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Brajendranath De

2023-08-27T02:38:45Z

2402:3A80:198D:5036:778:5634:1232:5476: /* Early life and education */

{{more citations needed|date=September 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Brajendranath Dey
| image = 
| alt = 
| caption =
| birth_name = 
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1852|12|23}}
| birth_place = [[Calcutta]] (now [[Kolkata]]), [[West Bengal]], [[India]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1932|09|20|1852|12|23}}
| death_place = [[Calcutta]] (now [[Kolkata]]), [[West Bengal]], [[India]]
| nationality =
| other_names =
| occupation = Orientalist
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse = Nagendranandini Dey (নগেন্দ্রনন্দিনী দে) (nee Bose) (বসু)
| children = 12
}}

'''Brajendranath Dey''' ({{lang-bn|'''ব্রজেন্দ্রনাথ দে (দেব সরকার)'''}}) (23 December 1852 – 20 September 1932) ({{lang-bn|৮ পৌষ ১২৫৯ - ৫ আশ্বিন ১৩৩৯}}) was an early Indian member of the [[Indian Civil Service (British India)|Indian Civil Service]].<ref name="indiasagawhoswho">[http://indiansaga.com/whoswho/brajendra.html Indiasaga Who's Who]</ref>

==Early life and education==
Dey, who was born in a Bengali (বাঙালি) Hindu (হিন্দু) Uttar Rarhi Kayastha (উত্তর রার্হি কায়স্থ)-Brahmo (ব্রাহ্ম) family, was the son of Durgadas Dey (দুর্গাদাস দে (দেব সরকার)), a Junior Scholar of Hindu College (later Presidency College) Calcutta (1847-1849) and a registrar in Lucknow, and Trailokyamohini Debi (ত্রৈলোক্যমোহিনী দেবী) (nee Basu). His paternal family, which was settled in Bhowanipur in Calcutta from the 18th century, were originally members of the Vaishnavite sect but, influenced by the Bengal Renaissance, joined the Brahmo movement from the middle of the 19th century. His maternal family, popularly called the ''garhkata Basu paribar'' of Anarpur in Barasat, was settled in Maniktala in Calcutta, where he was born. He was born in his maternal grandparents' home at 123, Maniktala Street, Calcutta.<ref name='reminiscences'>Maniktala, a neighbourhood in North Calcutta is named after either Raja Manikram Bose or Manik Pir, both of whom lived there in the 18th and the 19th centuries. Since Manikram or Manikchand Bose, the caretaker of Alinagar (i.e. Calcutta) during Alivardi Khan's reign and an agent of the Nawabs of Oudh, lived in the 18th century and Manik Pir lived in the early 19th century, and a map of Calcutta of 1784 shows the existence of Maniktala then, it is surmised that the locality is, indeed, named after Manikam Bose. Manikram Bose was an ancestor of Brajendranath's maternal grandfather, Rajendralal Basu, a managing clerk of a Scottish solicitor's firm in Calcutta and a lawyer, who fought a case for the Nawab of Farukkhabad in the aftermath of India's first war of independence in 1857. For details see Brajendranath De, "Reminiscences of an Indian Member of the Indian Civil Service", Calcutta, 1925-29.</ref>

Dey studied at [[Hare School]], [[Calcutta]], and then Canning Collegiate School and [[Lucknow University|Canning College, Lucknow]]. Always ranking at the top of his class in school, he was placed in the first division in all his final examinations. He came first from his school in the Entrance examination of Calcutta University and fourth in the first division in the First Arts (F.A.) examination of [[Calcutta University]]. A student of English (Honours), he ranked sixth in the first division in his Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) examination. Since he was a first divisioner, he was allowed to take the Master of Arts (M.A.) examination of the Calcutta University soon after the completion of his B.A. (Honours) examination. He was ranked second in the M.A. examination and was awarded the silver medal of Calcutta University.<ref name="Full Text of 'Tabaqat-i-Akbari'">[https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.116007/2015.116007.The-Tabaqat-i-akbari-Of-Khwajah-Nizamuddin-Ahmad-Voliii_djvu.txt Full Text of 'Tabaqat-i-Akbari']</ref>

Later, he travelled to England for his higher studies, on the advice of his maternal grand-uncle, [[Peary Charan Sarkar]]<ref name="hareschool"> Peary Charan Sarkar was a luminary of the Bengal Renaissance who served as assistant professor of English at Presidency College, Calcutta and then principal of Hare School, Calcutta. The road that runs behind it on which stands the University of Calcutta and Hindu Hostel is named after him. His youngest son, Sailendra Sarkar founded another school in North Calcutta which is now named after him. For details see B.De, "Reminiscences of an Indian Member of the Indian Civil Service", Calcutta, 1925-29.</ref> and his father's mentor, [[Raja]] [[Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee]],<ref name="ICS"> Raja Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee of Shankarpore was a member of the Young Bengal Movement who initially worked in the kutchery of the Rajas of Burdwan. Later, he fell out with his former employers and eloped with Rani Basanta Kumari,a daughter of Dewan Pran Chand Kapoor and the eigth wife of Raja Tej Chandra Ray. He was taken to Lucknow by Lord Canning and awarded the confiscated taluk of Shankarpore and given the rank of assistant commissioner of Lucknow. He was a senior friend of Dey's father, Durgadas, and adviced Dey on how and when to travel to the United Kingdom to take the ICS examination. For details see B.De, "Reminiscences of an Indian Member of the Indian Civil Service", Calcutta, 1925-29.</ref> and for some time assistant commissioner of [[Lucknow]]. In England, he joined University College, London to appear in the Open Competitive Services examination. Having taken the examination successfully, he joined the [[Indian Civil Service]] in 1873, emerging 17th in a batch of 35 successful probationers selected from a total of 360 candidates.<ref>{{cite book |last=India Office, Great Britain |date=1905 |title=The India List and India Office List 1905 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b2NPAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA447 |publisher=Harrison and Sons |page=447}}</ref> He was the 8th Indian member of the [[Indian Civil Service|ICS]].<ref name="womenofindia">{{cite book |last=Forbes |first=Geraldine Hancock |author-link=Geraldine Forbes |date=1996 |title=Women in Modern India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hjilIrVt9hUC&pg=PA28 |series=The New Cambridge History of India |volume=IV.2 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=28–29 |isbn=978-0-521-65377-0 |quote="As one of the first eight Indians appointed to the Indian Civil Service (ICS), Brajendra Nath ... He insisted on educating his daughters and one of them, Saroj Nalini Dutt, led the way in organizing rural women's organizations in the years immediately following World War I."}}</ref> Subsequently, he was called to the [[bar association|Bar]] by the [[Honourable Society of the Middle Temple]] on 7 June 1875.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150213145353/http://hosted.law.wisc.edu/wordpress/sharafi/files/2010/07/Middle-2.0.pdf University of Wisconsin Law Library]</ref> He was admitted to [[St. Mary's Hall, Oxford]] (later merged with [[Oriel College, Oxford]] in 1902), where he spent one year, from 1874 to 1875, on a [[Boden Sanskrit Scholarship]], having attended the lectures of [[Sir]] [[Monier Monier-Williams]], who was then the [[Boden Sanskrit Professor]], [[Professor]] [[Max Mueller]] and Mr. Goldstucker and Mr. Ruslan.<ref name="oxforduniversitycalender">Oxford University Calendar, 1875, p. 366</ref> He was the first Indian ICS officer to have studied in a college in Oxford.<ref>Renu Paul (in consultation with Mitra Sharafi), 'South Asians at the Inns of Court: Middle Temple, 1863-1944', compilation based on H. A. C. Sturgess, (eds.) Register of Admissions to the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple. From the Fifteenth Century to the Year 1944 (London: published for the Hon. Society of the Middle Temple by Butterworth & Co., 1949), volumes II (1782-1909) and III (1910-44), p. 2.</ref>

His second son-in-law was [[Sir]] [[Sarat Kumar Ghosh]], [[Indian Civil Service|ICS]], Chief Justice of Jaipur and Kashmir and the only interim Chief Justice of the High Court of Rajasthan, his fifth daughter and son-in-law were the social reformer [[Saroj Nalini Dutt]], [[Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire|MBE]],<ref name="womenofindia"/> and [[Gurusaday Dutt]], [[Indian Civil Service|ICS]], Secretary, Local Self Government and Public Health, Government of Bengal, his sixth son-in-law was Lieutenant Colonel Jyotish Chandra De, [[Indian Medical Service|IMS]],<ref name="livesless forgotten">[http://rajsaday.com/?p=2089 Lives Less Forgotten: Lieutenant Colonel Jyotish Chandra De]</ref> 2nd Indian Principal of the [[Calcutta Medical College]], his seventh son-in-law was Captain (Hon.) Dr. Paresh Chandra Datta, first Chief Medical Officer of the B.R. Singh Memorial Hospital, Calcutta then of the East Bengal Railway and Director of Public Health, Government of West Bengal and his third son was Major (Hon.) [[Basanta Kumar De|Basanta Kumar Dey]], Traffic Superintendent General and then Commercial Traffic Manager of the [[Bengal Nagpur Railway|BNR]].

