Bharatpedia - User contributions [en]

User:2402:3A80:1CD6:126B:778:5634:1232:5476

2022-01-02T06:55:42Z

2402:3A80:1CD6:126B:778:5634:1232:5476: Created page with "Hi, I am Bikramjit Dey. My interests are: history, politics and art."

Hi, I am Bikramjit Dey. My interests are: history, politics and art.

Basanta Kumar De

2022-01-02T06:44:19Z

2402:3A80:1CD6:126B:778:5634:1232:5476: /* Career */

{{refimprove|date=December 2021}}

'''Basanta Kumar De''' ({{lang-bn|বসন্ত কুমার দে}}) (9 March 1897 - 31 August 1975) was a senior officer of the [[Bengal Nagpur Railway|BNR]].<ref name="frontline1">[http://www.frontline.in/other/obituary/historian-and-administrator/article4995294.ece Aniruddha Ray, "Historian and Administrator", 'Frontline', 2013] Retrieved 2015-03-03</ref>

==Early Life and education==
De, who was a member of a Kayastha-Brahmo family of Calcutta, was the third son of [[Brajendranath De]], Esq., ICS and Nagendranandini De (née Bose). He completed his education at [[Hare School|Hare School, Calcutta]] and [[Presidency College, Calcutta]], where he completed his B.A. (Hons.) in English. He attended [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], where his moral tutor was [[James Drummond Anderson]], Esq., ICS. Later, he was admitted to The Honourable Society of [[Middle Temple]].<ref name="awomanofindia">Kundu, Rajib, (tr. & ed.), Saroj Nalini: Shankhipta Jibani, (Ababhash, Kolkata, 2014) (in Bengali), (translation of her husband Gurusaday Dutt's, A Woman of India: Being the Life of Saroj Nalini (Founder of Women's Institute Movement in India (with a foreword by Rabindranath Tagore), (Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, 1941)</ref> His son was the historian, [[Barun De]].

==Career==
He was recruited into the BNR in London in 1921. His first posting was as Assistant Commercial Officer. In that capacity, he played an important role in the building of the BNR Hotel in Puri. As a young officer posted in Kharagpore he witnessed the first railway workshop strike there led by V.V. Giri in 1927.<ref name="districtgazetteers">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/44156392?loggedin=true&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Irfan Habib, "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" in ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', Volume 73, 2012, pp. 1553-1555]</ref>

He was tasked with the responsibility of carrying out the survey work for the laying of the Raipur-Vizianagram and Sonepur-Bolangir railway lines in 1931. Through the 1930s he served as District Commercial Officer in Waltair, Kharagpore, Nainpur and Adra. While he was in Adra for a second time, he was given the responsibility of managing the transportation of Congress leaders and workers attending the Ramgarh Session of the Indian National Congress of 1941. In this connection, he had to visit Mahatma Gandhi there.<ref name="oralhistory">[https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://wikis.uit.tufts.edu/confluence/display/atbohp/Barun%2BDe%3Fdesktop%3Dtrue%26macroName%3Dattachments&ved=2ahUKEwiykozQoIH1AhUVxDgGHaIvCykQFnoECAYQAQ&usg=AOvVaw083H797WHC9n5MOfE8i6xG Text of Barun De's interview given to Kris Manjapra for Tufts University Oral History Archive, 2009]</ref>

De was commissioned as a Major in the Commercial Department of the BNR under the Defence of India Act during the Second World War years.<ref name="memorandum">Memorandum dated 7th July 1947 and signed by the Commercial Traffic Manager of the BNR granting honorary ranks noted each under the War Department Notification to Ex: Defence of India Commissioned Officers of the same railway company.</ref> He served as Regional Controller of Railway Priorities (RCRP) under the Railway Board and then as Traffic Superintendent General. In 1950, he was appointed as Commercial Traffic Manager. In the last two years of his career, he attended meetings chaired by the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, Bidhan Chandra Ray. De retired from active service at the end of 1952.

==Post-retirement==

After retirement, he was offered membership of the Railway Recruitment Board in Gorakhpur, which he declined. He took the initiative to publish large segments of his father, Brajendranath De's, memoir in the ''Calcutta Review'', on the occasion of the latter's birth centenary in 1952. As an original Trustee of the Estate of the Late Gurusaday Dutt, he recommended as well as contributing to the formation of the Gurusaday Dutt Folk Arts Museum, which is now under the Bratachari Society. In 1968, he was elected a member<ref name="hareschoolcalcutta">Notice dated 12th March 1968, signed by M. Pradhan, Hony. General Secretary of the Organising Committee of Hare School, Calcutta</ref> of the Organising Committee of the 150th Foundation Anniversary Celebration of his alma mater, Hare School, Calcutta and chairman<ref name="homeschoolcalcuttabrochuresubcommittee">Minutes of the Meeting of the Brochure Sub-Committee held at Hare School at 4-30 P.M. on Friday, the 22nd March, 1968</ref> of the Brochure Sub-Committee of the Organising Committee responsible for the publication of all materials related to the foundation day celebration.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==

*[https://www.ser.indianrailways.gov.in South Eastern Railway]
*[https://www.museumsofindia.org Gurusaday Museum]

{{DEFAULTSORT:De, Basanta Kumar}}
[[Category:1897 births]]
[[Category:1975 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century Bengalis]]
[[Category:20th-century Bengalis]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Brahmos]]
[[Category:Hare School alumni]]
[[Category:Indian Civil Servants]]
[[Category:Members of the Middle Temple]]
[[Category:People from the Hooghly district]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]

Barun De

2022-01-01T06:52:22Z

2402:3A80:1CD6:126B:778:5634:1232:5476: /* Career */

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2018}}
{{About|the historian|the pathologist|Barun K. De}}
{{refimprove|date=August 2013}}

{{Infobox scientist
| name =Barun De
| image =
| caption =
| birth_date = 30 October 1932
| birth_place=[[Calcutta]], [[Bengal]]
| death_date = 16 July 2013 (aged 80)
| death_place = [[Calcutta]], [[West Bengal]]
| fields =[[History]]
| alma_mater ={{Plainlist|
*[[St. Xaviers Collegiate School]]
*[[Presidency College, Calcutta]]
*[[St Catherine's College, Oxford|St Catherine's Society, Oxford]]
*[[Nuffield College, Oxford]]
| Awards = Banga Samman Award, 2008-2009
}}
| notable_students = [[Sumit Sarkar]], [[Dipesh Chakrabarty]], [[Rudrangshu Mukherjee]]
}}

'''Barun De''' (বরুণ দে) (30 October 1932 – 16 July 2013) was an Indian historian and institution builder.

==Early life and education==
De, a member of a [[Kayastha]]-[[Brahmo]] family of Calcutta<ref name="telegraphindia">{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130718/jsp/calcutta/story_17126553.jsp |title=Historian Barun De dead |date=18 July 2013 |accessdate=2016-08-15}}</ref> was the son of [[Draft: Basanta Kumar De|Basanta Kumar De]]<ref name="frontline1">[http://www.frontline.in/other/obituary/historian-and-administrator/article4995294.ece "Historian and Administrator" - Aniruddha Ray] Retrieved 2015-03-03</ref><ref name="liveslessforgotten">[http://rajsaday.com/?p=1950 Lives Less Forgotten: Basanta Kumar De]</ref> and Pramila De (nee Gupta). His grandfather was [[Brajendranath De]], ICS.<ref name="vmh">[http://www.victoriamemorial-cal.org/official_info/victoria_newsletter_feb2014.pdf Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, 'Obituary' in the ''Victoria Memorial Newsletter'', 2014]</ref> He studied at [[St. Xavier's Collegiate School]], [[Calcutta]]. He completed his I.A. & B.A. (Honours) in History at [[Presidency College, Calcutta]], where he was a student of [[Susobhan Sarkar|Susobhan Chandra Sarkar]]. He was a Debate Secretary of the student's union of the college.

Later, De completed his B.A. (Honours School) at [[St. Catherine's College, Oxford|St. Catherine's Society, Oxford]], where his tutor was George Holmes. He completed his [[D.Phil.]] thesis on "Henry Dundas and the Government of India, 1784-1801" under the supervision of Colin Cuthbert Davies.<ref name="telegraphindia1">
{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130718/jsp/opinion/story_17126533.jsp#.vOvi_Tb9nIU |title=Clio's Disciple |first=Rudrangshu|last=Mukherjee |date=18 July 2013 |accessdate=2015-02-24}}</ref> on a Beit studentship at [[Nuffield College, Oxford]]. As the holder of this scholarship he taught students of the college. He was awarded the Curzon Memorial Prize for his essay "Macaulay and India". He was Secretary, Treasurer and President of the Oxford India Majlis.<ref name="thestatesman1">[http://www.thestatesman.com/news/6074-Historian-Barun-De-dead.html "Historian Barun De dead" - The Statesman, 18 July 2013] Retrieved 2015-03-05.</ref>

After returning from Oxford, he formed a lasting friendship with [[Saiyid Nurul Hasan]].<ref name="thetelegraphindia">{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150405/jsp/opinion/story_12677.jsp#.V7E5UjgkrIU |title=State of Abounding Grace |first=Gopal Krishna|last=Gandhi |date=2015 |accessdate=2016-08-15}}</ref>

==Career==
De held various positions at various times, including a senior professorship at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta,<ref name="timesofindia1"/><ref name="businessstandard">[https://www.business-standard.com Rudrangshu Mukherjee, 'Ashok Mitra (1928-2018): A Voice of Dissent with a Tender Heart', Business Standard, 2 May, 2018]</ref> the founder-directorship of the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta and the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies,<ref name="telegraphindia1"/> a membership, held for three terms, of the [[Indian Council of Historical Research]], New Delhi, and the role of honorary state editor of the West Bengal District Gazetteers.<ref name="ihr1">[http://ihr.sagepub.com/content/41/1/147.full.pdf+html "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" - Sabyasachi Bhattacharya] Indian Historical Review. Retrieved 2015-03-15.</ref> He taught and worked abroad, among other places, at [[Duke University]] as a visiting [[associate professor]], the [[Indian Institute of Advanced Studies]], [[Shimla]], as a senior fellow,<ref name="thestatesman1"/> Fondation Maison des sciences de l'homme, [[Paris]] as a [[directeur]], [[University of Sydney]] and [[University of Milan]] as a visiting [[professor]], and the [[University of World Economy and Diplomacy]], [[Tashkent]] as the India Chair (in the rank of minister-counsellor) for three years, with attachment to the Indian Embassy of [[Uzbekistan]],.<ref name="businessstandard1">[http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/historian-barun-de-dies-at-80-113071700809_1.html "Historian Barun De dies at 80" - Business Standard] Retrieved 2015-03-06.</ref> He was secretary (1974-76), sectional president and general president (1988) of the Indian History Congress.<ref name="frontline1"/>

