Ramtanu Lahiri, Brahman and Reformer: A History of the Renaissance in Bengal/Chapter 1
CHAPTER I.
THE HOME OF THE LAHIRI FAMILY AT KRISHNAGAR.
The Hindu biographer usually introduces his hero with a description of his ancestry, the place or places chiefly associated with the history of his family, and the persons who more or less influenced his life and character. We shall follow this plan, and propose at the outset to say something about Krishnagar, hallowed by its associations with Ramtanu and his venerable ancestors, and about its illustrious Rajas. The Rajas of Nadia and the Lahiris have lived together amid the same surroundings from generation to generation, their connection dating back far in the past. It was under the auspices of the Rajas and their Dewans, that the Lahiri family made Krishnagar their home; and we shall see that some of them rendered distinguished service to their patrons. The venerable Ramtanu himself was very intimate with the Rajas contemporaneous with him, Siris Chandra, Satis Chandra, and Khitis Chandra.
When in 1845, Mr Lahiri, on his return to Krishnagar, began to preach his liberal doctrines, he had a cordial and honourable reception from Raja Siris Chandra, who openly encouraged him in his noble work. The next Raja, Satis Chandra, looked up to him as his guardian and guide. When, having renounced the Brahmanical thread, he was spurned by his relations, and had not where to lay his head, the Raja received him with open arms, saying, “Sir, do not be anxious in the least, make my house yours,” and from that time regarded him as one of his own family. Whenever Mr Lahiri came to Krishnagar, he was invited to the palace, and shown great attentions. And finally, Raja Khitis Chandra’s regard for him was equally great. For some time they stood in the relation of guardian and ward; the Raja would afterwards often say, “When there was nobody to befriend me, it was Lahiri Mahashay alone that helped me.”
In the eighteenth century, Krishnagar was the capital of south Bengal. It is still one of the first-class towns, next to Calcutta in prosperity and civilisation, and having many interests in common with Calcutta.
The Rajas of Krishnagar, or of Nadia, are of long-standing celebrity. The whole of the district is indebted to them in many ways for its prosperity. The author remembers, in his boyhood, to have seen on the title-page of the old Bengali almanac, the name of Raja Satis Chandra, under whose auspices it had been got up, and, on inquiring who he was, to have been told that he was the then Raja of Krishnagar, descended from ancestry noted as the leaders of Hindu society, the guardians of Kulinism, and the encouragers of merit. When the country was under the Muhammadan rule, these Rajas, in defiance of the risk of incurring the displeasure of their rulers, defended the cause of Hindu religion and learning. At the time of which we are speaking, the Hindu Rajas were to some extent free from Imperial interference. As long as they punctually paid the revenue, they might do much as they liked in their own territories. They had armies, courts, and ministers of their own; and men of merit flocked to their palaces for rewards and distinctions.
Raja Krishna Chandra of Nadia created for himself an imperishable name as a great patron of literature and learning. The great poet Bharat Chandra flourished under his patronage, and left to posterity his Annada Mangal, a work that has placed him on a high pedestal of fame.
On the 23rd of December 1686, Job Charnock, of the East India Company, owing to a misunderstanding between himself and the Subadar of Bengal, removed from Hughli to Sutanati, which again he was soon obliged to leave, though for a short time. He returned and built a factory here on 10th August 1690. Modern Calcutta stands on the site of Sutanati. In those days Krishnagar was the chief city in Bengal; and the principal seat of learning and civilisation, owing to the power and public spirit of its Rajas. So I proceed to give a short history of this Raj family. Tradition says that in 1077, Adisur, the King of Bengal, invited five pure Brahmans of the highest class, from Kanauj, to offer sacrifices to the gods on his behalf. Bhattanarayana was one of these Brahmans. His descendant, named Kasi, who had grown into a wealthy landholder, was in Akbar’s reign driven from his native place, Vikrampur, by the Nawab. When seeking shelter in some other part of Bengal, he was waylaid and killed by the Nawab’s men; and his widow, then about to become a mother, took shelter in the house of Hara Krishna Sammadar, a Zemindar in the Bogwon Pargana. She gave birth to a male child, who in time was adopted by the childless Sammadar and invested with his title. The name of this adopted son was Ram Chandra; who in course of time became the father of four sons, of whom Bhabananda afterwards gained great distinction. It was he who rendered great service to Raja Mansing in quelling the insurrection headed by Pratapaditya of Jessore; and he was rewarded by Jehangir with the Zemindaries of Nadia and some other parganas, and the title of Mazumdar. This Bhabananda was the founder of the Krishnagar Raj family,
Bhabananda and his son lived at a place named Matihari; but his grandson, Raghab, removed to a small village then called Raooi, but subsequently, Krishnagar, after the God Krishna, who was worshipped here. Since then the Raj family have always occupied this place as their chief seat.
