The second son of Debendranath Tagore , elder brother of Rabindranath Tagore and grandson of Dwarkanath Tagore of the Jorasanko branch of the Tagore family of Calcutta (now Kolkata), he learnt Sanskrit and English at home.
As was the custom of the day, he was married early in life to Jnanadanandini Devi in 1859.