Prince Dwarkanath Tagore, best known for his significant contributions in the 19th century Bengal Renaissance has been honoured with a new bust in London. Though he is mostly remembered as the grandfather of the Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore but his contributions and achievements are more than one can think of. Tagore was an astute entrepreneur and had an eye for minute details which took him to places. Needless to say, he was one of the first in that era to realise that India would develop through industrialisation and its relationship with the West. He not only was a true businessman, he also led a life of grandeur and splendour, hence referred to as a “Prince” most often.
Tagore was a believer and an advocate of social change through strong western relationships. He was a frequent invitee at the Buckingham Palace and was a good friend to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The duo even arranged for a princely send off for his burial ceremony, after he died on 1st August 1846 at St. George’s Hotel in London. He was laid to rest at the Kensal Green cemetery, London.
Dwarkanath rested there silently for decades in the 72 acres cemetery amongst 65,000 other graves, long forgotten and ignored, until Bengal Heritage Foundation and London Sharad Utsav (LSU) along with support from British Council, iLead (Kolkata), Friends of Kensal Green (London) decided to commemorate the founder of the great Tagore family of Jorasanko.
A bust of Dwarkanath Tagore and plaque noting his contributions was unveiled on Saturday 11 August while scores of Bengali professionals paid their respects along with Indians from all walks of life and quite a few enlightened local Brits. The commemoration started at 12.15pm, near Dwarkanath’s tomb, with an introduction on the monument to Dwarkanath Tagore by Henry Vivian-Neal and wreath laying at the monument. Men in Punjabis and Women in Sarees with uttoriyos in traditional Bengali style paid homage to Dwarkanath hymning “Anandoloke Mongolaloke”.
In the chapel at Kensal Green, Sourav Niyogi talked about Bengal Heritage Foundation, its feeling of kinship with Dwarkanath and announcing an annual commemoration to be held on the first Saturday of August every year going forward. There will also be speech presented on Rammohan Roy and Dwarkanath – “A Curious Connection”. All throughout the duration of the ceremony, mesmerising Rabindrasangeet was sung to re-unite the souls of the 2 Tagores of 2 generations and also the current generation of Bengali professionals in London.
Kolkata based businessman Pradeep Chopra travelled all the way from Kolkata along with his family to witness this splendid occasion. The ceremony was marked by the glorious presence of Saikat Maitra -Vice Chancellor of Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad University of Technology. His interest in this ceremony pulled him all the way from Kolkata to London. Mr. Maitra thinks that Dwarkanath Tagore’s achievement on entreprenurship is the “call of the time” in improving the country’s current economic state.
