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Susobhan Sarkar

2023-08-22T16:27:53Z

2402:3A80:198D:3BE4:778:5634:1232:5476: /* Career */

{{Short description|Indian historian (1900–1982)}}
{{more citations needed|date=February 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Susobhan Chandra Sarkar
| image =
| image_size =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth-date|19 August 1900}}
| birth_place = [[Dhaka]], [[Bengal Presidency]], [[British India]]
| death_date = {{Death-date and age|26 August 1982|19 August 1900}}
| death_place = [[Calcutta]], [[West Bengal]], India
| nationality = Indian
| alma mater = [[Presidency College, Calcutta]], [[Jesus College, Oxford]]
| occupation = Historian
| spouse =
}}

'''Susobhan Chandra Sarkar''' (1900–1982) was an Indian historian.

==Background and education==
Sarkar, son of Suresh Chandra Sarkar, a deputy magistrate in Bihar and Orissa. His paternal family came from Sarisha in Diamond Harbour in 24 Parganas of Bengal. His childhood was spent in Kanthi in Midnapur and different places in Bihar. Later, he became a Brahmo.

He attended [[Dhaka Collegiate School]], studied history at [[Presidency College, Calcutta]], where he stood first in the first class and continued his higher education at [[Jesus College, Oxford]] from 1923 to 1925, where he obtained a 2:1. His daughter Sipra Sarkar was a professor of history at [[Jadavpur University]], Calcutta and [[Sumit Sarkar]] was professor of history at [[Delhi University]].

==Career==
He returned to India as a [[Lecturer]] in History at [[Calcutta University]] in 1925 before being appointed [[Reader (academic rank)|Reader]] in History at [[Dhaka University]] in 1929. He was a member of [[Visva-Bharati University|Visva-Bharati]], [[Santiniketan]] Executive Council from 1925 to 1935. In 1933, he was appointed [[Professor]] of History at Presidency College, Calcutta.<ref name="amartyasenautobiobiography">[https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/1998/sen-autobio.html Amartya Sen, ''Autobiography'' (The Nobel Foundation, 1998)]</ref>

After retirement he moved to [[Jadavpur University]] as Professor and Head of Department of History in 1956. He returned to [[Calcutta University]] for his final academic post from 1961 to 1967.

Sarkar, whose work was influenced by his [[Marxist]] and [[Gramscian]] ideas, taught the history of modern Europe, particularly the development of constitutional history in Britain and political thought in Western Europe. He also wrote from the 1930s about the [[Bengal Renaissance]]. His ''Notes on Bengal Renaissance'' sparked an interest in nationalist Indian historiography.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Susobhan Sarkar (1900–1982): A Personal Memoir|first=Barun|last=De|author-link=Barun De|journal=[[Social Scientist]]|volume=11|date=February 1983|pages=3–15|jstor=3517030|issue=2|publisher=Social Scientist}}</ref> He also wrote the manifesto of the [[Communist Party of India|CPI]].

==Legacy==
The Paschimbanga Itihas Samsad, in collaboration with [[Presidency University, Kolkata|Presidency University]], [[Kolkata]] (erstwhile Presidency College), has been organizing a lecture series in Sarkar's memory since 1994.<ref name="itihassamsad">Noted scholars, such as Ashin Das Gupta, B.N. Mukherjee, Goutam Chattopadhyay, [[Gautam Bhadra]], Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, [[Partha Chatterjee (scholar)|Partha Chatterjee]], [[Sukanta Chaudhuri]], [[D N Jha|D.N. Jha]], [[Jasodhara Bagchi]], [[Rajat Kanta Ray]], and [[Sugata Bose]], have delivered this lecture. The Itihas Samsad brought out a collection of these lectures, from 1996-2016, in a volume (edited by Ramkrishna Chatterjee) entitled Sahitya Samaj Itihas (Bengali সাহিত্য সমাজ ইতিহাস). This volume was released by Sarkar's son, [[Sumit Sarkar]], on 24 January 2018 at the venue of the 34th annual conference of the Itihas Samsad, held at the School of Women's Studies, [[Jadavpur University]]. The volume also includes a translation, in to Bengali, of the obituary written by [[Barun De]], which was published in the 'Social Scientist', as well as a report of the proceedings of the first seminar held in Sarkar's memory at Presidency College in 1994</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.81955/2015.81955.Notes-On-The-Bengal-Renaissance#page/n7/mode/2up Notes on the Bengal Renaissance] (1946) People's Publishing House, Bombay.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarkar, Susobhan}}
[[Category:1900 births]]
[[Category:1982 deaths]]
[[Category:Presidency University, Kolkata alumni]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Bengali historians]]
[[Category:Brahmos]]
[[Category:Presidency University, Kolkata faculty]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta faculty]]
[[Category:Historians of India]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian historians]]
[[Category:Indian Marxist historians]]
[[Category:Indian political writers]]
[[Category:Indian academics]]
[[Category:People associated with Santiniketan]]
[[Category:People from Dhaka]]

Susobhan Sarkar

2023-08-22T16:24:04Z

2402:3A80:198D:3BE4:778:5634:1232:5476: /* Background and education */

{{Short description|Indian historian (1900–1982)}}
{{more citations needed|date=February 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Susobhan Chandra Sarkar
| image =
| image_size =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth-date|19 August 1900}}
| birth_place = [[Dhaka]], [[Bengal Presidency]], [[British India]]
| death_date = {{Death-date and age|26 August 1982|19 August 1900}}
| death_place = [[Calcutta]], [[West Bengal]], India
| nationality = Indian
| alma mater = [[Presidency College, Calcutta]], [[Jesus College, Oxford]]
| occupation = Historian
| spouse =
}}

'''Susobhan Chandra Sarkar''' (1900–1982) was an Indian historian.