It is true that, pressed by the Mahratta incursions in his time, Krishna Chandra had to leave, for some time, the house of his ancestors, and to live in Shibnibash, a town founded by him, and named after his son, Shib Chandra. But that did not cause permanent separation between Krishnagar and its Rajas; for Krishna Chandra’s grandson, Ishwar Chandra, returned to the old home of the family.
Krishna Chandra had eighty-four parganas as his Zemindari; and he was the most powerful and illustrious of his family. He was born in 1710; and it was in his time that Bengal passed from the hands of the Muhammadans into those of the English. He inherited the estate in 1728 when he was only eighteen years old; but even at this early age, he gave ample proofs of his intelligence, and cleverness in achieving his ends. Rumour says, that his father, Raghu Ram, had for some hidden cause disinherited him and had nominated his (Raghu Ram’s) brother, Ramgopal, as his successor; and that the latter had on the demise of Raghu Ram applied to the Nawab, to have his nomination confirmed; but that the diplomatic Krishna Chandra by a certain wonderful trick balked his uncle.
In 1740 bands of Mahrattas commenced pillaging and ravaging Bengal; and great were the sufferings of the people. At first those living on the right bank of the Hughli had to bear the brunt of the attack; and to save their lives and property they fled to the other side of the river. But here too the plunderers came; and fearing to face them, Krishna Chandra, as said above, left Krishnagar for Shibnibash. On the south of this town he organised a village of cowherds who now are known as the “Gorhos of Krishnapur”; and two miles to the north-west of it, a mart called Krishnaganj. Near to the mart is a village of the same name. The Eastern Bengal State Railway runs through it, and has named a station after it.
Krishna Chandra was the most important personage of this part of Bengal in his time. So some historians say that the conspirators against Sirajuddaula must have sought, and gained, his accession to the plot and that it was with his advice that they made overtures to the English; while there are others who do not make him a party to the conspiracy. But the weight of evidence is in favour of the former story; for the writer of the “Memoirs of Khitish Chandra and his Ancestry” says, that it is a common belief in the Raj family of Krishnagar that Clive after the battle of Plassey presented Krishna Chandra with five cannon, in token of his services to the British power; and that these five cannon are still in the palace at Krishnagar.
Krishna Chandra had to suffer much from the hands of Meer Kasim when he was the Nawab. Quarrelling with the English, Meer Kasim transferred his capital to Monghyr; and while there cruelly persecuted all those whom he suspected to be friendly disposed towards them. Krishna Chandra and Shib Chandra were among the sufferers. They were both for some time kept in close confinement in the Monghyr fort; and they would have had to pay the penalty of death, had not the tyrant been compelled to quit the city for fear of the English.
After the English Governor’s appointment as Dewan of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, he divided the province into many parganas, and made new fiscal arrangements with the Zemindars; and Krishna Chandra managed to make a settlement with the authorities in the name of his eldest son, Shib Chandra, to whom he transferred by a written deed all his estates. This happened in 1780; and after this he retired to a beautiful house built on the River Alakananda, situated two miles from Krishnagar. Here he passed his days in preparation for death, which visited him in 1782 at the age of seventy-three.
Krishna Chandra had two wives. The first bore him five sons, whose names were Shib Chandra, Bhairab Chandra, Hara Chandra, Mahesh Chandra and Ishan Chandra; and the second, one son, Sambhu Chandra. This young man had by his disobedience incurred the displeasure of his father; and on Shib Chandra’s succeeding to the ancestral Zemindari, left the palace with his mother and settled at a place called Haradhan, where his descendants still live.
