Krishna Kanta Nandi, also known as Kanta Babu, was a banian/commercial agent to

Warren Hastings Warren Hastings (6 December 1732 – 22 August 1818) was a British colonial administrator, who served as the first Governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal), the head of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and so the first Governor-General ...

and

Sir Francis Sykes, 1st Baronet Sir Francis Sykes, 1st Baronet (1732–1804) was an English country landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1771 and 1804. He was sometime Governor of Kasimbazar in India, being styled an English nabob by his peers. ...

; and made a fortune working for the East India Company and trading silk. He is the founder of the Cossimbazar Raj based in

Cossimbazar Cossimbazar is a sub-urban area of Berhampore City in the Berhampore CD block in the Berhampore subdivision in Murshidabad district in the Indian state of West Bengal."Cossimbazar" in ''Imperial Gazetteer of India'', Oxford, Clarendon Press, ...

Early life

Nandi was born in 1700 in Cossimbazar in family from Burdwan District.

Career

Nandi was a trader who traded in cotton, salt, and silk. Nandi met Warren Hastings in 1750 when they were supposedly of the same age. He saved Hastings life when he was imprisoned by the Nawab of Bengal

Siraj ud-Daulah Mirza Muhammad Siraj-ud-Daulah ( fa, ; 1733 – 2 July 1757), commonly known as Siraj-ud-Daulah or Siraj ud-Daula, was the last independent Nawab of Bengal. The end of his reign marked the start of the rule of the East India Company over Beng ...

by helping him escape prison. From 1754 to 1756, he served as a banian to Warren Hastings. He had loaned money to Hastings and had a good relationship with him. After Hastings left India, Nadi was hired by Francis Sykes on Hastings's recommendation. Nandi acquired Pargana Baharbund. Nandi, and other revenue agents of East India company, such as Akrur Dutta, Baranashi Ghosh, Ganga Govind Singh, Gokul Ghoshal, Hidaram Banerjee, Manshur Mukherjee, and

Nabakrishna Deb Maharaja Nabakrishna Deb (also known as Raja Nabakrishna Deb, archaic spelling Nubkissen; 10 October 1733 – 22 December 1797), founder of the Shovabazar Raj family, was a prominent zamindar and close confidant and friend of Robert Clive. He w ...

, made a significant fortune working for the company. While Gokul Ghosh went after properties in sparsely populated areas Nandi preferred densely populated areas such as Murshidbad. Nandi expanded further through buying estates under the

Permanent Settlement The Permanent Settlement, also known as the Permanent Settlement of Bengal, was an agreement between the East India Company and Bengali landlords to fix revenues to be raised from land that had far-reaching consequences for both agricultural met ...

in Bengal. He had acquired properties across northern and western Bengal. Hastings seized the estate of Rani Bhabani and handed it over to Nandi. He built the Kasimbazer Rajbari which had marbles from Baneras. The marbles were gained by Hastings in his expedition against Maharaja Chait Singh in which Nandi accompanied him.

Maharaja Nandakumar Maharaja Nandakumar (also known as Nuncomar) (1705 – died 5 August 1775), was an Indian tax collector for various regions in what is modern-day West Bengal. Nanda Kumar was born at Bhadrapur, which is now in Birbhum. He was the first Indian to b ...

had bought allegations of corruption against Hastings and Nandi.

Death

Nandi died in 17994/1804 (dates differ) and was succeeded by his son,

Loknath Nandi C. H. Loknath (14 August 1927 – 31 December 2018) was an Indian actor with more than 1000 Kannada plays and 650 films to his credit. Loknath is affectionately known as "Uncle Loknath" or "Uppinakayi" in the industry. His last performance wa ...

who later received the title of Maharaja from the Nawab of Murshidabad. The book ''Life and times of Cantoo Baboo (Krishna Kanta Nandy), the banian of Warren Hastings'' was written about his life in 1804.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nandi, Krishna Kanta 18th-century Bengalis Rulers of Bengal Year of birth unknown 1700 births People from Murshidabad district

Early life

Career

Death

See also

References