The Blue Monk

The contribution of Annette Akroyd   to women’s educational reforms in Bengal is largely forgotten. She was born December 13, 1842, in Stourbridge, England to William and Saran Akroyd. Anette was a noted British Orientalist and a Victorian reformer. She was conservative and opposed to the Women’s Suffrage Movement ( the right of women to vote in elections by law).  To this end, she  served as the secretary of the anti-women’s suffrage league in England. Educated in Bedford College, Annette was very well-prepared to teach with her pragmatic no-nonsense outlook. Annette Akroyd with the students of Hindu Mahila Vidyalaya, 1875.  From Henry Beveridge’s India Called Them: 1947 Annette traveled to Calcutta, India in 1872 upon invitation from Keshub Chandra Sen, a notable leader of the Brahmo Samaj, a Hindu reformist sect . Sen wanted Annette to promote non-sectarian education to Hindu women. Within a year, she founded the “Hindu Mahila Vidyalaya”, located near Beniapukur L...

Rai Bahadur Sarat Chandra Roy (1871-1942) was regarded as the Father of Indian Ethnography and the First Indian Anthropologist, undoubtedly a forgotten citizen of India. As a child, his father Purna Chandra Roy came to Bengal from Khulna (now in Bangladesh). The young Sarat passed his Matriculation Exam from City Collegiate School and graduated in English (Hons.) from General Assembly Institute (now Scottish Church College), followed by a Masters from the University of Calcutta. To continue further, he studied Law and obtained a Bachelor of Law (BL) degree from Ripon College (now Surendranath College).  Sri Roy started practicing Law in Calcutta but shortly after, he was advised to move to Ranchi (now capital of Jharkhand) due to health issues. In Ranchi, he rose to great heights and earned a good reputation in the Judicial Commissioner’s Court. Besides pursuing Law, he also turned into the oppressed tribes of the society. Gradually, he started documenting the social and cultural ...

Mirra to Mother The unsaid power of a woman Mirra Alfassa was affectionately referred to as "The Divine Mother" by her loved ones and spiritual seekers. She was a spiritual collaborator of Sri Aurobindo. Her efforts and teachings greatly reshaped the spiritual landscape of India in the light of the teachings imparted by Sri Aurobindo.  February 21, 2021 marked the 143rd birth anniversary of The Mother.  Hereby my post highlights some well-known and less known facts of Her life in the form of a short biography. Sweet Mother is an exemplification of Woman's role in spirituality. The Divine Mother   Childhood Mother was born as Blanche Rachel Mirra Alfassa on February 21, 1878 at 41 Boulevard Haussmann, Paris – second child of Maurice Alfassa and Mathilde Ismaloun. Her Jewish parents came from the family of bankers and being materialists, Mother was brought up free from religious or racial influences. She composed her first writing at the age of nine called “The Path of Lat...

A Forgotten Civil Surgeon of India Krishna Dhan (KD) or Dr. Krishna Dhan Ghose, MD, MRCS (Eng.), LMS (Calcutta), was born on November 21, 1844 in Patna, India. Unfortunately, at present times, he only holds a position in the list of forgotten citizens of India. Moreover, most available resources identifies KD predominantly as an anglicized and atheist father of Sri Aurobindo Ghose. The reality is much diverse, as enumerated below. Dr. K.D. Ghose (Photo Courtesy: www.aurobindo.ru)   Early Life and Swarnalata   KD’s ancestral home was at Konnagar, in the Hoogly District of Bengal. He belonged to the twenty fourth generation  of the  Ghoses of Konnagar  who were the descendants of Makaranda Ghose, of “Soukalin” Gotra. KD’s father Kaliprasad Ghose was a civil servant in the East India Company. When K. D. was only twelve, his father passed away. His orthodox mother, Kailasbasini went to Benares with her widowed daughter, Biraj Mohini. KD used to visit them every...