Raja ''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested f ...

'' Rajendra Mullick ( bn, রাজেন্দ্র মল্লিক) (24 June 1819 – 1887) was an Indian art lover and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

. He was the scion of Mullick family of Chorbagan and built the Marble Palace of Kolkata.

Early life

The Mullick family of Chorbagan was founded by Ramakrishna Mullick, who made his fortune in business. Rajendra was adopted by Nilmani Mullick, a descendant of Ramakrishna Mullick, when he was a child. At the age of three, Nilmani died, leaving behind Rajendra to inherit all his wealth. In his childhood, Rajendra received lessons in English,

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

and

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

Career

In 1835, at the age of 16, Rajendra began the construction of the

Marble Palace Marble Palace (Мраморный дворец) is one of the first Neoclassical palaces in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is situated between the Field of Mars and Palace Quay, slightly to the east from New Michael Palace. Design and pre-1917 ...

. It was completed in 1840. In 1866, he opened a relief centre in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

to serve the famine-stricken people of

Orissa Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of Sch ...

who had taken shelter in the city. He was decorated with

Rai Bahadur RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (Italy), Ministry of Eco ...

in 1867 and Raja Bahadur in 1878 for this benevolence. When the

Zoological Gardens A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zool ...

was set up in 1876, he donated many birds and animals from his personal collection. They were kept in a house named the Mullick House inside the zoo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mullick, Rajendra 1819 births 1887 deaths Indian philanthropists Indian art collectors People from Kolkata Bengali Hindus 19th-century Bengalis Social workers from West Bengal