Mahendra Lal Bose
Encyclopedia
Mahendra Lal Bose was an educationist and philanthropist during Bengal Renaissance.
. He was born on 22 October 1893. His father Sri Bijay Basanta Bose worked at Calcutta as the manager of a company called Adya & Company.
. Through his relative and tea magnet Sri Nalini Ghosh he got acquainted with Sri Prasanna Dev Raikut, the Raja of the Baikunthapur Estate. In collaboration with the raja he established the Shikarpur Tea Estate, about three kilometers from Belakoba railway station. Sri Mahendra Lal Bose, however, could not accompany his father to North Bengal, as he had to continue his studies staying at a mess near Park Street. At college he got acquainted with a son of Mahatma Gandhi
and got the rare opportunity of being acquainted with the great leader and sage like personality and this radically changed his character.
A few years before the First World War his mother had died at their native village and this made Sri Bose morose and disinterested in careerism. He at first decided to relinquish material pursuits and become a sanyasi. One of his relatives at Calcutta persuaded him to give up the desire out of transitory upheaval that was not likely last long and took initiative to send him to his father in North Bengal
.
His father also desired that Mahendra should stay with him and join the plantation business. He took initiative for his marriage and Mahendra was married to Saralabala, a fourteen year old girl from the famous Ghosh family of the Jessore town. He at first had joined his father’s business and was staying at his father’s house at Siliguri
Town.
Sri Bijay Basanta Bose had already parted company with the Raikuts and joined another Tea Estate.
Mahendra rented a house at Belakoba and took up supplier’s job at various tea gardens, ran a cloth shop and through unimaginable hardship bought some landed property.
The village Belakoba lies in-between Jalpaiguri
and New Jalpaiguri
railway stations. All the Assam and doors bound trains pass through this station, but none except the Teesta Torsa Express has a stoppage here and there are two local trains for Haldibari
that stop here, one in the morning and the other in the evening. One may also travel by bus from Siliguri
up to Fatapukur and then by auto to Belakoba.
The place is amidst small tea growing fields and all amenities are available in this semi-urban locality. There are, however, no hotels and but one may get accommodation at a Marwari
dharmashala adjacent to a beautiful Radha-Krishna temple. The educational standards of the highly populated town are very high and there are several primary schools, two higher secondary schools, one co-ed and the other for the girls, and a basic training college. The network of communication towers has made the town well-connected with outside and transport facilities for Siliguri
and Jalpaiguri
are very good – buses, autos, mini-buses, taxis and hired cars are frequently available.
The place also has a rich cultural tradition, with drama clubs, musical training schools and a football ground where tournaments attract teams from all over West Bengal
and also from other States.
At that time, however, this was a desolate place resided by only a few tea and timber merchants and intrepid Marwari businessmen. The most important personality that contributed to its development of this now prosperous and culturally rich place was Sri Mahendra Lal Bose.
Sri Bose bought about an acre of land near the Belakoba railway station, built a wooden two-storey house in the pattern of his father’s bungalow at Siliguri
. The house was accidentally burnt in 1947 by fire. Thereafter he built a pacca one-storey house.
He bought some fallow lands around the locality and with utmost efforts converted them into rich paddy and jute lands and started cultivation by Rajbonsi tenants. He fixed the rent in kind at one third of the produce (this was contrary to the common practice of 50:50-share between the landlord and the tenant). Many local landlords protested against his rent fixing but he ignored their protests.
Now he began to earn some money, but he still continued his simple life and desired to spend the extra money after meeting the bare necessities of himself and his family for the benefit of the locality and local people, especially the illiterate poor people.
During the early 1950s Vinoba Bhave
visited Belakoba with his team in course of his Bhoodan Movement
and Sri Bose was the first landowner to respond to Vinobaji’s appeal by transferring all his landholdings except the homestead land and a few acres for meeting family expenses.
