Dutta Chaudhury family (

Devanagari Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental Writing systems#Segmental syste ...

: दत्तचौधरी परिवार,

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

: দত্তচৌধুরী পরিবার,

Farsi Persian (), also known by its endonym Farsi (, ', ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken an ...

: دوت چوودی) or the 'Duttas of Andul' were the erstwhile Chaudhury (-ies) &

zamindar A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as a ...

s, during

Sultanate This article includes a list of successive Islamic states and Muslim dynasties beginning with the time of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (570–632 CE) and the early Muslim conquests that spread Islam outside of the Arabian Peninsula, and continui ...

and Mughal periods, of Muzaffarpur

pargana Pargana ( bn, পরগনা, , hi, परगना, ur, پرگنہ) or parganah, also spelt pergunnah during the time of the Sultanate period, Mughal times and British Raj, is a former administrative unit of the Indian subcontinent and each ...

of the administrative unit of the 'Sarkar of

Satgaon Saptagram (Bengali: সপ্তগ্রাম; colloquially called ''Satgaon'') was a major port, the chief city and sometimes capital of southern Bengal, in ancient and medieval times, the location presently being in the Hooghly district in t ...

' (present-day

Howrah Howrah (, , alternatively spelled as Haora) is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. Howrah is located on the western bank of the Hooghly River opposite its twin city of Kolkata. Administratively it lies within Howrah district, and is th ...

and Hooghly districts) of Subah Bangla. The pargana further consisted of several revenue collection units referred to as '' moujas'', namely

Andul Andul is a census town in Sankrail CD Block of Howrah Sadar subdivision in Howrah district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a part of Kolkata Urban Agglomeration. Geography Area of Andul is 17.98 km². Andul is located at . It is si ...

, Mahiary, Alampore, Dhulagore,

Sankrail Sankrail is a census town in Sankrail CD Block of Howrah Sadar subdivision in Howrah district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a part of Kolkata Urban Agglomeration. Geography Sankrail is located at . It has an average elevation of ...

, Kendua, etc. The Dutta Chaudhury family was founded by

Debdas (Tekari) Dutta, in the late 14th century CE. Since zamindar Tekari acquired almost the entire pargana as his estate ownership, from his father, he was designated as 'Chaudhury' (''Farsi'': چوودی) (Collector) of the pargana by

Sikandar Shah Abul Mujāhid Sikandar Shāh ( bn, আবুল মুজাহিদ সিকান্দর শাহ, fa, ), commonly known as Sikandar Shah; was the second Sultan of Bengal and the Ilyas Shahi dynasty. He was the son of Shamsuddin Ilyas Sha ...

, the second

Sultan of Bengal The Sultanate of Bengal (Middle Bengali language, Middle Bengali: শাহী বাঙ্গালা ''Shahī Baṅgala'', Classical Persian: ''Saltanat-e-Bangālah'') was an empire based in Bengal for much of the 14th, 15th and 16th centu ...

. It is believed that name of the place 'Andul' was derived from the word ''Anand-er-Dhuli'' (আনন্দের ধূলি), meaning 'dust of joy', coined by Krishnananda Dutta, the fourth Chaudhury & Zamindar of the pargana. The family is an offshoot of Duttas of

Bally Bally may refer to: Places *Bally, a historical spelling of Bali *Bally (from the Irish ''baile'') or townland, a traditional division of land, as well as a common prefix in the names of settlements throughout Ireland *Bally, Bally-Jagachha, a c ...

of Southern –

Rarh region Rarh region () is a toponym for an area in the Indian subcontinent that lies between the Chota Nagpur Plateau on the West and the Ganges Delta on the East. Although the boundaries of the region have been defined differently according to various ...

, founded by

Bharadwaja Bharadvaja ( sa, भरद्वाज, IAST: ; also spelled Bharadwaja) was one of the revered Vedic sages (maharishi) in Ancient India. He was a renowned scholar, economist, grammarian and physician. He is one of the Saptarishis (seven great ...

clan Purushottam Dutta, a

Kshatriya Kshatriya ( hi, क्षत्रिय) (from Sanskrit ''kṣatra'', "rule, authority") is one of the four varna (social orders) of Hindu society, associated with warrior aristocracy. The Sanskrit term ''kṣatriyaḥ'' is used in the con ...

by race and

Kayastha Kayastha (also referred to as Kayasth) denotes a cluster of disparate Indian communities broadly categorised by the regions of the Indian subcontinent in which they were traditionally locatedthe Chitraguptavanshi Kayasthas of North India, the C ...

by caste, who arrived from

Kannauj Kannauj ( Hindustani pronunciation: ənːɔːd͡ʒ is a city, administrative headquarters and a municipal board or Nagar Palika Parishad in Kannauj district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city's name is a corrupted form of the class ...

in . Once upon a time, the functional title of 'Chowdhury' for a collector of a pargana is no more functional but the family members of present-day still use it, as a legacy, along with their original surname 'Dutta' thus forming a composite surname - 'Dutta Chowdhury'. The present descendants of the family are scattered throughout India, Bangladesh and United States. A large genealogical tree of this family is there at the residence of Banbehari Datta Chowdhury at Chowdhury Para in Andul.

Ratnakar's Philosopher's stone

There is a saying of getting a

Philosopher's stone The philosopher's stone or more properly philosophers' stone (Arabic: حجر الفلاسفة, , la, lapis philosophorum), is a mythic alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as mercury into gold (, from the Greek , "gold", a ...

