"From Cantoobabu to Dwarakanath: Emergence of new cultural elites in Bengal 1757-1850" a talk by Dr. Shubhra Chakrabarti at Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg > 3pm on 27th August 2013

Time : 3:00 pm

Entry : Free (Seating on First-Come First-Served basis)

Place : Seminar Room, First Floor, Library Building, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML), Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg, New Delhi
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Event Description : The Nehru Memorial Museum and Library cordially invites you to the Weekly Seminar on ‘From Cantoobabu to Dwarakanath: Emergence of new cultural elites in Bengal 1757-1850’ by Dr. Shubhra Chakrabarti, Dayal Singh College, University of Delhi, Delhi

Abstract : The turn of the eighteenth century was marked by massive trading activities, among others, between the European companies and the merchants from Bengal. This business interaction resulted in the growth of a new commercial elite, centred around the upcoming port-city of Calcutta, which destined to become the future commercial and administrative capital of India under the British. The latter had defeated, Siraj ud Daula, the Nawab of Bengal in the Battle of Palashi (Plassey) in 1757, and wrested political control from him. But, much before Palashi, from the early years of the eighteenth century, the indigenous merchants of Bengal had been collaborating with the Europeans, especially with the British in trade. The profits from this commercial partnership helped turn many of these merchants into business tycoons of their time. This paper is an attempt to establish the story of such business magnates, who not only earned fortunes for themselves and their descendants, but were instrumental in ushering in a new age of culture and modernity in Bengal. The study begins with Krishna Kanta Nandi or Cantoobabu  as its protagonist and ends with Dwarakanath Tagore,  as its prime exponent. Between them they capture the developmental sequence of the transformation of the world of indigenous business.

Speaker : Dr. Shubhra Chakrabarti has graduated in History Honours, from the Presidency College, Calcutta and has done her post graduation from the Calcutta University. She has done her Ph.D titled “Indigenous Enterprise in Eastern India: 1757-1857” with Prof. Binay Bhushan Chaudhuri of the Calcutta University. Her publications include ‘Collaboration & Resistance: Bengal Merchants and the English East India Company, 1757 – 1833’, Studies in History 10, 1-new series, 1994, ‘Intransigent Shroffs and the English East India Company’s currency reforms in Bengal, 1757 – 1800’, Indian Economical and Social History Review, New Delhi, no. 1, 1997, ‘The English East India Company and the Indigenous Sloop Merchants of Bengal: Akrur Dutta and his family, 1757 – 1857’, Studies in History, 20,1,n.s. 2004, ‘Colonized Trade: Major Shifts in India’s Trade and Commercial Organizations, 1700-1860’ in Binay Bhushan Chaudhuri ed. Economic History of India from Eighteenth to Twentieth Centuries in the series titled History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization, vol. VIII, Part 3. Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2005. She is the co-author of Historical Dictionary of the Bengalis, with Kunal Chakrabarti. At present she is working on Rebels and Collaborators: Bengal Merchants and the English East India Company 1757 – 1833.  She teaches History at Dayal Singh College, University of Delhi.

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