EAP1104/7

Custodial history: The history of the Rays goes back to the mid 16th century when Ramsundar Deb decided to settle in Yasodal (in Bangladesh) as the son-in-law of a local ruler. His subsequent generations acquired the honorific title of Majumdar, which later changed to Ray which too was bestowed on them as a mark of honour. The family branched into two separate branches in the second half of the 18th century. Ramkanta Majumdar was born into the more educated of the two families. Adept in several languages and known for his musical talents, he was a man of courage and great physical strength. Kalinath Ray, Ramkanto’s grandson, was a scholar in Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian. Kamadaranjan, second of Kalinath’s five sons, was born in 1863. At the age of five, he was adopted by Harikishore, a relative who was a zamindar in Mymensingh (now in Bangladesh). Kamadaranjan was renamed as Upendrakishore and given the surname ‘Raychaudhuri’ by Harikishore. It was during the end of nineteenth century, with Upendrakishore, the family emerged in modern Bengal as a distinguished cultural entity, probably next to the formidable tribe of the Tagores. He was like that of Dawraknath Tagore, the fortune maker of the Tagore family. Both of them had genuine love for learning and literature, Brahmo Samaj background, scientific bent of mind, receptive mind to adopt new technology of the time and after all a genuine entrepreneurial spirit. Upendrakishore was not only talented but also resourceful and possessed great entrepreneurial ability. He pioneered half-tone-block-making, printing and book publishing in Bengal under the name U Ray (later U Ray and Sons) around the turn of the century. He wrote articles for the Penrose Annual journal of British printing industry, improved printing process with his own inventions, wrote books for children, illustrated, printed, published and sold them. He wrote songs still sung in the Brahmo Samaj and played the flute and the violin. His elder brother Saradaranjan pioneered the game of cricket; of the other brothers one was a professor, others writers. Kuladaranjan and Pramadaranjan Ray translated Jules Verne and Arthur Conan Doyle to the delight of children and adolescents. Upendrakishore’s son Sukumar Ray carried the legacy forward. Ray family had a passion for children’s literature, but none more than Sukumar Ray. He became the Indian counterpart of Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear. His nonsense verses are still memorised by Bengali children and delight their parents with a very high quality of imaginative verses and inventive illustration. He edited and published a children’s magazine named Sandesh (meaning both news and sweetmeat) which became enormously popular and was revived later by his son, Satyajit Ray. Sukumar Ray died in 1923, when his son, Satyajit was barely two years old. He was brought up by his mother at her brother’s house in the midst of a large extended family full of cousins, uncles and aunts. The family was very close to the Tagores. After graduating from Presidency College, Kolkata, Satyajit Ray went to Santiniketan, the university founded by Rabindranath to learn painting at Kala Bhavan under the supervision of great Bengali master painters like Nandalal Bose and Binod Bihari Mukhopadhyay. In 1942, Ray left Santiniketan and joined in a British advertising agency, D J Keymer and Co. , as a commercial artist. He did a good deal of book-jacket designing and illustration work for Signet Press, a pioneering publishing firm which set new standards in Indian book production. Among the books he illustrated was an abridged version of Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay’s Pather Panchali on which he produced his first feather film that changed his career as a film maker as well as the course of the history of Indian film. Ray was a versatile genius. He not only produced excellent films, but also wrote ceaselessly for the children and youth and illustrated them following the tradition of his father and grandfather. Satyajit’s son, Sandip Ray is carrying out the tradition set up by his family as a filmmaker and graphic artist, and keeps the family name intact even in the fourth generation. The members of Ray family are very much particular in keeping the family records. They have a huge collection of family photographs, drawings and letters. They have kept a handwritten family history entitled Ray Poribar (Ray Family) written in 1915.

Arrangement: Arranged by the custodian.

This collection contains the following 8 files:

• EAP1104/7/1: Family Album (vol. 1) [Late 19th century-Early 20th century]
• EAP1104/7/2: Family Album (vol. 2) [Early 20th century]
• EAP1104/7/3: Family Album (vol. 3) [Late 19th century-Early 20th century]
• EAP1104/7/4: Family Album (vol. 4) [Late 19th century-Early 20th century]
• EAP1104/7/5: Letters [Early 20th century]
• EAP1104/7/6: আমাদের বংশের পরিচয় [15 Oct 1915]
• EAP1104/7/7: Painting [Late 19th century-Early 20th century]
• EAP1104/7/8: Photographs [Late 19th century-Early 20th century].

The physical collection in India also contains the following book (which has not been digitised for this project:

• Eight Portraits, Feb 1937.