In 2004, he was appointed to a membership of the [[NCERT]] textbook review committee.<ref>[http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/arjun-singh-appoints-panel-to-review-ncert-textbooks/1/196584.html ''India Today'', 2004]</ref>
In his post-retirement years, he was chairman of the West Bengal State Archives, Calcutta,<ref name="businessstandard1"/> a vice president of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,<ref name="frontline1"/>
a member of the Board of Trustees of the Indian Museum, Calcutta,<ref name="frontline1"/> and a member of the Heritage Conservation Committee of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, in which capacity he was among several people who prepared a list of heritage buildings of West Bengal.<ref>[https://www.kmcgov.in/KMCPortal/downloads/Graded_List_of_Heritage_Buildings_Grade_I_IIA_IIB.pdf "Heritage Conservation Committee"] p. 3. Retrieved 2015-03-23</ref> ''[[The Times of India]]'' has described him as "a pioneer of the heritage movement of West Bengal",<ref name="timesofindia1">[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Historian-scholar-Barun-De-dies-at-80/articleshow/21156245.cms "The Times of India" - Staff Reporter] Retrieved 2015-02-27.</ref> From 2008-2011 he was honorary chairman (in the rank of minister-of-state) of the West Bengal Heritage Commission, of which he was a member from 2001–2008.<ref name="businessstandard1"/>

He was appointed as a Tagore National Fellow, which he held at the Victoria Memorial Hall, Calcutta.<ref name="victoriamemorialnewsletter1">[http://www.victoriamemorial-cal.org/official_info/victoria_newsletter_feb2014.pdf "Obituary" in the ''Victoria Memorial Newsletter'' - Sabyasachi Bhattacharya] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150226153443/http://www.victoriamemorial-cal.org/official_info/victoria_newsletter_feb2014.pdf |date=2015-02-26 }} Retrieved 2015-0317.</ref>

==Research==
De's research spanned from early- to late-modern periods of Indian history. In the earlier part of his career he wrote on Henry Dundas and the conquest of India, while later on he addressed the Marxist critique of the colonial context of the Bengal renaissance.<ref>[http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/a-great-conversationalist-intellectual/article4925060.ece "A Conversationalist Intellectual - Sugata Bose"] Retrieved 2015-03-27.</ref> He was also concerned with the national movement: his popular textbook book, ''Freedom Struggle'', co-authored with [[Bipan Chandra]] and Amalesh Tripathi,<ref name="telegraphindia1"/> was censored by the new Central government that came to power in India in 1977.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=4DlMSrtOGLIC&pg=PA272 "Censorship of Historical Thought: A World Guide" - Antoon de Baets] Retrieved 2015-02-21.</ref> It has been translated into Bengali by Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya.<ref>[http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article4385.html "Historian Barun De passes away - Panchanan Chattopadhyay"]. ''Mainstreamweekly''. Retrieved 2015-03-23.</ref> In 1975 he edited a thick volume in honour of Prof. Susobhan Sarkar in which he wrote the main essay on his teacher which reveals his preference for objectivity and critical analysis.<ref name="proceedingsoftheindianhistorycongress1">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/44156392?seq=2&loggedin=true#page_scan_tab_contents Irfan Habib, "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" in ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', Volume 73, 2012, p. 1554]</ref> He was the editor of 24 Parganas and Darjeeling ''District Gazetteers''.<ref name="districtgazetteers">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/44156392?loggedin=true&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Irfan Habib, "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" in ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', Volume 73, 2012, pp. 1553-1555]</ref> He contributed to the editing of the Jalpaiguri District Gazetteers.<ref name="districtgazetteers1">[https://books.google.com/books?id=UfToffd1KxMC&pg=PA201&lpg=PA201&dq=Barun+De,+Jalpaiguri+district+gazetteers&source=bl&ots=LCjhrE6fY2&sig=Rw9AXjtY445QnVTRA6XHXnuaZpU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjWy5HlxfzaAhXIqo8KHROuAZMQ6AEIQzAF#v=onepage&q=Barun%20De%2C%20Jalpaiguri%20district%20gazetteers&f=false Abani Mohan Kusari, West Bengal District GazetteersL Jalpaiguri, Gazetteer of India, Calcutta, Barun De, Honorary State Editor, West Bengal District Gazetteers, Calcutta, 1981 in Michael Lampert, Discipline and Debate: The Language of Violence in Tibetan Buddhist Monastery, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012].</ref>

==Views==
De was well known for his criticism of the emergency of 1975–77.<ref name="proceedingsoftheindianhistorycongress">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/44156392?seq=1&loggedin=true#page_scan_tab_contents Irfan Habib, "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" in ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', Vol. 73, 2012, p. 1554]</ref>

==Awards==
*D.Litt. (''Honouris Causa''), North Bengal University, 2000.<ref name="jagranjosh">[http://www.jagranjosh.com/current-affairs/barun-de-the-renowned-historian-and-academician-passed-away-at-80-1377577861-1 Akanksha Sharma, 'Barun De, The Renowned Historian and Academician Passed Away at 80' in ''Jagran Josh'', 17 July 2013]</ref>

*Banga Samman, 2008-09

==Death and legacy==

De died due to [[renal failure]] in [[Kolkata]] on 16 July 2013 aged 80.<ref name="timesofindia1" /><ref name="HT20130718">{{cite news|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/kolkata/Historian-Barun-De-passes-away/Article-1094187.aspx |date=18 July 2013 |title=Historian Barun De passes away |publisher=Hindustan Times |accessdate=4 October 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131010131755/http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/kolkata/Historian-Barun-De-passes-away/Article-1094187.aspx |archivedate=10 October 2013 }}</ref>

The Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Calcutta has instituted a Barun De Memorial Lecture.<ref>[http://makaias.gov.in/Programme_BarunDe_Memorial_Lecture1.pdf Barun De Memorial Lecture] Retrieved 2015-02-27.</ref> Barun De Auditorium of Jadunath Bhavan Museum and Resource Centre, the museum of the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, is named after him.<ref name="jadunathbhavan">[http://jbmrc.cssscal.org/remembering-professor-barun-de/ Barun De Auditorium, CSSSC]</ref>

==Publications==

*''Secularism at Bay: Uzbekistan at the Turn of the Century'' (New Delhi, 2006)<ref>[https://books.google.com/books/about/Secularism_at_Bay.html?id=TjE74t1I9NsC&redir_esc=y "Secularism at Bay: Uzbekistan at the Turn of the Century" - Barun De] Retrieved 2015-02-17.</ref>
*(ed.) ''State, Development and Political Culture: Bangladesh and India'', (New Delhi, 1997) (co-edited with Ranabir Samaddar)
*(ed.) ''Mukti Sangrame Banglar Chatra-Samaj'' (''Students of Bengal in the Struggle of Liberation'') (in Bengali), (Calcutta: Paschim Banga Itihas Samsad, 1992)
*(ed.) ''West Bengal District Gazetteers, 24 Parganas'', (Calcutta, 1983)
*(ed.) ''West Bengal District Gazetteers, Jalpaiguri'', (Calcutta, 1981) (co-edited with Abani Mohan Kusari).
*(ed.) ''West Bengal District Gazetteers, Darjeeling'', (Calcutta, 1980)
*''The Dialectics Between Response to Exogenous and Autochthonous Innovation in India in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, with Special Reference to Modern Bengal'', (Tokyo: United Nations University, 1979)<ref name="unu">[https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/1713550 The Dialectics Between Response to Exogenous and Autochthonous Innovation in India in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, with Special Reference to Modern Bengal - Barun De] Retrieved 2018-01-12.</ref>
*(ed.) ''Perspectives in Social Sciences, 1: Historical Dimensions'' (New Delhi, 1977)<ref name="perspectivesinsocialscienceihistoricaldimensions">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/2055079?seq=1 David L.Curley (reviewer), ''Perspectives in Social Sciences I: Historical Dimension'', in ''The Journal of Asian Studies'', Vol. 40, No. 1, (Nov. 1980), pp. 158–60]</ref><ref name="perspectivesinsocialscienceshistoricaldimensions1">[https://books.google.com/books?id=GHxJDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT234&lpg=PT234&dq=Barun+De&source=bl&ots=X75XMnufBq&sig=zpY72FIOO7UfU3rH8I71SAT1GPc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi1qJrP29vZAhXHPo8KHZP4DMM4FBDoAQhDMAg#v=onepage&q=Barun%20De&f=false Chandak Sengoopta, ''The Rays before Satyajit: Creativity and Modernity in Colonial India'', (New Delhi, Oxford, 2016)]</ref>
* "A Biographical Perspective on the Political and Economic Ideas of Rammohun Ray", in V.C.Joshi, (ed.), ''Rammohun Roy and the Process of Modernisation in India'', New Delhi, 1975<ref name="indianpoliticalthought">[https://books.google.com/books?id=yP59iDghcIkC&pg=PA68&lpg=PA68&dq=Barun+De&source=bl&ots=JEIKcyzgDB&sig=bHJMaKGdoWOXXD6JRAzKMD9DZLY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiKyazs3tvZAhUUTo8KHXDCCMM4HhDoAQg1MAQ#v=onepage&q=Barun%20De&f=false Amiya P. Sen, "Rammohan Roy", in Mahendra Prasad Singh and Himanshu Roy, ''Indian Political Thought: Themes and Thinkers'', (Delhi, Pearson, 2011), p. 68]</ref>
*(ed.) ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', (Calcutta: Jadavpur Session, 1974)
*(ed.) ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', (Aligarh: Aligarh Session, 1975)
*(et al. eds.) ''Essays in Honour of Professor Sushobhan Chandra Sarkar'' (New Delhi, 1975)<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=xJgDawlnknwC&pg=PA190 "Peasant Labour and Colonial Capital: Rural Bengal since 1770" - Sugata Bose] 2015-02-19.</ref>
*''Freedom Struggle'' (New Delhi, 1972), (co-authored with [[Bipan Chandra]] and Amalesh Tripathi)<ref>[https://www.amazon.in/Freedom-Struggle-Bipan-Chandra/dp/8123702493 "Freedom Struggle" - Bipan Chandra, Amalesh Tripathi and Barun De] Retrieved 2015-02-18.</ref>

== See also ==
*[[NCERT textbook controversies]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.cssscal.org/ Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta]
*[http://www.makaias.gov.in/ Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Calcutta]
*[http://rajsaday.com/?p=1958 Lives Less Forgotten: Barun De]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:De, Barun}}
[[Category:1932 births]]
[[Category:2013 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian historians]]
[[Category:Alumni of Nuffield College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Alumni of St Catherine's College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Bengali historians]]
[[Category:Brahmos]]
[[Category:Deaths from kidney failure]]
[[Category:Economic historians]]
[[Category:Historians of South Asia]]
[[Category:Indian civil servants]]
[[Category:Indian Marxist historians]]
[[Category:Indian Institute of Management Calcutta faculty]]
[[Category:Indian political writers]]
[[Category:Indian institute directors]]
[[Category:Presidency University, Kolkata alumni]]
[[Category:Scientists from Kolkata]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta faculty]]

Gurusaday Museum

2022-01-01T03:18:06Z

2402:3A80:1CD6:126B:778:5634:1232:5476: /* History */

{{Short description|Folk arts and crafts museum in Kolkata, India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2018}}
{{Infobox museum
| name = Gurusaday Museum
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| logo =
| logo_upright =
| logo_alt =
| logo_caption =
| image =
| image_upright =
| alt =
| caption =
| map_type =
| map_relief =
| map_size =
| map_caption =
| coordinates = 
| former_name =
| established = {{Start date|1963}}
| dissolved = 
| location = [[Kolkata]], [[West Bengal]], [[India]]
| type =
| accreditation =
| key_holdings =
| collections =
| collection_size =
| visitors =
| founder =
| executive_director =
| leader_type =
| leader =
| director =
| president =
| ceo =
| chairperson =
| curator =
| architect =
| historian =
| owner =
| publictransit =
| car_park =
| parking =
| network =
| website = 
| embedded =
}}
The '''Gurusaday Museum''' is a folk arts and crafts museum located in [[Kolkata]], [[India]].

