Retired Life
Ramtanu Lahiri returned to Krishnanagar College before retirement. Alfred Smith, principal of Krisnanagar College, wrote on his application for pension, “In parting with Baboo Ram Tanoo Lahiri I may be allowed to say that Government will lose the services of an educational officer, than whom no officer has discharged his public duties with greater fidelity, zeal and devotion, or has laboured more assiduously and successfully for the moral elevation of his pupils.” On retirement, Ramtanu Lahiri settled down in Krishnanagar but it could not be for long. He lived in Gobardanga for some time as guardian of the zemindar’s sons. When Keshub Chunder Sen established the Bharat Ashram in 1872, he moved in along with his family. He presided over the first day meeting of the All-India National Conference in Kolkata in 1883.
With several deaths in the family, Ramtanu Lahiri was somewhat heart broken. When he died, people of Kolkata gathered in large numbers to bid farewell to a saintly man.
A few lines from Max Müller will summarise his achievements:
- “The Brahminical thread which was retained by the members of the Brahma Samaj as late as 1861, was openly discarded by him as early as 1851. And we must remember that in those days such open apostasy was almost a question of life and death, and that Rammohun Roy was in danger of assassination in the very streets of Calcutta. It is true that European officials respected and supported Ramtonoo, but among his own countrymen he was despised and shunned. However, he continued his career, undisturbed by friend and foe… Later in life he was attracted to the new Brahmo Samaj and became a close friend of Keshub Chunder Sen… While cultivating his little garden he was found lost in devotion at the sight of full-blown rose and while singing a hymn in adoration of God, his whole countenance seemed to beam with heavenly light… When his end approached, his old friend Debendranath Tagore went to take leave of him, and when he left, he cried, ‘Now that the gates of heaven are open to you, and the Gods are waiting with their outstretched arms to receive you to the glorious region.’”
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