Two of his grandsons were Ranajit Datta, chairman and managing director of Braithwaite, Burn and Jessop Limited and the historian [[Barun De|Barun Dey]], chairman, West Bengal Heritage Commission. Two of his great-grandchildren were the singer [[Uma Bose]]<ref name="liveslessforgotten1">[https://rajsaday.com/?p=2108 Lives Less Forgotten: Uma Bose]{{Dead link|date=October 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> and the cameraman [[Subrata Mitra]].<ref name="liveslessforgotten2">[http://rajsaday.com/?p=2001 Lives Less Forgotten: Subrata Mitra]</ref>

==Career==
===Administrative===
He took up his first posting in the civil service as assistant magistrate and collector of Arrah, Behar in 1875. He served in districts where the rulers of erstwhile zamindari estates, such as Darbhanga and Dumrao, had a strong presence. After serving in a number of districts in Behar, he was posted in Raniganj, Bengal in 1881.<ref>[http://www.mocavo.com/The-New-Annual-Army-List-Militia-List-and-Indian-Civil-Service-List-1881-Volume-1881/393337/783 Military and ICS Manual]</ref> He officiated as the district magistrate and collector of [[Bankura]], [[Burdwan]] and [[Faridpur District|Faridpore]]. He served as the full district magistrate and collector of [[Khulna]], where he was befriended by Dr. Krishnadhan Ghosh, the civil surgeon of the district, and the father of [[Aurobindo Ghosh]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Heehs |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Heehs |title=The Lives of Sri Aurobindo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EZTFrMZFOvcC&pg=PA33 |year=2008 |location=New York |publisher=Columbia University Press |pages=33 |isbn=978-0-231-14098-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |date=6 August 1893 |title=Govt. Notifications: Orders by the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3KopAAAAYAAJ&pg=PT298 |journal=The Liberal and the New Dispensation |volume=XII |issue=30 |location=Calcutta |publisher=R.S. Bhattacharji |pages=9}}</ref> He became the magistrate and collector of [[Balasore district|Balasore]] in [[Orissa]] and then of [[Malda district|Malda]] and [[Hooghly district|Hooghly]].<ref name="Bengalee">"Mr. B. De", in ''Bengalee'', 7 September 1910; see also ''Indian Daily'' News, 3 September 1910</ref> He was the first Indian to be elected as chairman of the Hooghly Municipal Corporation. He was an (acting) commissioner of the [[Burdwan]] Division.<ref name="socialthoughtofrabindranathtagore">{{cite book |last=Gupta |first=Tapati Dutta |date=1993 |title=Social Thought of Rabindranath Tagore: A Historical Analysis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0HrBJJBFutsC&pg=PA122 |publisher=Abhinav Publications |page=122|isbn=9788170173021}}</ref><ref name="liberty">"Late Mr. B. De.: Passing Away of an Old Civilian" in ''Liberty'', Friday, 30 September 1932</ref>

As the district officer of Hooghly, he started the Duke Club there which was meant to be exclusively for Indians.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Mrinalini |last=Sinha |title=Britishness, Clubbability, and the Colonial Public Sphere: The Genealogy of an Imperial Institution in Colonial India |journal=The Journal of British Studies |volume=4 |issue=44 |date=October 2001 |pages=489–521 |doi=10.1086/386265 |jstor=3070745 |s2cid=143900100 }}</ref> One of his Commissioners once told him not to entertain the thought of wanting to join a British club in the district.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Tony |last1=Ballantyne | authorlink1= Tony Ballantyne (historian) |first2=Antoinette M. |last2=Burton | authorlink2 = Antoinette Burton |year=2005 |title=Bodies in Contact |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YEWulnOX_TgC&pg=PA193 |publisher=Duke University Press |page=193 |isbn=0-8223-3467-4}}</ref>

After retirement he remained actively involved in the work of the Calcutta Improvement Trust.<ref name="latemrbdepassingawayofanoldcivilian">'Late Mr. B.De: Passing Away of An Old Civilian' in ''Liberty'', Friday, 30 September 1932</ref><ref name="latemr.b.decalcuttacorporationtributes">"Late Mr. B. De, Calcutta Corporation Tributes", in ''Liberty'', Saturday, 1 October 1932</ref>

===Academic===
While still in service he translated [[Kalidas]]'s 'Vikramarvasi' and 'Manichudabadana' from Sanskrit to English.<ref name="latemrbdepassingawayofanoldcivilian"/> He edited an English-Bengali dictionary<ref name="liberty"/> and published an article on inter dining in the Madras Social Reformer (1910).

In his post-retirement years he served as a vice-president of the council of the Asiatic Society, Calcutta.<ref name="birthcentenaryofbdecelebrated">"Birth Centenary of B.De Celebrated" in ''The Statesman'', Wednesday, 24 December 1952</ref><ref name="latemrbdecelebration">"He Rehabilitated Persian in Bengal: Tributes to Late B.De: Birthday Celebration" in ''Amrita Bazar Patrika'', Wednesday, 24 December 1952</ref>

He was the translator and editor, in two volumes, [[Nizamuddin Ahmad]]'s ''Tabaqat-i-Akbari''. The third volume, which he had left fully prepared, was published posthumously by Baini Prasad and also M. Hidayat Hosain.<ref name="mr.b.dedeadretiredmemberofthecivilservice">"Mr.B.De Dead Retired Member of the Civil Service" in ''The Statesman'', 30 September 1932</ref><ref name="thestatusofmuslimwomeninmedievalindia">[https://books.google.com/books?id=yF4lDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT120&lpg=PT120&dq=Tabaqat+i+Akbari+-+Beni+Prasad&source=bl&ots=jpsDUeBIsE&sig=9Z1X7kHfL-B_-mTgLvZz8RuvAiU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjJn-XwhNnOAhXLNo8KHV7XDlgQ6AEIITAB#v=onepage&q=Tabaqat%20i%20Akbari%20-%20Beni%20Prasad&f=false Sudha Sharma, ''Status of Muslim Women in Medieval India'', Allahabad]</ref><ref name="Full Text of 'Tabaqat-i-Akbari'"/>

==Legacy==
A road in Chinsura, Hooghly is named after him.<ref name="mapofchinsura">[https://www.google.com/maps/place/B.Dey+Rd,+Hooghly,+West+Bengal+712101/@22.9025053,88.3949378,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x39f893f96abb29e3:0x854c02d1d9d97a7d!8m2!3d22.9025053!4d88.3971265 Map of Chinsura, Hooghly, Bengal]</ref>

At the time of his centenary celebration in 1952, his second son, [[Basanta Kumar De|Basanta Kumar Dey]], [[esq.]], a senior officer of the [[Bengal Nagpur Railway|BNR]]<ref name="liveslessforgotten">[http://rajsaday.com/?p=1950 Lives Less Forgotten: Basanta Kumar De]</ref> took the initiative to publish in three articles sections of his reminiscences in the ''[[Calcutta Review]]''. This work was entrusted to [[Tapan Raychaudhuri]], then of the Department of Islamic History and Culture of the University of Calcutta.<ref name="feministpostcolonialisttheory">[https://books.google.com/books?id=ccFuGe-hBt0C&pg=PA456&lpg=PA456&dq=Brajendranath+De+-+Presidency+College&source=bl&ots=K2kq_JjbhL&sig=V-I5vHvmGjlu79Vk2GPSfn-c9QY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiD0cvf8u7ZAhVMo48KHYq3CRU4ChDoAQgyMAM#v=onepage&q=Brajendranath%20De%20-%20Presidency%20College&f=false Mrinalini Sinha, "Reconfiguring Hiararchies: The Ilbert Bill Controversy, 1883-84", in Reina Lewis and Sarah Mills, ''Feminist Post-Colonialist Theory: A Reader'', New York and London, Routledge, 2003, p. 456]</ref>

In 2001, approximately 2,000 photographs of himself and his family members were given in loan by one of his grandsons, [[Barun De|Barun Dey]],<ref name="epw1">[http://thankstoepw.blogspot.in/2013/09/barun-de-situating-eminent-historian.html "Situating an Eminent Historian Eminently" – Sabyasachi Bhattacharya]. Retrieved 2015-03-21.</ref>{{self-published inline|date=February 2020}}<ref name="liveslessforgotten3">[http://rajsaday.com/?p=1958 Lives Less Forgotten: Barun De]</ref> to the photographic archives of the [[Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta]]. Later, when the archive was shifted to the newly established Jadunath Bhavan Museum and Resource Centre, CSSSC, Calcutta, the photographs too were deposited there.<ref name="jsrchr">Jadunath Bhavan Museum and Resource Centre, (Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, 2009), p. 7</ref>

==Publications==

A member of a Kayastha family of Bengal, he was a scholar of Persian and Sanskrit. He edited and translated a few works from those languages into English. They were as follows:

*(ed. & tran.), [[Kālidāsa]]'s play [[Vikramōrvaśīyam|Vikramorvasi]], 'Vikramorvaçi', Canto I., in ''[[Calcutta Review]]'', Oct. 1884, pp. 440–2.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Schuyler, Jr.|first=Montgomery|title=Bibliography of Kālidāsa's Mālavikāgnimitra and Vikramorvaçī|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|date=1902|volume=23|pages=93–101|jstor=592384|doi=10.2307/592384}}</ref>
* (ed. & tran.), ''The Tabaqat-i-Akbari of Khwaja Nizamuddin Ahmad: A History of India from the Early Musalman Invasions to the Thirty-eighth year of the Reign of Akbar'' (in 3 Vols.), (Calcutta, reprint, 1973)<ref>[http://www.lppindia.com/servlet/lppgetbiblio?bno=000476 Tabaqat-i-Akbari by Khwaja Nizamuddin Ahmed]</ref>
* "Reminiscences of an Indian Member of the Indian Civil Service", in ''Calcutta Review'', (1953–5).<ref>[http://dspace.wbpublibnet.gov.in:8080/jspui/bitstream/10689/12810/10/Bibliography.pdf Reminiscences of an Indian Member of the Indian Civil Service' in the Calcutta Review]</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.asiaticsocietycal.com/ The Asiatic Society, Calcutta]

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:De, Brajendranath}}
[[Category:1852 births]]
[[Category:1932 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of St Mary Hall, Oxford]]
[[Category:Bengali historians]]
[[Category:19th-century Bengalis]]
[[Category:20th-century Bengalis]]
[[Category:Bengali people]]
[[Category:Bengali Hindus]]
[[Category:Brahmos]]
[[Category:Historians of South Asia]]
[[Category:Indian barristers]]
[[Category:Indian civil servants]]
[[Category:Indian Civil Service (British India) officers]]
[[Category:Indian orientalists]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian historians]]
[[Category:People from Hooghly district]]
[[Category:Persian–English translators]]
[[Category:Sanskrit–English translators]]
[[Category:Hare School alumni]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:University of Lucknow alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian historians]]
[[Category:Scholars from Kolkata]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian lawyers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian lawyers]]
[[Category:Members of the Middle Temple]]
[[Category:19th-century translators]]

Susobhan Sarkar

2023-08-26T21:12:57Z

2402:3A80:198D:5036:778:5634:1232:5476: /* Awards */

{{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]].