==History==
The eminent Indian [[Indian Civil Service|ICS]] officer, [[Gurusaday Dutt]] collected over 3,000 artifacts in the course of his entire career, spanning from 1905–1941. The bulk of the artifacts were collected between 1929 and 1939.

After his passing away his belongings, especially the artifacts, were collected in an estate which was placed under the supervision of a trust of which the two original trustees were his brother-in-law, Major (Hony.) [[Draft: Basanta Kumar De|Basanta Kumar De]], Commercial Traffic Manager (retired),<ref name="liveslessforgotten1">[http://rajsaday.com/?p=1950 Lives Less Forgotten: Basanta Kumar De]</ref> of the [[Bengal Nagpur Railway|BNR]], who was the family nominee on the board of the trust and Shri Subimal Ray, [[Barrister|Bar-at-law]], formerly Judge of the [[Supreme Court of India]], who was the legal adviser to the trust. Dutt's son, Birendrasaday Dutt, esq.,<ref name="liveslessforgotten">[http://rajsaday.com/?p=83 Lives Less Forgotten: Birendrasaday Dutt]</ref> formerly of the Burma Shell, was also closely involved in the management of these artifacts. Based on the recommendations made by the two members of the trust and his son the Bengal Bratachari Society founded the museum. Later, these artifacts were shifted to the newly established museum built in Joka, Kolkata. The museum building was formally opened in the presence of the then chief minister of West Bengal, [[Dr.]] [[Bidhan Chandra Ray]] in 1961 and the galleries were opened in the presence of the education minister of India, [[Professor]] [[Humayun Kabir]] in 1963.

The museum was administered by Dutt's daughter-in-law, [[Aroti Dutt]], who was its long time chairperson. The historian, [[Barun De]], was a family nominee on the board of the museum for several years.<ref name="liveslessforgotten2">[http://rajsaday.com/?p=1958 Lives Less Forgotten: Barun De]</ref> The museum is an autonomous body, which has been under the guidance of the Ministry of Textiles of the Government of India since 1984.

==Collections==
Its collection includes archaeological objects, deities, manuscripts, masks, musical instruments, paintings, textiles and woodwork.<ref>[http://www.gurusadaymuseum.org/collection.htm Collections of the Gurusaday Museum]</ref>

== See also ==
* [[List of museums in West Bengal]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Official website|http://www.gurusadaymuseum.org}}

{{coord missing|West Bengal}}

[[Category:Museums in Kolkata]]
[[Category:Indian handicrafts]]
[[Category:Folk art museums and galleries]]

{{India-museum-stub}}
{{ethnographic-museum-stub}}

Basanta Kumar De

2022-01-01T03:06:29Z

2402:3A80:1CD6:126B:778:5634:1232:5476: /* Career */

{{refimprove|date=December 2021}}

'''Basanta Kumar De''' (বসন্ত কুমার দে) (9 March, 1897 - 31 August, 1975) was a senior officer of the [[Bengal Nagpur Railway|BNR]].<ref name="frontline1">[http://www.frontline.in/other/obituary/historian-and-administrator/article4995294.ece Aniruddha Ray, "Historian and Administrator", 'Frontline', 2013] Retrieved 2015-03-03</ref>

==Early Life and education==
De, who was a member of a Kayastha-Brahmo family of Calcutta, was the third son of [[Brajendranath De]], Esq., ICS and Nagendranandini De (née Bose). He completed his education at [[Hare School|Hare School, Calcutta]] and [[Presidency College, Calcutta]], where he completed his B.A. (Hons.) in English. He attended [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], where his moral tutor was [[James Drummond Anderson]], Esq., ICS. Later, he was admitted to The Honourable Society of [[Middle Temple]].<ref name="awomanofindia">Kundu, Rajib, (tr. & ed.), Saroj Nalini: Shankhipta Jibani, (Ababhash, Kolkata, 2014) (in Bengali), (translation of her husband Gurusaday Dutt's, A Woman of India: Being the Life of Saroj Nalini (Founder of Women's Institute Movement in India (with a forward by Rabindranath Tagore), (Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, 1941)</ref> His son was the historian, [[Barun De]].

==Career==
He was recruited in to the BNR in London in 1921. His first posting was as Assistant Commercial Officer. In that capacity he played an important role in the building of the BNR Hotel in Puri. As a young officer posted in Kharagpore he witnessed the first railway workshop strike there led by V.V. Giri in 1927.<ref name="districtgazetteers">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/44156392?loggedin=true&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Irfan Habib, "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" in ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', Volume 73, 2012, pp. 1553-1555]</ref>

He was tasked with the responsibility of carrying out the survey work for the laying of the Raipur-Vizianagram and Sonepur-Bolangir railway lines in 1931. Through the 1930s he served as District Commercial Officer in Waltair, Kharagpore, Nainpur and Adra. While he was in Adra for a second time, he was given the responsibility of managing the transportation of Congress leaders and workers attending the Ramgarh Session of the Indian National Congress of 1941. In this connection he had to visit Mahatma Gandhi there. <ref name="oralhistory">[https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://wikis.uit.tufts.edu/confluence/display/atbohp/Barun%2BDe%3Fdesktop%3Dtrue%26macroName%3Dattachments&ved=2ahUKEwiykozQoIH1AhUVxDgGHaIvCykQFnoECAYQAQ&usg=AOvVaw083H797WHC9n5MOfE8i6xG Text of Barun De's interview given to Kris Manjapra for Tufts University Oral History Archive, 2009]</ref>

De was recruited as a Major in the Corps of Engineers of the Indian army during the Second World War years.<ref name="memorandum"> Memorandum dated 7th July, 1947 and signed by the Commercial Traffic Manager of the BNR granting honorary ranks noted each under the War Department Notification to Ex: Defence of India Commissioned Officers of the same railway company.</ref> He served as Regional Controller of Railway Priorities (RCRP) under the Railway Board and then as Traffic Superintendent General. In 1950, he was appointed as Commercial Traffic Manager. In the last two years of his career, he attended meetings chaired by the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, Bidhan Chandra Ray. De retired from active service at the end of 1952.

==Post-retirement==

After retirement he was offered membership of the Railway Recruitment Board in Gorakhpur, which he declined. He took the initiative to publish large segments of his father, Brajendranath De's, memoir in the ''Calcutta Review'', on the occasion of the latter's birth centenary in 1952. As an original Trustee of the Estate of the Late Gurusaday Dutt, he recommended as well as contributed to the formation of the Gurusaday Dutt Folk Arts Museum, which is now under the Bratachari Society. In 1968, he was elected a member of the Organising Committee of the 150th Foundation Anniversary Celebration of his alma mater, Hare School, Calcutta and chairman of the Brochure Sub-Committee of the Organising Committee responsible for the publication of all materials related to the foundation day celebration.<ref name="hareschoolcalcutta"> Notice dated 12th March, 1968, signed by Dr. M. Pradhan, Hony. General Secretary of the Organising Committee of Hare School, Calcutta</ref>

{{uncategorised|date=December 2021}}

Basanta Kumar De

2022-01-01T03:05:02Z

2402:3A80:1CD6:126B:778:5634:1232:5476: /* Post-retirement */

{{refimprove|date=December 2021}}

'''Basanta Kumar De''' (বসন্ত কুমার দে) (9 March, 1897 - 31 August, 1975) was a senior officer of the [[Bengal Nagpur Railway|BNR]].<ref name="frontline1">[http://www.frontline.in/other/obituary/historian-and-administrator/article4995294.ece Aniruddha Ray, "Historian and Administrator", 'Frontline', 2013] Retrieved 2015-03-03</ref>

==Early Life and education==
De, who was a member of a Kayastha-Brahmo family of Calcutta, was the third son of [[Brajendranath De]], Esq., ICS and Nagendranandini De (née Bose). He completed his education at [[Hare School|Hare School, Calcutta]] and [[Presidency College, Calcutta]], where he completed his B.A. (Hons.) in English. He attended [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], where his moral tutor was [[James Drummond Anderson]], Esq., ICS. Later, he was admitted to The Honourable Society of [[Middle Temple]].<ref name="awomanofindia">Kundu, Rajib, (tr. & ed.), Saroj Nalini: Shankhipta Jibani, (Ababhash, Kolkata, 2014) (in Bengali), (translation of her husband Gurusaday Dutt's, A Woman of India: Being the Life of Saroj Nalini (Founder of Women's Institute Movement in India (with a forward by Rabindranath Tagore), (Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, 1941)</ref> His son was the historian, [[Barun De]].

==Career==
He was recruited in to the BNR in London in 1921. His first posting was as Assistant Commercial Officer. In that capacity he played an important role in the building of the BNR Hotel in Puri. As a young officer posted in Kharagpore he witnessed the first railway workshop strike there led by V.V. Giri in 1927.<ref name="districtgazetteers">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/44156392?loggedin=true&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Irfan Habib, "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" in ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', Volume 73, 2012, pp. 1553-1555]</ref>

He was tasked with the responsibility of carrying out the survey work for the laying of the Raipur-Vizianagram and Sonepur-Bolangir railway lines in 1931. Through the 1930s he served as District Commercial Officer in Waltair, Kharagpore, Nainpur and Adra. While he was in Adra for a second time, he was given the responsibility of managing the transportation of Congress leaders and workers attending the Ramgarh Session of the Indian National Congress of 1941. In this connection he had to visit Mahatma Gandhi there. <ref name="oralhistory">[https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://wikis.uit.tufts.edu/confluence/display/atbohp/Barun%2BDe%3Fdesktop%3Dtrue%26macroName%3Dattachments&ved=2ahUKEwiykozQoIH1AhUVxDgGHaIvCykQFnoECAYQAQ&usg=AOvVaw083H797WHC9n5MOfE8i6xG Text of Barun De's interview given to Kris Manjapra for Tufts University Oral History Archive, 2009]</ref>

De was recruited as a Major in the Corps of Engineers of the Indian army during the Second World War years.<ref name="memorandum"> Memorandum dated 7th July, 1947 and signed by the Commercial Traffic Manager of the BNR granting honorary ranks noted each under the War Department Notification to Ex: Defence of India Commissioned Officers of the BNR.</ref> He served as Regional Controller of Railway Priorities (RCRP) under the Railway Board and then as Traffic Superintendent General. In 1950, he was appointed as Commercial Traffic Manager. In the last two years of his career, he attended meetings chaired by the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, Bidhan Chandra Ray. De retired from active service at the end of 1952.

