Satyajit ray lineage is from Nadia district of West Bengal :-Satyajit Ray's ancestry can be traced back for at least ten generations.[3] His family had acquired the name 'Ray' (originally 'Rai') from the Mughals. Although they were Bengali Kayasthas, the Rays were 'Vaishnavas' (worshippers of Vishnu), as opposed to the majority of Bengali Kayasthas who were 'Shaktos' (worshippers of the Shakti or Shiva).[4]
According to the history of the Ray family, one of their ancestors, Shri Ramsunder Deo (Deb), was a native of Chakdah village in Nadia district of present-day West Bengal, India. In search of fortune he migrated to Sherpur in East Bengal. There he met Raja Gunichandra, the zamindar of Jashodal, at the zamindar house of Sherpur. King Gunichandra was immediately impressed by Ramsunder's beautiful appearance and sharp intellect and took Ramsunder with him to his zamindari estate. He made Ramsunder his son-in-law and granted him some property at Jashodal in Kishorganj District. From then on Ramsunder started living in Jashodal. His descendants migrated from there and settled down in the village of Masua in Katiadi upazila of Kishoreganj district.[5]
Satyajit Ray's grandfather, Upendrakishore Ray, was a writer, illustrator, philosopher, publisher, amateur astronomer, and a leader of the Brahmo Samaj, a religious and social movement in 19th-century Bengal. He also set up a printing press by the name of U. Ray and Sons, which formed a crucial backdrop to Satyajit's life.[6]
Sukumar Ray, Upendrakishore's son and father of Satyajit, was an illustrator, critic, and a pioneering Bengali writer of nonsense rhyme (Abol Tabol) and children's literature.[6] Social worker and children's book author Shukhalata Rao was his aunt.[7]
Early life and education
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Satyajit Ray was born to Sukumar and Suprabha Ray (nee Das Gupta) in Calcutta (now Kolkata). Sukumar died when Satyajit was barely three, and the family survived on Suprabha's meagre income.[8] Ray studied at Ballygunge Government High School in Calcutta, and completed his BA in economics at Presidency College, Calcutta (then affiliated with the University of Calcutta), though his interest was always in the fine arts.[8]
In 1940, his mother insisted that he study at Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan, founded by Rabindranath Tagore. Ray was reluctant to go, due to his fondness for Calcutta and the low regard for the intellectual life at Santiniketan.[9] His mother's persuasiveness and his respect for Tagore finally convinced him to try.
In Santiniketan, Ray came to appreciate Oriental art. He later admitted that he learned much from the famous painters Nandalal Bose and Benode Behari Mukherjee.[10] He later produced a documentary, The Inner Eye, about Mukherjee. His visits to Ajanta, Ellora and Elephanta stimulated his admiration for Indian art.[11]