Ratan Tata belonged to Parsi community; here’s how he got Tata surname. Know its meaning

Mumbai: India’s financial capital on Thursday bid an emotional farewell to Ratan Tata, one of her most illustrious sons who defined both her enterprise and humility as thousands, from ordinary citizens to luminaries, paid tributes to him before his last journey. The final rites of the industry titan-philanthropist were performed with full state honours at a crematorium in Worli in the evening after Mumbai police personnel accorded him a gun salute, a day after he died at a city hospital, marking end of an era.

Ratan Tata Family Life

Born to Naval and Soonoo Tata into the Parsi Zoroastrian family on December 28, 1937, Ratan Tata and his younger brother, Jimmy, were brought up by their grandmother, Navajbai R Tata, in a baroque manor called Tata Palace in downtown Mumbai. Ratan Tata was the Chairman of Ratan Tata Trust and Dorabji Tata Trust, two of the largest private-sector-promoted philanthropic trusts in India.

Ratan Tata belonged to Parsi community; here’s how he got Tata surname. Know its meaning

Ratan Tata comes from the Parsi community, but interestingly, “Tata” is not a traditional surname within that community. To understand more about how Ratan Tata acquired the surname, read this full article…

Ratan Tata’s family lineage can be traced back to Nusservanji Tata, who is known as the founding figure of the Tata dynasty. Nusservanji was a Parsi priest, referred to as a ‘dastur,’ or ‘dastoor’ a term that denotes religious leaders within the Parsi community, similar to the role of ‘Brahmin’ in Hinduism. His contributions laid the groundwork for the Tata family’s future influence and legacy in India, particularly in industry and philanthropy.

Keresi Kaikhushroo Deboo, Vice Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities, shared some valuable details on the podcast ‘Samvad’ hosted by Moneycontrol. Deboo stated that the ancestors of Jamsetji Tata came from the Dastur family, a priestly class among the Parsis. In a conversation with Brijesh Kumar Singh, Group Editor of Network18, Deboo later mentioned that Jamsetji Tata, the son of Nusservanji Tata, aspired to establish a more significant business than his father had. To pursue this ambition, he moved to Mumbai, where his father provided him with approximately Rs 21,000 to start his venture.

Keresi Kaikhushroo Deboo explained that Jamsetji Tata’s father had a very fiery temperament. In Gujarati, individuals with such high tempers are referred to as “Tata.” This led people to start calling him Tata, and eventually, the name became the family’s surname. Today, the world knows the family by the surname Tata rather than their original name, Dastur.