==Post-retirement==

After retirement he was offered membership of the Railway Recruitment Board in Gorakhpur, which he declined. He took the initiative to publish large segments of his father, Brajendranath De's, memoir in the ''Calcutta Review'', on the occasion of the latter's birth centenary in 1952. As an original Trustee of the Estate of the Late Gurusaday Dutt, he recommended as well as contributed to the formation of the Gurusaday Dutt Folk Arts Museum, which is now under the Bratachari Society. In 1968, he was elected a member of the Organising Committee of the 150th Foundation Anniversary Celebration of his alma mater, Hare School, Calcutta and chairman of the Brochure Sub-Committee of the Organising Committee responsible for the publication of all materials related to the foundation day celebration.<ref name="hareschoolcalcutta"> Notice dated 12th March, 1968, signed by Dr. M. Pradhan, Hony. General Secretary of the Organising Committee of Hare School, Calcutta</ref>

{{uncategorised|date=December 2021}}

Basanta Kumar De

2022-01-01T02:56:04Z

2402:3A80:1CD6:126B:778:5634:1232:5476: /* Career */

{{refimprove|date=December 2021}}

'''Basanta Kumar De''' (বসন্ত কুমার দে) (9 March, 1897 - 31 August, 1975) was a senior officer of the [[Bengal Nagpur Railway|BNR]].<ref name="frontline1">[http://www.frontline.in/other/obituary/historian-and-administrator/article4995294.ece Aniruddha Ray, "Historian and Administrator", 'Frontline', 2013] Retrieved 2015-03-03</ref>

==Early Life and education==
De, who was a member of a Kayastha-Brahmo family of Calcutta, was the third son of [[Brajendranath De]], Esq., ICS and Nagendranandini De (née Bose). He completed his education at [[Hare School|Hare School, Calcutta]] and [[Presidency College, Calcutta]], where he completed his B.A. (Hons.) in English. He attended [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], where his moral tutor was [[James Drummond Anderson]], Esq., ICS. Later, he was admitted to The Honourable Society of [[Middle Temple]].<ref name="awomanofindia">Kundu, Rajib, (tr. & ed.), Saroj Nalini: Shankhipta Jibani, (Ababhash, Kolkata, 2014) (in Bengali), (translation of her husband Gurusaday Dutt's, A Woman of India: Being the Life of Saroj Nalini (Founder of Women's Institute Movement in India (with a forward by Rabindranath Tagore), (Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, 1941)</ref> His son was the historian, [[Barun De]].

==Career==
He was recruited in to the BNR in London in 1921. His first posting was as Assistant Commercial Officer. In that capacity he played an important role in the building of the BNR Hotel in Puri. As a young officer posted in Kharagpore he witnessed the first railway workshop strike there led by V.V. Giri in 1927.<ref name="districtgazetteers">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/44156392?loggedin=true&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Irfan Habib, "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" in ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', Volume 73, 2012, pp. 1553-1555]</ref>

He was tasked with the responsibility of carrying out the survey work for the laying of the Raipur-Vizianagram and Sonepur-Bolangir railway lines in 1931. Through the 1930s he served as District Commercial Officer in Waltair, Kharagpore, Nainpur and Adra. While he was in Adra for a second time, he was given the responsibility of managing the transportation of Congress leaders and workers attending the Ramgarh Session of the Indian National Congress of 1941. In this connection he had to visit Mahatma Gandhi there. <ref name="oralhistory">[https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://wikis.uit.tufts.edu/confluence/display/atbohp/Barun%2BDe%3Fdesktop%3Dtrue%26macroName%3Dattachments&ved=2ahUKEwiykozQoIH1AhUVxDgGHaIvCykQFnoECAYQAQ&usg=AOvVaw083H797WHC9n5MOfE8i6xG Text of Barun De's interview given to Kris Manjapra for Tufts University Oral History Archive, 2009]</ref>

De was recruited as a Major in the Corps of Engineers of the Indian army during the Second World War years.<ref name="memorandum"> Memorandum dated 7th July, 1947 and signed by the Commercial Traffic Manager of the BNR granting honorary ranks noted each under the War Department Notification to Ex: Defence of India Commissioned Officers of the BNR.</ref> He served as Regional Controller of Railway Priorities (RCRP) under the Railway Board and then as Traffic Superintendent General. In 1950, he was appointed as Commercial Traffic Manager. In the last two years of his career, he attended meetings chaired by the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, Bidhan Chandra Ray. De retired from active service at the end of 1952.

==Post-retirement==

After retirement he was offered membership of the Railway Recruitment Board in Gorakhpur, which he declined. He took the initiative to publish large segments of his father, Brajendranath De's, memoir in the ''Calcutta Review'', on the occasion of the latter's birth centenary in 1952. As an original Trustee of the Estate of the Late Gurusaday Dutt, he recommended as well as contributed to the formation of the Gurusaday Dutt Folk Arts Museum, which is now under the Bratachari Society. In 1968, he was elected a member of the Organising Committee of the 150th Foundation Anniversary Celebration of his alma mater, Hare School, Calcutta and chairman of the Brochure Sub-Committee of the Organising Committee responsible for the publication of all materials related to the foundation day celebration.<ref name="hareschoolcalcutta"> Notice dated 12th March, 1968, signed by Shri M. Prodhan, Hony. General Secretary of Hare School, Calcutta</ref>

{{uncategorised|date=December 2021}}

Basanta Kumar De

2022-01-01T02:48:17Z

2402:3A80:1CD6:126B:778:5634:1232:5476: /* Post-retirement */

{{refimprove|date=December 2021}}

'''Basanta Kumar De''' (বসন্ত কুমার দে) (9 March, 1897 - 31 August, 1975) was a senior officer of the [[Bengal Nagpur Railway|BNR]].<ref name="frontline1">[http://www.frontline.in/other/obituary/historian-and-administrator/article4995294.ece Aniruddha Ray, "Historian and Administrator", 'Frontline', 2013] Retrieved 2015-03-03</ref>

==Early Life and education==
De, who was a member of a Kayastha-Brahmo family of Calcutta, was the third son of [[Brajendranath De]], Esq., ICS and Nagendranandini De (née Bose). He completed his education at [[Hare School|Hare School, Calcutta]] and [[Presidency College, Calcutta]], where he completed his B.A. (Hons.) in English. He attended [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], where his moral tutor was [[James Drummond Anderson]], Esq., ICS. Later, he was admitted to The Honourable Society of [[Middle Temple]].<ref name="awomanofindia">Kundu, Rajib, (tr. & ed.), Saroj Nalini: Shankhipta Jibani, (Ababhash, Kolkata, 2014) (in Bengali), (translation of her husband Gurusaday Dutt's, A Woman of India: Being the Life of Saroj Nalini (Founder of Women's Institute Movement in India (with a forward by Rabindranath Tagore), (Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, 1941)</ref> His son was the historian, [[Barun De]].

==Career==
He was recruited in to the BNR in London in 1921. His first posting was as Assistant Commercial Officer. In that capacity he played an important role in the building of the BNR Hotel in Puri. As a young officer posted in Kharagpore he witnessed the first railway workshop strike there led by V.V. Giri in 1927.<ref name="districtgazetteers">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/44156392?loggedin=true&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Irfan Habib, "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" in ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', Volume 73, 2012, pp. 1553-1555]</ref>

He was tasked with the responsibility of carrying out the survey work for the laying of the Raipur-Vizianagram and Sonepur-Bolangir railway lines in 1931. Through the 1930s he served as District Commercial Officer in Waltair, Kharagpore, Nainpur and Adra. While he was in Adra for a second time, he was given the responsibility of managing the transportation of Congress leaders and workers attending the Ramgarh Session of the Indian National Congress of 1941. In this connection he had to visit Mahatma Gandhi there. <ref name="oralhistory">[https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://wikis.uit.tufts.edu/confluence/display/atbohp/Barun%2BDe%3Fdesktop%3Dtrue%26macroName%3Dattachments&ved=2ahUKEwiykozQoIH1AhUVxDgGHaIvCykQFnoECAYQAQ&usg=AOvVaw083H797WHC9n5MOfE8i6xG Text of Barun De's interview given to Kris Manjapra for Tufts University Oral History Archive, 2009]</ref>

De was recruited as a Major in the Corps of Engineers of the Indian army during the Second World War years. He served as Regional Controller of Railway Priorities (RCRP) under the Railway Board and then as Traffic Superintendent General. In 1950, he was appointed as Commercial Traffic Manager. In the last two years of his career, he attended meetings chaired by the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, Bidhan Chandra Ray. De retired from active service at the end of 1952.

==Post-retirement==

After retirement he was offered membership of the Railway Recruitment Board in Gorakhpur, which he declined. He took the initiative to publish large segments of his father, Brajendranath De's, memoir in the ''Calcutta Review'', on the occasion of the latter's birth centenary in 1952. As an original Trustee of the Estate of the Late Gurusaday Dutt, he recommended as well as contributed to the formation of the Gurusaday Dutt Folk Arts Museum, which is now under the Bratachari Society. In 1968, he was elected a member of the Organising Committee of the 150th Foundation Anniversary Celebration of his alma mater, Hare School, Calcutta and chairman of the Brochure Sub-Committee of the Organising Committee responsible for the publication of all materials related to the foundation day celebration.<ref name="hareschoolcalcutta"> Notice dated 12th March, 1968, signed by Shri M. Prodhan, Hony. General Secretary of Hare School, Calcutta</ref>

{{uncategorised|date=December 2021}}

Brajendranath De

2021-12-30T18:06:06Z

2402:3A80:1CD6:126B:778:5634:1232:5476: /* Early life and education */

{{more citations needed|date=September 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Brajendranath De
| 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 De (nee Bose) 
}}

'''Brajendranath De''' (ব্রজেন্দ্রনাথ দে) (23 December 1852 – 20 September 1932) 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==
De, a member of a Kayastha-Brahmo family of Calcutta, was born to Durgadas De, an early student of Hindu College, Calcutta (later renamed [[Presidency University]]). He studied at [[Hare School]], [[Calcutta]], and then Canning Collegiate School and [[Lucknow University|Canning College, Lucknow]].<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>, where he was a pupil of Saiyid Husain Bilgrami.

Later, he travelled to England for his higher studies, where he joined University College, London to appear in the Open Competitive Services examination. He joined the [[Indian Civil Service]] in 1873,<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> becoming 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), ... 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>[http://hosted.law.wisc.edu/wordpress/sharafi/files/2010/07/Middle-2.0.pdf University of Wisconsin Law Library]{{Dead link|date=June 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> He was admitted to [[St. Mary Hall, Oxford]], where he spent one year, from 1874-1875, on a [[Boden Sanskrit Scholarship]], attending lectures of Professor [[Max Mueller]].<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 fifth daughter was the social reformer, [[Saroj Nalini Dutt]],<ref name="womenofindia"/> and his sixth son-in-law was Lieutenant Colonel Jyotish Chandra De,<ref name="livesless forgotten">[http://rajsaday.com/?p=2089 Lives Less Forgotten: Lieutenant Colonel Jyotish Chandra De]</ref> who was a member of the [[Indian Medical Service]]. His third son, [[Draft: Basanta Kumar De|Basanta Kumar De]], was a senior officer of the [[Bengal Nagpur Railway|BNR]], whose son was the historian, [[Barun De]].

