First IAS ( Civil Service Servent) Of India

Satyendranath Thakur (Tagore)     First Indian Civil Servant to clear the Civil Services Examination.

Satyendranath Thakur (June 1, 1842 – January 9, 1923) was a Bengali Brahmin writer, composer and linguist. He was the first Indian to succeed in the Indian Civil Service. Satyendranath played an important role in the women’s liberation movement in British India. By contact, he was the elder brother of the Nobel Prize winning Brahmin writer Rabindranath Tagore.

Satyendranath was the grandson of Prince Dwarkanath Thakur of the famous Jorasanko Thakurbari Brahmin family of Bengal and the second son of Devendranath Thakur. He learned Sanskrit and English in his home school. As a student of the Hindu School, Satyendranath appeared in the first entrance examination conducted by the University of Calcutta in 1857 and was admitted to the Presidency College (now Presidency University) with a first-class position.

At that time it was very difficult to go to England and compete with the British to get a high government position. Friend Manmohan Ghosh provided encouragement and financial assistance to Satyendranath in this regard. In 1862, both left for England to prepare for the Civil Services Examination.

Satyendranath was elected to the Indian Civil Service in June 1863. After completing his undergraduate training, he returned to India in November 1864. Satyendranath assumed office in the Bombay Presidency. The Bombay Presidency at that time included parts of present-day Maharashtra, Gujarat and Sindh. Although initially in the city of Bombay (now Mumbai) for four months, his first effective assignment was in Ahmedabad.

He translated Bal Gangadhar Tilak’s “Gitarahasya” and Tukaram’s “Abhanga Kavitavali” into Bengali. His younger brother Rabindranath also translated some of Tukaram’s poems into Bengali. He was instrumental in the spread of Brahmo Samaj in the cities of Ahmedabad and Hyderabad (Sindh Province).

Satyendranath was associated with the Hindu fair which was started with the aim of inculcating the feeling of patriotism among the people. He was in West India during the first session of the Hindu Fair on 18 April. But he was present in the 18th session and on the occasion of the fair he composed the song ‘Bharatsantan, Ektan Gah Gaan’. This song is considered to be the first national anthem of India. After this, Satyendranath Thakur wrote many patriotic songs.