==Awards==
Sarkar was awarded the [[Rabindra Puraskar]] in 1981 for his book ''Notes on the Bengal Renaissance''.

==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]]

Brajendranath De

2023-08-26T14:56:49Z

2402:3A80:198D:5036:778:5634:1232:5476: /* Early life and education */

{{more citations needed|date=September 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Brajendranath Dey
| image = 
| alt = 
| caption =
| birth_name = 
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1852|12|23}}
| birth_place = [[Calcutta]] (now [[Kolkata]]), [[West Bengal]], [[India]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1932|09|20|1852|12|23}}
| death_place = [[Calcutta]] (now [[Kolkata]]), [[West Bengal]], [[India]]
| nationality =
| other_names =
| occupation = Orientalist
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse = Nagendranandini Dey (নগেন্দ্রনন্দিনী দে) (nee Bose) (বসু)
| children = 12
}}

'''Brajendranath Dey''' ({{lang-bn|'''ব্রজেন্দ্রনাথ দে (দেব সরকার)'''}}) (23 December 1852 – 20 September 1932) ({{lang-bn|৮ পৌষ ১২৫৯ - ৫ আশ্বিন ১৩৩৯}}) was an early Indian member of the [[Indian Civil Service (British India)|Indian Civil Service]].<ref name="indiasagawhoswho">[http://indiansaga.com/whoswho/brajendra.html Indiasaga Who's Who]</ref>

==Early life and education==
Dey, who was born in a Bengali (বাঙালি) Hindu (হিন্দু) Uttar Rarhi Kayastha (উত্তর রার্হি কায়স্থ)-Brahmo (ব্রাহ্ম) family, was the son of Durgadas Dey (দুর্গাদাস দে (দেব সরকার)), a Junior Scholar of Hindu College (later Presidency College) Calcutta (1847-1849) and a registrar in Lucknow, and Trailokyamohini Debi (ত্রৈলোক্যমোহিনী দেবী) (nee Basu). His paternal family, which was settled in Bhowanipur in Calcutta from the 18th century, were originally members of the Vaishnavite sect but, influenced by the Bengal Renaissance, joined the Brahmo movement from the middle of the 19th century. His maternal family, popularly called the ''garhkata Basu paribar'' of Anarpur in Barasat, was settled in Maniktala in Calcutta, where he was born. He was born in his maternal grandparents' home at 123, Maniktala Street, Calcutta.<ref name='reminiscences'>Maniktala, a neighbourhood in North Calcutta is named after either Raja Manikram Bose or Manik Pir, both of whom lived there in the 18th and the 19th centuries. Since Manikram or Manikchand Bose, the caretaker of Alinagar (i.e. Calcutta) during Alivardi Khan's reign and an agent of the Nawabs of Oudh, lived in the 18th century and Manik Pir lived in the early 19th century, and a map of Calcutta of 1784 shows the existence of Maniktala then, it is surmised that the locality is, indeed, named after Manikam Bose. Manikram Bose was an ancestor of Brajendranath's maternal grandfather, Rajendralal Basu, a managing clerk of a Scottish solicitor's firm in Calcutta and a lawyer, who fought a case for the Nawab of Farukkhabad in the aftermath of India's first war of independence in 1857. For details see Brajendranath De, "Reminiscences of an Indian Member of the Indian Civil Service", Calcutta, 1925-29.</ref>

Dey studied at [[Hare School]], [[Calcutta]], and then Canning Collegiate School and [[Lucknow University|Canning College, Lucknow]]. Always ranking at the top of his class in school, he was placed in the first division in all his final examinations. He came first from his school in the Entrance examination of Calcutta University and fourth in the first division in the First Arts (F.A.) examination of [[Calcutta University]]. A student of English (Honours), he ranked sixth in the first division in his Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) examination. Since he was a first divisioner, he was allowed to take the Master of Arts (M.A.) examination of the Calcutta University soon after the completion of his B.A. (Honours) examination. He was ranked second in the M.A. examination and was awarded the silver medal of Calcutta University.<ref name="Full Text of 'Tabaqat-i-Akbari'">[https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.116007/2015.116007.The-Tabaqat-i-akbari-Of-Khwajah-Nizamuddin-Ahmad-Voliii_djvu.txt Full Text of 'Tabaqat-i-Akbari']</ref>

Later, he travelled to England for his higher studies, on the advice of his maternal grand-uncle, [[Peary Charan Sarkar]]<ref name="hareschool"> Peary Charan Sarkar was a luminary of the Bengal Renaissance who served as assistant professor of English at Presidency College, Calcutta and then principal of Hare School, Calcutta. The road that runs behind it on which stands the University of Calcutta and Hindu Hostel is named after him. His youngest son, Sailendra Sarkar founded another school in North Calcutta which is now named after him. For details see B.De, "Reminiscences of an Indian Member of the Indian Civil Service", Calcutta, 1925-29.</ref> and his father's mentor, [[Raja]] [[Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee]], the taluqdar of Shankarpore, in present day [[Uttar Pradesh]]<ref name="ICS"> Raja Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee of Shankarpore was a member of the Young Bengal Movement who initially worked in the kutchery of the Rajas of Burdwan. Later, he fell out with his former employers and eloped with Rani Basanta Kumari,a daughter of Dewan Pran Chand Kapoor and the eigth wife of Raja Tej Chandra Ray. He was taken to Lucknow by Lord Canning and awarded the confiscated taluk of Shankarpore and given the rank of assistant commissioner of Lucknow. He was a senior friend of Dey's father, Durgadas, and adviced Dey on how and when to travel to the United Kingdom to take the ICS examination. For details see B.De, "Reminiscences of an Indian Member of the Indian Civil Service", Calcutta, 1925-29.</ref> and for some time assistant commissioner of [[Lucknow]]. In England, he joined University College, London to appear in the Open Competitive Services examination. Having taken the examination successfully, he joined the [[Indian Civil Service]] in 1873, emerging 17th in a batch of 35 successful probationers selected from a total of 360 candidates.<ref>{{cite book |last=India Office, Great Britain |date=1905 |title=The India List and India Office List 1905 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b2NPAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA447 |publisher=Harrison and Sons |page=447}}</ref> He was the 8th Indian member of the [[Indian Civil Service|ICS]].<ref name="womenofindia">{{cite book |last=Forbes |first=Geraldine Hancock |author-link=Geraldine Forbes |date=1996 |title=Women in Modern India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hjilIrVt9hUC&pg=PA28 |series=The New Cambridge History of India |volume=IV.2 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=28–29 |isbn=978-0-521-65377-0 |quote="As one of the first eight Indians appointed to the Indian Civil Service (ICS), Brajendra Nath ... He insisted on educating his daughters and one of them, Saroj Nalini Dutt, led the way in organizing rural women's organizations in the years immediately following World War I."}}</ref> Subsequently, he was called to the [[bar association|Bar]] by the [[Honourable Society of the Middle Temple]] on 7 June 1875.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150213145353/http://hosted.law.wisc.edu/wordpress/sharafi/files/2010/07/Middle-2.0.pdf University of Wisconsin Law Library]</ref> He was admitted to [[St. Mary's Hall, Oxford]] (later merged with [[Oriel College, Oxford]] in 1902), where he spent one year, from 1874 to 1875, on a [[Boden Sanskrit Scholarship]], having attended the lectures of [[Sir]] [[Monier Monier-Williams]], who was then the [[Boden Sanskrit Professor]], [[Professor]] [[Max Mueller]] and Mr. Goldstucker and Mr. Ruslan.<ref name="oxforduniversitycalender">Oxford University Calendar, 1875, p. 366</ref> He was the first Indian ICS officer to have studied in a college in Oxford.<ref>Renu Paul (in consultation with Mitra Sharafi), 'South Asians at the Inns of Court: Middle Temple, 1863-1944', compilation based on H. A. C. Sturgess, (eds.) Register of Admissions to the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple. From the Fifteenth Century to the Year 1944 (London: published for the Hon. Society of the Middle Temple by Butterworth & Co., 1949), volumes II (1782-1909) and III (1910-44), p. 2.</ref>

His second son-in-law was [[Sir]] [[Sarat Kumar Ghosh]], [[Indian Civil Service|ICS]], Chief Justice of Jaipur and Kashmir and the only interim Chief Justice of the High Court of Rajasthan, his fifth daughter and son-in-law were the social reformer [[Saroj Nalini Dutt]], [[Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire|MBE]],<ref name="womenofindia"/> and [[Gurusaday Dutt]], [[Indian Civil Service|ICS]], Secretary, Local Self Government and Public Health, Government of Bengal, his sixth son-in-law was Lieutenant Colonel Jyotish Chandra De, [[Indian Medical Service|IMS]],<ref name="livesless forgotten">[http://rajsaday.com/?p=2089 Lives Less Forgotten: Lieutenant Colonel Jyotish Chandra De]</ref> 2nd Indian Principal of the [[Calcutta Medical College]], his seventh son-in-law was Captain (Hon.) Dr. Paresh Chandra Datta, first Chief Medical Officer of the B.R. Singh Memorial Hospital, Calcutta then of the East Bengal Railway and Director of Public Health, Government of West Bengal and his third son was Major (Hon.) [[Basanta Kumar De|Basanta Kumar Dey]], Traffic Superintendent General and then Commercial Traffic Manager of the [[Bengal Nagpur Railway|BNR]].