==Career==
===Administrative===
He took up his first posting in the civil service as assistant magistrate and collector of Arrah, Behar in 1875. 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 |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>

During the centenary celebration of his birth anniversary in 1952, his son, [[Draft:Basanta Kumar De|Basanta Kumar De]], 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 his grandson, [[Barun De]],<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> 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|colwidth=30em}}

==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 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]]

Barun De

2021-12-30T17:59:23Z

2402:3A80:1CD6:126B:778:5634:1232:5476:

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2018}}
{{About|the historian|the pathologist|Barun K. De}}
{{refimprove|date=August 2013}}

{{Infobox scientist
| name =Barun De
| image =
| caption =
| birth_date = 30 October 1932
| birth_place=[[Calcutta]], [[Bengal]]
| death_date = 16 July 2013 (aged 80)
| death_place = [[Calcutta]], [[West Bengal]]
| fields =[[History]]
| alma_mater ={{Plainlist|
*[[St. Xaviers Collegiate School]]
*[[Presidency College, Calcutta]]
*[[St Catherine's College, Oxford|St Catherine's Society, Oxford]]
*[[Nuffield College, Oxford]]
| Awards = Banga Samman Award, 2008-2009
}}
| notable_students = [[Sumit Sarkar]], [[Dipesh Chakrabarty]], [[Rudrangshu Mukherjee]]
}}

'''Barun De''' (বরুণ দে) (30 October 1932 – 16 July 2013) was an Indian historian and institution builder.

==Early life and education==
De, a member of a [[Kayastha]]-[[Brahmo]] family of Calcutta<ref name="telegraphindia">{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130718/jsp/calcutta/story_17126553.jsp |title=Historian Barun De dead |date=18 July 2013 |accessdate=2016-08-15}}</ref> was the son of [[Draft: Basanta Kumar De|Basanta Kumar De]]<ref name="frontline1">[http://www.frontline.in/other/obituary/historian-and-administrator/article4995294.ece "Historian and Administrator" - Aniruddha Ray] Retrieved 2015-03-03</ref><ref name="liveslessforgotten">[http://rajsaday.com/?p=1950 Lives Less Forgotten: Basanta Kumar De]</ref> and Pramila De (nee Gupta). His grandfather was [[Brajendranath De]], ICS.<ref name="vmh">[http://www.victoriamemorial-cal.org/official_info/victoria_newsletter_feb2014.pdf Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, 'Obituary' in the ''Victoria Memorial Newsletter'', 2014]</ref> He studied at [[St. Xavier's Collegiate School]], [[Calcutta]]. He completed his I.A. & B.A. (Honours) in History at [[Presidency College, Calcutta]], where he was a student of [[Susobhan Sarkar|Susobhan Chandra Sarkar]]. He was a Debate Secretary of the student's union of the college.

Later, De completed his B.A. (Honours School) at [[St. Catherine's College, Oxford|St. Catherine's Society, Oxford]], where his tutor was George Holmes. He completed his [[D.Phil.]] thesis on "Henry Dundas and the Government of India, 1784-1801" under the supervision of Colin Cuthbert Davies.<ref name="telegraphindia1">
{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130718/jsp/opinion/story_17126533.jsp#.vOvi_Tb9nIU |title=Clio's Disciple |first=Rudrangshu|last=Mukherjee |date=18 July 2013 |accessdate=2015-02-24}}</ref> on a Beit studentship at [[Nuffield College, Oxford]]. As the holder of this scholarship he taught students of the college. He was awarded the Curzon Memorial Prize for his essay "Macaulay and India". He was Secretary, Treasurer and President of the Oxford India Majlis.<ref name="thestatesman1">[http://www.thestatesman.com/news/6074-Historian-Barun-De-dead.html "Historian Barun De dead" - The Statesman, 18 July 2013] Retrieved 2015-03-05.</ref>

After returning from Oxford, he formed a lasting friendship with [[Saiyid Nurul Hasan]].<ref name="thetelegraphindia">{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150405/jsp/opinion/story_12677.jsp#.V7E5UjgkrIU |title=State of Abounding Grace |first=Gopal Krishna|last=Gandhi |date=2015 |accessdate=2016-08-15}}</ref>

==Career==
De held various positions at various times, including a senior professorship at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta,<ref name="timesofindia1"/> the founder-directorship of the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta and the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies,<ref name="telegraphindia1"/> a membership, held for three terms, of the [[Indian Council of Historical Research]], New Delhi, and the role of honorary state editor of the West Bengal District Gazetteers.<ref name="ihr1">[http://ihr.sagepub.com/content/41/1/147.full.pdf+html "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" - Sabyasachi Bhattacharya] Indian Historical Review. Retrieved 2015-03-15.</ref> He taught and worked abroad, among other places, at [[Duke University]] as a visiting [[associate professor]], the [[Indian Institute of Advanced Studies]], [[Shimla]], as a senior fellow,<ref name="thestatesman1"/> Fondation Maison des sciences de l'homme, [[Paris]] as a [[directeur]], [[University of Sydney]] and [[University of Milan]] as a visiting [[professor]], and the [[University of World Economy and Diplomacy]], [[Tashkent]] as the India Chair (in the rank of minister-counsellor) for three years, with attachment to the Indian Embassy of [[Uzbekistan]],.<ref name="businessstandard1">[http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/historian-barun-de-dies-at-80-113071700809_1.html "Historian Barun De dies at 80" - Business Standard] Retrieved 2015-03-06.</ref> He was secretary (1974-76), sectional president and general president (1988) of the Indian History Congress.<ref name="frontline1"/>

In 2004, he was appointed to a membership of the [[NCERT]] textbook review committee.<ref>[http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/arjun-singh-appoints-panel-to-review-ncert-textbooks/1/196584.html ''India Today'', 2004]</ref>
In his post-retirement years, he was chairman of the West Bengal State Archives, Calcutta,<ref name="businessstandard1"/> a vice president of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,<ref name="frontline1"/>
a member of the Board of Trustees of the Indian Museum, Calcutta,<ref name="frontline1"/> and a member of the Heritage Conservation Committee of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, in which capacity he was among several people who prepared a list of heritage buildings of West Bengal.<ref>[https://www.kmcgov.in/KMCPortal/downloads/Graded_List_of_Heritage_Buildings_Grade_I_IIA_IIB.pdf "Heritage Conservation Committee"] p. 3. Retrieved 2015-03-23</ref> ''[[The Times of India]]'' has described him as "a pioneer of the heritage movement of West Bengal",<ref name="timesofindia1">[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Historian-scholar-Barun-De-dies-at-80/articleshow/21156245.cms "The Times of India" - Staff Reporter] Retrieved 2015-02-27.</ref> From 2008-2011 he was honorary chairman (in the rank of minister-of-state) of the West Bengal Heritage Commission, of which he was a member from 2001–2008.<ref name="businessstandard1"/>

He was appointed as a Tagore National Fellow, which he held at the Victoria Memorial Hall, Calcutta.<ref name="victoriamemorialnewsletter1">[http://www.victoriamemorial-cal.org/official_info/victoria_newsletter_feb2014.pdf "Obituary" in the ''Victoria Memorial Newsletter'' - Sabyasachi Bhattacharya] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150226153443/http://www.victoriamemorial-cal.org/official_info/victoria_newsletter_feb2014.pdf |date=2015-02-26 }} Retrieved 2015-0317.</ref>

==Research==
De's research spanned from early- to late-modern periods of Indian history. In the earlier part of his career he wrote on Henry Dundas and the conquest of India, while later on he addressed the Marxist critique of the colonial context of the Bengal renaissance.<ref>[http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/a-great-conversationalist-intellectual/article4925060.ece "A Conversationalist Intellectual - Sugata Bose"] Retrieved 2015-03-27.</ref> He was also concerned with the national movement: his popular textbook book, ''Freedom Struggle'', co-authored with [[Bipan Chandra]] and Amalesh Tripathi,<ref name="telegraphindia1"/> was censored by the new Central government that came to power in India in 1977.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=4DlMSrtOGLIC&pg=PA272 "Censorship of Historical Thought: A World Guide" - Antoon de Baets] Retrieved 2015-02-21.</ref> It has been translated into Bengali by Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya.<ref>[http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article4385.html "Historian Barun De passes away - Panchanan Chattopadhyay"]. ''Mainstreamweekly''. Retrieved 2015-03-23.</ref> In 1975 he edited a thick volume in honour of Prof. Susobhan Sarkar in which he wrote the main essay on his teacher which reveals his preference for objectivity and critical analysis.<ref name="proceedingsoftheindianhistorycongress1">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/44156392?seq=2&loggedin=true#page_scan_tab_contents Irfan Habib, "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" in ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', Volume 73, 2012, p. 1554]</ref> He was the editor of 24 Parganas and Darjeeling ''District Gazetteers''.<ref name="districtgazetteers">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/44156392?loggedin=true&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Irfan Habib, "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" in ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', Volume 73, 2012, pp. 1553-1555]</ref> He contributed to the editing of the Jalpaiguri District Gazetteers.<ref name="districtgazetteers1">[https://books.google.com/books?id=UfToffd1KxMC&pg=PA201&lpg=PA201&dq=Barun+De,+Jalpaiguri+district+gazetteers&source=bl&ots=LCjhrE6fY2&sig=Rw9AXjtY445QnVTRA6XHXnuaZpU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjWy5HlxfzaAhXIqo8KHROuAZMQ6AEIQzAF#v=onepage&q=Barun%20De%2C%20Jalpaiguri%20district%20gazetteers&f=false Abani Mohan Kusari, West Bengal District GazetteersL Jalpaiguri, Gazetteer of India, Calcutta, Barun De, Honorary State Editor, West Bengal District Gazetteers, Calcutta, 1981 in Michael Lampert, Discipline and Debate: The Language of Violence in Tibetan Buddhist Monastery, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012].</ref>

==Views==
De was well known for his criticism of the emergency of 1975–77.<ref name="proceedingsoftheindianhistorycongress">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/44156392?seq=1&loggedin=true#page_scan_tab_contents Irfan Habib, "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" in ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', Vol. 73, 2012, p. 1554]</ref>

==Awards==
*D.Litt. (''Honouris Causa''), North Bengal University, 2000.<ref name="jagranjosh">[http://www.jagranjosh.com/current-affairs/barun-de-the-renowned-historian-and-academician-passed-away-at-80-1377577861-1 Akanksha Sharma, 'Barun De, The Renowned Historian and Academician Passed Away at 80' in ''Jagran Josh'', 17 July 2013]</ref>

*Banga Samman, 2008-09

==Death and legacy==

De died due to [[renal failure]] in [[Kolkata]] on 16 July 2013 aged 80.<ref name="timesofindia1" /><ref name="HT20130718">{{cite news|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/kolkata/Historian-Barun-De-passes-away/Article-1094187.aspx |date=18 July 2013 |title=Historian Barun De passes away |publisher=Hindustan Times |accessdate=4 October 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131010131755/http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/kolkata/Historian-Barun-De-passes-away/Article-1094187.aspx |archivedate=10 October 2013 }}</ref>

The Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Calcutta has instituted a Barun De Memorial Lecture.<ref>[http://makaias.gov.in/Programme_BarunDe_Memorial_Lecture1.pdf Barun De Memorial Lecture] Retrieved 2015-02-27.</ref> Barun De Auditorium of Jadunath Bhavan Museum and Resource Centre, the museum of the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, is named after him.<ref name="jadunathbhavan">[http://jbmrc.cssscal.org/remembering-professor-barun-de/ Barun De Auditorium, CSSSC]</ref>

==Publications==

*''Secularism at Bay: Uzbekistan at the Turn of the Century'' (New Delhi, 2006)<ref>[https://books.google.com/books/about/Secularism_at_Bay.html?id=TjE74t1I9NsC&redir_esc=y "Secularism at Bay: Uzbekistan at the Turn of the Century" - Barun De] Retrieved 2015-02-17.</ref>
*(ed.) ''State, Development and Political Culture: Bangladesh and India'', (New Delhi, 1997) (co-edited with Ranabir Samaddar)
*(ed.) ''Mukti Sangrame Banglar Chatra-Samaj'' (''Students of Bengal in the Struggle of Liberation'') (in Bengali), (Calcutta: Paschim Banga Itihas Samsad, 1992)
*(ed.) ''West Bengal District Gazetteers, 24 Parganas'', (Calcutta, 1983)
*(ed.) ''West Bengal District Gazetteers, Jalpaiguri'', (Calcutta, 1981) (co-edited with Abani Mohan Kusari).
*(ed.) ''West Bengal District Gazetteers, Darjeeling'', (Calcutta, 1980)
*''The Dialectics Between Response to Exogenous and Autochthonous Innovation in India in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, with Special Reference to Modern Bengal'', (Tokyo: United Nations University, 1979)<ref name="unu">[https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/1713550 The Dialectics Between Response to Exogenous and Autochthonous Innovation in India in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, with Special Reference to Modern Bengal - Barun De] Retrieved 2018-01-12.</ref>
*(ed.) ''Perspectives in Social Sciences, 1: Historical Dimensions'' (New Delhi, 1977)<ref name="perspectivesinsocialscienceihistoricaldimensions">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/2055079?seq=1 David L.Curley (reviewer), ''Perspectives in Social Sciences I: Historical Dimension'', in ''The Journal of Asian Studies'', Vol. 40, No. 1, (Nov. 1980), pp. 158–60]</ref><ref name="perspectivesinsocialscienceshistoricaldimensions1">[https://books.google.com/books?id=GHxJDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT234&lpg=PT234&dq=Barun+De&source=bl&ots=X75XMnufBq&sig=zpY72FIOO7UfU3rH8I71SAT1GPc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi1qJrP29vZAhXHPo8KHZP4DMM4FBDoAQhDMAg#v=onepage&q=Barun%20De&f=false Chandak Sengoopta, ''The Rays before Satyajit: Creativity and Modernity in Colonial India'', (New Delhi, Oxford, 2016)]</ref>
* "A Biographical Perspective on the Political and Economic Ideas of Rammohun Ray", in V.C.Joshi, (ed.), ''Rammohun Roy and the Process of Modernisation in India'', New Delhi, 1975<ref name="indianpoliticalthought">[https://books.google.com/books?id=yP59iDghcIkC&pg=PA68&lpg=PA68&dq=Barun+De&source=bl&ots=JEIKcyzgDB&sig=bHJMaKGdoWOXXD6JRAzKMD9DZLY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiKyazs3tvZAhUUTo8KHXDCCMM4HhDoAQg1MAQ#v=onepage&q=Barun%20De&f=false Amiya P. Sen, "Rammohan Roy", in Mahendra Prasad Singh and Himanshu Roy, ''Indian Political Thought: Themes and Thinkers'', (Delhi, Pearson, 2011), p. 68]</ref>
*(ed.) ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', (Calcutta: Jadavpur Session, 1974)
*(ed.) ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', (Aligarh: Aligarh Session, 1975)
*(et al. eds.) ''Essays in Honour of Professor Sushobhan Chandra Sarkar'' (New Delhi, 1975)<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=xJgDawlnknwC&pg=PA190 "Peasant Labour and Colonial Capital: Rural Bengal since 1770" - Sugata Bose] 2015-02-19.</ref>
*''Freedom Struggle'' (New Delhi, 1972), (co-authored with [[Bipan Chandra]] and Amalesh Tripathi)<ref>[https://www.amazon.in/Freedom-Struggle-Bipan-Chandra/dp/8123702493 "Freedom Struggle" - Bipan Chandra, Amalesh Tripathi and Barun De] Retrieved 2015-02-18.</ref>

== See also ==
*[[NCERT textbook controversies]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.cssscal.org/ Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta]
*[http://www.makaias.gov.in/ Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Calcutta]
*[http://rajsaday.com/?p=1958 Lives Less Forgotten: Barun De]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:De, Barun}}
[[Category:1932 births]]
[[Category:2013 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian historians]]
[[Category:Alumni of Nuffield College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Alumni of St Catherine's College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Bengali historians]]
[[Category:Brahmos]]
[[Category:Deaths from kidney failure]]
[[Category:Economic historians]]
[[Category:Historians of South Asia]]
[[Category:Indian civil servants]]
[[Category:Indian Marxist historians]]
[[Category:Indian Institute of Management Calcutta faculty]]
[[Category:Indian political writers]]
[[Category:Indian institute directors]]
[[Category:Presidency University, Kolkata alumni]]
[[Category:Scientists from Kolkata]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta faculty]]

Brajendranath De

2021-12-30T17:55:43Z

2402:3A80:1CD6:126B:778:5634:1232:5476: /* Early life and education */

{{more citations needed|date=September 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Brajendranath De
| 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 De (nee Bose) 
}}

'''Brajendranath De''' (ব্রজেন্দ্রনাথ দে) (23 December 1852 – 20 September 1932) 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==
De, a member of a Kayastha-Brahmo family of Calcutta, was born to Durgadas De, an early student of Hindu College, Calcutta (later renamed [[Presidency University]]). He studied at [[Hare School]], [[Calcutta]], and then Canning Collegiate School and [[Lucknow University|Canning College, Lucknow]].<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, where he joined University College, London to appear in the Open Competitive Services examination. He joined the [[Indian Civil Service]] in 1873,<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> becoming 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), ... 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>[http://hosted.law.wisc.edu/wordpress/sharafi/files/2010/07/Middle-2.0.pdf University of Wisconsin Law Library]{{Dead link|date=June 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> He was admitted to [[St. Mary Hall, Oxford]], where he spent one year, from 1874-1875, on a [[Boden Sanskrit Scholarship]].<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 fifth daughter was the social reformer, [[Saroj Nalini Dutt]],<ref name="womenofindia"/> and his sixth son-in-law was Lieutenant Colonel Jyotish Chandra De,<ref name="livesless forgotten">[http://rajsaday.com/?p=2089 Lives Less Forgotten: Lieutenant Colonel Jyotish Chandra De]</ref> who was a member of the [[Indian Medical Service]]. His third son, [[Draft: Basanta Kumar De|Basanta Kumar De]], was a senior officer of the [[Bengal Nagpur Railway|BNR]], whose son was the historian, [[Barun De]].

==Career==
===Administrative===
He took up his first posting in the civil service as assistant magistrate and collector of Arrah, Behar in 1875. 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 |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>

During the centenary celebration of his birth anniversary in 1952, his son, [[Draft:Basanta Kumar De|Basanta Kumar De]], 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 his grandson, [[Barun De]],<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> 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|colwidth=30em}}

==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 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

2021-12-30T17:49:47Z

2402:3A80:1CD6:126B:778:5634:1232:5476: /* Legacy */Dubious footnote deleted.

{{more citations needed|date=September 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Brajendranath De
| 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 De (nee Bose) 
}}

'''Brajendranath De''' (ব্রজেন্দ্রনাথ দে) (23 December 1852 – 20 September 1932) 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==
De, a member of a Kayastha-Brahmo family of Calcutta, was born to Durgadas De, an early student of Hindu College, Calcutta (later renamed[[Presidency University]]). He studied at [[Hare School]], [[Calcutta]], and then Canning Collegiate School and [[Lucknow University|Canning College, Lucknow]].<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, where he joined University College, London to appear in the Open Competitive Services examination. He joined the [[Indian Civil Service]] in 1873,<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> becoming 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), ... 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>[http://hosted.law.wisc.edu/wordpress/sharafi/files/2010/07/Middle-2.0.pdf University of Wisconsin Law Library]{{Dead link|date=June 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> He was admitted to [[St. Mary Hall, Oxford]], where he spent one year, from 1874-1875, on a [[Boden Sanskrit Scholarship]].<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 fifth daughter was the social reformer, [[Saroj Nalini Dutt]],<ref name="womenofindia"/> and his sixth son-in-law was Jyotish Chandra De,<ref name="livesless forgotten">[http://rajsaday.com/?p=2089 Lives Less Forgotten: Lieutenant Colonel Jyotish Chandra De]</ref> who was a member of the [[Indian Medical Service]]. His third son, [[Draft: Basanta Kumar De|Basanta Kumar De]], was a senior officer of the [[Bengal Nagpur Railway|BNR]], whose son was the historian, [[Barun De]].

==Career==
===Administrative===
He took up his first posting in the civil service as assistant magistrate and collector of Arrah, Behar in 1875. 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 |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>

During the centenary celebration of his birth anniversary in 1952, his son, [[Draft:Basanta Kumar De|Basanta Kumar De]], 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 his grandson, [[Barun De]],<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> 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|colwidth=30em}}

==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 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

2021-12-30T17:37:19Z

2402:3A80:1CD6:126B:778:5634:1232:5476: /* Administrative */Editing the text to make it shorter.

{{more citations needed|date=September 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Brajendranath De
| 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 De (nee Bose) 
}}

'''Brajendranath De''' (ব্রজেন্দ্রনাথ দে) (23 December 1852 – 20 September 1932) 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==
De, a member of a Kayastha-Brahmo family of Calcutta, was born to Durgadas De, an early student of Hindu College, Calcutta (later renamed[[Presidency University]]). He studied at [[Hare School]], [[Calcutta]], and then Canning Collegiate School and [[Lucknow University|Canning College, Lucknow]].<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, where he joined University College, London to appear in the Open Competitive Services examination. He joined the [[Indian Civil Service]] in 1873,<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> becoming 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), ... 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>[http://hosted.law.wisc.edu/wordpress/sharafi/files/2010/07/Middle-2.0.pdf University of Wisconsin Law Library]{{Dead link|date=June 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> He was admitted to [[St. Mary Hall, Oxford]], where he spent one year, from 1874-1875, on a [[Boden Sanskrit Scholarship]].<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 fifth daughter was the social reformer, [[Saroj Nalini Dutt]],<ref name="womenofindia"/> and his sixth son-in-law was Jyotish Chandra De,<ref name="livesless forgotten">[http://rajsaday.com/?p=2089 Lives Less Forgotten: Lieutenant Colonel Jyotish Chandra De]</ref> who was a member of the [[Indian Medical Service]]. His third son, [[Draft: Basanta Kumar De|Basanta Kumar De]], was a senior officer of the [[Bengal Nagpur Railway|BNR]], whose son was the historian, [[Barun De]].

