Motilal Seal
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Motilal Seal (also spelt Mutty Lal Seal or Motilal Sil or Moti Sil) (Bengali:মতিলাল শীল) (1792 - 20 May 1854) was a Bengali Indian businessman and philanthropist. He was born in the Colootola neighborhood of Calcutta (now Kolkata) in British India. He had a working knowledge of English and Mathematics. His first business involved supply of essential commodities to Fort William. He was an inspector of Indian Customs at Balikhal. Later he started exporting commodities and amassed as many as 13 trade ships. Motilal Seal and Ramdulal Sarkar, another renowned shipping magnate, have become part of Bengali folklore as great merchant princes.[1]
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[edit] Early life
Motilal Seal lost his father, Chaitanya Charan Seal, a cloth merchant, when he was five years old. The death of his father virtually put an end to his efforts at education. However his life took a turn, when at the age of seventeen he was married to the daughter of Mohan Chand Dey of Surtir Bagan neighbourhood in Kolkata. Motilal accompanied his father-in-law on a pilgrimage tour to northern and western parts of India, and the experience greatly enlightened him. On return he started working in Fort William, then the bastion of British power.
[edit] Achievements
[edit] Business activities
He started his business career humbly by selling bottles and corks. During the period 1820–32 he worked as a middleman for various European commercial establishments. That led him on to export-import business. He was the first person in the country to use steamships for internal trade, and he prospered in competition with Europeans. In the course of time he amassed as much wealth as Rustomjee Cowasjee and Dwarkanath Tagore. At one point of time he was in complete control of the paper trade in Kolkata. About him, Sivanath Sastri writes,
"He never adopted unfair means for earning money. He was well-behaved, polite and helpful to others."
[edit] Philanthropy
As a philanthropist, Motilal Seal founded a guest house at Belgharia (in the suburbs of Calcutta) and a bathing ghat on the bank of the Hooghly River known as Motilal Ghat. Perhaps he is best remembered as the donor of the land on which the Calcutta Medical College was built. In 1843 he established Seal's Free College and appointed Jews as teachers to further the cause of secular education. He extended financial support and cooperation for the establishment of Hindu Charitable Institution and Hindu Metropolitan College. Seal's Free College, 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.
[edit] Later life
In that age, the native society of Kolkata was divided into two parts. One was the reformist section led by Raja Rammohun Roy 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 Raja Rammohun Roy's move to ban sati and Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar's efforts for remarriage of widows, many of whom were child-widows. Although Motilal Seal belonged to the latter group, he supported the move for remarriage of widows.
Motilal Seal died on 20 May 1854. One of the busy streets in Kolkata's business district is named after him.
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- Chaudhuri, Sukanta (Ed) (1995), Calcutta: The Living City, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0195636988
- Sastri, Sivanath, Ramtanu Lahiri O Tatkalin Banga Samaj in Bengali (1903/2001), p 48, New Age Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
- Sengupta, Subodh Chandra and Bose, Anjali (Ed), Sansad Bangali Charitabhidhan (Biographical dictionary) in Bengali (1976/1998), p 391, Sahitya Sansad. ISBN 81-85626-65-0
[edit] External links
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Motilal Sheel |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Mati Lal Seal |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Businessman |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1792 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Kalutola, Kolkata |
| DATE OF DEATH | 29 May 1858 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Kolkata |
