Prabhabati Bose (Dutt)


Prabhabati Bose was the mother of Sarat Chandra Bose and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. She was born in 1869 into a respected Kayastha Bharadwaja clan Dutta family of Hatkhola, in Calcutta North. Her parents were Ganganarayan Dutta and Kamala Kamini Dutta of Kashinath Dutta Road, Baranagore, India. She was her parents eldest daughter.
According to the prevailing customs of the time, the Dutts practised family exogamy, caste endogamy and intra caste hypergamy. In 1880, at the age of 11, she was married off to Janakinath Bose who hailed from a Kulin Bose family from the village Kodalia.

Marriage and children

Prabhabati and Janakinath Bose had fourteen children together. She was very involved in their education and many members of the extended Bose family made significant contributions to Indian society. Not only was Prabhabati the matriarch of Bose family, but following her parents' deaths she and her husband took care of her younger siblings.
She gave birth to fourteen children, six daughters and eight sons, among whom were nationalist leader Sarat Chandra Bose, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and distinguished cardiologist Dr. Sunil Chandra Bose.

Political activism

In 1928, Prabhabati was selected president of the Mahila Rashtriya Sangha.