Raja Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee passed away on this day. He was the talukdar of Shankarpur in the United Provinces, a social reformer and editor.
He came under the influence of Henry Louis Vivian Derozio and became a member of the Young Bengal group. He was a friend of David Hare and helped him in his social projects. Bethune School was built on land donated by him. He also supported the school in other ways.
He edited several journals from a young age and gave shelter to Krishna Mohan Banerjee, who had caused outrage in Bengali society by converting to Christianity. Mukherjee worked for Kolkata municipality, the nawab of Murshidabad and the raja of Burdwan. Bengali society was extremely critical of him, too, when he married a widow from the Burdwan royal family. He moved to Lucknow and supported the British during the 1857 Uprising. The British gave him the Shankarpur taluq and the title raja.
