Gouri Sen: The person who has given birth to the popular saying

“লাগে টাকা, দেবে গৌরি সেন”

(If anyone is in need of money, Gouri Sen will give it)

You might have heard this popular Bengali saying and asked yourself the question- “Who is that Gouri Sen and why do people tell his name when it comes to repaying their debt or loan?” Some people might even question about the existence of this person. In this article, I will try to clear all your doubts about this legendary personality and show how this phrase has been created.

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However, Gouri Sen is neither a fictional character nor a female figure. He was a successful businessman and one of the biggest money lenders in the 17^th century. He was also a kindhearted person and because of his kindness, he is regarded as one of the best legendary personalities in West Bengal.

Gouri Sen was born in 1580 and died in 1667. There is confusion regarding his ancestral home. There are two different opinions about his birthplace. According to the most accepted opinion, he was born at Bally town of Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal (At present it falls under Howrah district). According to the second opinion, he was born at Baharampur town in Murshidabad district. He was the son of Nandaram Sen, a businessman. His family belonged to Subarna Banik caste. People of that caste were engaged in business. He earned a lot of money from the family import-export business and became famous in the merchant community in West Bengal at that time. He was a benevolent person. He used to give money to people who were in need of it to repay their debts. Because of his generosity, this popular saying took birth.

He died many years ago, but people still remember him for his good works. He had an enormous amount of money. For this reason, he could donate freely to solve the financial problem of the needy people. We can learn from him. We can contribute to the construction of our society and country with whatever we have. It does not mean that we have to spend money. We can even give our labor to make our society and country worth living.