Two of his grandsons were Ranajit Datta, chairman and managing director of Braithwaite, Burn and Jessop Limited and the historian [[Barun De|Barun Dey]], chairman, West Bengal Heritage Commission. Two of his great-grandchildren were the singer [[Uma Bose]]<ref name="liveslessforgotten1">[https://rajsaday.com/?p=2108 Lives Less Forgotten: Uma Bose]{{Dead link|date=October 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> and the cameraman [[Subrata Mitra]].<ref name="liveslessforgotten2">[http://rajsaday.com/?p=2001 Lives Less Forgotten: Subrata Mitra]</ref>

==Career==
===Administrative===
He took up his first posting in the civil service as assistant magistrate and collector of Arrah, Behar in 1875. He served in districts where the rulers of erstwhile zamindari estates, such as Darbhanga and Dumrao, had a strong presence. After serving in a number of districts in Behar, he was posted in Raniganj, Bengal in 1881.<ref>[http://www.mocavo.com/The-New-Annual-Army-List-Militia-List-and-Indian-Civil-Service-List-1881-Volume-1881/393337/783 Military and ICS Manual]</ref> He officiated as the district magistrate and collector of [[Bankura]], [[Burdwan]] and [[Faridpur District|Faridpore]]. He served as the full district magistrate and collector of [[Khulna]], where he was befriended by Dr. Krishnadhan Ghosh, the civil surgeon of the district, and the father of [[Aurobindo Ghosh]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Heehs |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Heehs |title=The Lives of Sri Aurobindo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EZTFrMZFOvcC&pg=PA33 |year=2008 |location=New York |publisher=Columbia University Press |pages=33 |isbn=978-0-231-14098-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |date=6 August 1893 |title=Govt. Notifications: Orders by the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3KopAAAAYAAJ&pg=PT298 |journal=The Liberal and the New Dispensation |volume=XII |issue=30 |location=Calcutta |publisher=R.S. Bhattacharji |pages=9}}</ref> He became the magistrate and collector of [[Balasore district|Balasore]] in [[Orissa]] and then of [[Malda district|Malda]] and [[Hooghly district|Hooghly]].<ref name="Bengalee">"Mr. B. De", in ''Bengalee'', 7 September 1910; see also ''Indian Daily'' News, 3 September 1910</ref> He was the first Indian to be elected as chairman of the Hooghly Municipal Corporation. He was an (acting) commissioner of the [[Burdwan]] Division.<ref name="socialthoughtofrabindranathtagore">{{cite book |last=Gupta |first=Tapati Dutta |date=1993 |title=Social Thought of Rabindranath Tagore: A Historical Analysis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0HrBJJBFutsC&pg=PA122 |publisher=Abhinav Publications |page=122|isbn=9788170173021}}</ref><ref name="liberty">"Late Mr. B. De.: Passing Away of an Old Civilian" in ''Liberty'', Friday, 30 September 1932</ref>

As the district officer of Hooghly, he started the Duke Club there which was meant to be exclusively for Indians.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Mrinalini |last=Sinha |title=Britishness, Clubbability, and the Colonial Public Sphere: The Genealogy of an Imperial Institution in Colonial India |journal=The Journal of British Studies |volume=4 |issue=44 |date=October 2001 |pages=489–521 |doi=10.1086/386265 |jstor=3070745 |s2cid=143900100 }}</ref> One of his Commissioners once told him not to entertain the thought of wanting to join a British club in the district.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Tony |last1=Ballantyne | authorlink1= Tony Ballantyne (historian) |first2=Antoinette M. |last2=Burton | authorlink2 = Antoinette Burton |year=2005 |title=Bodies in Contact |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YEWulnOX_TgC&pg=PA193 |publisher=Duke University Press |page=193 |isbn=0-8223-3467-4}}</ref>

After retirement he remained actively involved in the work of the Calcutta Improvement Trust.<ref name="latemrbdepassingawayofanoldcivilian">'Late Mr. B.De: Passing Away of An Old Civilian' in ''Liberty'', Friday, 30 September 1932</ref><ref name="latemr.b.decalcuttacorporationtributes">"Late Mr. B. De, Calcutta Corporation Tributes", in ''Liberty'', Saturday, 1 October 1932</ref>

===Academic===
While still in service he translated [[Kalidas]]'s 'Vikramarvasi' and 'Manichudabadana' from Sanskrit to English.<ref name="latemrbdepassingawayofanoldcivilian"/> He edited an English-Bengali dictionary<ref name="liberty"/> and published an article on inter dining in the Madras Social Reformer (1910).

In his post-retirement years he served as a vice-president of the council of the Asiatic Society, Calcutta.<ref name="birthcentenaryofbdecelebrated">"Birth Centenary of B.De Celebrated" in ''The Statesman'', Wednesday, 24 December 1952</ref><ref name="latemrbdecelebration">"He Rehabilitated Persian in Bengal: Tributes to Late B.De: Birthday Celebration" in ''Amrita Bazar Patrika'', Wednesday, 24 December 1952</ref>

He was the translator and editor, in two volumes, [[Nizamuddin Ahmad]]'s ''Tabaqat-i-Akbari''. The third volume, which he had left fully prepared, was published posthumously by Baini Prasad and also M. Hidayat Hosain.<ref name="mr.b.dedeadretiredmemberofthecivilservice">"Mr.B.De Dead Retired Member of the Civil Service" in ''The Statesman'', 30 September 1932</ref><ref name="thestatusofmuslimwomeninmedievalindia">[https://books.google.com/books?id=yF4lDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT120&lpg=PT120&dq=Tabaqat+i+Akbari+-+Beni+Prasad&source=bl&ots=jpsDUeBIsE&sig=9Z1X7kHfL-B_-mTgLvZz8RuvAiU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjJn-XwhNnOAhXLNo8KHV7XDlgQ6AEIITAB#v=onepage&q=Tabaqat%20i%20Akbari%20-%20Beni%20Prasad&f=false Sudha Sharma, ''Status of Muslim Women in Medieval India'', Allahabad]</ref><ref name="Full Text of 'Tabaqat-i-Akbari'"/>

==Legacy==
A road in Chinsura, Hooghly is named after him.<ref name="mapofchinsura">[https://www.google.com/maps/place/B.Dey+Rd,+Hooghly,+West+Bengal+712101/@22.9025053,88.3949378,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x39f893f96abb29e3:0x854c02d1d9d97a7d!8m2!3d22.9025053!4d88.3971265 Map of Chinsura, Hooghly, Bengal]</ref>

At the time of his centenary celebration in 1952, his second son, [[Basanta Kumar De|Basanta Kumar Dey]], [[esq.]], a senior officer of the [[Bengal Nagpur Railway|BNR]]<ref name="liveslessforgotten">[http://rajsaday.com/?p=1950 Lives Less Forgotten: Basanta Kumar De]</ref> took the initiative to publish in three articles sections of his reminiscences in the ''[[Calcutta Review]]''. This work was entrusted to [[Tapan Raychaudhuri]], then of the Department of Islamic History and Culture of the University of Calcutta.<ref name="feministpostcolonialisttheory">[https://books.google.com/books?id=ccFuGe-hBt0C&pg=PA456&lpg=PA456&dq=Brajendranath+De+-+Presidency+College&source=bl&ots=K2kq_JjbhL&sig=V-I5vHvmGjlu79Vk2GPSfn-c9QY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiD0cvf8u7ZAhVMo48KHYq3CRU4ChDoAQgyMAM#v=onepage&q=Brajendranath%20De%20-%20Presidency%20College&f=false Mrinalini Sinha, "Reconfiguring Hiararchies: The Ilbert Bill Controversy, 1883-84", in Reina Lewis and Sarah Mills, ''Feminist Post-Colonialist Theory: A Reader'', New York and London, Routledge, 2003, p. 456]</ref>

In 2001, approximately 2,000 photographs of himself and his family members were given in loan by one of his grandsons, [[Barun De|Barun Dey]],<ref name="epw1">[http://thankstoepw.blogspot.in/2013/09/barun-de-situating-eminent-historian.html "Situating an Eminent Historian Eminently" – Sabyasachi Bhattacharya]. Retrieved 2015-03-21.</ref>{{self-published inline|date=February 2020}}<ref name="liveslessforgotten3">[http://rajsaday.com/?p=1958 Lives Less Forgotten: Barun De]</ref> to the photographic archives of the [[Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta]]. Later, when the archive was shifted to the newly established Jadunath Bhavan Museum and Resource Centre, CSSSC, Calcutta, the photographs too were deposited there.<ref name="jsrchr">Jadunath Bhavan Museum and Resource Centre, (Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, 2009), p. 7</ref>

==Publications==

A member of a Kayastha family of Bengal, he was a scholar of Persian and Sanskrit. He edited and translated a few works from those languages into English. They were as follows:

*(ed. & tran.), [[Kālidāsa]]'s play [[Vikramōrvaśīyam|Vikramorvasi]], 'Vikramorvaçi', Canto I., in ''[[Calcutta Review]]'', Oct. 1884, pp. 440–2.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Schuyler, Jr.|first=Montgomery|title=Bibliography of Kālidāsa's Mālavikāgnimitra and Vikramorvaçī|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|date=1902|volume=23|pages=93–101|jstor=592384|doi=10.2307/592384}}</ref>
* (ed. & tran.), ''The Tabaqat-i-Akbari of Khwaja Nizamuddin Ahmad: A History of India from the Early Musalman Invasions to the Thirty-eighth year of the Reign of Akbar'' (in 3 Vols.), (Calcutta, reprint, 1973)<ref>[http://www.lppindia.com/servlet/lppgetbiblio?bno=000476 Tabaqat-i-Akbari by Khwaja Nizamuddin Ahmed]</ref>
* "Reminiscences of an Indian Member of the Indian Civil Service", in ''Calcutta Review'', (1953–5).<ref>[http://dspace.wbpublibnet.gov.in:8080/jspui/bitstream/10689/12810/10/Bibliography.pdf Reminiscences of an Indian Member of the Indian Civil Service' in the Calcutta Review]</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.asiaticsocietycal.com/ The Asiatic Society, Calcutta]

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:De, Brajendranath}}
[[Category:1852 births]]
[[Category:1932 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of St Mary Hall, Oxford]]
[[Category:Bengali historians]]
[[Category:19th-century Bengalis]]
[[Category:20th-century Bengalis]]
[[Category:Bengali people]]
[[Category:Bengali Hindus]]
[[Category:Brahmos]]
[[Category:Historians of South Asia]]
[[Category:Indian barristers]]
[[Category:Indian civil servants]]
[[Category:Indian Civil Service (British India) officers]]
[[Category:Indian orientalists]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian historians]]
[[Category:People from Hooghly district]]
[[Category:Persian–English translators]]
[[Category:Sanskrit–English translators]]
[[Category:Hare School alumni]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:University of Lucknow alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian historians]]
[[Category:Scholars from Kolkata]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian lawyers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian lawyers]]
[[Category:Members of the Middle Temple]]
[[Category:19th-century translators]]