Krishna Chandra was able, persevering, and of firm resolution. His life was full of trouble, and dangers beset him on every side; but he was never daunted. Besides, having great presence of mind, he was equal to every occasion, however trying; and his misfortunes, however great, never prevented his enjoying the company of his favourite counsellors and friends. He was a Vikramaditya in appreciating and rewarding merit. His court was crowded with men of learning, poets, musicians, and great wits, who always found favour with him. The Raja made a regular allowance to them, and they often received from him free grants of land. The jewel of his court was Bharat Chandra, the model poet. This man was born in 1712 at a village in the Burdwan district; and after receiving a liberal education in Sanskrit and Persian, he travelled in many parts of India, and afterwards came to Chandernagore where Indra Narayana Chaudhri, the Dewan of the French, gave him a horse. It was here that he made his first acquaintance with Krishna Chandra, when the latter was on a visit to Indra Narayana. The Raja, pleased with his accomplishments, took him to his home. The last though not the least brilliant ornament of the Krishnagar court was Gopal Bharh, whose witty sayings are still in the mouth of almost every Bengali. I think it will not be too much to say that the intelligence, learning and wit for which India is still noted, were nurtured and developed under the auspices of Krishna Chandra.
But in spite of his claims to the gratitude of his country in other respects, he was indifferent to social and religious matters. He attempted no reforms. It is said that Raja Rajballabh, feeling keenly for the sorrows of his young widowed daughter, thought of her remarriage, and that he would have accomplished his purpose, had not Krishna Chandra opposed him. The Krishnagar court, instead of alleviating the burden of priestly rule laid on the people, made it heavier. It is said, that it debarred the Piralis, or excommunicated-Brahmans of Jessore, and the Baidyas, from the privilege of wearing the sacred thread. How far the rumour is correct we do not know.
Shib Chandra filled the gadi from 1782 to 1788. He was very pious, candid and friendly to his people. His successor Ishwar Chandra’s career lasted till 1802. He was very extravagant, and loose in his morals. He is said to have spent more than a lakh of rupees on the marriage of a pet monkey. He was so remiss in punctually paying the Government revenue, that to realise it portions of his Zemindari were sold by public auction.
He was succeeded by Giris Chandra. He too neglected his affairs. He spent large sums of money in works of devotion. The eighty-four parganas comprised in the Zemindari of Krishna Chandra, now dwindled into five or six parganas and a few villages free of rent. Giris Chandra, having no issue, adopted a son, to whom he gave the name of Siris Chandra, and who when only a minor succeeded him in 1841. This Raja, like some of his predecessors, encouraged learning and the fine arts. Famous musicians from Delhi were entertained by him.
Siris Chandra on attaining his majority devoted his attention to the affairs of the Raj. At first he tried to recover the lost parganas. Then he organised a philanthropic society, of which he was the president, the chief object of which was to move Government to restore to their former owners those rent-free lands which it had deprived them of. He did not stop here in his good work. He tried every means to ameliorate the social condition of the people of lower Bengal. Having read the Hindu Shastras with learned Brahmans, he tried to glean from them passages sanctioning the remarriage of widows. He would have succeeded in this noble work, but for the strong opposition of the Nadia Pandits.
Siris Chandra appreciated and encouraged the spread of English education in this country. In 1845 the Krishnagar College was founded, and the Raja, unlike his predecessors, sent his son there, and enrolled himself as a member of the managing committee. He established a Brahmo Samaj in 1844; and Babu Debendranath Tagore sent a Brahmo preacher, Hazarilal, to permanently lead in the worship. It is said that finding Hazarilal not to be a Vedic Brahman, the Rajah was much grieved, and ordered that the Samaj should no longer meet in his house.
A little after this, an agitation was set on foot against the Christian missionaries at Krishnagar; and to counteract 
The Maharaja Of Nadia (Maharaja Khitis Chandra Rai, Bahadur).
their efforts to evangelise the people Siris Chandra started a free English School.
But such a valuable life had a very lamentable end. We here quote the words of the writer of “Khitis Chandra and his Family.”
