Page:A General Biography of Bengal Celebrities Vol 1.djvu/10



= RAJA DEGUMBUR MITTER C. S. I. =

HIS BIRTH, PARENTAGE, AND EARLY LIFE.
Of the brilliant galaxy of educated and self-made men of the pre-University period of English education in Bengal, Raja Degumber was one. He, by his own exertions and thorough honesty of purpose, coupled with patience and perseverance, rose from the rank of middle-class men to the exalted position of one of the premier Zemindars of Bengal. An account of the life of this architect of his own fortune cannot, therefore, fail to be an interesting and profitable study, not only to this generation, but as well to those yet unborn.

Babu Degumber (afterwards Raja) was born at Konenaggur, in the district of Hughly in 1817, of a very respectable and ancient Kyastha family known as the Mundira Bati Mitters. His father Babu Shib Churn Mitter was a godown Sirkar under Messrs. Gisburn and Co., and had two sons of whom Degumber was the eldest. His grand-father Babu Ram Chunder Mitter was also under the employ of a Calcutta Mercantile Firm, and earned a decent livelihood, and a great part of what the father and grand-father earned, was spent in charity and religious performances. In those days, orthodox Hindoos had no inordinate greed of gain, and never thought of making any savings from their small incomes for the benefit of their posterity. So that, when Babu Degumber was born, he inherited