Brajendranath De

2023-08-26T14:52:38Z

2402:3A80:198D:5036:778:5634:1232:5476: /* Early life and education */

{{more citations needed|date=September 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Brajendranath Dey
| image = 
| alt = 
| caption =
| birth_name = 
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1852|12|23}}
| birth_place = [[Calcutta]] (now [[Kolkata]]), [[West Bengal]], [[India]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1932|09|20|1852|12|23}}
| death_place = [[Calcutta]] (now [[Kolkata]]), [[West Bengal]], [[India]]
| nationality =
| other_names =
| occupation = Orientalist
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse = Nagendranandini Dey (নগেন্দ্রনন্দিনী দে) (nee Bose) (বসু)
| children = 12
}}

'''Brajendranath Dey''' ({{lang-bn|'''ব্রজেন্দ্রনাথ দে (দেব সরকার)'''}}) (23 December 1852 – 20 September 1932) ({{lang-bn|৮ পৌষ ১২৫৯ - ৫ আশ্বিন ১৩৩৯}}) was an early Indian member of the [[Indian Civil Service (British India)|Indian Civil Service]].<ref name="indiasagawhoswho">[http://indiansaga.com/whoswho/brajendra.html Indiasaga Who's Who]</ref>

==Early life and education==
Dey, who was born in a Bengali (বাঙালি) Hindu (হিন্দু) Uttar Rarhi Kayastha (উত্তর রার্হি কায়স্থ)-Brahmo (ব্রাহ্ম) family, was the son of Durgadas Dey (দুর্গাদাস দে (দেব সরকার)), a Junior Scholar of Hindu College (later Presidency College) Calcutta (1847-1849) and a registrar in Lucknow, and Trailokyamohini Debi (ত্রৈলোক্যমোহিনী দেবী) (nee Basu). His paternal family, which was settled in Bhowanipur in Calcutta from the 18th century, were originally members of the Vaishnavite sect but, influenced by the Bengal Renaissance, joined the Brahmo movement from the middle of the 19th century. His maternal family, popularly called the ''garhkata Basu paribar'' of Anarpur in Barasat, was settled in Maniktala in Calcutta, where he was born. He was born in his maternal grandparents' home at 123, Maniktala Street, Calcutta.<ref name='reminiscences'>Maniktala, a neighbourhood in North Calcutta is named after either Raja Manikram Bose or Manik Pir, both of whom lived there in the 18th and the 19th centuries. Since Manikram or Manikchand Bose, the caretaker of Alinagar (i.e. Calcutta) during Alivardi Khan's reign and an Agent of the Nawabs of Oudh, lived in the 18th century and Manik Pir lived in the early 19th century, and a map of Calcutta of 1784 shows the existence of Maniktala then, it is surmised that the locality is, indeed, named after Manikam Bose. Manikram Bose was an ancestor of my great grandfather's maternal grandfather, Rajendralal Basu, a managing clerk of a Scottish solicitor's firm in Calcutta, who too fought a case for the Nawab of Farukkhabad in the aftermath of India's first war of independence in 1857. For details see Brajendranath De, "Reminiscences of an Indian Member of the Indian Civil Service", Calcutta, 1925-29.</ref>

Dey studied at [[Hare School]], [[Calcutta]], and then Canning Collegiate School and [[Lucknow University|Canning College, Lucknow]]. Always ranking at the top of his class in school, he was placed in the first division in all his final examinations. He came first from his school in the Entrance examination of Calcutta University and fourth in the first division in the First Arts (F.A.) examination of [[Calcutta University]]. A student of English (Honours), he ranked sixth in the first division in his Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) examination. Since he was a first divisioner, he was allowed to take the Master of Arts (M.A.) examination of the Calcutta University soon after the completion of his B.A. (Honours) examination. He was ranked second in the M.A. examination and was awarded the silver medal of Calcutta University.<ref name="Full Text of 'Tabaqat-i-Akbari'">[https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.116007/2015.116007.The-Tabaqat-i-akbari-Of-Khwajah-Nizamuddin-Ahmad-Voliii_djvu.txt Full Text of 'Tabaqat-i-Akbari']</ref>

Later, he travelled to England for his higher studies, on the advice of his maternal grand-uncle, [[Peary Charan Sarkar]]<ref name="hareschool"> Peary Charan Sarkar was a luminary of the Bengal Renaissance who served as assistant professor of English at Presidency College, Calcutta and then principal of Hare School, Calcutta. The road that runs behind it on which stands the University of Calcutta and Hindu Hostel is named after him. His youngest son, Sailendra Sarkar founded another school in North Calcutta which is now named after him. For details see B.De, "Reminiscences of an Indian Member of the Indian Civil Service", Calcutta, 1925-29.</ref> and his father's mentor, [[Raja]] [[Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee]], the taluqdar of Shankarpore, in present day [[Uttar Pradesh]]<ref name="ICS"> Raja Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee of Shankarpore was a member of the Young Bengal Movement who initially worked in the kutchery of the Rajas of Burdwan. Later, he fell out with his former employers and eloped with Rani Basanta Kumari,a daughter of Dewan Pran Chand Kapoor and the eigth wife of Raja Tej Chandra Ray. He was taken to Lucknow by Lord Canning and awarded the confiscated taluk of Shankarpore and given the rank of assistant commissioner of Lucknow. He was a senior friend of Dey's father, Durgadas, and adviced Dey on how and when to travel to the United Kingdom to take the ICS examination. For details see B.De, "Reminiscences of an Indian Member of the Indian Civil Service", Calcutta, 1925-29.</ref> and for some time assistant commissioner of [[Lucknow]]. In England, he joined University College, London to appear in the Open Competitive Services examination. Having taken the examination successfully, he joined the [[Indian Civil Service]] in 1873, emerging 17th in a batch of 35 successful probationers selected from a total of 360 candidates.<ref>{{cite book |last=India Office, Great Britain |date=1905 |title=The India List and India Office List 1905 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b2NPAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA447 |publisher=Harrison and Sons |page=447}}</ref> He was the 8th Indian member of the [[Indian Civil Service|ICS]].<ref name="womenofindia">{{cite book |last=Forbes |first=Geraldine Hancock |author-link=Geraldine Forbes |date=1996 |title=Women in Modern India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hjilIrVt9hUC&pg=PA28 |series=The New Cambridge History of India |volume=IV.2 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=28–29 |isbn=978-0-521-65377-0 |quote="As one of the first eight Indians appointed to the Indian Civil Service (ICS), Brajendra Nath ... He insisted on educating his daughters and one of them, Saroj Nalini Dutt, led the way in organizing rural women's organizations in the years immediately following World War I."}}</ref> Subsequently, he was called to the [[bar association|Bar]] by the [[Honourable Society of the Middle Temple]] on 7 June 1875.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150213145353/http://hosted.law.wisc.edu/wordpress/sharafi/files/2010/07/Middle-2.0.pdf University of Wisconsin Law Library]</ref> He was admitted to [[St. Mary's Hall, Oxford]] (later merged with [[Oriel College, Oxford]] in 1902), where he spent one year, from 1874 to 1875, on a [[Boden Sanskrit Scholarship]], having attended the lectures of [[Sir]] [[Monier Monier-Williams]], who was then the [[Boden Sanskrit Professor]], [[Professor]] [[Max Mueller]] and Mr. Goldstucker and Mr. Ruslan.<ref name="oxforduniversitycalender">Oxford University Calendar, 1875, p. 366</ref> He was the first Indian ICS officer to have studied in a college in Oxford.<ref>Renu Paul (in consultation with Mitra Sharafi), 'South Asians at the Inns of Court: Middle Temple, 1863-1944', compilation based on H. A. C. Sturgess, (eds.) Register of Admissions to the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple. From the Fifteenth Century to the Year 1944 (London: published for the Hon. Society of the Middle Temple by Butterworth & Co., 1949), volumes II (1782-1909) and III (1910-44), p. 2.</ref>

His second son-in-law was [[Sir]] [[Sarat Kumar Ghosh]], [[Indian Civil Service|ICS]], Chief Justice of Jaipur and Kashmir and the only interim Chief Justice of the High Court of Rajasthan, his fifth daughter and son-in-law were the social reformer [[Saroj Nalini Dutt]], [[Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire|MBE]],<ref name="womenofindia"/> and [[Gurusaday Dutt]], [[Indian Civil Service|ICS]], Secretary, Local Self Government and Public Health, Government of Bengal, his sixth son-in-law was Lieutenant Colonel Jyotish Chandra De, [[Indian Medical Service|IMS]],<ref name="livesless forgotten">[http://rajsaday.com/?p=2089 Lives Less Forgotten: Lieutenant Colonel Jyotish Chandra De]</ref> 2nd Indian Principal of the [[Calcutta Medical College]], his seventh son-in-law was Captain (Hon.) Dr. Paresh Chandra Datta, first Chief Medical Officer of the B.R. Singh Memorial Hospital, Calcutta then of the East Bengal Railway and Director of Public Health, Government of West Bengal and his third son was Major (Hon.) [[Basanta Kumar De|Basanta Kumar Dey]], Traffic Superintendent General and then Commercial Traffic Manager of the [[Bengal Nagpur Railway|BNR]].