(Bengali: পরশ পাথর) from the river

Ganga The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

when zamindar Tekari's elder son would-be-Chaudhury Ratnakar Dutta was busy cleaning up his copper utensils on the bank of the river.

''Kuladevta'' temple of the family

Kashiswar Jiu temple (কাশীশ্বর জিউ মন্দির) is in

Howrah district Howrah district (, ) is a district of the West Bengal state in eastern India. Howrah district is one of the highly urbanized area of West Bengal. The urbanised sectors gradually increase the slum populations. Howrah is the third smallest distric ...

near the

Saraswati river The Sarasvati River () is a deified river first mentioned in the Rigveda and later in Vedic and post-Vedic texts. It played an important role in the Vedic religion, appearing in all but the fourth book of the Rigveda. As a physical river, i ...

, West Bengal in India. The presiding deity is a Banlinga which was recovered from the river in mid-17th century CE by family's Kashiswar Dutta Chowdhury (b.1607 CE

In 18th century CE a stone made

yoni ''Yoni'' (; sometimes also ), sometimes called ''pindika'', is an abstract or aniconic representation of the Hindu goddess Shakti. It is usually shown with ''linga'' – its masculine counterpart. Together, they symbolize the merging of microc ...

-like structure commonly known as ''Gauripatta,'' symbolizes goddess

Shakti In Hinduism, especially Shaktism (a theological tradition of Hinduism), Shakti (Devanagari: शक्ति, IAST: Śakti; lit. "Energy, ability, strength, effort, power, capability") is the primordial cosmic energy, female in aspect, and rep ...

, has been attached with the

Linga A lingam ( sa, लिङ्ग , lit. "sign, symbol or mark"), sometimes referred to as linga or Shiva linga, is an abstract or aniconic representation of the Hindu god Shiva in Shaivism. It is typically the primary ''murti'' or devotional im ...

. There are other Shiva linga temples in the debottur premises, namely Bisheshwar (''Lord of the Universe''), Nakuleswar (''Destroyer of ego'') and Saurendra Mohaneshwar (''

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...

is the lord of every material things of the

Solar system The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar S ...

''). Chowdhury MadhavChandra RayBahadur, the 22nd descendant of the family installed Madhaveshwar Shiva temple at Chowdhury para in Andul in the year 1757 CE.

Durga puja in the family

Family celebrates autumnal festival (Durga puja) since the time of their forefather Ram Sharan Dutta Chowdhury (1548–1606 CE); he initiated the annual festival in the Saka era of 1490, which corresponds to 1568 CE in the

Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It was introduced in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The principal change was to space leap years dif ...

at the ancestral villag

Family's Radha-Madhava deities are presently located in

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

, which was taken from Andul to Chhoti village of Odisha by Ramsharan's grandfather Krishnananda.

As Diwan

Golok Chandra Chowdhury was the Diwan of Andul Raj Estate under Raja RajNarayan RoyBahadur and Biswambar Chowdhury was the Diwan of the Mullick family of Andul.

Notable personalities of the family

Krishnananda Dutta Chaudhury Krishnananda Dutta, born as Krishnananda Dutta Chowdhury (c. 1490-1570) in a Dutta Chowdhury family in Andul of the present-day Howrah district of West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the ea ...

Akshay Chandra Chaudhury Akshay Chandra Chaudhury ( 7 September 1850- 5 September 1898) was an Indian poet and novel writer, who reshaped Bengali literature and music. Early life and education Akshay Chandra Chowdhury was born in the affluent Chowdhury family of ...

Basanta Choudhury Basanta Choudhury (also Chowdhury; 5 May 1928 – 20 June 2000) was an Indian actor in Bengali and Hindi films. He worked with directors Asit Sen, Rajen Tarafdar, Ajay Kar and Bijay Bose, often in leading roles. He is a former Sheriff of Kolka ...

Photo Gallery

File:Durga Temple - Dutta Chowdhury Family - Andul - Howrah 2012-03-25 2930.JPG, ''Durga-dalan'' of the Chowdhury family at Chowdhury para in Andul, reconstructed in the year 1930 CE. File:Official Seal Mohor of Srisri Kashiswar Debottur Estate of Dutta Chowdhury family of Andul, Howrah.png, Seal of the family's Debottur Estate in Andul. File:The two old books on the history of the Dutta Chowdhury family, Andul. .jpg, The two old books on the history of the family, Andul - ''Dutta Vansa Mala'' (1876 CE) and ''Amar Gramer Kotha'' (1944 CE), in

language. File:Kashiswar Bhairava, Andul.jpg, Kashiswar Jiu - the age-old ancestral deity of the family, installed by Kashiswar Dutta Chowdhury in mid-17th century CE. File:Estate Emblem of Dutta Chowdhury family of Andul.png, Original & registered emblem of the Chowdhury family.

Dutta Chowdhury clan at Hatkhola

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

-based Hatkhola Dutta family is a branch of the Chowdhury family.

Books

# ''Dutta Chaudhuri Chronicles - Our Ancestry'', 2020, By Hemotpaul Chaudhuri.

ISBN The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier that is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency. An ISBN is assigned to each separate edition and ...

-13 : 979-8616610058 # ''Chowdhury Bongsher Itibritto'', 2020,By Dhruba Dutta Chaudhury
Blue Rose Publishers
New Delhi, of ROC no. L-97526/2020 dated 11 Dec 2020 vide Copy Right office,

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dutta Chaudhury family of Andul Bengali Hindus Hindu families People from Howrah