Bengal (or Bangladesh) is the only place in the Indian subcontinent where the House (clan) of the Basu’s can be found. There are numerous explanations by pundits regarding the foundation or the origin of this house. Without going into details it can be inferred that Sri Dasharath Basu is the first or the seed of the Basu House. This claim can be backed by most if not all of the literatures and records regarding this House, but there is confusion regarding the ancestry of Sri Dasharath Basu and several disagreements can be seen in the literatures/records of the House.

While looking back at the history of the Basu’s, reference from a book called ‘Bongo r Jattiyo Itihas’ is presented. This book was written by the famous encyclopedia creator Pundit Nagendranath Basu. The reference that was checked was taken mainly from Rajan’ya Kando (or the Kingdom episode) Page 316 where Acharya Churamoni’s work was quoted. There was another reference that was taken up from Kayastha Kando (or the Kayastha episode) page 66. The following quote is presented there: “Anantanondo, his son Bijoyi, his son Maharnab, his son Gunakor, his son Joydhon, his son Goutom, his son Birnath / Ravan, his son Dasharath”…..

Looking at the Genealogies above we can see that in the first table Lakhan (Laxman) and Pushan were Dasharath’s grandson and Hongsho was Dasharath’s great-grandson. While in the second table we see that all three are great grandsons of Dasharath. However, there is no acceptance of this theory.

The general consensus is that the Basu House started with Sri Dasharath Basu and then it extended over to different parts of Bengal. The descendants of Sri Dasharath Basu settled and lived in different areas in Bengal (Bangladesh). This information can be found in both the Bongoj and Dakhsin (South) Rarh Genealogies.

Kulin chapter (Noble Chapter) states that Lakhan and Pushan were grandsons of Sri Dasharath Basu and Hongsho was his great grandson. However, it is very difficult to draw conclusions based on the presented facts as to which of the two genealogies is more accurate. Generally it is accepted that Param and Krishna were the two sons of Dasharath. Different sources state that Krishna was older and Param younger. Dasharath hailed from an area called Gaur where the family tradition during the time of Dasharath dictates that the older son gets to enjoy the ancestral home, so Sri Dasharath’s older son Krishna and his family settled down in their ancestral home which is the Rarh region. Param and his descendants moved on to the other parts of Bengal. Baganda and Mahinagar in the Rarh region are considered as the homeland of the Basu’s. Mahinagar once hosted Rarh Kayastha conference (Ekjai) thrice which turned Mahinagar into a pilgrimage for the Basu house. A lot of other South Rarh noble families came and settled down in the villages around Mahinagar because they were attracted by the presence of the Basu house. They even organized conferences there consecutively for 4 times and that is the reason why that village is called Kulingram or the village of the nobles. The name survives even today as one of the villages around Mahinagar is still called Kulingram. This village is still a pilgrimage for the Vaishnavas and it is near the Burdwan district in West Bengal. This village is the birthplace of Sri Maladhar Basu who was the creator of ‘Srikrishnabijoy’.

A general idea among the general population is that Kulingram was the ancient hometown of Bengal’s (Bangladesh) Ghosh, Basu, Guha, Mitra and Dutta. However, that is not right. Though the village was the hometown of a few noble families from South Rarh, the village was never the ancient hometown of these people. The village was never in any way related to the Bongoj Nobles. These families achieved their title of nobility from Ballal Sena long before the village was originated. This episode can be found discussed in the ‘noble chapter’ in greater details.

It was said that a Basu family from this village migrated to Singharagi village which was situated in Maimansingha district’s Tangail block. Still this family is known as Singharagi Basu. It can be said that Bongoj society Basu’s or any one from that family did not settle in the Rarh region during the 19th century or before that. However we can see that in Howrah district there is a Basu family who came to be known as ‘Bangali babu’.

Rarh Basu’s came to live in different places of Howrah – Kolkata like Katapukur, Chorbagan, Chunapukur, Jorabagan, Tikiapara etc. These families go back as far as the 18th century. People also came to know about Potoldanga’s Basu and Mullick from 18th century Sri Rajendra Basu (Mullick). However, no records exist for the entire Basu family.

