Social Engineering: How Britishers
Changed Bengali Names
Although there are Bengalis who still opt for pre-British names
yet it is interesting to de-construct Change of Name politics in Bengal. I already wrote a piece regarding Change of Name politics with Germans during and after WW1. These
days in Pakistan, India and Bengladesh many people tries to change names of
places under the notion of their respective nationalisms and it is same old colonial practice.
The search started from Rabinder Nath Tagore. You cannot find the
word Tegore in pre-british literature. I tried to find it's genealogy which
finally took me to the word Thakar. Further research revealed the flux of Name
Change politics in British India.
“Banerjees are
Rarhi Kulin Brahmins of the Sandilya gotra, who are considered the highest caste in Bengal alongside Mukherjees,Chatterjees and Gangulys. They are descendents of Bhattanarayana, originally from Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh. The surname was anglicized to Banerjee, Mukherjee and Chatterjee
during the British rule. Recent genetic studies have shown that a high
percentage of the Y-DNA haplo group R1a1a occurs
among these people, in common with West Bengal Brahmins (72%)”
Was it an issue
of simple pronunciation? Was it a conscious effort? Was it a simple language
issue or it was as usual a PLAY?
Britishers hired
Bengalis as company’s first employees yet it was Bengalis who led first armed
struggle against the Raj too. The term Baboo was once a synonym of Bengalis due
to their heavy presence in Local civil military employees of EIC. Even till
1849, British Indian literature used terms for its army and viceroy as Royal
Bengal Army and Viceroy of Bengal. Calcutta was seat of Empire till annexation
of the Punjab 1849 and it remained seat of capital till 1911. Yet after the
annexation of the Punjab, colonialists had interest in Iran and Afghanistan so
they gradually shifted capital towards Punjab and finally did it in 1911.
History of two Delhi Darbars in 1877 and 1904 showed resonance of new policy in
which Punjab was their new destination. From 1849 till 1911, Delhi was among
numerous districts of the Punjab. Anyway, Bengalis had a rich experience of
serving and resisting empire. Bengali resistance of late 19th century was a
proof that some Bengalis had an eye on that shift. But here we are reproducing
some evidence when bengalis were Sword arm of E.I.C. Smart colonialists played
Change of name politics with them and now a day’s words like Chatterjee (Chato-padahays),
Banerjee( Bando-Pahdhayas), Mukherjee ( Makho-Padhayas) are common among them.
It reminds us about the social engineering played by masters. We may witness
similar practice in central Asia like Rahimoof, Hanzatoof etc.
read here
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