab-ul-Islam , is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran". Though Muslims form the largest religious group in Sindh, a good number of Christians, Zoroastrians and Hindus can...
. After initial posting of four months in Bombay (now Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
), he had his first active posting at Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad also known as Karnavati is the largest city in Gujarat, India. It is the former capital of Gujarat and is also the judicial capital of Gujarat as the Gujarat High Court has its seat in Ahmedabad...
.
With postings at numerous towns he travelled across the country. Because of his long stay away from home many in his family visited him and stayed with him for long periods. Amongst his regular visitors were his younger brothers Jyotirindranath Tagore
Jyotirindranath Tagore
Jyotirindranath Tagore was a playwright, a musician, an editor and a painter. Endowed with an outstanding talent, he had the rare capability of spotting talent in others...
(1849–1925) and Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
(1861–1941), the Nobel-prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
winning poet, and his sister Swarnakumari Devi
Swarnakumari Devi
See Tagore for disambiguationSwarnakumari Devi was an Indian poet, novelist, musician and social worker. She was the first among the women writers in Bengali to gain prominence.-Family and early life:...
.
His posting outside Bengal helped him to learn several Indian languages. He translated Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Lokmanya Tilak –, was an Indian nationalist, teacher, social reformer and independence fighter who was the first popular leader of the Indian Independence Movement. The British colonial authorities derogatorily called the great leader "Father of the Indian unrest"...
’s Geetarahasya and Tukaram
Tukaram
Sant Tukaram was a prominent Varkari Sant and spiritual poet during a Bhakti movement in India.Sant Tukaram was born and lived most of his life in Dehu, a town close to Pune in Mahārāshtra, India. He was born to a couple with the family name "More", the descendent of the Mourya Clan with first...
’s Abhang
Abhang
Abhang or Abhanga is a form of devotional poetry sung in praise of the Hindu god Vitthala also known as Vithoba. Bhajans focus on the inward journey, abhangs are more exuberant expressions of the communitarian experience.-History:...
poems into Bengali. Rabindranath Tagore had also translated some poems of Tukaram. Satyendranath took an active interest in the activities of the Brahmo Samaj
Brahmo Samaj
Brahmo Samaj is the societal component of the Brahmo religion which is mainly practiced today as the Adi Dharm after its eclipse in Bengal consequent to the exit of the Tattwabodini Sabha from its ranks in 1859. It was one of the most influential religious movements responsible for the making of...
wherever he was posted, as for example at Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad also known as Karnavati is the largest city in Gujarat, India. It is the former capital of Gujarat and is also the judicial capital of Gujarat as the Gujarat High Court has its seat in Ahmedabad...
and Hyderabad, Sindh
Hyderabad, Sindh
is the second largest city in the Sindh province of Pakistan. It is the seventh largest city in the country. The city was founded in 1768 by Mian Ghulam Shah Kalhoro upon the ruins of a Mauryan fishing village along the bank of the Indus known as Neroon Kot...
.
While in the Maharashtra region he had close contacts with many of the leading reformers and Prarthana Samaj
Prarthana Samaj
Prarthana Samaj, or "Prayer Society" in Sanskrit, was a movement for religious and social reform in Maharashtra based on earlier reform movements and traditions of Maharashtra formed in 1849 by Ram Balkrishna Jaykar and others in Mumbai. It was secret in order to avoid the wrath of the powerful...
figures — Mahadev Govind Ranade
Mahadev Govind Ranade
Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade was a distinguished Indian scholar, social reformer and author. He was a founding member of the Indian National Congress and owned several designations as member of the Bombay legislative council, member of the finance committee at the centre, and the judge of Bombay...
, Kashinath Trimbak Telang, Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar
Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar
Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar was an Indian scholar, orientalist, and social reformer.-Early life:Bhandarkar was born in Malvan in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra. After his early schooling in Ratnagiri, he studied at Elphinstone College in Bombay...
and Narayan Ganesh Chandavarkar.