Two of his grandsons were Ranajit Datta, chairman and managing director of Braithwaite, Burn and Jessop Limited and the historian [[Barun De|Barun Dey]], chairman, West Bengal Heritage Commission. Two of his great-grandchildren were the singer [[Uma Bose]]<ref name="liveslessforgotten1">[https://rajsaday.com/?p=2108 Lives Less Forgotten: Uma Bose]{{Dead link|date=October 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> and the cameraman [[Subrata Mitra]].<ref name="liveslessforgotten2">[http://rajsaday.com/?p=2001 Lives Less Forgotten: Subrata Mitra]</ref>

==Career==
===Administrative===
He took up his first posting in the civil service as assistant magistrate and collector of Arrah, Behar in 1875. He served in districts where the rulers of erstwhile zamindari estates, such as Darbhanga and Dumrao, had a strong presence. After serving in a number of districts in Behar, he was posted in Raniganj, Bengal in 1881.<ref>[http://www.mocavo.com/The-New-Annual-Army-List-Militia-List-and-Indian-Civil-Service-List-1881-Volume-1881/393337/783 Military and ICS Manual]</ref> He officiated as the district magistrate and collector of [[Bankura]], [[Burdwan]] and [[Faridpur District|Faridpore]]. He served as the full district magistrate and collector of [[Khulna]], where he was befriended by Dr. Krishnadhan Ghosh, the civil surgeon of the district, and the father of [[Aurobindo Ghosh]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Heehs |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Heehs |title=The Lives of Sri Aurobindo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EZTFrMZFOvcC&pg=PA33 |year=2008 |location=New York |publisher=Columbia University Press |pages=33 |isbn=978-0-231-14098-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |date=6 August 1893 |title=Govt. Notifications: Orders by the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3KopAAAAYAAJ&pg=PT298 |journal=The Liberal and the New Dispensation |volume=XII |issue=30 |location=Calcutta |publisher=R.S. Bhattacharji |pages=9}}</ref> He became the magistrate and collector of [[Balasore district|Balasore]] in [[Orissa]] and then of [[Malda district|Malda]] and [[Hooghly district|Hooghly]].<ref name="Bengalee">"Mr. B. De", in ''Bengalee'', 7 September 1910; see also ''Indian Daily'' News, 3 September 1910</ref> He was the first Indian to be elected as chairman of the Hooghly Municipal Corporation. He was an (acting) commissioner of the [[Burdwan]] Division.<ref name="socialthoughtofrabindranathtagore">{{cite book |last=Gupta |first=Tapati Dutta |date=1993 |title=Social Thought of Rabindranath Tagore: A Historical Analysis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0HrBJJBFutsC&pg=PA122 |publisher=Abhinav Publications |page=122|isbn=9788170173021}}</ref><ref name="liberty">"Late Mr. B. De.: Passing Away of an Old Civilian" in ''Liberty'', Friday, 30 September 1932</ref>

As the district officer of Hooghly, he started the Duke Club there which was meant to be exclusively for Indians.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Mrinalini |last=Sinha |title=Britishness, Clubbability, and the Colonial Public Sphere: The Genealogy of an Imperial Institution in Colonial India |journal=The Journal of British Studies |volume=4 |issue=44 |date=October 2001 |pages=489–521 |doi=10.1086/386265 |jstor=3070745 |s2cid=143900100 }}</ref> One of his Commissioners once told him not to entertain the thought of wanting to join a British club in the district.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Tony |last1=Ballantyne | authorlink1= Tony Ballantyne (historian) |first2=Antoinette M. |last2=Burton | authorlink2 = Antoinette Burton |year=2005 |title=Bodies in Contact |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YEWulnOX_TgC&pg=PA193 |publisher=Duke University Press |page=193 |isbn=0-8223-3467-4}}</ref>

After retirement he remained actively involved in the work of the Calcutta Improvement Trust.<ref name="latemrbdepassingawayofanoldcivilian">'Late Mr. B.De: Passing Away of An Old Civilian' in ''Liberty'', Friday, 30 September 1932</ref><ref name="latemr.b.decalcuttacorporationtributes">"Late Mr. B. De, Calcutta Corporation Tributes", in ''Liberty'', Saturday, 1 October 1932</ref>

===Academic===
While still in service he translated [[Kalidas]]'s 'Vikramarvasi' and 'Manichudabadana' from Sanskrit to English.<ref name="latemrbdepassingawayofanoldcivilian"/> He edited an English-Bengali dictionary<ref name="liberty"/> and published an article on inter dining in the Madras Social Reformer (1910).

In his post-retirement years he served as a vice-president of the council of the Asiatic Society, Calcutta.<ref name="birthcentenaryofbdecelebrated">"Birth Centenary of B.De Celebrated" in ''The Statesman'', Wednesday, 24 December 1952</ref><ref name="latemrbdecelebration">"He Rehabilitated Persian in Bengal: Tributes to Late B.De: Birthday Celebration" in ''Amrita Bazar Patrika'', Wednesday, 24 December 1952</ref>

He was the translator and editor, in two volumes, [[Nizamuddin Ahmad]]'s ''Tabaqat-i-Akbari''. The third volume, which he had left fully prepared, was published posthumously by Baini Prasad and also M. Hidayat Hosain.<ref name="mr.b.dedeadretiredmemberofthecivilservice">"Mr.B.De Dead Retired Member of the Civil Service" in ''The Statesman'', 30 September 1932</ref><ref name="thestatusofmuslimwomeninmedievalindia">[https://books.google.com/books?id=yF4lDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT120&lpg=PT120&dq=Tabaqat+i+Akbari+-+Beni+Prasad&source=bl&ots=jpsDUeBIsE&sig=9Z1X7kHfL-B_-mTgLvZz8RuvAiU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjJn-XwhNnOAhXLNo8KHV7XDlgQ6AEIITAB#v=onepage&q=Tabaqat%20i%20Akbari%20-%20Beni%20Prasad&f=false Sudha Sharma, ''Status of Muslim Women in Medieval India'', Allahabad]</ref><ref name="Full Text of 'Tabaqat-i-Akbari'"/>

==Legacy==
A road in Chinsura, Hooghly is named after him.<ref name="mapofchinsura">[https://www.google.com/maps/place/B.Dey+Rd,+Hooghly,+West+Bengal+712101/@22.9025053,88.3949378,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x39f893f96abb29e3:0x854c02d1d9d97a7d!8m2!3d22.9025053!4d88.3971265 Map of Chinsura, Hooghly, Bengal]</ref>

At the time of his centenary celebration in 1952, his second son, [[Basanta Kumar De|Basanta Kumar Dey]], [[esq.]], a senior officer of the [[Bengal Nagpur Railway|BNR]]<ref name="liveslessforgotten">[http://rajsaday.com/?p=1950 Lives Less Forgotten: Basanta Kumar De]</ref> took the initiative to publish in three articles sections of his reminiscences in the ''[[Calcutta Review]]''. This work was entrusted to [[Tapan Raychaudhuri]], then of the Department of Islamic History and Culture of the University of Calcutta.<ref name="feministpostcolonialisttheory">[https://books.google.com/books?id=ccFuGe-hBt0C&pg=PA456&lpg=PA456&dq=Brajendranath+De+-+Presidency+College&source=bl&ots=K2kq_JjbhL&sig=V-I5vHvmGjlu79Vk2GPSfn-c9QY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiD0cvf8u7ZAhVMo48KHYq3CRU4ChDoAQgyMAM#v=onepage&q=Brajendranath%20De%20-%20Presidency%20College&f=false Mrinalini Sinha, "Reconfiguring Hiararchies: The Ilbert Bill Controversy, 1883-84", in Reina Lewis and Sarah Mills, ''Feminist Post-Colonialist Theory: A Reader'', New York and London, Routledge, 2003, p. 456]</ref>

In 2001, approximately 2,000 photographs of himself and his family members were given in loan by one of his grandsons, [[Barun De|Barun Dey]],<ref name="epw1">[http://thankstoepw.blogspot.in/2013/09/barun-de-situating-eminent-historian.html "Situating an Eminent Historian Eminently" – Sabyasachi Bhattacharya]. Retrieved 2015-03-21.</ref>{{self-published inline|date=February 2020}}<ref name="liveslessforgotten3">[http://rajsaday.com/?p=1958 Lives Less Forgotten: Barun De]</ref> to the photographic archives of the [[Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta]]. Later, when the archive was shifted to the newly established Jadunath Bhavan Museum and Resource Centre, CSSSC, Calcutta, the photographs too were deposited there.<ref name="jsrchr">Jadunath Bhavan Museum and Resource Centre, (Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, 2009), p. 7</ref>

==Publications==

A member of a Kayastha family of Bengal, he was a scholar of Persian and Sanskrit. He edited and translated a few works from those languages into English. They were as follows:

*(ed. & tran.), [[Kālidāsa]]'s play [[Vikramōrvaśīyam|Vikramorvasi]], 'Vikramorvaçi', Canto I., in ''[[Calcutta Review]]'', Oct. 1884, pp. 440–2.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Schuyler, Jr.|first=Montgomery|title=Bibliography of Kālidāsa's Mālavikāgnimitra and Vikramorvaçī|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|date=1902|volume=23|pages=93–101|jstor=592384|doi=10.2307/592384}}</ref>
* (ed. & tran.), ''The Tabaqat-i-Akbari of Khwaja Nizamuddin Ahmad: A History of India from the Early Musalman Invasions to the Thirty-eighth year of the Reign of Akbar'' (in 3 Vols.), (Calcutta, reprint, 1973)<ref>[http://www.lppindia.com/servlet/lppgetbiblio?bno=000476 Tabaqat-i-Akbari by Khwaja Nizamuddin Ahmed]</ref>
* "Reminiscences of an Indian Member of the Indian Civil Service", in ''Calcutta Review'', (1953–5).<ref>[http://dspace.wbpublibnet.gov.in:8080/jspui/bitstream/10689/12810/10/Bibliography.pdf Reminiscences of an Indian Member of the Indian Civil Service' in the Calcutta Review]</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.asiaticsocietycal.com/ The Asiatic Society, Calcutta]

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:De, Brajendranath}}
[[Category:1852 births]]
[[Category:1932 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of St Mary Hall, Oxford]]
[[Category:Bengali historians]]
[[Category:19th-century Bengalis]]
[[Category:20th-century Bengalis]]
[[Category:Bengali people]]
[[Category:Bengali Hindus]]
[[Category:Brahmos]]
[[Category:Historians of South Asia]]
[[Category:Indian barristers]]
[[Category:Indian civil servants]]
[[Category:Indian Civil Service (British India) officers]]
[[Category:Indian orientalists]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian historians]]
[[Category:People from Hooghly district]]
[[Category:Persian–English translators]]
[[Category:Sanskrit–English translators]]
[[Category:Hare School alumni]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:University of Lucknow alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian historians]]
[[Category:Scholars from Kolkata]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian lawyers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian lawyers]]
[[Category:Members of the Middle Temple]]
[[Category:19th-century translators]]

