Motilal Seal
Encyclopedia
Mutty Lall Seal (1792 – 20 May 1854) was an Indian
businessman and philanthropist
. Beginning life as a bottle and cork dealer, he closed his run of luck with a colossal fortune out-topping that of all his contemporaries. Mutty Lall Seal and Ramdulal Sarkar, another renowned shipping magnate, have become part of Bengali folklore as great merchant princes.
family in Kolkata
around 1792. He lost his father, Chaitanya Charan Seal, a cloth merchant, when he was around five years old. His early education started at the 'pathshala', thereafter he went to Martin Bowl's English School and finally passed out from Baboo Nityananda Sen's High School. However his life took a turn, when in 1809, at the age of seventeen he was married to Nagri Dassee, the daughter of Mohan Chand Dey of Surtir Bagan neighbourhood in Kolkata. Mutty Lall Seal accompanied his father-in-law on a pilgrimage tour to northern and western parts of India, and the experience greatly enlightened him. Around 1815 he started working in Fort William
, then the bastion of British power. It is said that while working at Fort William
he was involved in supply of essential commodities for the British army. Later he also worked as an inspector of Indian Customs
at Balikhal.
and Rustomjee Cowasjee. In 1878 Kissori Chand Mitra delivered a lecture on the life of Mutty Lall Seal calling him the "Rothschild
of Calcutta". About him, Sivanath Sastri
writes - "He never adopted unfair means for earning money. He was well-behaved, polite and helpful to others."
(in the suburbs of Calcutta) in 1841 where on an average five hundred people were fed daily and which is even now open to the poor and a bathing ghat
on the bank of the Hooghly River known as Motilal Ghat which still exists.
Perhaps he is best remembered as the donor of an extensive tract of land, then valued at Rs. 12,000/- to the then British Government on which the Calcutta Medical College was built. The then Government of Bengal recognised his liberality by naming a ward in his honour, The Mutty Lall Seal Ward, for native male patients. Mutty Lall Seal subsequently supplemented this gift by a donation of a lac of rupees for the establishment of a female (lying in) hospital which started functioning in 1838 under his benevolence.
In those days the Hindu community had got alarmed owing to several conversions to Christianity which were taking place among the boys at missionary schools offering free education. To counter this, there was an anti-missionary movement led by the rich and influential baboos of Calcutta to have a free national school of their own. One afternoon they all assembled in a meeting presided over by Raja Radha Kanta Deb at the premises of the Oriental Seminary. Many were the speeches made and resolutions adopted. But when it was time for making subscriptions, down came the spirit of the baboos from boiling point to near freezing mark. The subscription book passed from one hand to another, all being indecisive so as to putting down the amount suiting their respective purses, prestige and object. When the book passed to the hand of Mutty Lall Seal, he immediately put down his name for a lac of rupees. Astounded and dumb founded by his munificence, all others who had estimated contributing a few hundred or a few thousand rupees panicked to close the proceedings and the meeting broke up in a fiasco. However pledged to his subscription Mutty Lall Seal carried out the promise of a national institution with his own independent efforts. On Wednesday, 1 March 1842, a gathering of respectable people took place at his house for the formal opening of the Mutty Lall Seal's Free College. Among those present were Sir Lawrence Peel, the Chief Justice; Sir John Peter Grant; Mr. Lyall, the Advocate-General; Mr. Leith and the other principal members of the Calcutta Bar; Captain Birch, Superintendent of the Police; Mr. George Thompson, Right Reverend Dr. Carew; Baboo Dwarkanath Tagore
; Baboo Ramcomul Sen; Baboo Russomoy Dutt and Revd. Krishna Mohan Banerjee
. The Catholic Bishop and all the clergy of the Catholic Cathedral, as well as all the Professors of St. Xavier's College
, were likewise present. Nearly the whole of the dissenting ministers and missionaries of Calcutta and its neighbourhood also attended. There were eloquent speeches in testimony to his noble generosity and liberal mindset with Mr. George Thompson complimenting him as "a Hindu gentleman, who had nobly resolved to consecrate a large portion of the substances he had acquired by honorable exertion, to the intellectual improvement of the youth of his own nation to transmute his money into mind". Mutty Lall Seal's Free College (later renamed as Mutty Lall Seal's Free School and College) was to provide for the education of the Hindus to enable them to occupy posts of trust and emolument in their own country. The course of education included English Literature
, History
, Geography
, Elocution
, Writing
, Arithmetic
, Algebra
, Philosophical Sciences, Higher Mathematics
& practical application of Mathematics. The institution was opened free of cost, only one rupee was charged per month to cover the expenses of books, stationery etc. and the surplus being expended towards furnishing the school with mathematical instruments. The number of students receiving education at one time, to be limited to five hundred. The institute was initially under the management of the Directors of the parent college of St. F. Xavier
, Chowringhee, Calcutta who undertook to furnish teachers to further the cause of secular education. Although Jesuits
were entrusted with the responsibility of imparting education, the conductors had pledged themselves to withhold all Christian
instruction from the pupils. However later Mutty Lall Seal dissolved the connection between his college and the Jesuits
over a dispute that in violation of their pledge, viands were distributed among the Hindu boys contrary to their religious sentiments. The institute was then placed under Revd. Krishna Mohan Banerjee
. A sum of Rs. 12,000 was spent yearly for the upkeep of the college from his trust. The college stood in high estimation of the public and competed successfully with the Government and Missionary Colleges in the University examinations (Suniti Kumar Chatterji
and Swami Prabhupada
were some illustrious students of this college). The college initially started functioning at Mutty Lall Seal's house and was later shifted to the present building on Chittaranjan Avenue where it still exists.