He was short in stature (about 5’4’’) but his sharp features, bespectacled bright eyes, curled hair (which was black even at his demise at the age of 85) and extremely fair complexion created an aura of personality and respectability. Beneath this outward grave appearance, he had a very soft and compassionate heart and all the poor people respected him like a deity and considered him as their last resort in case of financial and other problems. Anyone, irrespective of his caste, creed religion, social status or economic condition had free access to him.
districts) – the landlords, money-lenders, lawyers and fake religious men. Taking advantage of the simplicity and illiteracy of the Rajbonsis, they used to exploit them by all conceivable means. So Sri Bose first resolved to found schools and educational institutions at Belakoba and the remote villages around the place to eradicate the curse of illiteracy of the local people.
This lofty mission could not be carried out by individual efforts. So he sought help of the important personalities and government officials of the district and they responded enthusiastically. Sri Bose was already highly respected by them because of his strong character and personality, honesty, dedication, his command over literature and sophisticated culture and above all modesty.
With the assistance of Raja Prasanna Dev Raikut and other personalities, he went ahead with his mission. The sudden turmoil caused by the Second World War interrupted his efforts, but as soon as the war was over he went on rapidly to fulfill his mission. A co-ed high school and two primary schools were established at Belakoba by the end of 1940s and after independence the work went ahead with accelerated pace as the local people and rich persons, being inspired by his noble efforts, joined his mission. Primary schools were established in remote villages. Later on by his efforts a high school for the girls and a basic training college were established at Belakoba. Taking a cue from him, people in remote villages went ahead with establishing more and more schools. Soon light of education started spreading in the region and driving away the curse of illiteracy.
The second curse that attracted his attention was complete lack of proper medical facilities for the local people forcing them to rely on quack
treatment and the ojhas. Sri Bose took initiative to establish a charitable dispensary at Belakoba with an LMF doctor for free treatment of the local people. Soon health centers and charitable dispensaries were established in distant villages and later on a government hospital was established by his efforts near Belakoba. And thus his dedication opened up the path to removal of the second curse too.
He could not complete his studies of literature at college, but his lively interest in literature never waned. In his house he had a very good collection of novels and short stories of all mention worthy Bengali authors, British and American authors and English translations of major of works of Russian, French, German, Spanish and Italian literature. His command over literature was astounding. He could discuss and quote from literary works for hours on end.
During the British regime high ranking British officials used to meet him to discuss literature and take lessons in Vedic
philosophies. They however, avoided discussions of political issues, as they were fully aware of his hatred towards British rule in India.
After independence of India while the district of Jalpaiguri
was included in the Indian Union, hooligans and some dishonest landlords started bullying the Muslims with a view to appropriating their properties by sending them to East Pakistan
. Sri Bose promptly came forward as their savior by arranging a meeting of the influential people of the locality, the members of the Congress Party and the police officials to assure the Muslims, who were willing to stay on in India, of their security and none of the Muslims opted for migrating to East Pakistan
.
The flower garden in front of his house was testimony to his aesthetic sense. It included rare flowers like Magnolia
Grandiflora, Magnolia Futchkata, Camellia
, rare orchids, and rare varieties of roses. The orchard
at the back of his house contained various fruit plants – apples, pears, rose berries, Grecian figs, varieties of mangoes, and varieties of pineapples from Mauritius
and Philippines
.
and the six Vedic Philosophies and he was an out and out Advaita Vedantic.
He himself had no faith in idolatry
, polytheism
and mythological avatar
(incarnate) cult. He adhered to the Upanishad
ic view that God is invisible, one-and-only-one, ubiquitous and attribute less. God as the Supreme Being is everywhere in the universe and the visible universe is an integral part of the invisible God. As the light illuminates everything, itself remaining invisible, God assigns attribute to everything Himself remaining attribute-free. He had deep reverence for Buddha
and Jesus
. He used to explain that the Vedic philosophy was free from avatar cult, polytheism, idolatry and the theory of rebirth
. All these were introduced in Hindu culture by the mythological texts called Puranas
which borrowed from the aboriginal religions, Atharva Veda and Buddhism
.