Brajendranath De

2023-08-26T14:45:10Z

2402:3A80:198D:5036:778:5634:1232:5476: /* Early life and education */

{{more citations needed|date=September 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Brajendranath Dey
| image = 
| alt = 
| caption =
| birth_name = 
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1852|12|23}}
| birth_place = [[Calcutta]] (now [[Kolkata]]), [[West Bengal]], [[India]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1932|09|20|1852|12|23}}
| death_place = [[Calcutta]] (now [[Kolkata]]), [[West Bengal]], [[India]]
| nationality =
| other_names =
| occupation = Orientalist
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse = Nagendranandini Dey (নগেন্দ্রনন্দিনী দে) (nee Bose) (বসু)
| children = 12
}}

'''Brajendranath Dey''' ({{lang-bn|'''ব্রজেন্দ্রনাথ দে (দেব সরকার)'''}}) (23 December 1852 – 20 September 1932) ({{lang-bn|৮ পৌষ ১২৫৯ - ৫ আশ্বিন ১৩৩৯}}) was an early Indian member of the [[Indian Civil Service (British India)|Indian Civil Service]].<ref name="indiasagawhoswho">[http://indiansaga.com/whoswho/brajendra.html Indiasaga Who's Who]</ref>

==Early life and education==
Dey, who was born in a Bengali (বাঙালি) Hindu (হিন্দু) Uttar Rarhi Kayastha (উত্তর রার্হি কায়স্থ)-Brahmo (ব্রাহ্ম) family, was the son of Durgadas Dey (দুর্গাদাস দে (দেব সরকার)), a Junior Scholar of Hindu College (later Presidency College) Calcutta (1847-1849) and a registrar in Lucknow, and Trailokyamohini Debi (ত্রৈলোক্যমোহিনী দেবী) (nee Basu). His paternal family, which was settled in Bhowanipur in Calcutta from the 18th century, were originally members of the Vaishnavite sect but, influenced by the Bengal Renaissance, joined the Brahmo movement from the middle of the 19th century. His maternal family, popularly called the ''garhkata Basu paribar'' of Anarpur in Barasat, was settled in Maniktala in Calcutta, where he was born. He was born in his maternal grandparents' home at 123, Maniktala Street, Calcutta.<ref name='reminiscences'>Maniktala, a neighbourhood in North Calcutta is named after either Raja Manikram Bose or Manik Pir, both of whom lived there in the 18th and the 19th centuries. Since Manikram or Manikchand Bose, the caretaker of Alinagar (i.e. Calcutta) during Alivardi Khan's reign and an Agent of the Nawabs of Oudh, lived in the 18th century and Manik Pir lived in the early 19th century, and a map of Calcutta of 1784 shows the existence of Maniktala then, it is surmised that the locality is, indeed, named after Manikam Bose. Manikram Bose was an ancestor of my great grandfather's maternal grandfather, Rajendralal Basu, a managing clerk of a Scottish solicitor's firm in Calcutta, who too fought a case for the Nawab of Farukkhabad in the aftermath of India's first war of independence in 1857. For details see Brajendranath De, "Reminiscences of an Indian Member of the Indian Civil Service", Calcutta, 1925-29</ref>

Dey studied at [[Hare School]], [[Calcutta]], and then Canning Collegiate School and [[Lucknow University|Canning College, Lucknow]]. Always ranking at the top of his class in school, he was placed in the first division in all his final examinations. He came first from his school in the Entrance examination of Calcutta University and fourth in the first division in the First Arts (F.A.) examination of [[Calcutta University]]. A student of English (Honours), he ranked sixth in the first division in his Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) examination. Since he was a first divisioner, he was allowed to take the Master of Arts (M.A.) examination of the Calcutta University soon after the completion of his B.A. (Honours) examination. He was ranked second in the M.A. examination and was awarded the silver medal of Calcutta University.<ref name="Full Text of 'Tabaqat-i-Akbari'">[https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.116007/2015.116007.The-Tabaqat-i-akbari-Of-Khwajah-Nizamuddin-Ahmad-Voliii_djvu.txt Full Text of 'Tabaqat-i-Akbari']</ref>

Later, he travelled to England for his higher studies, on the advice of his maternal grand-uncle, [[Peary Charan Sarkar]]<ref name="hareschool"> Peary Charan Sarkar was a luminary of the Bengal Renaissance who served as assistant professor of English at Presidency College, Calcutta and then principal of Hare School, Calcutta. The road that runs behind it on which stands the University of Calcutta and Hindu Hostel is named after him. His youngest son, Sailendra Sarkar founded another school in North Calcutta which is now named after him.</ref> and his father's mentor, [[Raja]] [[Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee]], the taluqdar of Shankarpore, in present day [[Uttar Pradesh]]<ref name="ICS"> Raja Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee of Shankarpore was a member of the Young Bengal Movement who initially worked in the butchery of the Rajas of Burdwan. Later, he fell out with his former employers and eloped with Rani Basanta Kumari,a daughter of Dewan Pran Chand Kapoor and the eigth wife of Raja Tej Chandra Ray. He was taken to Lucknow by Lord Canning and awarded the confiscated taluk of Shankarpore and given the rank of assistant commissioner of Lucknow. He was a senior friend of Dey's father, Durgadas, and adviced Dey on how and when to travel to the United Kingdom to take the ICS examination.</ref> and for some time assistant commissioner of [[Lucknow]]. In England, he joined University College, London to appear in the Open Competitive Services examination. Having taken the examination successfully, he joined the [[Indian Civil Service]] in 1873, emerging 17th in a batch of 35 successful probationers selected from a total of 360 candidates.<ref>{{cite book |last=India Office, Great Britain |date=1905 |title=The India List and India Office List 1905 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b2NPAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA447 |publisher=Harrison and Sons |page=447}}</ref> He was the 8th Indian member of the [[Indian Civil Service|ICS]].<ref name="womenofindia">{{cite book |last=Forbes |first=Geraldine Hancock |author-link=Geraldine Forbes |date=1996 |title=Women in Modern India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hjilIrVt9hUC&pg=PA28 |series=The New Cambridge History of India |volume=IV.2 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=28–29 |isbn=978-0-521-65377-0 |quote="As one of the first eight Indians appointed to the Indian Civil Service (ICS), Brajendra Nath ... He insisted on educating his daughters and one of them, Saroj Nalini Dutt, led the way in organizing rural women's organizations in the years immediately following World War I."}}</ref> Subsequently, he was called to the [[bar association|Bar]] by the [[Honourable Society of the Middle Temple]] on 7 June 1875.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150213145353/http://hosted.law.wisc.edu/wordpress/sharafi/files/2010/07/Middle-2.0.pdf University of Wisconsin Law Library]</ref> He was admitted to [[St. Mary's Hall, Oxford]] (later merged with [[Oriel College, Oxford]] in 1902), where he spent one year, from 1874 to 1875, on a [[Boden Sanskrit Scholarship]], having attended the lectures of [[Sir]] [[Monier Monier-Williams]], who was then the [[Boden Sanskrit Professor]], [[Professor]] [[Max Mueller]] and Mr. Goldstucker and Mr. Ruslan.<ref name="oxforduniversitycalender">Oxford University Calendar, 1875, p. 366</ref> He was the first Indian ICS officer to have studied in a college in Oxford.<ref>Renu Paul (in consultation with Mitra Sharafi), 'South Asians at the Inns of Court: Middle Temple, 1863-1944', compilation based on H. A. C. Sturgess, (eds.) Register of Admissions to the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple. From the Fifteenth Century to the Year 1944 (London: published for the Hon. Society of the Middle Temple by Butterworth & Co., 1949), volumes II (1782-1909) and III (1910-44), p. 2.</ref>

His second son-in-law was [[Sir]] [[Sarat Kumar Ghosh]], [[Indian Civil Service|ICS]], Chief Justice of Jaipur and Kashmir and the only interim Chief Justice of the High Court of Rajasthan, his fifth daughter and son-in-law were the social reformer [[Saroj Nalini Dutt]], [[Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire|MBE]],<ref name="womenofindia"/> and [[Gurusaday Dutt]], [[Indian Civil Service|ICS]], Secretary, Local Self Government and Public Health, Government of Bengal, his sixth son-in-law was Lieutenant Colonel Jyotish Chandra De, [[Indian Medical Service|IMS]],<ref name="livesless forgotten">[http://rajsaday.com/?p=2089 Lives Less Forgotten: Lieutenant Colonel Jyotish Chandra De]</ref> 2nd Indian Principal of the [[Calcutta Medical College]], his seventh son-in-law was Captain (Hon.) Dr. Paresh Chandra Datta, first Chief Medical Officer of the B.R. Singh Memorial Hospital, Calcutta then of the East Bengal Railway and Director of Public Health, Government of West Bengal and his third son was Major (Hon.) [[Basanta Kumar De|Basanta Kumar Dey]], Traffic Superintendent General and then Commercial Traffic Manager of the [[Bengal Nagpur Railway|BNR]].

