Digambar Mitra

Raja Digambar Mitra (1817 - 1879) was one of the leading Derozians and first Bengali Sheriff of Kolkata.[2]

Raja Digambar Mitra
রাজা দিগম্বর মিত্র
Born1817
Konnagar, Hooghly district, West Bengal[1]
Died20 April 1879
Kolkata, West Bengal, India
OccupationTeacher and businessman

Birth and Ancestry

Babu Digambar Mitra, later known as Raja Digambar Mitra, was born in 1817 at Konnagar in the district of Hooghly of present-day West Bengal into a Kulin Kayastha family.[1][3]

This wealthy and respectable family of Konnagar was locally known as the Mandir-Bati-Mitra family. Raja Digambar Mitra's grandfather Ram Chandra Mitra was a cashier in a Calcutta based mercantile firm. He had three sons namely Shib Chandra Mitra, Shambhu Chandra Mitra and Raj Krishna Mitra, Shib Chandra being the eldest among all of the three. All of them were employed in the same firm as their father. Shib Chandra Mitra had two sons. His eldest son was Raja Digambar Mitra. In the later years, Shib Chandra bought a house in Sovabazar, North Calcutta. Raja Digambar Mitra spend his childhood at Calcutta.[4]

Life

The son of Shib Chandra Mitra of Konnagar in Hooghly district of present-day West Bengal,[1] he was educated at Hare School and Hindu College and was one of the leading disciples of Henry Louis Vivian Derozio.[2]

He worked as teacher, clerk, tehsildar and zemindari estate manager before earning well from share business and became a zemindar. As manager of the Cossimbazar Raj, he was awarded Rupees one lakh for his innovative efforts. He invested the money in cotton and indigo business and became rich.[2]

An orthodox person he opposed the introduction of widow remarriage.[2]

He was awarded CSI in 1876 and made Raja in 1877.[5]

References
  1. Samsad Bangali Charitabhidhan (Biographical dictionary), (in Bengali), Subodh Chandra Sengupta and Anjali Bose (Editors), Sahitya Samsad, Calcutta, 1976, p. 199
  2. Samsad Bangali Charitabhidhan by Anjali Bose, p. 204, ISBN 81-85626-65-0
  3. Chunder, Bholanauth (1893). Raja Digambar Mitra, C.S.I.: His Life and Career. Calcutta: Hare Press. p. 2 & 3.
  4. Chunder, Bholanauth (1893). Raja Digambar Mitra, C.S.I.: His Life and Career. Calcutta: Hare Press. p. 3-6.
  5. Dictionary of Indian Biography. p. 292.


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