The other charities which have endeared his name to the public at large and made him illustrious are contained in a deed of trust by which he made over a considerable portion of his property amounting to several lacs of rupees for the good of the public. A net yearly income of Rs. 36,000 derived from those properties were spent for various charitable purposes. Apart from running and maintaining the college, about Rs. 4,000 was spent on poor widows and orphans every year and rest on running and maintaining two alms houses for the poor and underprivileged. He extended financial support and cooperation for the establishment of Hindu Charitable Institution and Hindu Metropolitan College. Seal's Free School, Hindu Metropolitan College and some of the other institutions of the time were calculated to offset the 'ill effects' of the liberal education offered at the Hindu College
.
and the other was the conservative section led by Radha Kanta Deb. Most of the rich people of Kolkata were in the latter group. Radha Kanta Deb strongly opposed both the move to ban sati
and efforts for remarriage of widows, many of whom were child-widows. Although Mutty Lall Seal was a conservative, he was in favour of Raja Rammohun Roy
's efforts of banning sati
, supported the cause of women's education as well as remarriage of widows. He made a public offer for a dowry of 1000 rupees to the person who should have the courage to break through the ancient prejudices of caste, and marry a widow. When Mutty Lal Seal died on 20 May 1854 his obituary in the Hindu Intelligence described him as the "richest and most virtuous Baboo of Calcutta". One of the busy streets in Kolkata's business district is named after him as Moti Sil Street.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
businessman and philanthropist
Philanthropy
Philanthropy etymologically means "the love of humanity"—love in the sense of caring for, nourishing, developing, or enhancing; humanity in the sense of "what it is to be human," or "human potential." In modern practical terms, it is "private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of...
. Beginning life as a bottle and cork dealer, he closed his run of luck with a colossal fortune out-topping that of all his contemporaries. Mutty Lall Seal and Ramdulal Sarkar, another renowned shipping magnate, have become part of Bengali folklore as great merchant princes.
Early life
Mutty Lall Seal was born in a Bengali HinduBengali Hindu
Bengali Hindus are an ethno-linguistic group, belonging to the Indo-Aryan family and are native to the Bengal region of the Indian Subcontinent. The Bengali Hindus along with other related ethno-linguistic groups constitute the vast majority of Hindus...
family in Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
around 1792. He lost his father, Chaitanya Charan Seal, a cloth merchant, when he was around five years old. His early education started at the 'pathshala', thereafter he went to Martin Bowl's English School and finally passed out from Baboo Nityananda Sen's High School. However his life took a turn, when in 1809, at the age of seventeen he was married to Nagri Dassee, the daughter of Mohan Chand Dey of Surtir Bagan neighbourhood in Kolkata. Mutty Lall Seal accompanied his father-in-law on a pilgrimage tour to northern and western parts of India, and the experience greatly enlightened him. Around 1815 he started working in Fort William
Fort William, India
Fort William is a fort built in Calcutta on the Eastern banks of the River Hooghly, the major distributary of the River Ganges, during the early years of the Bengal Presidency of British India. It was named after King William III of England...
, then the bastion of British power. It is said that while working at Fort William
Fort William, India
Fort William is a fort built in Calcutta on the Eastern banks of the River Hooghly, the major distributary of the River Ganges, during the early years of the Bengal Presidency of British India. It was named after King William III of England...
he was involved in supply of essential commodities for the British army. Later he also worked as an inspector of Indian Customs
Customs
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, transports, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country...
at Balikhal.