Raja Siris Chandra was till the thirty-fifth year of his age devoted to the service of his country, and to his own good. After this he came in contact with some plausible wealthy men of Calcutta, whose company effected a revolution in his principles and conduct. After this he ceased to attend to his own affairs, and shut his ears against the advice and warning of friends. He became intemperate in every way, and spent days and nights in Bacchanalian revelries. Two years of incessant debauchery told on his body and mind; and at last, on the 21st of the month of Augraham, 1857, he left this world at the age of thirty-eight.
His successor. Satis Chandra, ascended the gadi at the age of twenty. Few noteworthy events happened in his time. He neglected his responsibilities, and spent much of his time abroad with bad companions. He was careless alike of his income and his expenditure. He died on the 25th of October 1870 at Masuri, of a disease brought on by too much drinking.
Satis Chandra was a great admirer of English customs. He ate publicly with his European guests. On his death, Mr Lobb, the then Principal of the Krishnagar College, praised him in the following terms: — “The Maharaja was the link of sympathy between the Europeans and the natives, and in his death that link has been broken, and there is no hope for another to take his place.”
Satis’s widow adopted a son, and named him Khitis Chandra. He is the present Raja of Nadia, and is honoured by all for his learning, intelligence, and good character.
When, in the beginning of the last century, the Rajas were declining in power, and the British rule was being firmly established in this country, a few families in Krishnagar rose to eminence; and of these the Lahiris were the foremost. In a short time, their fame spread far and wide, and great was their influence on the society of the district.
We cannot definitely say when, and under what circumstances, they settled here. But this much is certain, that originally they dwelt in some part of Rajshahi; and that one of them married into the family of the Dewan Chakravarttis, or, as they were latterly called, Rajas of Krishnagar, and as was the custom then of Brahmans of his class, left his own home for that of his father-in-law. Dewan Kartik Chandra Rai, author of the “Memoir of Khitish Chandra and his Family,” writes thus of two of his ancestors: “It appears that my great grandfather, Shostidas Chakravartti, and after him, his son, Ramram, were Dewans in the Krishnagar Court from the time of Raja Rudra, the great grandson of Bhobanunda to that of Raghuram, the grandson of Rudra, and in our genealogical records, their names never occur but with the title of their office appended to them.” From this it is clear that the Chakravarttis or Rais have held the Diwani for several generations. It was their custom to marry their daughters to Kulins of high caste belonging to Varendrabhumi, or the land of the Varendras, a sect of Brahmans, and then to find homes for them in Krishnagar, or in its neighbourhood. And it is supposed, that this is the reason why there are so many families of Lahiris, Khans, Sandels, etc., to he found in this part of Bengal.
We cannot say who it was among the ancestors of 
Jadu Nath Rai, Rai Bahadur
Babu Ramtanu Lahiri that first married into the Dewan family and settled in Krishnagar. We have been told, however, that some of them lived at Matihari, along with the Chakravarttis; and from thence they came here. Mr Lahiri’s great grandfather, Ramhori, permanently made Krishnagar his home. He had two sons, Ramkinkar and Ramgovinda, of whom the former was appointed Munshi in the court. He was childless, and so adopted a son, while his brother had five sons. Under the joint family system, Ramkinkar, as the only breadwinner, was called upon to support Ramgovinda with his wife and children. He submitted to the requisition at first; but soon finding it burdensome, proposed to his brother a division of the family possessions and liabilities, so that they might shift each for himself. Ramgovinda could not say nay to this; and the day of partition having arrived, the wily Kinkar divided the whole property, movable and immovable, into two lots, one consisting of things of high value, the other only of the family Shalgram Shila and some Debuttar land, and gave his brother the first choice. Ramgovinda, being of a pious turn of mind, gladly seized the second lot, willing rather to starve than part with his tutelary god. This step afterwards entailed upon him great poverty, with all its concomitant discomforts, but he had the consciousness of having done right. He had the reputation of being a religious man, and Bharat Chandra in the Annadamangal, alludes to his virtue and high worth.