Two of his grandsons were Ranajit Datta, chairman and managing director of Braithwaite, Burn and Jessop Limited and the historian [[Barun De|Barun Dey]], chairman, West Bengal Heritage Commission. Two of his great-grandchildren were the singer [[Uma Bose]]<ref name="liveslessforgotten1">[https://rajsaday.com/?p=2108 Lives Less Forgotten: Uma Bose]{{Dead link|date=October 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> and the cameraman [[Subrata Mitra]].<ref name="liveslessforgotten2">[http://rajsaday.com/?p=2001 Lives Less Forgotten: Subrata Mitra]</ref>

==Career==
===Administrative===
He took up his first posting in the civil service as assistant magistrate and collector of Arrah, Behar in 1875. He served in districts where the rulers of erstwhile zamindari estates, such as Darbhanga and Dumrao, had a strong presence. After serving in a number of districts in Behar, he was posted in Raniganj, Bengal in 1881.<ref>[http://www.mocavo.com/The-New-Annual-Army-List-Militia-List-and-Indian-Civil-Service-List-1881-Volume-1881/393337/783 Military and ICS Manual]</ref> He officiated as the district magistrate and collector of [[Bankura]], [[Burdwan]] and [[Faridpur District|Faridpore]]. He served as the full district magistrate and collector of [[Khulna]], where he was befriended by Dr. Krishnadhan Ghosh, the civil surgeon of the district, and the father of [[Aurobindo Ghosh]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Heehs |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Heehs |title=The Lives of Sri Aurobindo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EZTFrMZFOvcC&pg=PA33 |year=2008 |location=New York |publisher=Columbia University Press |pages=33 |isbn=978-0-231-14098-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |date=6 August 1893 |title=Govt. Notifications: Orders by the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3KopAAAAYAAJ&pg=PT298 |journal=The Liberal and the New Dispensation |volume=XII |issue=30 |location=Calcutta |publisher=R.S. Bhattacharji |pages=9}}</ref> He became the magistrate and collector of [[Balasore district|Balasore]] in [[Orissa]] and then of [[Malda district|Malda]] and [[Hooghly district|Hooghly]].<ref name="Bengalee">"Mr. B. De", in ''Bengalee'', 7 September 1910; see also ''Indian Daily'' News, 3 September 1910</ref> He was the first Indian to be elected as chairman of the Hooghly Municipal Corporation. He was an (acting) commissioner of the [[Burdwan]] Division.<ref name="socialthoughtofrabindranathtagore">{{cite book |last=Gupta |first=Tapati Dutta |date=1993 |title=Social Thought of Rabindranath Tagore: A Historical Analysis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0HrBJJBFutsC&pg=PA122 |publisher=Abhinav Publications |page=122|isbn=9788170173021}}</ref><ref name="liberty">"Late Mr. B. De.: Passing Away of an Old Civilian" in ''Liberty'', Friday, 30 September 1932</ref>

As the district officer of Hooghly, he started the Duke Club there which was meant to be exclusively for Indians.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Mrinalini |last=Sinha |title=Britishness, Clubbability, and the Colonial Public Sphere: The Genealogy of an Imperial Institution in Colonial India |journal=The Journal of British Studies |volume=4 |issue=44 |date=October 2001 |pages=489–521 |doi=10.1086/386265 |jstor=3070745 |s2cid=143900100 }}</ref> One of his Commissioners once told him not to entertain the thought of wanting to join a British club in the district.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Tony |last1=Ballantyne | authorlink1= Tony Ballantyne (historian) |first2=Antoinette M. |last2=Burton | authorlink2 = Antoinette Burton |year=2005 |title=Bodies in Contact |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YEWulnOX_TgC&pg=PA193 |publisher=Duke University Press |page=193 |isbn=0-8223-3467-4}}</ref>

After retirement he remained actively involved in the work of the Calcutta Improvement Trust.<ref name="latemrbdepassingawayofanoldcivilian">'Late Mr. B.De: Passing Away of An Old Civilian' in ''Liberty'', Friday, 30 September 1932</ref><ref name="latemr.b.decalcuttacorporationtributes">"Late Mr. B. De, Calcutta Corporation Tributes", in ''Liberty'', Saturday, 1 October 1932</ref>

===Academic===
While still in service he translated [[Kalidas]]'s 'Vikramarvasi' and 'Manichudabadana' from Sanskrit to English.<ref name="latemrbdepassingawayofanoldcivilian"/> He edited an English-Bengali dictionary<ref name="liberty"/> and published an article on inter dining in the Madras Social Reformer (1910).

In his post-retirement years he served as a vice-president of the council of the Asiatic Society, Calcutta.<ref name="birthcentenaryofbdecelebrated">"Birth Centenary of B.De Celebrated" in ''The Statesman'', Wednesday, 24 December 1952</ref><ref name="latemrbdecelebration">"He Rehabilitated Persian in Bengal: Tributes to Late B.De: Birthday Celebration" in ''Amrita Bazar Patrika'', Wednesday, 24 December 1952</ref>

He was the translator and editor, in two volumes, [[Nizamuddin Ahmad]]'s ''Tabaqat-i-Akbari''. The third volume, which he had left fully prepared, was published posthumously by Baini Prasad and also M. Hidayat Hosain.<ref name="mr.b.dedeadretiredmemberofthecivilservice">"Mr.B.De Dead Retired Member of the Civil Service" in ''The Statesman'', 30 September 1932</ref><ref name="thestatusofmuslimwomeninmedievalindia">[https://books.google.com/books?id=yF4lDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT120&lpg=PT120&dq=Tabaqat+i+Akbari+-+Beni+Prasad&source=bl&ots=jpsDUeBIsE&sig=9Z1X7kHfL-B_-mTgLvZz8RuvAiU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjJn-XwhNnOAhXLNo8KHV7XDlgQ6AEIITAB#v=onepage&q=Tabaqat%20i%20Akbari%20-%20Beni%20Prasad&f=false Sudha Sharma, ''Status of Muslim Women in Medieval India'', Allahabad]</ref><ref name="Full Text of 'Tabaqat-i-Akbari'"/>

==Legacy==
A road in Chinsura, Hooghly is named after him.<ref name="mapofchinsura">[https://www.google.com/maps/place/B.Dey+Rd,+Hooghly,+West+Bengal+712101/@22.9025053,88.3949378,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x39f893f96abb29e3:0x854c02d1d9d97a7d!8m2!3d22.9025053!4d88.3971265 Map of Chinsura, Hooghly, Bengal]</ref>

At the time of his centenary celebration in 1952, his second son, [[Basanta Kumar De|Basanta Kumar Dey]], [[esq.]], a senior officer of the [[Bengal Nagpur Railway|BNR]]<ref name="liveslessforgotten">[http://rajsaday.com/?p=1950 Lives Less Forgotten: Basanta Kumar De]</ref> took the initiative to publish in three articles sections of his reminiscences in the ''[[Calcutta Review]]''. This work was entrusted to [[Tapan Raychaudhuri]], then of the Department of Islamic History and Culture of the University of Calcutta.<ref name="feministpostcolonialisttheory">[https://books.google.com/books?id=ccFuGe-hBt0C&pg=PA456&lpg=PA456&dq=Brajendranath+De+-+Presidency+College&source=bl&ots=K2kq_JjbhL&sig=V-I5vHvmGjlu79Vk2GPSfn-c9QY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiD0cvf8u7ZAhVMo48KHYq3CRU4ChDoAQgyMAM#v=onepage&q=Brajendranath%20De%20-%20Presidency%20College&f=false Mrinalini Sinha, "Reconfiguring Hiararchies: The Ilbert Bill Controversy, 1883-84", in Reina Lewis and Sarah Mills, ''Feminist Post-Colonialist Theory: A Reader'', New York and London, Routledge, 2003, p. 456]</ref>

In 2001, approximately 2,000 photographs of himself and his family members were given in loan by one of his grandsons, [[Barun De|Barun Dey]],<ref name="epw1">[http://thankstoepw.blogspot.in/2013/09/barun-de-situating-eminent-historian.html "Situating an Eminent Historian Eminently" – Sabyasachi Bhattacharya]. Retrieved 2015-03-21.</ref>{{self-published inline|date=February 2020}}<ref name="liveslessforgotten3">[http://rajsaday.com/?p=1958 Lives Less Forgotten: Barun De]</ref> to the photographic archives of the [[Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta]]. Later, when the archive was shifted to the newly established Jadunath Bhavan Museum and Resource Centre, CSSSC, Calcutta, the photographs too were deposited there.<ref name="jsrchr">Jadunath Bhavan Museum and Resource Centre, (Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, 2009), p. 7</ref>

==Publications==

A member of a Kayastha family of Bengal, he was a scholar of Persian and Sanskrit. He edited and translated a few works from those languages into English. They were as follows:

*(ed. & tran.), [[Kālidāsa]]'s play [[Vikramōrvaśīyam|Vikramorvasi]], 'Vikramorvaçi', Canto I., in ''[[Calcutta Review]]'', Oct. 1884, pp. 440–2.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Schuyler, Jr.|first=Montgomery|title=Bibliography of Kālidāsa's Mālavikāgnimitra and Vikramorvaçī|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|date=1902|volume=23|pages=93–101|jstor=592384|doi=10.2307/592384}}</ref>
* (ed. & tran.), ''The Tabaqat-i-Akbari of Khwaja Nizamuddin Ahmad: A History of India from the Early Musalman Invasions to the Thirty-eighth year of the Reign of Akbar'' (in 3 Vols.), (Calcutta, reprint, 1973)<ref>[http://www.lppindia.com/servlet/lppgetbiblio?bno=000476 Tabaqat-i-Akbari by Khwaja Nizamuddin Ahmed]</ref>
* "Reminiscences of an Indian Member of the Indian Civil Service", in ''Calcutta Review'', (1953–5).<ref>[http://dspace.wbpublibnet.gov.in:8080/jspui/bitstream/10689/12810/10/Bibliography.pdf Reminiscences of an Indian Member of the Indian Civil Service' in the Calcutta Review]</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.asiaticsocietycal.com/ The Asiatic Society, Calcutta]

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:De, Brajendranath}}
[[Category:1852 births]]
[[Category:1932 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of St Mary Hall, Oxford]]
[[Category:Bengali historians]]
[[Category:19th-century Bengalis]]
[[Category:20th-century Bengalis]]
[[Category:Bengali people]]
[[Category:Bengali Hindus]]
[[Category:Brahmos]]
[[Category:Historians of South Asia]]
[[Category:Indian barristers]]
[[Category:Indian civil servants]]
[[Category:Indian Civil Service (British India) officers]]
[[Category:Indian orientalists]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian historians]]
[[Category:People from Hooghly district]]
[[Category:Persian–English translators]]
[[Category:Sanskrit–English translators]]
[[Category:Hare School alumni]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:University of Lucknow alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian historians]]
[[Category:Scholars from Kolkata]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian lawyers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian lawyers]]
[[Category:Members of the Middle Temple]]
[[Category:19th-century translators]]