Editing Sri Aurobindo (section)

=== Early Life and Family Background ===
Aurobindo Ghose was born in [[Calcutta]] (now Kolkata), [[Bengal Presidency]], [[India]] on 15 August 1872 in a [[Bengali Kayastha]] family that was associated with the town of [[Konnagar]] in the [[Hooghly district]] of present-day [[West Bengal]].<ref name = "Bandyopadhyay6">Bandyopadhyay, Amritalal, ''Rishi Aurobindo'', 1964, Biswas Publishing House, p. 6.</ref> His father, Krishna Dhun Ghose, was an assistant surgeon in [[Rangpur, Bangladesh|Rangpur]] and later a civil surgeon in [[Khulna]]. A former member of the [[Brahmo Samaj]], he became fascinated with the new [[theory of evolution]] while studying medicine in [[Edinburgh]].<ref>{{cite conference |last=Aall |first=Ingrid |year=1971 |editor1=Robert Paul Beech |editor2=Mary Jane Beech |book-title=Bengal: change and continuity, Issues 16–20 |publisher=Asian Studies Center, Michigan State University |location=East Lansing |page=32 |oclc=258335 |quote=Aurobindo's father, Dr. Krishnadhan Ghose, came from a Kayastha family associated with the village of Konnagar in Hooghly District near Calcutta, Dr. Ghose had his medical training in Edinburgh...}}</ref>{{efn|Aurobindo described his father as a "tremendous atheist" but Thakur calls him an agnostic and Heehs believes that he followed his own coda.{{sfnp|Heehs|2008|pp=3–7, 10|ps=}}{{sfnp|Thakur|2004|p=3|ps=}}}} His mother Swarnalata Devi's father, [[Rajnarayan Bose]], was a leading figure in the Brahmo Samaj. Swarnalata Devi was sent to Calcutta for Aurobindo's birth for its healthier environment. Aurobindo had two elder siblings, Benoybhusan and [[Manmohan Ghose|Manmohan]], a younger sister, Sarojini, and a younger brother, [[Barindra Kumar Ghose|Barindra Kumar]] (also referred to as Barin).{{sfnp|Heehs|2008|pp=3–7, 10|ps=}}{{sfnp|Thakur|2004|p=3|ps=}}

Aurobindo spoke English but used [[Hindustani language|Hindustani]] to communicate with servants. Although his family was [[Bengali people|Bengali]], his father believed [[Culture of the United Kingdom|British culture]] to be superior. He and his two elder siblings were sent to the English-speaking [[Loreto Convent, Darjeeling|Loreto House]] boarding school in [[Darjeeling]], in part to improve their language skills and in part to distance them from their mother, who had developed a [[mental illness]] soon after the birth of her first child. Darjeeling was a centre of [[Anglo-Indians]] in India, and the school was run by Irish [[nun]]s, through which the boys would have been exposed to [[Christianity|Christian]] religious teachings and [[Christian symbolism|symbolism]].{{sfnp|Heehs|2008|pp=8–9|ps=}}