Of the five sons of Govinda, Kasikanta was the second. He worked for some time under the Raja of Dinajpur. People speak of him as a man of commanding presence, inspiring awe in the minds of all who approached him. The apprehension of his displeasure deterred the children of his house from their juvenile follies. Once his grandson, Kesava Chandra Lahiri, the eldest brother of Ramtanu, received a kick from him for being inattentive to his lessons; and the receiver of the kick would afterwards often refer to it as a successful corrective. Kesava Kanta had two wives and two sons; elder of whom, Thakurdas, served for some time as the chief agent of Raja Giris Chandra and was known as Lahiri Dewan. He passed most of his time in Calcutta, and would go to the Governor-General’s levees as his Raja’s representative.
Ramkrishna, the younger, was of a very pious nature. He devoted the latter part of his life chiefly to religious exercises. He cooked his own food as long as he had strength to do so. Towards the close of his days on earth, he made it a rule to give a quarter-rupee to any Brahman, whom he met on quitting his bed; and after the customary ablutions of the morning he passed several hours in meditation and prayer. He then attended to only such domestic matters as were very urgent, and to the feeding of guests. He took his first meal of the day at four o’clock. In his last days, when almost helpless, he was attended upon, and assisted in his works of piety, by his widowed daughter, Bhola Sundari.
He had eight sons and two daughters. Kesava, his eldest son, having received a good education in English and Persian, was at first appointed by Government as a clerk in Alipur, and then promoted to the head clerkship or Sheristadarship, in the Judge’s Court in Jessore. It would not be saying too much in his favour, if one were to speak of him as a model Hindu, doing his duty to all having kinship with him. He employed all his honest earnings in contributing to the comfort of his old parents, and to the bringing up of his brothers and sisters. The subject of this biography would often talk of the uncommon 
Dr Kalicharan Lahiri.
filial veneration of his eldest brother. On receiving a letter from his father, he used first to reverentially place it on his head, and then to take it down, and read its contents. Besides this, as his descendants still say, he rendered divine homage to his mother during his stay at home. Installing her on the wooden seat of the gods, and placing her feet on the copper vessel sacred to them, he worshipped her as a goddess. Great were the lady’s fears at this. Trembling in every limb, she used to say, “Kesava, what are you about? I am afraid to receive such honours as are due to the gods alone.” Kesava’s reply to this was, “Holy mother, you are my adorable deity.”
Ramtanu Babu was the fifth son and seventh child of his parents. Kesava died when young. He had three brothers younger than he, and their names were Radhabilash, Sriprasad and Kali Charan. The first having finished his collegiate education went to work in Jessore as Kesava’s assistant. Here both the brothers died of malarious fever. Kali Charan Babu, having studied medicine and surgery in the Calcutta Medical College, set up as a doctor in Krishnagar, where he practised till a few years ago. Dewan Kartik Chandra Rai, in his “Memoir,” says of his childhood; “The boy Kali Charan was extremely fond of me. He brought me books from Calcutta; and when at home, would help me a great deal in my studies. Kali Charan was very nice in his selection of dress. With the scholarship he got in the Medical College, he bought very fine dhutis, chadars, and shoes. On coming home, he would force some of them on me, saying, ‘Cousin, you would look much better with these on than I.’”
Kali Charan always through life displayed the same warmth of hearts in boyhood. When, in after years, he stood very high in his profession, he won the esteem and love of all, by his affability, kind behaviour, and sympathy for the afflicted and poor. He visited them gratis; and often supplied them with medicines from his own dispensary without charging them anything. There are many anecdotes illustrating his liberality, one of them being as follows. Once a prescription written by him was brought to his dispensary to be made up. It ended with the words “a cartload of straw.” He meant that with the medicine the straw should be supplied. The public at first made it a matter of wondering what the patient would do with straw. At length they asked Kali Charan to explain himself, and he said, “On going to his house, I found that the thatch had given way, and that it should be instantly repaired, otherwise, in spite of all the medicines he might take, he would die of exposure, and so I thought of sending him, along with the medicine, a cartload of straw.” What wonder that the man who gave so much thought to the wants of the needy, would be loved by all? Whenever he stepped into a house, the children in it welcomed him with a shout of joy. We here give a translation of what the poet, Dinabandhu Mitra, said about this good man’s sympathy with the youth of his time:
“Sweet was his nature, and like honey were his words. The young regarded him as their own, and to them he gave his heart. He and they mixed as milk and water.”
