Marriage and Family
Dutt had refused to enter into an arranged marriage which his father had decided for him. He had no respect for that tradition and wanted to break free from the confines of caste-based endogamous marriage. At this time, he converted to Christianity. His knowledge of the European tradition convinced him of the superiority of marriages made by mutual consent (or love marriages).
Dutt married twice. While living in Madras, he married Rebecca Mactavys, of English descent. They had four children together. He wrote to Gour in December 1855:
| “ | Yes, dearest Gour, I have a fine English Wife and four children. | ” |
Dutt returned from Madras to Calcutta in February 1856, after his father's death. There he married Henrietta Sophia White, who was also ethnic English. His second marriage lasted until the end of his life. They had a son Napoleon and daughter Sharmistha.
The tennis player Leander Paes is a direct descendant of his.
Read more about this topic: Michael Madhusudan Dutt
Famous quotes containing the words marriage and/or family:
“If a marriage is going to work well, it must be on a solid footing, namely money, and of that commodity it is the girl with the smallest dowry who, to my knowledge, consumes the most, to infuriate her husband. All the same, it is only fair that the marriage should pay for past pleasures, since it will scarcely procure any in the future.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“It seems to me that upbringings have themes. The parents set the theme, either explicitly or implicitly, and the children pick it up, sometimes accurately and sometimes not so accurately.... The theme may be “Our family has a distinguished heritage that you must live up to” or “No matter what happens, we are fortunate to be together in this lovely corner of the earth” or “We have worked hard so that you can have the opportunities we didn’t have.””
—Calvin Trillin (20th century)