Smita's Kolkata Chronicles

Brahmo Samaj was a society of the worshippers of the One True God. Brahmo means one who worships Brahma, or the Supreme Spirit of the universe, and Samaj means a community of men. The Brahmo Samaj, therefore, represents a body of men who are struggling, to establish the worship of the Supreme Being in spirit as opposed to the prevailing idolatry. It was one of the most influential religious movements in India.  It was started at Calcutta on 20 th August 1828 by Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Dwarkanath Tagore  as reformation of the prevailing treachery of Brahmanical practices and marked the onset of the Bengal Renaissance of the 19th century. This day was celebrated by as Bhadrotsab .  Its Trust Deed was made in 1830 formalizing its inception and it was duly and publicly inaugurated on 23 rd January 1830 by the consecration of the first house of prayer at Chitpore road. This day is celebrated by as  Maghotsab. After Raja Ram Mohan’s dea...

Situated at 125/1 Pramanick Ghat Road , this was the first monastery set up by the disciples of Sri Ramakrishna in 1886.  Owing to financial shortage, Narendranath Dutta (later Swami Vivekanada) selected this dilapidated house as temporary residence of monastic disciples. The house belonged to a zaminder family of Taki (North 24 Parganas).  The house crumbled to dust in 1897. The only remnants of the old building is a part of the pillar at the entrance.   In 1973 Vivekananda Math Samrakshan Samity was formed who attempted to preserve the area.  In 2001, the possession was handed over to Belur Math authority, who soon-after declared it as one of their official branch. The center is since then known as ‘ Ramakrishna Math ’.  Activities here include running an allopathic-cum-homeopathic dispensary, non-formal education, welfare work, religious discourses, and celebrations of the birthdays of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi and Swami Vivekananda a...

Situated at 90, Sri Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa Dev Sarani, this garden house was sanctified by Sri Ramakrishna’s stay from 11 th December 1885, with his disciples during the last few months of his life till he attained mahasamadhi in 1886 .  The place was selected for its unpolluted and peaceful ambience, as the residence of Sri Ramakrishna, upon the advice of Dr. Mahendralal Sarkar, when he was suffering from terminal illness.  The late Gopal Lal Ghosh , son-in-law of Rani Katyayani, was the owner of the garden who rented out the house for the residence of Sri Ramakrishna.  The two storied house had a room on the first floor reserved for the Holy Mother.  This place is visited by numerous devotees on 1 st January every year, on Kalpataru Utsav day. On this day in 1886, Sri Ramakrishna blessed Girish Ghosh and later many devotees with divine awakening. This set an ecstatic mood among those present.   It was made a branch of Ramakrishna Math in 1946.  ...

Thakurdas Chakraborty was an educationist who founded Metropolitan Training School (later Calcutta Training School) in 1859 at 1 Arpuly Lane, Kolkata.  Pundit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar joined the institution as the President of the Managing Committee in the school in 1860. In 1864, the school was renamed as the Metropolitan Institution (now located at 39, Sankar Ghosh Lane, Simla, Machuabazar ) and in the same year, Vidyasagar applied to the Calcutta University for their affiliation to the First Arts (FA) course. The application was turned down, mainly due to the objection raised by J. Sutcliffe, the then Principal of Presidency College. The students of the school performed brilliantly in the Entrance Examination, conducted by the University of Calcutta in 1871 and this inspired Vidyasagar to re-apply for getting affiliation of the University. After some opposition, the University Vice-Chancellor, Edward Clive Bail, agreed to the proposal and on 27 th January 1871, the Syndicat...

  While residing at England, J. E. D. Bethune started taking keen interest on Indian education from the documents which reached him. He was convinced of the proficiency of the native students and the efforts of Government run institutions. Upon his arrival to India, Bethune started drawing attention of the Bengali men folk towards the necessity and benefit of women education. The refinement in taste of an educated woman was bound to enhance the quality of domestic life due to compatibility in intellectual capacity of the married couple. An educated mother plays pivotal role in shaping the intellect and moral faculties of her children during their formative years.   Thus she lays a solid foundation in the character of the future citizens. The progress of a nation is largely the outcome of the degree to which the womenfolk exerted their refined mental influence on societal matters. 1 Thus Bethune took upon himself to become instrumental in pioneering women education in India. ...

Bethune College, established in 1878 boasts of being the first women’s college in Asia. Today it continues to shape women who are not only self-reliant but also great achievers in their chosen fields worldwide. The journey from its inception to the present times is indeed fascinating and is interwoven with the history of women’s emancipation in Bengal. John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune arrived at Kolkata in April 1848 on being appointed as the legislative member of the Supreme Council of India. Until then, the East India Company had taken little initiative to introduce female education in the country, although a demand for institutionalized female education had started, resulting in the setting up of a girl’s school. Bethune took charge of the unpaid office of President of the Council of Education and founded the Calcutta Female School in 1849. The foundation stone of Bethune School building was laid on November 6, 1850. The main ceremony was conducted by Sir John Hunter Littler, Deput...

  Dr. Rajendra Prasad while presiding the Constituent Assembly on 24 th January, 1950 stated: “The composition consisting of words and music known as ‘ Jana Gana Mana ’ is the National Anthem’ of India, and the song ‘ Vande Mataram ’, which has played a historic part in struggle for Indian freedom, shall be honoured equally with ‘ Jana Gana Mana ’ and shall have equal status with it” (Constituent Assembly of India, Vol. XII). Vande Mataram was written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay in the year 1875 in Sanskrit. Later in 1882, he included the poem in his Bengali novel ‘ Anandamath ’. He predicted that the poem will spread as wildfire during India’s freedom struggle but did not live to see its popularity. Rabindranath set only the first two lines of the poem to music while the music of the remaining part was composed by Sarala Devi Chaudhurani. She was a musical prodigy, social reformer, nationalist leader and Tagore’s niece. The song comprises of six stanzas of which only the...