Radhabilash and Sriprasad, like Ramtanu, were educated in Mr David Hare’s school in Calcutta. Sriprasad, having gained scholastic distinctions himself, undertook the noble work of spreading the light of knowledge among the rising generation in his own city. He opened a school for them in his house, and himself imparted to them instruction. About this, Dewan Kartik Chandra Rai says, “in 1243 or 1244 of the Bengali era, the lover of his country, Sriprasad Lahiri, established a free English School in his own house. He threw himself, heart and soul, into the work of teaching, and supplied the poor among his pupils with books, paper, and pens. In a short time the Institution attained a very flourishing condition, and sent out numbers to fill important positions in Society.”
Sriprasad’s philanthropic spirit found a full development in after years. To relieve the poor, and thus to help them to forget their afflictions, was his chief end in life. From the salary of eighty rupees a month, which he got as Sheristadar of the Court of Krishnagar, he would help the poverty-stricken to the best of his ability. The Durga Puja season is to the Hindus what Christmas is to the Christians. The poorest of the poor even are at this time accustomed to appear in their best costume. There were many families known to Sriprasad who could not afford holiday attire; but they had a friend in this kind man to help them in their difficulty. He made presents of money and clothes to them. Besides this, he held his purse open to relieve the needy whenever he came across them. He distributed his charities in an admirable way, never letting his left hand know what his right hand gave. He is said once to have given half his monthly salary to a friend in distress, with the strict instruction that he would not say a word of this to anybody.
Sriprasad was deeply learned in Sanskrit, Persian and English; and his abilities were of a very high order. He filled the Sheristadarship with so much credit, that he was soon appointed as a Deputy Collector; but the hand of death snatched him away, and thus prevented him from enjoying his promotion.
One word more about this great man. He could have amassed a fortune if he had only compromised a little his strict principles, and availed himself of the questionable means which Government servants of his position then had of enriching themselves. In those days the influence of the amlas was very great; and in most cases the judges and the magistrates saw with the eyes, and spoke through the mouths, of their head clerks or Sheristadars, thus giving them frequent opportunities for taking bribes. Sriprasad might have, if he had liked, used such opportunities to his advantage; but to swerve even an inch from the honest path was against his noble nature. Through his whole career he evinced that sense of justice, that integrity of purpose, and that horror of sin, which had made his ancestors conspicuous, and for which the present representatives of his family are still noted.
We have hitherto dwelt on the merits of the descendants of only Kasikant, the second son of Ramgovinda Lahiri. Let us now say something of his other sons. The eldest, Krishnakanta, married in Mymensing and settled there. His branch is yet to be found in that place; while those that are descendants of the third and the fifth sons, Gaurikanta and Shambhukanta, are known as the Lahiris of Doulia and Baganbatti, villages adjacent to Krishnagar. They are so called to distinguish them from Kasikant’s descendants in the city, the Lahiris of Kadamtolla. And in many of them was reflected the noble and pious character of Ramgovinda. Not finding it necessary to bring them all before the reader, we pass them over, save one in whom the religious temperament, so characteristic of the Lahiris, found a new presentment. His name was Dwarkanath Lahiri; and here is a brief account of his life: He was the grandson of Shambhu Chandra; and was born in 1827 at Baganbatti. Having lost his father at a very early age, he passed his boyhood with his mother, in her brother’s house. While here he attended Babu Sriprasad Lahiri’s school, and gained some knowledge of English and Bengali. When he was fifteen years old, something happened to cause his mother great trouble; and thinking that poverty was at the root of this he quitted his uncle’s house, with the resolution of trying his fortune in the wide world, and seeing if he could, with his earnings, make her independent and happy. He resolved, too, that should he fail in his endeavour, he would end his days in obscurity far from home. Starting with a few pieces of copper in his pocket, he tramped continually for two or three months, till he arrived in Agra, and found shelter in the house of a Bengali gentleman, who not only supplied him with the necessaries of life, but bore the expense of his education. Dwarkanath in a few years distinguished himself as an English scholar, and secured a lucrative position in the city. On getting his salary for the first month, he wrote to his mother asking her to come to him, and sent her the fare for her journey. It is not difficult to imagine the joy the mother felt in realising that her only son whom she had given up as lost was still alive, and in affluent circumstances! Tears of gladness rolled down her cheeks, when she raised her thankful heart to the Great Disposer of all events. After a short preparation she undertook the journey, and reached Agra, to meet her son, whom she found unremitting in his attentions to her. In course of time Dwarkanath married, and was blessed with two daughters.