Sri Param Basu was one of the sons of Sri Dasharath. Lakhan and Pushan were the sons of Sri Param. It can be said that it was Param who started the Bongoj Basu House (Lineage/Clan). Sri Thak Basu was the 10th generation from Sri Dasharath and his sons were Kandarpa and Chakrapani. The descendants of Sri Kandarpa Basu were the kings of Madhabpasa in Barisal district. Later their descendants came in to settle down at Dehergati, Charadi, Katadiya and Roibhadradi villages. The Basu’s from Idilpur, Taki, and Jamalpur were the descendants from the house of Basu’s from Itna. The sons of Sri Chakrapani Basu were Gobindo, Judhisthir and Surya. The descendants of Sri Gobindo Basu settled in the villages of Pratap, Karapur and Akhorpara in Barisal District. The descendants of Sri Judhisthir Basu settled down in Chandsi, Laxmankati, Hatishunda and Kumirmara in Barisal District and Jalalpur Village in 24 Parganas. The descendants of Sri Surya Basu first settled in Barisal district in a village called Jagaddal and later moved on to settle in Bamrayl and Morakati villages and later moved on to settle down in Idilpur-Dhipur, some of them moved on and settled in Bikrampur Varakar villages in the same district. At present even if they don’t have any connections with these places, they are still known because of these places.

Sri Bonomali Basu is the sixth generation (stage) of the Basu Genealogy and his great grandson was Sri Mukti Basu. Sri Mukti Basu’s son Sri Gava Basu and his descendants settled in Howli Karapara and Gholghole (Khulna) and in Idilpur (Faridpur). Descendants of Sri Pritthidhar Basu settled in Taki, Saidpur, Sripurtown and Idilpur.

In the 10th generation Sri Gobindo Basu had two sons, Botsho and Pritthidhar. Biswambhar was the son of Sri Pritthidhar Basu. Sri Biswambhar Basu had two sons Gangadas and Narasingha. The descendants of Sri Gangadas Basu settled in Annuakati village and descendants of Sri Narasingha Basu settled in Khanaibadi, Datribadi, Kuchoipotti, Bejnisar villages. Since those days till now a lot has changed and many Basu family members have lost contact with the country and their roots but still the newest genealogy is published in order to protect their family history. In 1983 under the supervision of Sri Abhijit Basu a latest genealogy of the Basu house was published.

In the 11th generation Sri Botsho Basu had three sons- Raghav, Bhaskar and Durgabor. The descendants of Sri Raghav Basu settled in Paruldiya of Dhaka District, Sodepur, Puro, Bokultola, Belgharia, Manirampur, Taki of 24 Parganas district and Sripur of Khulna District. Son of Sri Durgabor Basu, Priyankar left the society (Chandradeep) and later his descendants settled down in Jhuljuri village of Jessore district.

Sri Bhaskar Basu was the second son of Sri Botsho Basu. Bhagirath was Sri Bhaskar Basu’s son. Sri Bhagirath Basu was a part of Chandradeep’s royal court. At that time Bongoj society had 2 main courts. One was Chandradeep and the other one was Jessore. The Chandradeep court was older and the first one. A few areas of present Bakhargunj District was under the royal court of Chandradeep. During the time of Murshidkuli Khan there lived an influential and wealthy Zamindar by the name of Agabakhar. Bakhargunj was named after this Zamindar in 1701.

The founder of Chandradeep state and society was Maharaja Danujmardan Deb. He ruled during the second decade of the 15th century. His capital was Kachua which is at present under the Bakhargunj (Barisal) District’s Boufol Police station. During the mid-16th century Sri Paramananda Basu was the king of the Chandradeep state. At that time there was a conflict between king and the Bongoj nobles regarding their nobility and so a lot of Bongoj nobles left the society and settled elsewhere in Bengal. Sri Bhagirath Basu also left at that time and settled down in Fayargati village for a few days which is situated at the present Bakhargunj District.