He, however, opined that idol worship may not be idolatry as such if the devotee can transcend beyond the humanoid idol and treat it only as a symbol of the invisible God. Goddess Kali worship in general is a form of idolatry but to Ramakrishna Paramahansa Dev, the idol of goddess Kali was the symbol of invisible Brahman
. To Krishna devotees, Radha-Krishna image is the symbol of invisible God in accordance with Srimad Bhagavad Gita.
Sri Bose, however, never disrespected the other religious beliefs. His wife was a devotee of various deities like Lakshmi
, Saraswati
, Durga
and Kali
and used to worship their idols. Mr. Bose never objected to or disrespected her faith.
Sri Bose lost his eyesight because of glaucoma
at the age of eighty three and demised on December 12, 1978 at a nursing home at Siliguri.
Mukti Bose
Rajaram Bose
Anantaram Bose
Gangaram Bose – Ramsantosh Bose – Krishnachandra Bose – Dvipchandra Bose – Pitambar Bose
Abhayram Bose – Shrimanta Bose – Madanmohan Bose
Nilmadhab Bose – Bhagavatchandra Bose
Bidhubadan Bose – Chandrabadan Bose – Rajkrishna Bose – Shantikumar Bose
Bijaybasanta Bose
Mahendra Lal Bose, Saralabbala Bose
Childhood and parents
The place of birth of Mr. Mahendra Lal Bose was the village Panjia in the Jessore district of Undivided BengalBengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
. He was born on 22 October 1893. His father Sri Bijay Basanta Bose worked at Calcutta as the manager of a company called Adya & Company.
Education
Sri Mahendra Lal Bose went to Calcutta with his father and got admitted to St. Xavier’s School at Park Street. He passed the Senior Cambridge Examination from that school and got admitted to St. Xavier’s College, Calcutta with honors in English. In the meantime his father had acquired much knowledge about tea planting and he decided to resign from the job at the Adyas and try his luck in plantation in the district of JalpaiguriJalpaiguri
Jalpaiguri is a city in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of Jalpaiguri district, and the divisional headquarters of the North Bengal region.-History:...
. Through his relative and tea magnet Sri Nalini Ghosh he got acquainted with Sri Prasanna Dev Raikut, the Raja of the Baikunthapur Estate. In collaboration with the raja he established the Shikarpur Tea Estate, about three kilometers from Belakoba railway station. Sri Mahendra Lal Bose, however, could not accompany his father to North Bengal, as he had to continue his studies staying at a mess near Park Street. At college he got acquainted with a son of Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
and got the rare opportunity of being acquainted with the great leader and sage like personality and this radically changed his character.
A few years before the First World War his mother had died at their native village and this made Sri Bose morose and disinterested in careerism. He at first decided to relinquish material pursuits and become a sanyasi. One of his relatives at Calcutta persuaded him to give up the desire out of transitory upheaval that was not likely last long and took initiative to send him to his father in North Bengal
North Bengal
North Bengal is a term used for the northern parts of Bangladesh and West Bengal. The Bangladesh part denotes the Rajshahi Division. Generally it is the area lying west of Jamuna River and north of Padma River, and includes the Barind Tract. The West Bengal part denotes Cooch Behar, Darjeeling,...
.
His father also desired that Mahendra should stay with him and join the plantation business. He took initiative for his marriage and Mahendra was married to Saralabala, a fourteen year old girl from the famous Ghosh family of the Jessore town. He at first had joined his father’s business and was staying at his father’s house at Siliguri
Siliguri
Siliguri is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located in the Siliguri Corridor or Chicken's Neck - a very narrow strip of land linking mainland India to its north-eastern states. It is also the transit point for air, road and rail traffic to the neighbouring countries of Nepal,...
Town.
