Thread by @SadaaShree

Rani Rashmoni founder of the Dakshineshwar Temple in Kolkata, a lady whom Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa regarded as his own mother, a woman who took on the British, and in a way contributed to the Bengal Renaissance.
Thread on her.

The widow of a wealthy businessman, Raja Chandra Das, Rashmoni was born into a humble Mahishya family on September 28, 1793 near Halisahar in the Northern Paraganas, to Harekrishna Biswas and Rampyari Devi.

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.

She 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.

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 Rani Rashmoni as a last resort.

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.

She invited the fishermen to cast 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.

The fishermen got 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 ordering her to build the temple there.

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. And his younger brother Gadhadhar arrived soon, whose rather unorthodox ways of worshipping Kali Maa, did not go down too well with many of the priests and people in estate.

Gadhadhar would spend hours in trance before Kali Maa, often lie on the ground, calling out for her, pining for her, prompting people around to call him a madman.

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.

Rani Maa, understanding the sincere devotion of Gadadhar towards Kali Maa, made him the head priest of Dakshineshwar Temple, and he would be more famous to us as Shri Ramakrishna Paramahansa.

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 she laid foundation for the Bengal 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.

Rani Rashmoni, 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.

Rani Rashmoni in a sense is similiar to Ahilyabai Holkar, both born into a humble family, married into a rich and powerful family, took over after their husband's death, built temples, gave grants to many holy places, two great women.

And their legacy lives on to date, Rani Rashmoni in the form of Dakshineshwar as well as many other temples in Bengal, Odisha, Ahilyabai Holkar in form of Maheshwar and all those temples she renovated. #Naman to these two great women.

My article here on Rani Rashmoni do check out and share.
historyunderyourfeet.wordpress.com/2022/06/07/ran…