Business activities
He started his business career humbly by selling bottles and corks to one Mr. Hudson who was one of the most extensive importers of beer in those days. He traded in cowhides, was the founder and promoter of the first indigo mart which was established under the name of M/s. Moore, Hickey & Co. The English merchants used to hire him for his sound judgements on indigo, silk, sugar, rice, saltpetre etc. He got appointed as "Banian" to around twenty first class agency houses out of around fifty or sixty such houses in Calcutta. Later he also became a landed property speculator as well as merchant successively in partnership with Fergusson Brothers & Co., Oswald Seal & Co. and Tulloh & Co. and in these three firms he was said to have lost some thirty lacs of rupees. He got into exporting of indigo, silk, sugar, rice, saltpetre to Europe and importing of iron and cotton-piece goods from England. He got up a number of cargo boats which were then a new speculation in the market. He worked the old Flour Mills, and shipped whole cargoes of biscuits to Australia for the first emigrants to its newly discovered gold fields. Later he put up a mill to refine sugar on the centrifugal principle. He was the first to use steamships for internal trade in Calcutta, and he prospered in competition with Europeans. In due course he amassed around thirteen trade ships including a steam tug named 'Banian'. He made a vast fortune in a single generation through money-dealing, a phrase which does not merely refer to money-lending, bill discounting and other banking business. There was scarcely a speculation into which he did not enter, and for which he did not supply a portion of funds. From dealings in internal exchanges to contracts for station-building, for the erection of new bazaars to revival of transit companies, there was scarcely an undertaking in which he was not an important, though a quiet shareholder. He funded every promising enterprise he found and made profits in the shape of interest. At one point of time he was in complete control over the maket dealing in company's papers. Mutty Lall Seal was one of the founders of Assam Company Ltd.. Under his influence, the then Oriental Life Insurance Company (later reconstructed as New Oriental Insurance Company in 1834) founded by the Europeans, being the first life insurance company on Indian soil, accepted to underwrite Indian lives. He was among the founders of Bank Of India. He was on the board of Agricultural And Horticultural Society Of India. In the course of time he amassed as much wealth as Dwarkanath TagoreDwarkanath Tagore
Dwarkanath Tagore , was one of the first Indian industrialists and entrepreneurs, was the founder of the Jorasanko branch of the Tagore family, and is notable for making substantial contributions to the Bengal Renaissance.-Childhood:...
and Rustomjee Cowasjee. In 1878 Kissori Chand Mitra delivered a lecture on the life of Mutty Lall Seal calling him the "Rothschild
Rothschild
Rothschild is a common German surname. It is a habitational name from a house distinguished with a red shield , the earliest recorded example dating from the 13th century...
of Calcutta". About him, Sivanath Sastri
Sivanath Sastri
Sivanath Sastri was a scholar, religious reformer, educator, writer and historian...
writes - "He never adopted unfair means for earning money. He was well-behaved, polite and helpful to others."
Philanthropy
As a philanthropist, Mutty Lall Seal founded an alms house at BelghariaBelgharia
Belgharia is a suburb and a northern district of Kolkata. It is situated near Barrackpore Trunk Road under Kamarhati Municipality. Now it has become a business hub, well connected with Kolkata with trains, buses and other means of transport. Belgharia is one of the busiest stations of the main...
(in the suburbs of Calcutta) in 1841 where on an average five hundred people were fed daily and which is even now open to the poor and a bathing ghat
Ghats
As used in many parts of South Asia, the term ghat refers to a series of steps leading down to a water body, usually a holy river. In Bengali-speaking regions, this set of stairs can lead down to something as small as a pond or as large as a major river....
on the bank of the Hooghly River known as Motilal Ghat which still exists.
Perhaps he is best remembered as the donor of an extensive tract of land, then valued at Rs. 12,000/- to the then British Government on which the Calcutta Medical College was built. The then Government of Bengal recognised his liberality by naming a ward in his honour, The Mutty Lall Seal Ward, for native male patients. Mutty Lall Seal subsequently supplemented this gift by a donation of a lac of rupees for the establishment of a female (lying in) hospital which started functioning in 1838 under his benevolence.
