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-gener ...

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 Cossimbazar 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 backwards village area of Berhampore city in the Berhampore CD block in the Berhampore subdivision of Murshidabad district in the Indian state of West Bengal."Cossimbazar" in ''Imperial Gazetteer of India'', Oxford, Clarendon ...

Early life

Nandi was born around 1700 in a wealthy Tili family of

Burdwan District Bardhaman (, ), or sometimes Burdwan and Barddhaman, is a former district in the Indian state of West Bengal, headquartered in Bardhaman. On 7 April 2017, the district was bifurcated into two separate districts namely Purba Bardhaman and Pas ...

. He received a formal education and was an expert and astute businessman.

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 Mir Syed Jafar Ali Khan Mirza Muhammad Siraj-ud-Daulah (1733 – 2 July 1757), commonly known as Siraj-ud-Daulah or Siraj ud-Daula, was the last independent Nawab of the Bengal Subah. The end of his reign marked the start of the rule of th ...

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 The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

, such as Akrur Dutta, Pritoram Marh, 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 Sovabazar Raj family, was a maharaja and close confidant and friend of Robert Clive Robert C ...

, made a significant fortune working for the company. While Gokul Ghoshal went after properties in sparsely populated areas Nandi preferred densely populated areas such as

Murshidabad Murshidabad (), is a town in the Indian States and territories of India, state of West Bengal. This town is the headquarters of Lalbag subdivision of Murshidabad district. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hooghly river, Bhagirathi Riv ...

. 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 landlords of Bengal to fix revenues to be raised from land that had far-reaching consequences for both agricultural m ...

in Bengal. He had acquired properties across northern and western Bengal. Hastings seized the estate of

Rani Bhabani Rani Bhabani () (c. 1716–1803), also known as ''Ardhabangeshwari''(অর্ধবঙ্গেশ্বরী) and ''Natorer Rani'' or the Queen of Natore, was a Hindu zamindar during the British colonial era in what is now Rajshahi Division, ...

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 Rafa'at wa Awal-i-Martabat Maharaja Shri Chet Singh Sahib Bahadur (died 29 March 1810), commonly known as Raja Chet Singh, a Bhumihar king from the Narayan dynasty, was the 3rd ruler of Kingdom of Benaras in northern India. Chet Singh succeede ...

in which Nandi accompanied him.

Maharaja Nandakumar Maharaja Nandakumar (also known as Nuncomar; 1705 – died 5 August 1775) was an Indian District magistrate#History, tax collector for various regions in what is modern-day West Bengal. Nanda Kumar was born at Lohapur#Bhadrapur, Bhadrapur, which is ...

had bought allegations of corruption against Hastings and Nandi.

Death

Nandi died in 1794/1804 (dates differ) and was succeeded by his son, Loknath Nandi who later received the title of Maharaja from the

Nawab of Murshidabad Nawab Bahadur of Murshidabad (), or simply Nawab of Murshidabad, was a hereditary title of Bengal akin to a Western peerage. They were direct descendants of the former nawabs of Bengal, who were the de facto rulers of Bengal Subah, Bengal, and ...

. 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 People from the Bengal Subah Year of birth unknown 1700s births People from Murshidabad district

Early life

Career

Death

See also

References