Indranarayan Ghosh

It's so not like me to forget Bhoot Chaturdashi, but that is EXACTLY what I did. Facebook has already got flooded with Diwali greetings, I see on my calendar that I marked tomorrow is Kali Pujo, but the fact that it would mean today is Bhoot Chaturdashi has completely escaped me. So sad!

I was listening to Christmas Radio on Pandora, but had to pause Elvis midway through his "here comes Santa Claus" and start Lopamudra Mitra's "himer raate oi gaganer deepguli re" on YouTube. I would miss eating 14 shaak but we will make sure that 14 prodip will be lit all around our house (though I am not sure how long they will remain lit in this Seattle drizzle). 

I love lighting "akash prodeep". That's a lamp to be lit on the top of one's house to remember one's ancestors. We can't do it on the top of our roof, so we light it in a red glass bulb and hang it facing the back yard. Well, it's the thought that counts and our ancestors have anyway said প্রবাসে নিয়ম নাস্তি (probashe niyom nasti), meaning you don't have to follow all the rules when you are abroad. So be it!

As I light akash prodeep and put a pointer to my ancestors to look down and pinpoint my house (do they have Google maps?), I can't but think about Indranarayan Ghosh. So here's the toast to my ancestors of the Ghosh family!

For those who are wondering who that is, here is the synopsis.

When Lakshmansena was the king of Bengal, he had five Brahmins and Kayasthas come from North India to his kingdom. The Kayasthas were Ghosh, Bose, Mitra, Dutta, Guha who accompanied the Brahmins Bandopadhyay, Mukhopadhyay, Chattopadhyay, Gangopadhyay, (I forgot the fifth one). I think it was Someshwarghosha who came to Bengal as the first of the Ghosh-s.

Someshwar's descendants spread all over Bengal and the most important branches were Uttarrarhi (North of West Bengal), Dakshinrarhi (South of West Bengal), and Bangaja (East-Central and South Bengal). I know that my family belongs to the Dakshinrarhi Ghosh, but I am not sure how many generations were there between Someshwar and the person we can track our family from - Indranarayan Ghosh.

My roots grew from here :)

I know very little about Indranarayan Ghosh. All I know is he was a zamindar (landlord) near the later district of Hooghly but then relocated to Jessore (now in Bangladesh) because of the tyranny of Portuguese pirates on the Ganges. He was given the land in Jessore by the then Nawab of Bengal, Alibardi Khan. This was circa 1750. Indranarayan went to this village called Bidyanandakati, where there was a river called Bhairav. On the northern side of Bhairav was a place called Mangalkot, where Indranarayan had a mansion. The mansion had four blocks with a quadrangle shaped courtyard in the middle. I know that he had three sons (a trait that is visible in our family in almost every generation so far) and each son and his family owned the North, South and West blocks. The East block had the offices and guest house kind of things. We branch out from Indranarayan's eldest son's family. 

I firmly believe that I lived there in one of my earlier births. I can very well picturize myself walking through the 150 acre orchards or by the side of the lake. There were celebrations for Dolyatra (Holi) and Durga puja in the house, with Radha and Krishna being the family deities. Well, Krishna is still our family deity in Calcutta. Kali puja was celebrated in the village temple though. Didn't I walk down there with lamps amidst the faint fog of an autumn evening? Probably! 

Anyway, that's the story...tonight when Mushu's Indian buddy wakes up all my ancestors for a bash, Indranarayan should definitely be the honored chief guest of the party! I love my ancestors!! :D