In those days the Hindu community had got alarmed owing to several conversions to Christianity which were taking place among the boys at missionary schools offering free education. To counter this, there was an anti-missionary movement led by the rich and influential baboos of Calcutta to have a free national school of their own. One afternoon they all assembled in a meeting presided over by Raja Radha Kanta Deb at the premises of the Oriental Seminary. Many were the speeches made and resolutions adopted. But when it was time for making subscriptions, down came the spirit of the baboos from boiling point to near freezing mark. The subscription book passed from one hand to another, all being indecisive so as to putting down the amount suiting their respective purses, prestige and object. When the book passed to the hand of Mutty Lall Seal, he immediately put down his name for a lac of rupees. Astounded and dumb founded by his munificence, all others who had estimated contributing a few hundred or a few thousand rupees panicked to close the proceedings and the meeting broke up in a fiasco. However pledged to his subscription Mutty Lall Seal carried out the promise of a national institution with his own independent efforts. On Wednesday, 1 March 1842, a gathering of respectable people took place at his house for the formal opening of the Mutty Lall Seal's Free College. Among those present were Sir Lawrence Peel, the Chief Justice; Sir John Peter Grant; Mr. Lyall, the Advocate-General; Mr. Leith and the other principal members of the Calcutta Bar; Captain Birch, Superintendent of the Police; Mr. George Thompson, Right Reverend Dr. Carew; Baboo Dwarkanath Tagore
Dwarkanath Tagore
Dwarkanath Tagore , was one of the first Indian industrialists and entrepreneurs, was the founder of the Jorasanko branch of the Tagore family, and is notable for making substantial contributions to the Bengal Renaissance.-Childhood:...
; Baboo Ramcomul Sen; Baboo Russomoy Dutt and Revd. Krishna Mohan Banerjee
Krishna Mohan Banerjee
Krishna Mohan Banerjee was a prominent member of Henry Louis Vivian Derozio’s Young Bengal group, educationist, linguist and Christian missionary.-Early life:...
. The Catholic Bishop and all the clergy of the Catholic Cathedral, as well as all the Professors of St. Xavier's College
St. Xavier's College, Calcutta
St. Xavier's College is located in Kolkata, India, and is named after St. Francis Xavier, a Jesuit saint of the 16th century, who travelled to India. It is an autonomous college affiliated to the University of Calcutta. It gained autonomy in July 2006, thus becoming the first autonomous college of...
, were likewise present. Nearly the whole of the dissenting ministers and missionaries of Calcutta and its neighbourhood also attended. There were eloquent speeches in testimony to his noble generosity and liberal mindset with Mr. George Thompson complimenting him as "a Hindu gentleman, who had nobly resolved to consecrate a large portion of the substances he had acquired by honorable exertion, to the intellectual improvement of the youth of his own nation to transmute his money into mind". Mutty Lall Seal's Free College (later renamed as Mutty Lall Seal's Free School and College) was to provide for the education of the Hindus to enable them to occupy posts of trust and emolument in their own country. The course of education included English Literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
, History
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, Geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
, Elocution
Elocution
Elocution is the study of formal speaking in pronunciation, grammar, style, and tone.-History:In Western classical rhetoric, elocution was one of the five core disciplines of pronunciation, which was the art of delivering speeches. Orators were trained not only on proper diction, but on the proper...
, Writing
Writing
Writing is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols . It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and non-symbolic preservation of language via non-textual media, such as magnetic tape audio.Writing most likely...
, Arithmetic
Arithmetic
Arithmetic or arithmetics is the oldest and most elementary branch of mathematics, used by almost everyone, for tasks ranging from simple day-to-day counting to advanced science and business calculations. It involves the study of quantity, especially as the result of combining numbers...
, Algebra
Algebra
Algebra is the branch of mathematics concerning the study of the rules of operations and relations, and the constructions and concepts arising from them, including terms, polynomials, equations and algebraic structures...
, Philosophical Sciences, Higher Mathematics
Further Mathematics
Further Mathematics is the title given to a number of advanced secondary mathematics courses. Higher and Further Mathematics may also refer to any of several advanced mathematics courses at many institutions....
& practical application of Mathematics. The institution was opened free of cost, only one rupee was charged per month to cover the expenses of books, stationery etc. and the surplus being expended towards furnishing the school with mathematical instruments. The number of students receiving education at one time, to be limited to five hundred. The institute was initially under the management of the Directors of the parent college of St. F. Xavier
St. Xavier's College, Calcutta
St. Xavier's College is located in Kolkata, India, and is named after St. Francis Xavier, a Jesuit saint of the 16th century, who travelled to India. It is an autonomous college affiliated to the University of Calcutta. It gained autonomy in July 2006, thus becoming the first autonomous college of...
