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| Debendranath Tagore | |
| Born | May 15, 1817 Kolkata, West Bengal, India |
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| Died | January 19, 1905 Kolkata, West Bengal, India |
| Occupation | Religious reformer |
| Spouse(s) | Sarada Devi |
Debendranath Tagore (Debendronath Ţhakur) (Bengali: দেবেন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর) (May 15, 1817 - January 19, 1905) was the founder in 1848 of the Brahmo Religion which today is synonymous with Brahmoism the youngest religion of India and Bangladesh.
A Bengali, he was born in Calcutta, India. His father, was the fabulous "Prince" Dwarkanath Tagore.
Debendranath was a deeply religious man. His movement the Brahmo Samaj was formed in 1843 by merging his Tattwabodhini Sabha with the Brahmo Sabha, ten years after the death of the latter's founder, Raja Ram Mohan Roy. The Brahmo Sabha had fallen away from its original practices put forth in its Trust deed of Brahmo Sabha, however, Tagore revived the importance of this deed.
Debendranath's spiritual prowess was of the highest order, even while he maintained his worldly affairs - not renouncing his material possessions as some Hindu traditions prescribed but rather continuing to enjoy them in a spirit of detachment. His considerable material property included several estates spread over the districts of Bengal; most famously, the later acquisition Santiniketan estate near Bolpur in the Birbhum district where his eldest son Dwijendranath Tagore set up his school.
Debendranath was a master of the Upanishads and played no small role in the education and cultivation of faculties of his sons.
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Children
Dwijendranath (1840-1926) was an accomplished scholar, poet and music composer. He initiated shorthand and musical notations in Bengali. He wrote extensively and translated Kalidas’s Meghdoot into Bengali.
Satyendranath (1842-1923) was the first Indian to join the Indian Civil Service. At the same time he was a great scholar with a large reservoir of creative talents.
Hemendranath (1844-1884) was the scientist and organiser of the family. He was a spiritual seer and Yogi of the highest order and he was responsible for development of the modern Brahmoism which is now the Adi Dharm religion. He was a "doer" of his Tagore generation and worthy successor to his grandfather Dwarkanath and father. He sided with his "conservative" siblings Dwijendranath and Birendranath in the family disputes against "modern" Satyendranath, Jyotindranath and Rabindranath.
Jyotirindranath (1849-1925) was a scholar, artist, music composer and theatre personality.
Rabindranath (1861-1941) was his youngest son. His other sons were Birendranath (1845-1915) and Somendranath.
His daughters were Soudamini, Sukumari, Saratkumari, Swarnakumari (1855-1932) and Barnakumari. Soudamini was one of the first students of Bethune School and a gifted writer. Swarnakumari was a gifted writer, editor, song-composer and social worker. All of them were famous for their beauty and education. His part in creating the legacy of Thakurbari - the House of Tagore - in the cultural heritage of Bengal, centred in Kolkata, was not negligible. It was largely through the influence of the Tagore family, following that of the writer Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, that Bengal took a leading role on the cultural front as well as on the nationalistic one, in the Renaissance in India during the nineteenth century.
Thakur Bari (House of Tagores)
The house of the Tagore family in Jorasanko, popular as Jorasanko Thakur Bari in North-western Kolkata, was later converted into a campus of the Rabindra Bharati University.
Religion
DebendraNath's Brahmoism is founded on Ram Mohan Roy's Hasidic religious panentheism (ie. the omnipresence of God) but extended by Tagore to communion between God and man ie. Devekus.
Hasidic influence on Brahmoism
Deveikus (communion) refers to the belief that an unbroken intercourse takes place between the world of God and the world of humanity. It is true not only that the Deity influences the acts of man, but also that man exerts an influence on the will of the Deity. Every act and word of man produces a corresponding vibration in the upper spheres. From this conception is derived the chief practical principle of Hasidism—communion with God for the purpose of uniting with the source of life and of influencing it. This communion is achieved through the concentration of all thoughts on God, and consulting Him in all the affairs of life.
The righteous man is in constant communion with God, even in his worldly affairs, since here also he feels His presence. A special form of communion with God is prayer. In order to render this communion complete the prayer must be full of fervor, ecstatic; and the soul of him who prays must during his devotions detach itself from its material dwelling.
Tributes
Sivanath Sastri has paid glowing tributes to Debndranath Tagore in History of the Brahmo Samaj:
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- Maharshi Devendranath Tagore was one of the greatest religious geniuses this country ever produced. He was truly a successor of the great rishis of old. His nature was essentially spiritual. … He was a devout follower of the Upanishadic rishis, but was no pantheist on that account. Devendranath in spite of his real sainthood never put on the grab or habits of sadhu or saint. His piety was natural, habitual and modest. He hated or shunned all display of saintliness... ::He was a true and living embodiment of that teaching of the Gita where it is said: “A truly wise man is never buffeted by his trials and tribulations, does not covet pleasure, and is free from attachment, fear and anger; the same is a muni.” Maharshi Devendranath was a true muni in that respect. He calmly bore all; even the greatest grieves of life. After having done his duty, he quietly rested, regardless of consequences. ::Though personally not much in favour of the idea of female emancipation, he was one of the first men in Bengal to open the door of higher education to women. Valuing conscience in himself, he valued it in all about him. Religious life was growth to him; not an intellectual assent but a spiritual influence that pervaded and permeated life; consequently, he had not much sympathy with merely reformatory proceedings. ::From the west he took only two ideas: first, the idea of fidelity to God; secondly the idea of public worship; in all other things he was oriental. His idea was to plant the Samaj in India, as the Hindu mode of realising universal theism, leaving the other races to realise that universal faith according to their traditional methods.
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