In a short time an important, perhaps the most important, event happened in Dwarkanath’s life. Being naturally of a religious turn of mind, he would often study works on religion, and think of such momentous questions as had reference to man’s destiny here, and in the next world, and to sin, and salvation from it. At length, coming in contact with an official superior, an Englishman and a disciple of Christ, he was led to inquire into the claims of Christianity. His candid inquiry was followed by conviction, and Dwarkanath accepted Christ as his Saviour by baptism. This step poisoned his cup of domestic bliss; and great was the persecution he had to receive from the hands of his mother, his love and respect for her adding to its bitterness. It was the time of sore trial indeed. There was a hard contest within him between the heart and conscience, in which the latter however came off victorious. His younger daughter thus speaks of his sufferings at the time:
“My grandmother, under the groundless belief, that should the Christian Scriptures, or works on theology, be destroyed or placed beyond the reach of her son, his faith in Christianity would be shaken, burnt them wholesale. Innumerable were the occasions on which she would disturb father in his devotions. She would hide the Bible, and try mischievous tricks of the kind, so that her son might not worship the object of her hatred. There hardly passed a day without father’s smarting under the cruel treatment of his mother. Till the last day of her life, she was in the habit of saying, ‘Can I bear the thought that this jewel of a son is a traitor to his own religion?’ But father was too tough for even this. He did not for a moment waver in his duty; his faith was not disturbed in the least; and he was never found disrespectful to his mother. He never lost the placidity of his countenance; nor did he lose his patience in the midst of his sufferings. Filial reverence like this is very rare. The mother seemed to be wanting in common-sense, but yet all the son’s earnings were placed at her disposal. Self-denial in the service of Christ, unrivalled patience which is the gift of Heaven, and a forgiving spirit, were gloriously displayed in his conduct; and it seemed that he had followed his Divine Master, to illustrate in himself the working of His Spirit. Instances of such self-consecration are rarely found in this world. We in his Christian life clearly saw, and strongly felt, the sacred solemnity of the Lord’s Day. We ate very little on that day, and spent our time chiefly in prayer, solitary meditation, and the reading of the Book of God, and my grandmother as before, expecting to reclaim her son by means of persecution, would take unusual pains to wound his feelings, by doing everything in her power to interrupt him. But he patiently bore all this, and with a sad smile on his face, was heard to say, ‘Mother, you would never do this, if you knew what my Bible contains.’ My father’s patience was a wonder for all who observed it. They would say among themselves, ‘Whence has he got the patience, to put up with such ill-treatment from his mother?’”
Blessed are those children who have such a father enshrined in their memory. It is no wonder that a family in which a mother has once been worshipped as a goddess had a scion like Dwarkanath, so respectful to his mother in spite of the flame of persecution she kindled. It was for this excellent trait in his character, that during the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, when the Christians in Agra — European and Indian — were foully massacred, Dwarkanath was screened from the fury of the fanatics by the Hindu residents of the city. It was of him, that the Rev. Mr Evans, the well-known advocate of temperance, who was his fellow-prisoner in the Agra Fort, thus speaks eulogistically, “He was meek as a lamb, humble as a baby, and true as steel.” Ramtanu greatly appreciated the excellence of his character, and was once heard to say, “My cousin was younger than I, but in the force and beauty of his character, he ought to be ranked with my venerable ancestors.”
It is a matter to be regretted that Dwarkanath passed away prematurely. He died in October 1874.
We see from what has preceded that many of the Lahiri family were kind, benevolent, truthful, generous and pious. It is not at all a matter of wonder, that the subject of this biography, who belonged to this family, should possess such moral power as to challenge the veneration of all. The saintly character of Ramgovinda, displayed in its full glory in Ram Krishna, was a precious legacy to their children. Even now the Lahiris enjoy in Krishnagar the first place in people’s estimation. Their claims to honour and esteem are indisputable. Business has taken many of them far from their place of their birth; but wherever they have gone, they have, with few exceptions, been honoured and revered by their neighbours.
