Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee Biography 
Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee was one of the leaders of the Young Bengal group in 19th-century. He was also known as a social reformer, orator and editor of several periodicals. He donated land for the famous Bethune School of Bengal and assisted David Hare in his social works. He established the Awadh British Indian Association in 1871. He practiced as a lawyer and was the first Indian to be appointed as a collector of Kolkata Municipality. Mukherjee died in Lucknow on 15 July 1898.
Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee was born in 1814 in Kolkata as the son of Jaganmohan Mukherjee, who belonged to Bhatpara. Jaganmohan was a relative of Tagore family. He married from Pathuriaghata branch of the Tagore family and agreed to be a ‘ghar-jamai’. Ghar Jamia means to live with wife’s family after marriage. Dakshinaranjan’s education was completed at Hare School and Hindu College. He was influenced by Henry Louis Vivian Derozio during his college days and thus joined Young Bengal group. When his friend Krishna Mohan Banerjee was turned out of his house for converting to Christianity, Mukherjee supported and helped him.
His literary career began with the establishment of Jnananneswan magazine in 1831. He was a student then. Next year, he started publishing the magazine in two languages. He was one of main initiators for the establishment of the British Indian Association and has been associated with the Bengal Spectator. In between he practised as a lawyer. He was the first Indian to be appointed as a collector of Kolkata Municipality.
Once unable to pay back the given amount of 60,000 Indian rupees, Hare offered him some land. Mukherjee donated that land in 1849 to John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune and thus Kolkata’s first secular school for girls was established. He married Maharaja Tej Chandra’s young widow, Basanta Kumari in 1832 which created sensational news in Kolkata in those days. He is also known for publishing Lucknow Times, Samachar Hindustani and Bharat Patrika from Lucknow.
Published: N/A
Updated: January 16, 2014
