By : Satyaki Paul
On June 1, 1842 Satyendranath Tagore (1842-1923) was born at JorasankoThakurbari located in Kolkata district (erstwhile Calcutta) of West Bengal. He was the nephew of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. His father was Devendranath Tagore, who was Rabindranath Tagore’s elder brother.
In his initial days he was home-tutored, but later for higher education he was sent to Presidency College. In the same time period, he was involved in the Brahmo Samaj. It was this inspiration that he preached the ideals of Brahmo Samaj his entire life, and he even inspired scholars such as Max Muller through such ideals.
In 1859, he was married off to Jnadanandini Devi at the age of 17, and after marriage he settled in London. During his stay at London, he started aspiring to compete in Civil Service examinations. In those days the exam was conducted in England. He was a brilliant student so he was able to crack the exam withing a year of study. In 1863, he became the first Indian to crack the Indian Civil Service examinations. After receiving probationary training, he returned to India in 1864. His career as a civil servant began with working as an Assistant Magistrate and Collector in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. In due course, he was transferred to work as a civil servant in other parts of India from 1864 to 1897 (he retired as a Judge of Satara, Maharashtra).
Due to his career as a civil servant, he was able to roam across various parts of India. During his journey he learnt several Indian languages wherein he translated Tukaram’s and Bal Gangadhar Tilak’s work from Marathi to Bengali.
In 1876, he established Hindu Mela at Belgachia, Kolkata for inducing patriotism and the need for independence amongst the masses. He also composed many patriotic songs for it. He was also actively part taking in Adi Brahmo Samaj, and in 1907 he became its president and Acharya (religious guru) along with his sibling Dwijendranath Tagore. He was the author of numerous Bengali and English books and one of his renowned works was the “The Autobiography of Maharshi Devendranath Tagore” which he completed with the help of his daughter Indira Devi. He was also the president of Bongio Sahitya Parishad from 1900 to 1901.
His significant role of empowering women participation in India is also worth mentioning. As the proverb says that: Charity begins at home. So, with this image he tried to develop his wife’s character as much as he can. He aided his wife to live lives in the similar manner to that of British ICS officers’ wives. In due course, of their return to JorasankoThakurbari for short duration, his wife accompanied him to a party at government House (Raj Bhavan). He even encouraged his sisters to go out in open carriages wherein he was mocked by his fellow Bengali upper and middle class. As because purdah system was prevalent in Muslim and Bengali aristocratic families wherein women were screened from men or strangers. Thus, he was a staunch advocate towards equal gender rights and for the role of abolishment of purdah in Bengali society. It should be also noted that his wife Jnadanandini Devi is said to have introduced/adapted the use of wearing a blouse (undergarments) with a sari for Bengali women, this practice is prevalent in contemporary times.
In 1897, after his retirement from ICS, he resided at Park Street residence, later he again moved to Ballygunge. His residence at Ballygunge became the focal center point of intellectual gathering of that time period. Intellectuals such as Behari Lal Gupta, Satyendra Prasanna Sinha (1st Baron Sinha), TaraknathPalit, Umesh Chandra Banerjee, Monomohun Ghose, etc. often visited his residence for adda (Bengali social gathering at tea time). In these adda, they debated and opined on various topics such as Bengali literature, chivalry, poetry, etc.
He was first Indian to qualify ICS at the age of 21. He inspired future generations to take up civil service as an occupation and serve for our motherland. He was also a very modern in his thought process as he was one of the early torchbearers of women empowerment in India. In 1923, he passed away in his residence in Kolkata. The author works as a Ph.D. Research Scholar at the Department of Anthropology, University of Calcutta, and the co-author of the book Anthropology For All (2021).