Gobindram Mitter (also spelt Govindram Mitra, Gobindaram Mitra, Gobinda Ram Mitra, Gobindro Ram Mitro) was one of the earliest Indian officials during the

Company rule in India Company rule in India (sometimes, Company ''Raj'', from hi, rāj, lit=rule) refers to the rule of the British East India Company on the Indian subcontinent. This is variously taken to have commenced in 1757, after the Battle of Plassey, when ...

, who earned reputation for his wealth and extravagance.Sengupta, Subodh Chandra and Bose, Anjali (editors), (1976/1998), ''Sansad Bangali Charitabhidhan'' (Biographical dictionary) Vol I, , p 144,

Early life

He was born in Chanak village near

Barrackpur Barrackpore (also known as Barrackpur) is a city and a municipality of urban Kolkata of North 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is also a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA ...

, now in

North 24 Parganas district North 24 Parganas (abv. 24 PGS (N)) or sometimes North Twenty Four Parganas is a district in southern West Bengal, of eastern India. North 24 Parganas extends in the tropical zone from latitude 22° 11′ 6″ north to 23° 15′ 2″ north and f ...

. When the English bought the three villages of

Kalikata Kalikata was one of the three villages which were merged to form the city of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) in India. The other two villages were Gobindapur and Sutanuti. Job Charnock, an administrator with the British East India Company is tradit ...

Sutanuti Sutanuti was one of the three villages which were merged to form the city of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) in India. The other two villages were Gobindapur and Kalikata. See also * European colonies in India Colonial India was the part of th ...

and Gobindapur from the

Sabarna Roy Choudhury Sabarna Roy Choudhury was a Zamindar family of Mughal Bengal. They controlled significant swathes of territory, including what would later become Kolkata, prior to the sale of zamindari rights in 1698 to the East India Company. Zamindari E ...

family in 1698 and established their zemindary (estate) or presidency in

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 ...

, they appointed an Indian deputy collector to assist the English collector in the collection of rent. The first Indian deputy collector was Nandaram Sen. After his discharge, the second Indian to step into that position was Gobindram Mitra.

Success

Extravagance

Mitter earned fabulous amounts of money. He was so powerful that his boss Holwell could not remove him. He is credited by some as being the first Bengali to drive a coach. His celebration of the Hindu festivals was marked with lavishness and extravagance. The entire image of goddess

Durga Durga ( sa, दुर्गा, ) is a major Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of the mother goddess Mahadevi. She is associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars. Durga's legend centres around co ...

was wrapped in gold and silver leaf. Thirty to fifty maunds (one maund is about 37 kg) of rice was offered to the deity, a thousand Brahmins were fed and given gifts. It was he who fired the urge for

conspicuous consumption In sociology and in economics, the term conspicuous consumption describes and explains the consumer practice of buying and using goods of a higher quality, price, or in greater quantity than practical. In 1899, the sociologist Thorstein Veblen co ...

in the society of his time. Mitter had a sprawling house at

Kumortuli Kumortuli (also spelt Kumartuli, or the archaic spelling ''Coomartolly'') is a traditional potters' quarter in northern Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The city is renowned for its sculpting prowess. It not only manufactures clay idols for various f ...

spread on 50 bighas (around 16 acres) of land. He also had a famous villa, Nandan Bagan, in rural Bengal.

Legend

Mitter became a legend in his lifetime. He was famous as native deputy and the words "Gobindramer chhari" (Gobndram's stick) was celebrated in a Bengali rhyming proverb: :Banamali Sarakrer bari :Gobindram Mitrer chhari :Umichander dari :Huzoorimaler kori : Ke na jane? :::Banamali Sarkar’s house :::Gobindram Mitter’s stick :::Umichand’s beard :::Huzoorimal’s money :::Who does not know of these? Banamali Sarkar's grand house was built in

during the period 1740 to 1750.

Temple

Mitter built a nine-turreted or nabaratna temple of goddess Kali on the banks of the Ganges at Kumortuli in 1725 (some say, it was in 1731). Its 165-feet spire was a navigational aid for sailors. They called it the 'pagoda'. The ruins of the temple can be seen near the Siddheswari Kalimandir in

Bagbazar Bagbazar (also spelt Baghbazar) is a neighbourhood of North Kolkata, in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. The area, under Shyampukur police station of Kolkata Police, has been, along with neighbouring Shyambazar, the citadel of ...

Descendants

His son, Roghoo (Raghu) Mitter had a Ganges bathing ghat (stairs) named after him (it was possibly built by him). It later became popular as Baghbazar ghat. Roghoo Mitter's grandson Abhay Charan Mitter was the dewan of the collector of 24 Parganas and is reputed to have given a lakh of rupees to his guru or spiritual preceptor and then came his grandson Dhanada Charan Mitter and then his grandson Jagannath Mitra and then his son Rajarshi Mitra and now his son Romit Mitra. A street in Kumartuli is named after Abhay Charan Mitra.

Jorabagan Jorabagan is a neighbourhood of North Kolkata, in Kolkata district, in the Indian state of West Bengal. As a neighbourhood, it covers a small area but its importance is primarily because of the police station. Etymology Jorabagan, meaning ‘a ...

, a Kolkata neighbourhood was so named because the road through it led to the garden houses of Gobindram Mitter and Umichand.Cotton, H.E.A., p104