==Background and education==
Sarkar, son of Suresh Chandra Sarkar, a deputy magistrate in Bihar and Orissa. His paternal family came from Sarisha in Diamond Harbour in 24 Parganas of Bengal. His childhood was spent in Kanthi in Midnapur and different places in Bihar. Later, he became a Brahmo.

He attended [[Dhaka Collegiate School]], studied history at [[Presidency College, Calcutta]], where he stood first in the first class and continued his higher education at [[Jesus College, Oxford]] from 1923 to 1925, where he obtained a 2:1. His daughter Sipra Sarkar was a professor of history at [[Jadavpur University]], Calcutta and [[Sumit Sarkar]] was professor of history at [[Delhi University]].

==Career==
He returned to India as a [[Lecturer]] in History at [[Calcutta University]] before being appointed [[Reader (academic rank)|Reader]] in History at [[Dhaka University]] in 1927. Through the 1920s he was involved in the administration of [[Visva-Bharati University|Visva-Bharati]], [[Santiniketan]], still under the active tutelage of its founder, [[Rabindranath Tagore]]. In 1932, he was appointed [[Professor]] of History at Presidency College, Calcutta. He will be remembered as a long serving professor of the college who inspired generations of students from both science and arts streams.<ref name="amartyasenautobiobiography">[https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/1998/sen-autobio.html Amartya Sen, ''Autobiography'' (The Nobel Foundation, 1998)]</ref>

He moved to [[Jadavpur University]] as Professor in 1956. He returned to [[Calcutta University]] for his final academic post from 1961 to 1967.

Sarkar, whose work was influenced by his [[Marxist]] and [[Gramscian]] ideas, taught the history of modern Europe, particularly the development of constitutional history in Britain and political thought in Western Europe. He also wrote from the 1930s about the [[Bengal Renaissance]]. His ''Notes on Bengal Renaissance'' sparked an interest in nationalist Indian historiography.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Susobhan Sarkar (1900–1982): A Personal Memoir|first=Barun|last=De|author-link=Barun De|journal=[[Social Scientist]]|volume=11|date=February 1983|pages=3–15|jstor=3517030|issue=2|publisher=Social Scientist}}</ref> He also wrote the manifesto of the [[Communist Party of India|CPI]].

==Legacy==
The Paschimbanga Itihas Samsad, in collaboration with [[Presidency University, Kolkata|Presidency University]], [[Kolkata]] (erstwhile Presidency College), has been organizing a lecture series in Sarkar's memory since 1994.<ref name="itihassamsad">Noted scholars, such as Ashin Das Gupta, B.N. Mukherjee, Goutam Chattopadhyay, [[Gautam Bhadra]], Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, [[Partha Chatterjee (scholar)|Partha Chatterjee]], [[Sukanta Chaudhuri]], [[D N Jha|D.N. Jha]], [[Jasodhara Bagchi]], [[Rajat Kanta Ray]], and [[Sugata Bose]], have delivered this lecture. The Itihas Samsad brought out a collection of these lectures, from 1996-2016, in a volume (edited by Ramkrishna Chatterjee) entitled Sahitya Samaj Itihas (Bengali সাহিত্য সমাজ ইতিহাস). This volume was released by Sarkar's son, [[Sumit Sarkar]], on 24 January 2018 at the venue of the 34th annual conference of the Itihas Samsad, held at the School of Women's Studies, [[Jadavpur University]]. The volume also includes a translation, in to Bengali, of the obituary written by [[Barun De]], which was published in the 'Social Scientist', as well as a report of the proceedings of the first seminar held in Sarkar's memory at Presidency College in 1994</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.81955/2015.81955.Notes-On-The-Bengal-Renaissance#page/n7/mode/2up Notes on the Bengal Renaissance] (1946) People's Publishing House, Bombay.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarkar, Susobhan}}
[[Category:1900 births]]
[[Category:1982 deaths]]
[[Category:Presidency University, Kolkata alumni]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Bengali historians]]
[[Category:Brahmos]]
[[Category:Presidency University, Kolkata faculty]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta faculty]]
[[Category:Historians of India]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian historians]]
[[Category:Indian Marxist historians]]
[[Category:Indian political writers]]
[[Category:Indian academics]]
[[Category:People associated with Santiniketan]]
[[Category:People from Dhaka]]