Rani Rashmoni

During the 1840s, the fishing communities in Bengal along the Hooghly were facing a major survival crisis. The Ganga was the lifeline of these communities, especially between February and October, when they would set out to net the famed hilsa in large quanities. The East India Company, sensing a lucrative opportunity here, imposed a tax on these fishing boats claiming they obstructed the ferries. In reality it was more a revenue collection measure for the Company.

When the helpless fishermen, approached the elite landlords of Kolkata, seeking support, most of them turned their backs not wanting to offend their patrons in the Company. Disheartened, the fishermen turned to their last resort, at Jaanbazar in Central Kolkata. The widow of a wealthy businessman, Raja Chandra Das, who was born into a humble Mahishya family on September 28, 1793 near Halisahar in the Northern Paraganas, to Harekrishna Biswas and Rampyari Devi.

Rashmoni Das, would go on to become more well known as Rani Rashmoni, the founder of the Dakshineshwar Temple in Kolkata, a close associate ot Shri Ramakrishna Paramahansa. One of the most remarkable women ever in Indian history, who financed the construction of Ghats across the Hooghly, took the British head on and played a major role in the Bengali Renaissance.

With her mother passing away when she was just 7 years old, Rashmoni was married off at 11 years to a much older Raja Chandra Das, of Janbazaar, one of Kolkata’s wealthy zamindars, and a successful businessman too. Their family had made their wealth, transporting bamboo across the Beliaghata Canal, and building warehouses on the canal, to store goods ranging from musk to muslin.

Rashmoni would play an important role in her husband’s business. looking after their Estate affairs. It’s believed that the famous Babughat and Ahiritola Ghat were built on her advice. With the death of her husband, it was left to Rashmoni to handle the affairs of the Estate, at a very young age. For the next thirty years, with her keen business acumen, she grew the estate from strength to strength, reached out to the poor and downtrodden, took the British head on, at a time when most of Kolkata’s upper class gentry was either hesitant to, or were in league with them.

As in her confrontation with the British over the fishing rights on the Ganga river, when she offered the Company, Rs 10,000 , as she took lease of a 10km long stretch of the Hooghly. After she got the lease documents, she placed two massive iron chains across the Ganga at Metiabruz and Ghusuri where the river arched like a bow. and invited the fishermen to caste their nets in that zone. As the fishing boats flocked to the zone, all the traffic on the river came to a halt, and the Company officials demanded an explanation. Rashmoni pointed out that the constant river traffic was affecting the livelihood of fishermen in her property, and as a leaseholder she was entitled under British law to protect the income she was getting from her property.

She put it across to the British, that she had no compunctions in going the legal route, and would not unshackle the river, till a verdict was reached in court. With steamships, barges piling up on the riverfront, the Company officials were forced to repeal the tax, giving fishermen full access to the rivers. Rani Rashmoni had humbled the British , using their own tactics, and protected the rights of the native fishing communities.

But then that was the Rani, who did not hesitate to take on the high and mighty, and fought fiercely for what she believed in. She persuaded Dwarakanath Tagore, grandfather of Rabindranath Tagore, to part with two of his estates, to repay the loan he had taken from her husband. Considering the power and influence of the Tagores at that time, it was one daring step. She maintained her own private army, the lethels,to take on oppresive zamindars and British indigo planters.

When the British authorities stopped Puja processions with drums and celebrations, claiming it disturbed peace, she defied orders, and led the processions herself. When she was fined Rs 40, people turned out in large numbers to pay the amount, once again forcing the British to take back their decision. On another occasion, some British soldiers misbehaved with the women in her estate, and she got them arrested, imprisoned in her palace. When the enraged British soldiers laid siege to her Janbazaar estate, she took the sword in her own hand, and stood to defend her subjects, and their family deity Raghunath Jee.

Her biggest achievement though would be the construction of Dakshineshwar Temple complex, on the banks of the Hooghly. It’s believed that once on a pilgrimage to Kashi, Maa Kali herself appeared in a dream to her, and ordered her to build a temple for her on the banks of the river, and offer daily Anna Bhogh. She purchased a 20 acre plot, from an Englishman Jake Hastie, then known as Saheban Bagicha, and began the construction of the temple, that took around eight years to complete. However not many of the priests were willing to consecrate the temple built by a woman, that too from a Shudra community. It was then a poor Brahmin from Kamarpukur, Ramkumar Chattopadhyaya, agreed to do the installation of the deity. And then on May 31, 1855, Kali Maa was installed in the temple, and Ramkumar served as the head priest.

Ramkumar’s younger brother Gadhadhar arrived soon, and his rather unorthodox ways of worshipping Kali Maa, did not go down too well with many of the priests and people in her estate, who called him a madman. Gadhadhar would spend hours in trance before Kali Maa, often lie on the ground, calling out for her, pining for her. The Rani would observed secretly his worship to Kali maa, along with her son-in-law Mathur Babu, and found in him a divine manifestation. She allowed Gadhadhar to worship Kali Maa in whatever way he choose, overruling the objections of others, and would soon make him the head priest.

This Gadadhar would become more famous as Shri Ramakrishna Paramahansa, who in turn considered the Rani his own mother. As Bhagini Nivedita put it, without Rani Rashmoni there would have been no Dakshineshwar, Gadhadhar would not have become Shri Ramakrishna, nor would Narendranath Dutta go on to become Swami Vivekananda. In a way Rani Rashmoni Devi, laid the foundation of the Bengali Renaissance.

The Rani herself was an ardent devotee of Kali Maa, her official seal was engraved with “Shri Rashmoni Das, belonging to the feet of Kali”. One of the grandest Durga Puja celebrations was at her Janbazaar home, that included the traditional all night jatras. Eden Gardens was actually part of her estate, which she later donated to the Eden sisters, of then Governor General, Lord Auckland.

Apart from Dakhshineshwar, she also got a road constructed from Subarnarekha River to Puri Jagannatha Temple for the benefit of pilgrims. She donated generously to the Imperial Library, now the National Library in Kolkata, as well as the Hindu College, now the Presidency University. When a band of thugs were harassing people in the Sunderbans, she persuaded them to give up their plundering, and granted them facilities to fish in the delta, transforming them.

Rani Rashmoni, passed away on February 19, 1861 at the age of 67, but not before leaving a rich legacy in the form of Dakshineshwar and her many charitable works. A woman born in a humble family, who went on to manage one of Kolkata’s richest families, built temples, defied the British and always stood for the poor and downtrodden, a truly great lady.