Philanthropy
Soon Sri Mahendra Lal Bose fell into dispute with his father over exploitation of plantation laborers and relinquishing his father’s money and property, he wanted to go his own way and stand on his own feet. His wife had deep respect for his high ideals and consented to bear all hardships that may come their way.Sri Bijay Basanta Bose had already parted company with the Raikuts and joined another Tea Estate.
Mahendra rented a house at Belakoba and took up supplier’s job at various tea gardens, ran a cloth shop and through unimaginable hardship bought some landed property.
The village Belakoba lies in-between Jalpaiguri
Jalpaiguri
Jalpaiguri is a city in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of Jalpaiguri district, and the divisional headquarters of the North Bengal region.-History:...
and New Jalpaiguri
New Jalpaiguri
New Jalpaiguri is a major railway station of the city of Siliguri in the Indian state of West Bengal. The station is popularly known by its acronym NJP...
railway stations. All the Assam and doors bound trains pass through this station, but none except the Teesta Torsa Express has a stoppage here and there are two local trains for Haldibari
Haldibari
Haldibari is a town and a municipality in Koch Bihar district in the Indian state of West Bengal.-Geography:Haldibari is located at . It has an average elevation of 57 metres .Haldibari is a town located near India-Bangladesh border....
that stop here, one in the morning and the other in the evening. One may also travel by bus from Siliguri
Siliguri
Siliguri is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located in the Siliguri Corridor or Chicken's Neck - a very narrow strip of land linking mainland India to its north-eastern states. It is also the transit point for air, road and rail traffic to the neighbouring countries of Nepal,...
up to Fatapukur and then by auto to Belakoba.
The place is amidst small tea growing fields and all amenities are available in this semi-urban locality. There are, however, no hotels and but one may get accommodation at a Marwari
Marwari
Marwari may refer to:* Marwar, a region in Rajasthan, India* Marwari language, a language of the Marwar region* Marwaris, people from the Marwar region* Muslim Marwaris, Muslim people from the Marwar region living in Karachi Pakistan...
dharmashala adjacent to a beautiful Radha-Krishna temple. The educational standards of the highly populated town are very high and there are several primary schools, two higher secondary schools, one co-ed and the other for the girls, and a basic training college. The network of communication towers has made the town well-connected with outside and transport facilities for Siliguri
Siliguri
Siliguri is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located in the Siliguri Corridor or Chicken's Neck - a very narrow strip of land linking mainland India to its north-eastern states. It is also the transit point for air, road and rail traffic to the neighbouring countries of Nepal,...
and Jalpaiguri
Jalpaiguri
Jalpaiguri is a city in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of Jalpaiguri district, and the divisional headquarters of the North Bengal region.-History:...
are very good – buses, autos, mini-buses, taxis and hired cars are frequently available.
The place also has a rich cultural tradition, with drama clubs, musical training schools and a football ground where tournaments attract teams from all over West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
and also from other States.
At that time, however, this was a desolate place resided by only a few tea and timber merchants and intrepid Marwari businessmen. The most important personality that contributed to its development of this now prosperous and culturally rich place was Sri Mahendra Lal Bose.
Sri Bose bought about an acre of land near the Belakoba railway station, built a wooden two-storey house in the pattern of his father’s bungalow at Siliguri
Siliguri
Siliguri is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located in the Siliguri Corridor or Chicken's Neck - a very narrow strip of land linking mainland India to its north-eastern states. It is also the transit point for air, road and rail traffic to the neighbouring countries of Nepal,...
. The house was accidentally burnt in 1947 by fire. Thereafter he built a pacca one-storey house.
He bought some fallow lands around the locality and with utmost efforts converted them into rich paddy and jute lands and started cultivation by Rajbonsi tenants. He fixed the rent in kind at one third of the produce (this was contrary to the common practice of 50:50-share between the landlord and the tenant). Many local landlords protested against his rent fixing but he ignored their protests.
Now he began to earn some money, but he still continued his simple life and desired to spend the extra money after meeting the bare necessities of himself and his family for the benefit of the locality and local people, especially the illiterate poor people.