, Chowringhee, Calcutta who undertook to furnish teachers to further the cause of secular education. Although Jesuits
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
were entrusted with the responsibility of imparting education, the conductors had pledged themselves to withhold all Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
instruction from the pupils. However later Mutty Lall Seal dissolved the connection between his college and the Jesuits
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
over a dispute that in violation of their pledge, viands were distributed among the Hindu boys contrary to their religious sentiments. The institute was then placed under Revd. Krishna Mohan Banerjee
Krishna Mohan Banerjee
Krishna Mohan Banerjee was a prominent member of Henry Louis Vivian Derozio’s Young Bengal group, educationist, linguist and Christian missionary.-Early life:...
. A sum of Rs. 12,000 was spent yearly for the upkeep of the college from his trust. The college stood in high estimation of the public and competed successfully with the Government and Missionary Colleges in the University examinations (Suniti Kumar Chatterji
Suniti Kumar Chatterji
Suniti Kumar Chatterji was an Indian linguist, educationist and litterateur. He was born on 26 November 1890 at Shibpur in Howrah...
and Swami Prabhupada
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was a Gaudiya Vaishnava teacher and the founder-acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, commonly known as the "Hare Krishna Movement"...
were some illustrious students of this college). The college initially started functioning at Mutty Lall Seal's house and was later shifted to the present building on Chittaranjan Avenue where it still exists.
The other charities which have endeared his name to the public at large and made him illustrious are contained in a deed of trust by which he made over a considerable portion of his property amounting to several lacs of rupees for the good of the public. A net yearly income of Rs. 36,000 derived from those properties were spent for various charitable purposes. Apart from running and maintaining the college, about Rs. 4,000 was spent on poor widows and orphans every year and rest on running and maintaining two alms houses for the poor and underprivileged. He extended financial support and cooperation for the establishment of Hindu Charitable Institution and Hindu Metropolitan College. Seal's Free School, Hindu Metropolitan College and some of the other institutions of the time were calculated to offset the 'ill effects' of the liberal education offered at the Hindu College
Presidency College, Kolkata
Presidency University, Kolkata, formerly Hindu College and Presidency College, is a unitary, state aided university, located in Kolkata, West Bengal. and one of the premier institutes of learning of liberal arts and sciences in India. In 2002 it was ranked number one by the weekly news magazine...
.
Later life
In that age, the native society of Kolkata was divided into two parts. One was the reformist section led by Raja Rammohun RoyRam Mohan Roy
Raja Ram Mohan Roy was an Indian religious, social, and educational reformer who challenged traditional Hindu culture and indicated the lines of progress for Indian society under British rule. He is sometimes called the father of modern India...
and the other was the conservative section led by Radha Kanta Deb. Most of the rich people of Kolkata were in the latter group. Radha Kanta Deb strongly opposed both the move to ban sati
Sati (practice)
For other uses, see Sati .Satī was a religious funeral practice among some Indian communities in which a recently widowed woman either voluntarily or by use of force and coercion would have immolated herself on her husband’s funeral pyre...
and efforts for remarriage of widows, many of whom were child-widows. Although Mutty Lall Seal was a conservative, he was in favour of Raja Rammohun Roy
Ram Mohan Roy
Raja Ram Mohan Roy was an Indian religious, social, and educational reformer who challenged traditional Hindu culture and indicated the lines of progress for Indian society under British rule. He is sometimes called the father of modern India...
's efforts of banning sati
Sati (practice)
For other uses, see Sati .Satī was a religious funeral practice among some Indian communities in which a recently widowed woman either voluntarily or by use of force and coercion would have immolated herself on her husband’s funeral pyre...
, supported the cause of women's education as well as remarriage of widows. He made a public offer for a dowry of 1000 rupees to the person who should have the courage to break through the ancient prejudices of caste, and marry a widow. When Mutty Lal Seal died on 20 May 1854 his obituary in the Hindu Intelligence described him as the "richest and most virtuous Baboo of Calcutta". One of the busy streets in Kolkata's business district is named after him as Moti Sil Street.
External links
- Biography (in BengaliBengali languageBengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
information website AbasarAbasar - An Information Website in Bengali-Background:Established in 2002, it covers health, law, environment, women's issues, science, literature, culture, food, art and film. The site contains a concise version of the famous encyclopedia, Bharatkosh...
)