Baboo Ramtanu Dutta , also popularly known as Tanu Baboo was amongst the foremost Baboos of colonial Calcutta . But the real story of this illustrious family begins a long long time back in the reign of Rajah Adisur of Bengal .
Adisur invited five learned Brahmins from Kanyakubja or Kanauj to come and settle in Bengal . Each of these Brahmins brought a non-Brahmin servitor along with them . Purushottam Dutta was one of the five servitors who came to Bengal with the legendary five Brahmins . And it was he who is credited to have founded Dutta family . He settled in the village of Bally on the banks of river Ganges . Later his descendents shifted to Andul . They were bestowed with the title ‘Chaudhury’ by the nawabs of Bengal . Finally the family split into three branches . While one branch ( of Ramsharan Dutta ) remained in Andul the other two ( Gobindasharan Dutta and Harisharan Dutta branches ) resettled themselves at GadhGobindaPur and Muragachha . Gobindasharan’s grandson Ramchandra Dutta came to settle at Chitpur in the new city of Calcutta . He was the ‘mutshuddi’ of the import export office of East India Company and also a native zamindar .
The family Durga puja is more than two centuries old and still continues without interruption . Presently there are three pujas held in homes of different shoriks or clans . Haatkhola Dutta once boasted of the most phenomenal and luxurious Durgotsavs in the city of Calcutta . No one but the Brahmin priests are entitled to touch the idol once she is seated on the platform for worship .The pratima is unique ‘Muttchowree’ styled . This means that the backdrop of the idol is in the shape of three temple spires , instead of the usual hemispherical type . The family still tries to maintain similarity in the pratimas of all three households . They are one of the few houses of the city which still preserve the original ‘khaas bangla’ mould of the face . Realeasing of neelkantha bird during Vijaya Dashami was an old tradition which had to stopped a couple of years back due to new rules .
The family also celebrates Kali puja . Tradition has it that the married ladies of the house do the farewell ‘boron’ during Durga puja and unmarried girls do it on Kali puja .Rathayatra festival of this family was also a spectacle to behold . Presently , trying conditions have forced them to retract the ritual to a modest scale .
Duttas were one of the very few families of old Calcutta which did not resort to appeasing British officials to create wealth and fame for themselves . There are no dancing halls in this house . There were no balls or parties and no nautches held during Durga puja to appease white shahibs . But even then , members from this family held extremely important positions of office in Colonial times and were widely respected throughout India . The family also produced countless advocates , doctors and men of repute . Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was born to the girl ( His mother Prabhavati ) belonging to this family . Kedarnath Dutta , later known as Bhaktivindo thakur later became the founder of the new age gaudiya vaishnava movement . Rishi Aurobindo was also related with bloodlines of this family .
Courtesy: The Pujo Company