During the early 1950s Vinoba Bhave
Vinoba Bhave
Vinoba Bhave , born Vinayak Narahari Bhave often called Acharya , was an Indian advocate of nonviolence and human rights. He is best known for the Bhoodan Andolan...
visited Belakoba with his team in course of his Bhoodan Movement
Bhoodan movement
The Bhoodan Movement or Land Gift Movement was a voluntary land reform movement in India started by Acharya Vinoba Bhave in 1951 started at Pochampally village now known as Bhoodhan Pochampally.-Method:...
and Sri Bose was the first landowner to respond to Vinobaji’s appeal by transferring all his landholdings except the homestead land and a few acres for meeting family expenses.
He was short in stature (about 5’4’’) but his sharp features, bespectacled bright eyes, curled hair (which was black even at his demise at the age of 85) and extremely fair complexion created an aura of personality and respectability. Beneath this outward grave appearance, he had a very soft and compassionate heart and all the poor people respected him like a deity and considered him as their last resort in case of financial and other problems. Anyone, irrespective of his caste, creed religion, social status or economic condition had free access to him.
Educationist
Sri Mahendra Lal Bose was most perturbed by the illiteracy of the local Rajbonsi people. This was at the very root of harmful superstitions and lack of initiative to overcome the day to day problems and hazards of natural disasters. Illiteracy led them to tamasic activities and abject surrender to hundreds of deities to tide over their problems. This also made them prey to exploitation and cheating by the bhatia (those who immigrated from the lower reaches of the rivers in East BengalEast Bengal
East Bengal was the name used during two periods in the 20th century for a territory that roughly corresponded to the modern state of Bangladesh. Both instances involved a violent partition of Bengal....
districts) – the landlords, money-lenders, lawyers and fake religious men. Taking advantage of the simplicity and illiteracy of the Rajbonsis, they used to exploit them by all conceivable means. So Sri Bose first resolved to found schools and educational institutions at Belakoba and the remote villages around the place to eradicate the curse of illiteracy of the local people.
This lofty mission could not be carried out by individual efforts. So he sought help of the important personalities and government officials of the district and they responded enthusiastically. Sri Bose was already highly respected by them because of his strong character and personality, honesty, dedication, his command over literature and sophisticated culture and above all modesty.
With the assistance of Raja Prasanna Dev Raikut and other personalities, he went ahead with his mission. The sudden turmoil caused by the Second World War interrupted his efforts, but as soon as the war was over he went on rapidly to fulfill his mission. A co-ed high school and two primary schools were established at Belakoba by the end of 1940s and after independence the work went ahead with accelerated pace as the local people and rich persons, being inspired by his noble efforts, joined his mission. Primary schools were established in remote villages. Later on by his efforts a high school for the girls and a basic training college were established at Belakoba. Taking a cue from him, people in remote villages went ahead with establishing more and more schools. Soon light of education started spreading in the region and driving away the curse of illiteracy.
The second curse that attracted his attention was complete lack of proper medical facilities for the local people forcing them to rely on quack
Quack
A quack is a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have skill, knowledge, or qualifications he or she does not possess.Quack may also refer to:* Quack , an independent-comics series published by Star Reach in the 1970s...
treatment and the ojhas. Sri Bose took initiative to establish a charitable dispensary at Belakoba with an LMF doctor for free treatment of the local people. Soon health centers and charitable dispensaries were established in distant villages and later on a government hospital was established by his efforts near Belakoba. And thus his dedication opened up the path to removal of the second curse too.
Literature, Culture & Communal Harmony
He was also eager for cultural uplift of the place languishing in superstitions, caste-discrimination, religious parochialism and narrow rural politics. Through his initiative drama clubs, public libraries and musical training schools were established at Belakoba and adjacent places. He also encouraged sports and by his efforts, the football ground of the high school was renovated and football tournaments arranged. Thus Belakoba became a prosperous place with high level of literacy and culture.He could not complete his studies of literature at college, but his lively interest in literature never waned. In his house he had a very good collection of novels and short stories of all mention worthy Bengali authors, British and American authors and English translations of major of works of Russian, French, German, Spanish and Italian literature. His command over literature was astounding. He could discuss and quote from literary works for hours on end.