==Career==
===Administrative===
He took up his first posting in the civil service as assistant magistrate and collector of Arrah, Behar in 1875. 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 |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 son, [[Draft:Basanta Kumar De|Basanta Kumar De]], 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 his grandson, [[Barun De]],<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|colwidth=30em}}

==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 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

2021-12-30T17:32:30Z

2402:3A80:1CD6:126B:778:5634:1232:5476: /* Early life and education */

{{more citations needed|date=September 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Brajendranath De
| 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 De (nee Bose) 
}}

'''Brajendranath De''' (ব্রজেন্দ্রনাথ দে) (23 December 1852 – 20 September 1932) 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==
De, a member of a Kayastha-Brahmo family of Calcutta, was born to Durgadas De, an early student of Hindu College, Calcutta (later renamed[[Presidency University]]). He studied at [[Hare School]], [[Calcutta]], and then Canning Collegiate School and [[Lucknow University|Canning College, Lucknow]].<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, where he joined University College, London to appear in the Open Competitive Services examination. He joined the [[Indian Civil Service]] in 1873,<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> becoming 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), ... 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>[http://hosted.law.wisc.edu/wordpress/sharafi/files/2010/07/Middle-2.0.pdf University of Wisconsin Law Library]{{Dead link|date=June 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> He was admitted to [[St. Mary Hall, Oxford]], where he spent one year, from 1874-1875, on a [[Boden Sanskrit Scholarship]].<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 fifth daughter was the social reformer, [[Saroj Nalini Dutt]],<ref name="womenofindia"/> and his sixth son-in-law was Jyotish Chandra De,<ref name="livesless forgotten">[http://rajsaday.com/?p=2089 Lives Less Forgotten: Lieutenant Colonel Jyotish Chandra De]</ref> who was a member of the [[Indian Medical Service]]. His third son, [[Draft: Basanta Kumar De|Basanta Kumar De]], was a senior officer of the [[Bengal Nagpur Railway|BNR]], whose son was the historian, [[Barun De]].

==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 |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 son, [[Draft:Basanta Kumar De|Basanta Kumar De]], 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 his grandson, [[Barun De]],<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|colwidth=30em}}

==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 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]]

Brahmo

2021-12-29T09:08:17Z

2402:3A80:1CD6:126B:778:5634:1232:5476: /* Dey */

{{short description|Elite Bengali social class}}
{{distinguish|text=[[Brahma]] – the Hindu god, [[Brahmana]] – a layer of text in the Vedas, [[Brahmanism]] – the religion, or [[Brahmin]] – the caste ('varna')}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{self-published|date=April 2011}}
{{Prose|date=June 2020}}
{{more citations needed|date=December 2017}}
}}
Bengali '''Brahmos''' are those who adhere to [[Brahmoism]], the philosophy of [[Brahmo Samaj]] which was founded by [[Raja Rammohan Roy]]. A recent publication describes the disproportionate influence of Brahmos on India's development post-19th Century as unparalleled in recent times.<ref>{{cite book|last=Roy|first=Samaren|title=Calcutta: Society and Change 1690–1990|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y-W6TjM2n1AC|year=2005|publisher=iUniverse|isbn=978-0-595-79000-5|postscript=: Fair use of extract vide section 52(1)(f) of ''Indian Copyright Act, 1957''}}</ref>

== Brahmo Samaj ==
;When is a Brahmo not a Brahmo Samajist?
One aspect of [[Brahmoism]] is recognition that not only explicit faith and worship makes for a Brahmo, but also genealogy, which is implicit. People with even a single Brahmo parent or a Brahmo guardian are treated as Brahmos until they absolutely renounce the Brahmo faith. This often causes tension within the Samaj, for example, when an offspring of a Brahmo follows [[communism]] or [[atheism]] or another religious belief without renouncing Brahmoism formally. There are differing views between the [[Theist]] and [[Deist]] streams of Brahmoism on the retention of such people within the fold. Additionally, a Brahmo who opts not to subscribe to membership of a Brahmo Samaj remains a Brahmo but ceases to be a Brahmo Samajist.<ref>{{cite web | title=DELHI BRAHMO SAMAJ | website=brahmo.org | url=http://brahmo.org/delhi-brahmo-samaj.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101229093419/http://brahmo.org/delhi-brahmo-samaj.html | archive-date=2010-12-29 | url-status=dead | access-date=2019-09-23}}</ref>

== People associated with Brahmo Samaj ==

=== Banerjee ===
*[[Sasipada Banerji]] (1840–1924), Social reformer.
**[[Albion Rajkumar Banerjee|Sir Albion Rajkumar Banerjee]], [[Order of the Star of India|CSI]], [[Order of the Indian Empire|CIE]] (1871–1950), [[Diwan (title)|Diwan]] of [[Cochin]].

*[[Amiya Charan Banerjee]] (1891–1968), Vice Chancellor of [[Allahabad University]].
*Probha Banerji, first lady magistrate of India.
**Kalyan Banerji, Deputy Managing Director of the State Bank of India.
**[[Milon K. Banerji]] (1928–2010), Attorney General of India.
***[[Gourab Banerji]], Additional Solicitor General of India.

=== Chakrabarty ===
*[[Nikhil Chakravarty]], Founder-Editor, Mainstream Weekly.<ref name="mainstreamweekly">{{Cite web|url=http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/|title=Mainstream Weekly|website=www.mainstreamweekly.net}}</ref>
**Sumit Chakravarty, Editor, Mainstream Weekly.
*Uma Shehanobis (née Chakrabarty), Principal, [[Patha Bhavan, Kolkata|Patha Bhavan, Calcutta]].

=== Chattopadhayay ===
*[[Aghorenath Chattopadhyay]], Principal, Nizam's College, Hyderabad.
**[[Sarojini Naidu]] (1879–1949), Politician.
***[[Padmaja Naidu]] (1900–1975), Governor of West Bengal.
***[[Leela Naidu]] (1940–2009), Artist.
**[[Suhasini Chattopadhyay]], Indian freedom fighter.
**[[Virendranath Chattopadhyaya]] (1880–1937), Indian nationalist.
**[[Harindranath Chattopadhyaya]] (1898–1990), [[Padma Bhushan]], Member of Parliament, [[Vijayawada]].
**[[Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya]], [[Padma Vibhushan]], Social reformer.
***[[Krishna Chattopadhyay]] (1935–2009), Singer.

=== Bose ===
*[[Rajnarayan Basu]], Writer and intellectual of the [[Bengal Renaissance]].
**Krishnadhan Ghosh (son-in-law of Rajnarayan Basu), Civil Surgeon, Pabna, Bengal.
***[[Aurobindo Ghosh|Sri Aurobindo]], Indian nationalist; vice principal of [[Baroda College]].
*[[Girindrasekhar Bose]], Psychoanalyst.

[[File:Jagadish Chandra Bose 1926.jpg|thumb|Jagadish Chandra Bose]]
*[[Jagadish Chandra Bose|Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose]] (1858–1937), Polymath who was Professor of Physics, Presidency College, Calcutta.
*[[Abala Bose|Lady Abala Bose]] (1864–1951), Social reformer who founded the Nari Sikhshya Samities.
**[[Debendra Mohan Bose]] (1887–1975) (Sir J.C. Bose was his maternal uncle), [[Director (education)|Director]], Bose Institute, Calcutta
*[[Anandamohan Bose]] (1847–1906) (brother-in-law of Sir J.C. Bose and paternal uncle of D.M. Bose), Co-founder of [[Indian National Association]]; first Indian Wrangler at Cambridge University.

*[[Rajsekhar Bose]] (1880–1960), Author
*[[Girindrasekhar Bose]] (1887–1953), Psychiatrist.

=== Das ===
[[File:Portrait of Chittaranjan Das.JPG|thumb|Chittaranjan Das]]
*Bhuban Mohan Das
**[[Chittaranjan Das]], [[Mayor]] of Calcutta.
**[[Basanti Devi]], [[Padma Vibhushan]], Social reformer.
***[[Siddhartha Shankar Ray]] (grandson), Chief Minister of West Bengal.
***Justice Manjula Bose (granddaughter), Judge of the High Court of Calcutta.
***[[Jaidip Mukherjea]] (grandson) (1942-), Sportsman.
*[[Durga Mohan Das]] (1841–1897), Social reformer.
**[[Satish Ranjan Das]] (1870–1928), Law Member of the Viceroy's Executive Council; founder of [[Doon School]].
***[[Shomie Ranjan Das]] (1935-), Headmaster of [[Doon School]], [[Mayo College]] and [[Lawrence School, Sanawar]].
*Rakhal Chandra Das
**[[Sudhi Ranjan Das]], 5th Chief Justice of India.
***[[Group Captain]] [[Suranjan Das]]
***Anjana Sen (née Das)
***[[Ashoke Kumar Sen]], Law Minister of India.

[[File:Jibanananda Das (1899–1954).jpg|thumb|Jibanananda Das]]
*[[Kusumkumari Das]], Social Worker.
**[[Jibanananda Das]], Poet.
***[[Chidananda Dasgupta]], Filmmaker.

*[[Beni Madhab Das]] (1866–1952), Social reformer.
**[[Bina Das]] (1911–1986), Member, West Bengal Legislative Assembly, 1947–51.

*Arun Kumar Das, FRCS (Eng. & Edin.) (1924–2015), Orthopedist; Professor, NRS Medical College and Hospital, Calcutta.
*Nandita Dutta (1935–2007), Founder-Principal, [[Patha Bhavan, Kolkata|Patha Bhavan, Calcutta]].

=== Dey ===
[[File:Saroj Nalini Dutt photo.jpg|thumb|Saroj Nalini Dutt]]
*[[Brajendranath De]]y, [[Esq.]], [[Indian Civil Service|ICS]] (1852–1932), Bar-at-Law, Commissioner (Actg.) of Burdwan.
**[[Saroj Nalini Dutt]] (née Dey), [[Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire|M.B.E.]], (1887–1925), Social reformer.
**Hemanta Kumar Dey, Esq., Bar-at-Law, Presidency Magistrate, Calcutta.
**Lieutenant Colonel Jyotish Chandra Dey, (son-in-law), [[Indian Medical Service|I.M.S.]], 2nd Indian Principal of [[Calcutta Medical College]].
**Major (Hon.) [[Basanta Kumar De|Basanta Kumar Dey]] (1897–1975), 2nd Indian Commercial Traffic Manager, [[Bengal Nagpur Railway]].
***[[Professor]] [[Barun De]]y (1932–2013), Chairman, West Bengal Heritage Commission.