He served in the ICS for about thirty years and retired as Judge of Satara
Satara
Satara is a city located in the Satara District of Maharashtra state of India. The town is 2320 ft. above sea-level, near the confluence of the Krishna and its tributary river Venna. The city was the capital of the Maratha empire in the 17th century, hence one of the the historical cities of...
in Maharashtra
Maharashtra
Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...
in 1897.
Women’s emancipation
Ram Mohan RoyRam Mohan Roy
Raja Ram Mohan Roy was an Indian religious, social, and educational reformer who challenged traditional Hindu culture and indicated the lines of progress for Indian society under British rule. He is sometimes called the father of modern India...
found Hindu women ‘uneducated and illiterate, deprived of property rights, married before puberty, imprisoned in purdah
Purdah
Purdah or pardeh is the practice of concealing women from men. According to one definition:This takes two forms: physical segregation of the sexes, and the requirement for women to cover their bodies and conceal their form....
, and murdered at widowhood by a barbaric custom of immolation known as sati
Sati (practice)
For other uses, see Sati .Satī was a religious funeral practice among some Indian communities in which a recently widowed woman either voluntarily or by use of force and coercion would have immolated herself on her husband’s funeral pyre...
.’ By the time Satyendranath was born sati had been banned (in 1829), and the process of reformation had set in.
The position of women in his society troubled him from a young age. He used to think that the purdah system in his family was ‘not that of our own nation but a copy of Muslim practices’. His visit to England where he witnessed more freedom for women helped him understand the relatively poor position of women in Indian society.
After his marriage, he found in Jnanadanandini Devi an ideal partner to fulfill his thinking. When he was thrilled to witness the progress of women in the advanced society in England, he wanted to take her to England to witness the same, but his father, Devendranath Tagore, stood in the way.
Back in India, Satyendranath took Jnanadanandini Devi to Bombay, where she tried to live in the manner and style of the wives of the English officers of the ICS. When the couple returned to the ancestral home at Jorasanko for a holiday, they created a sensation in Calcutta society. They were invited to a party in the Government House (now Raj Bhavan
Raj Bhavan (West Bengal)
Raj Bhavan is the Governor's palace in Kolkata, West Bengal. Built in 1803 and once the residence of the Viceroy of India, and called Government House, the palatial building is now the residence of the Governor of West Bengal. The present Governor, H.E...
). Breaking all traditional rules, Jnanadanandini Devi accompanied her husband to the party. There she was – ‘a lone Bengali woman in the midst of hundreds of English women.’ Prasanna Coomar Tagore
Prasanna Coomar Tagore
See Tagore for disambiguationPrasanna Coomar Tagore was son of Gopi Mohan Tagore, one of the founders of Hindu College. He belonged to the Pathuriaghata branch of the Tagore family and was one of the leaders of the conservative branch of Hindu society...
of the Pathuriaghata
Pathuriaghata
Pathuriaghata is a neighbourhood in north Kolkata, earlier known as Calcutta, in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is one of the oldest residential areas in what was Sutanuti. Once the abode of the Bengali rich, the neighbourhood and its surrounding areas are now dominated by Marwaris...
branch of the family, who was present in the party, could not bear the sight of a wife of a family member in such an open place and left immediately ‘in shame and anger’.
In 1877, he sent Jnanadanandini Devi to England with an English couple. She went with three children, a daring task in those days. They initially stayed with the family of Prasanna Coomar Tagore’s son Gnanendramohan Tagore
Gnanendramohan Tagore
See Tagore for disambiguationGnanendramohan Tagore was the first Asian to be called to the bar in England, in 1862.- Early life :...
, who had converted to Christianity and was the first Indian to qualify for the English bar. Later they shifted to Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
and lived on their own there.
Subsequently, Satyendranath accompanied Rabindranath Tagore in what was the latter's first visit to England. All of them returned to India in 1880. It was not only with his wife, but also his sisters that he took the lead to change things. His sister Soudamini Devi wrote, ‘The mocking we faced when we went out in the carriages is difficult to believe now.”