During the British regime high ranking British officials used to meet him to discuss literature and take lessons in Vedic
Vedic
Vedic may refer to:* the Vedas, the oldest preserved Indic texts** Vedic Sanskrit, the language of these texts** Vedic period, during which these texts were produced** Vedic pantheon of gods mentioned in Vedas/vedic period...
philosophies. They however, avoided discussions of political issues, as they were fully aware of his hatred towards British rule in India.
After independence of India while the district of Jalpaiguri
Jalpaiguri
Jalpaiguri is a city in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of Jalpaiguri district, and the divisional headquarters of the North Bengal region.-History:...
was included in the Indian Union, hooligans and some dishonest landlords started bullying the Muslims with a view to appropriating their properties by sending them to East Pakistan
East Pakistan
East Pakistan was a provincial state of Pakistan established in 14 August 1947. The provincial state existed until its declaration of independence on 26 March 1971 as the independent nation of Bangladesh. Pakistan recognized the new nation on 16 December 1971. East Pakistan was created from Bengal...
. Sri Bose promptly came forward as their savior by arranging a meeting of the influential people of the locality, the members of the Congress Party and the police officials to assure the Muslims, who were willing to stay on in India, of their security and none of the Muslims opted for migrating to East Pakistan
East Pakistan
East Pakistan was a provincial state of Pakistan established in 14 August 1947. The provincial state existed until its declaration of independence on 26 March 1971 as the independent nation of Bangladesh. Pakistan recognized the new nation on 16 December 1971. East Pakistan was created from Bengal...
.
The flower garden in front of his house was testimony to his aesthetic sense. It included rare flowers like Magnolia
Magnolia
Magnolia is a large genus of about 210 flowering plant species in the subfamily Magnolioideae of the family Magnoliaceae. It is named after French botanist Pierre Magnol....
Grandiflora, Magnolia Futchkata, Camellia
Camellia
Camellia, the camellias, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalaya east to Korea and Indonesia. There are 100–250 described species, with some controversy over the exact number...
, rare orchids, and rare varieties of roses. The orchard
Orchard
An orchard is an intentional planting of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit or nut-producing trees which are grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of large gardens, where they serve an aesthetic as well as a productive...
at the back of his house contained various fruit plants – apples, pears, rose berries, Grecian figs, varieties of mangoes, and varieties of pineapples from Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
and Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
.
Religious Beliefs
Sri Bose had command over the VedasVedas
The Vedas are a large body of texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism....
and the six Vedic Philosophies and he was an out and out Advaita Vedantic.
He himself had no faith in idolatry
Idolatry
Idolatry is a pejorative term for the worship of an idol, a physical object such as a cult image, as a god, or practices believed to verge on worship, such as giving undue honour and regard to created forms other than God. In all the Abrahamic religions idolatry is strongly forbidden, although...
, polytheism
Polytheism
Polytheism is the belief of multiple deities also usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own mythologies and rituals....
and mythological avatar
Avatar
In Hinduism, an avatar is a deliberate descent of a deity to earth, or a descent of the Supreme Being and is mostly translated into English as "incarnation," but more accurately as "appearance" or "manifestation"....