Thus were laid the foundations of freeing the upper and middle class women from the purdah. It was a major achievement of Satyendranath Tagore.
Jnanadanandini Devi contributed in some unique ways also. As she had to go out in society, she developed a style of wearing the sari, which is broadly followed by Indian women today. She also introduced the use of proper undergarments.
Jnanadanandini Devi took special interest in children’s matters and started the system of observing birthdays of children in the family, giving them gifts and celebrating the occasion. She started and edited a magazine named Balak for children in 1885. It was possibly the first magazine for children in the Bengali language. The magazine motivated Rabindranath to write for children. Many of the pieces included in his book Sishu were first published in Balak
Balak
Balak was king of Moab around 1200 BC. According to Book of Numbers 22:2, and the Book of Joshua 24:9, Zippor was the father of Balak.Book of Revelation 2:12 - 2:14 says about Balak:...
. The magazine was wound up after a year and merged with the family magazine Bharati.
Patriotism
The Tagore family was deeply patriotic. In an age when copying the West in matters of dress and language was a fashion in high society, the Tagores stuck to wearing Indian dress and developing the Bengali language. While admiring the positive qualities of English society, Satyendranath took the path of reforming and developing Indian society. The sense of patriotism was strong in him.He was one of the persons associated with the Hindu Mela organised to arouse patriotism in people. When the first session was held in April 1867, he was away in western India. However, he was present in Calcutta for the second session in 1868. He composed the patriotic song mile sabe Bharat santan, ektan gaho gaan (Unite India’s children, sing in unison) for the occasion. The song was hailed as the first national anthem of India. Satyendranath wrote a number of other patriotic songs.
Brahmo Samaj
Satyendranath had deep regard for his father Debendranath and the religion he had taken so much pain to develop. At a considerably young age, he and Monomohun Ghose accompanied Keshub Chunder Sen for his campaign to win over the younger generation at Krishnanagar College.In England, even when he was busy with other work, he found time to preach the ideals of Brahmo Samaj
Brahmo Samaj
Brahmo Samaj is the societal component of the Brahmo religion which is mainly practiced today as the Adi Dharm after its eclipse in Bengal consequent to the exit of the Tattwabodini Sabha from its ranks in 1859. It was one of the most influential religious movements responsible for the making of...
. Later, when he was posted in Ahmedabad, he sent a report about Brahmo Samaj to Max Müller
Max Müller
Friedrich Max Müller , more regularly known as Max Müller, was a German philologist and Orientalist, one of the founders of the western academic field of Indian studies and the discipline of comparative religion...
. It was included in Max Muller’s biography written by his wife.
Socio-literary activities
On retirement, he lived for some time in Park Street and then in Ballygunj in Calcutta. His house was a meeting place for his friends and relatives. Amongst those from outside the family who visited him regularly were Taraknath Palit, Monomohun Ghose, Satyendraprasanna SinhaSatyendra Prasanno Sinha, 1st Baron Sinha
Satyendra Prasanno Sinha, 1st Baron Sinha of Raipur KCSI PC KC was a prominent lawyer and statesman in British India.-Background and education:...
, W.C. Bannerjee
Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee
Womesh Chandra Banerjee was an Indian politician and the first president of Indian National Congress.- Early days :...
, Krishna Govinda Gupta, and Bihari Lal Gupta, all important people of the age in Kolkata.
His house on Park Street was the centre of a literary majlis (gathering). The deliberations were noted in a book which was not to be circulated outside the family and it was not printed. Among the subjects discussed were “Bengali language and the Bengali character”, “The elements of poetry”, “Chivalry”, “Love in women and in men”.
He was president of Vangiya Sahitya Parishad
Vangiya Sahitya Parishad
Bangiya Sahitya Parishad is a literary society in Bengal. Established during the time of the Raj, its goal is to promote Bengali literature, both by translating works in other languages to Bengali and promoting the production of original Bengali literature....
from 1900–01, and presided over the 10th session of the Bengal provincial conference held at Natore in 1897.