(incarnate) cult. He adhered to the Upanishad
Upanishad
The Upanishads are philosophical texts considered to be an early source of Hindu religion. More than 200 are known, of which the first dozen or so, the oldest and most important, are variously referred to as the principal, main or old Upanishads...
ic view that God is invisible, one-and-only-one, ubiquitous and attribute less. God as the Supreme Being is everywhere in the universe and the visible universe is an integral part of the invisible God. As the light illuminates everything, itself remaining invisible, God assigns attribute to everything Himself remaining attribute-free. He had deep reverence for Buddha
Buddha
In Buddhism, buddhahood is the state of perfect enlightenment attained by a buddha .In Buddhism, the term buddha usually refers to one who has become enlightened...
and Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
. He used to explain that the Vedic philosophy was free from avatar cult, polytheism, idolatry and the theory of rebirth
Rebirth
-Spiritual:* Reincarnation, the migration of a deceased person's spirit to a newborn body** Rebirth * Baptism, a Christian ritual representing spiritual cleansing* Resurrection of the Dead-Music:* Rebirth Brass Band* Rebirth...
. All these were introduced in Hindu culture by the mythological texts called Puranas
Puranas
The Puranas are a genre of important Hindu, Jain and Buddhist religious texts, notably consisting of narratives of the history of the universe from creation to destruction, genealogies of kings, heroes, sages, and demigods, and descriptions of Hindu cosmology, philosophy, and geography.Puranas...
which borrowed from the aboriginal religions, Atharva Veda and Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
.
He, however, opined that idol worship may not be idolatry as such if the devotee can transcend beyond the humanoid idol and treat it only as a symbol of the invisible God. Goddess Kali worship in general is a form of idolatry but to Ramakrishna Paramahansa Dev, the idol of goddess Kali was the symbol of invisible Brahman
Brahman
In Hinduism, Brahman is the one supreme, universal Spirit that is the origin and support of the phenomenal universe. Brahman is sometimes referred to as the Absolute or Godhead which is the Divine Ground of all being...
. To Krishna devotees, Radha-Krishna image is the symbol of invisible God in accordance with Srimad Bhagavad Gita.
Sri Bose, however, never disrespected the other religious beliefs. His wife was a devotee of various deities like Lakshmi
Lakshmi
Lakshmi or Lakumi is the Hindu goddess of wealth, prosperity , light, wisdom, fortune, fertility, generosity and courage; and the embodiment of beauty, grace and charm. Representations of Lakshmi are also found in Jain monuments...
, Saraswati
Saraswati
In Hinduism Saraswati , is the goddess of knowledge, music, arts, science and technology. She is the consort of Brahma, also revered as His Shakti....
, Durga
Durga
For the 1985 Hindi Film of Rajesh Khanna see DurgaaIn Hinduism, Durga ; ; meaning "the inaccessible" or "the invincible"; , durga) or Maa Durga "one who can redeem in situations of utmost distress" is a form of Devi, the supremely radiant goddess, depicted as having eighteen arms, riding a lion...
and Kali
Kali
' , also known as ' , is the Hindu goddess associated with power, shakti. The name Kali comes from kāla, which means black, time, death, lord of death, Shiva. Kali means "the black one". Since Shiva is called Kāla - the eternal time, Kālī, his consort, also means "Time" or "Death" . Hence, Kāli is...
and used to worship their idols. Mr. Bose never objected to or disrespected her faith.
Sri Bose lost his eyesight because of glaucoma
Glaucoma
Glaucoma is an eye disorder in which the optic nerve suffers damage, permanently damaging vision in the affected eye and progressing to complete blindness if untreated. It is often, but not always, associated with increased pressure of the fluid in the eye...
at the age of eighty three and demised on December 12, 1978 at a nursing home at Siliguri.
Family Tree of the Panjia-Boses
Dasharath Bose (the 10th generation of Kulins immigrated to Bengal from Kanauj)Mukti Bose
Rajaram Bose
Anantaram Bose
Gangaram Bose – Ramsantosh Bose – Krishnachandra Bose – Dvipchandra Bose – Pitambar Bose
Abhayram Bose – Shrimanta Bose – Madanmohan Bose
Nilmadhab Bose – Bhagavatchandra Bose
Bidhubadan Bose – Chandrabadan Bose – Rajkrishna Bose – Shantikumar Bose
Bijaybasanta Bose
Mahendra Lal Bose, Saralabbala Bose