=== Dutta ===
[[File:Romesh Chunder Dutt photo.jpg|thumb|Romesh Chunder Dutt]]
*[[Romesh Chunder Dutt|Romesh Chandra Dutta]] (1848–1908), [[C.I.E.]], Dewan of [[Baroda]].
**Jnanendranath Gupta, [[Esq.]], ICS (son-in-law of R.C. Dutt), Commissioner of Chittagong.
***Sudhindranath Gupta, [[Esq.]], 1st Indian Commercial Traffic Manager, Bengal Nagpur Railway.

*[[Akshay Kumar Datta]] (1820–1886), Poet.
**[[Satyendranath Dutta]] (1882–1922), Poet.

=== Ganguly ===
*[[Dwarkanath Ganguly]] (1844–1898), Social reformer.
*[[Kadambini Ganguly]] (1861–1923), First female medical graduate in South Asia.

=== Goswami ===
*[[Bijoy Krishna Goswami]] (1841–1899), Social reformer, Brahmo Acharya

=== Gupta ===
*[[Behari Lal Gupta]], [[Indian Civil Service|ICS]], (1849–1916), Dewan of [[Baroda]].
**Satish Gupta, [[Indian Audit and Accounts Service|IAAS]].
***Ranajit Gupta, [[Indian Civil Service|ICS]], Chief Secretary, West Bengal.
***[[Indrajit Gupta]] (1919–2001), Home Minister of India (1996–98).
****[[Sunanda K. Datta-Ray]] (1937-), Journalist.

*[[Sir]] [[Krishna Govinda Gupta]], [[Indian Civil Service|ICS]], Member of the Secretary of States Council in London.
**[[Atul Prasad Sen]], [[Barrister-at-Law]], Lawyer, composer and singer.

=== Mahalanobis ===
*Gurucharan Mahalanobis, President and Treasurer of [[Brahmo Samaj]].
*Subodh Chandra Mahalanobis, Founder of the Physiology Department of [[Presidency College, Calcutta]]; 1st Indian Head of Department of Physiology, [[University of Cardiff]].
*Prabodh Chandra Mahalanobis.
**[[Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis]], F.R.S., pioneer statistician and teacher of statistics, Member, 1st Planning Commission of India.

=== Mitra ===
*[[Braja Sundar Mitra]], Excise Collector, Calcutta.
***[[Deba Prasad Mitra]] (1902–1978), Pathologist.

*[[Peary Chand Mitra]] (1814–1883), Deputy Librarian, Calcutta Public Library.
*[[Kishori Chand Mitra]] (1822–1873), Police Magistrate.

=== Moitra ===
*Anupam Chandra Moitra, Geologist.
**Anil Kumar Moitra, Indian Iron and Steel Company Ltd.

=== Mukherjee ===
[[File:SubrotoMukherjee.jpg|thumb|Subroto Mukherjee]]
*[[Nibaran Chandra Mukherjee]], Social reformer.
**[[Satish Chandra Mukherjee]] (1865–1948), Educationist.
***[[Renuka Ray]] (née Mukherjee) (1904–1997), Politician.
***[[Subroto Mukerjee]] (1911–1960), First [[Chief of Air Staff (India)|Chief of Air Staff]] of the [[Indian Air Force]].
***Prasanta Mukherjee, Chairman, Railway Board.

===Nag Chaudhuri===
*[[Basanti Dulal Nag Chaudhuri]], Physicist; Vice Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

=== Pal ===
*[[Bipin Chandra Pal]] (1858–1932), Indian nationalist leader.
**[[Niranjan Pal]] (1889–1959), Playwright, screenwriter and director.
***[[Colin Pal]] (1923–2005), Film director.
****[[Deep Pal]] (1953-), Cinematographer.
**[[S. K. Dey]] (son-in-law), [[Indian Civil Service|ICS]], Union Minister for Panchayati Raj.

=== Palchaudhuri ===
*Ila Palchaudhuri, Member of Parliament, [[Nabadwip]], 1957.
**Amitabha Palchaudhuri, Chairman, Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BNCCI).
**Anik Palchaudhuri, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Gulma Mohorgong Tea Estate.

=== Ray/Roy ===
[[File:Satyajit Ray.jpg|thumb|Satyajit Ray]]
*Saradaranjan Ray, Principal, Metropolitan Institution (later [[Vidyasagar College]])
*[[Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury]] (1863–1915), Scholar and entrepreneur.
**[[Sukumar Ray]] (1887–1923), Writer.
***[[Satyajit Ray]] (1921–1992), Film-maker, Bharat Ratna and Oscar Award for Lifetime Achievement (1992)
***[[Bijoya Ray]] (1917–2015),
****[[Sandip Ray]] (1953-), Film-maker.
*Pramadaranjan Ray, Office of the Surveyor General of India
**[[Leela Majumdar]] (1908–2007), Author.

*Pratap Chandra Roy
**[[Bidhan Chandra Roy]], 2nd Chief Minister of West Bengal.
***[[Subimal Roy]], Judge of the Supreme Court of India.

*[[Prasanna Kumar Roy]] (1849–1932), Educationist.
*[[Sarala Roy]] (1859–1946), Educationist.
**[[Charulata Mukherjee]] (née Roy), Social reformer.

=== Sanyal ===
*[[Trailokyanath Sanyal]] (1848–1950), Social reformer.
**[[Aruna Asaf Ali]] (née Ganguly), Indian freedom fighter and prominent leader of the [[Quit India Movement]].
**[[Purnima Banerjee|Purmina Banerjee (née Ganguly)]], Member, [[Indian Constituent Assembly]].

=== Sarkar ===
*[[Susobhan Sarkar]] (1900–1982), Professor of History, [[Presidency College, Calcutta]].
**[[Sumit Sarkar]] (1939-), Professor of History, [[Delhi University]].

=== Sen ===
*[[Bhupati Mohan Sen]], [[Wrangler (University of Cambridge)|Wrangler]], [[Smith's Prize|Smith's Prize-man]], 2nd Indian [[Principal (academia)|Principal]] of [[Presidency College, Calcutta]], (son-in-law of [[Nilratan Sircar|Sir Nilratan Sircar]])
**Monishi Mohan Sen (1920-2019), ICS Officer
**Subrata Kumar Sen (1924–2016), [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT Graduate]], Electrical Engineering

Sen family<ref name="indianprincelystates">{{Cite web|url=http://members.iinet.net.au/~royalty/ips/families/sen.html|title=SEN FAMILY|website=members.iinet.net.au|access-date=2017-03-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190323063926/http://members.iinet.net.au/~royalty/ips/families/sen.html|archive-date=2019-03-23|url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[File:Keshab Chandra Sen.png|thumb|Keshab Chandra Sen]]
*[[Keshub Chandra Sen]] (1838–1884), Religious reformer & founder of the Nababidhan Brahmo Samaj.
**[[Suniti Devi]] (1864–1932), Maharani of Coochbehar & founder of Sammilan Brahmo Samaj.
**[[Sucharu Devi]] (1874–1961), Maharani of Mayurbhanj.
**Saral Chandra Sen, Bar-at-Law
***Sunit Chandra Sen, Collector, Calcutta Municipal Corporation.
***[[Benita Roy]], Politician.
***[[Sadhana Bose]], Artist.
***[[Naina Devi (singer)|Nilina Singh]], Singer.
***Pradip Chandra Sen, Deputy Managing Director, Mackinnon Mackenzie.
**[[Pramathalal Sen]] (1866–1930) (nephew of Keshub Chandra Sen), Social reformer.
**[[Benoyendranath Sen]] (1868–1913) (nephew of Keshub Chandra Sen), Social reformer and leader of the New Dispensation.

* Abhijit Sen, Proprietor, Sen and Pandit Co. Ltd.

[[File:Amartya Sen NIH.jpg|thumb|Amartya Kumar Sen]]
*[[Kshitimohan Sen]] (1880–1960), 2nd [[Vice Chancellor]] of [[Visva Bharati]], [[Santiniketan]].
**Ashutosh Sen (son-in-law), Chairman, West Bengal Public Service Commission.
***[[Amartya Sen]] (1933-), 1st Asian [[Master (college)|Master]] of [[Trinity College, Cambridge]]; [[Nobel Laureate]] in Economics.

*[[Barrister]] Kumud Nath Sen
**P.K. Sengupta, Income Tax Commissioner.
**K.P. Sen, Post-Master General, Eastern India.
**[[Malati Choudhury]] (née Sen), Social Worker.

*Nitish Chandra Sen, Mayor of Calcutta.
*[[Kamini Roy]] (née Sen) (1864–1933), Social reformer and poet.

=== Sinha ===
[[Baron Sinha]] family

*[[Satyendra Prasanno Sinha, 1st Baron Sinha]] (1863–1923), Politician.
**Rt. Honourable Sushil Kumar Sinha, [[Indian Civil Service|ICS]].
**[[Romola Sinha]] (1913–2010), Social reformer.
**[[Major]] N.P. Sen, [[Indian Medical Service|IMS]].
***[[Mohit Sen]] (grandson) (1929–2003), Politician.

=== Tagore ===
[[Tagore family]]<ref name="freepages">{{Cite web|url=http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~princelystates/states/t/tagore.html|title=Tagore Family}}</ref>
[[File:Rabindranath Tagore unknown location.jpg|thumb|Rabindranath Tagore]]
*[[Debendranath Tagore]] (1817–1905), Social reformer.
**[[Satyendranath Tagore]] (1842–1923), First Indian [[Indian Civil Service|ICS]] officer, (1863).
**[[Jnanadanandini Devi]] (1850–1941), Social reformer.
***[[Indira Devi Chaudhurani]], [[Vice Chancellor|Upacharya]], [[Visva Bharati]], [[Santiniketan]].
***[[Surendranath Tagore]], Author.
****Subirendranath Tagore
*****Supriyo Tagore, Principal, [[Patha Bhavana]], [[Santiniketan]].
**[[Hemendranath Tagore]] (1844–1884), Religious savant, founder of [[Adi Dharm]] development of Brahmoism.
**[[Rabindranath Tagore]] (1861–1941), [[Bengali people|Bengali]] poet and [[Nobel laureate]] in Literature
*[[Swarnakumari Devi]] (1855–1932), Noted Bengali poet, novelist, musician and social worker.

=== Others ===
*[[Sir]] [[Nilratan Sircar]](1861–1943), famous doctor, swadeshi entrepreneur, educationist, philanthropist, Vice-Chancellor of [[Calcutta University]]
* Heramba Chandra Maitra, famous educationist after whom [[Heramba Chandra College]] is named
*[[Sir]] [[Nalini Ranjan Chatterjee]], Judge of the High Court of Calcutta.
*[[Kalinath Bose]], first Indian Superintendent of Police.
*[[Uma Bose]] (1921–1942), Singer.
*Kiran Chandra De, [[Indian Civil Service|ICS]], [[Commissioner]], [[Chittagong]].
*[[Sib Chandra Deb]], Deputy Collector in Bengal.
*[[Umesh Chandra Dutta]], Founder of the Harinavi Brahmo Samaj.
*[[Sucheta Kriplani]], First woman Chief Minister of an Indian State.
*[[Subrata Mitra]] (1931–2001), [[Padma Shri]], Cameraman; Emeritus Professor, [[Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute]], Calcutta.
*[[Sir]] Brojendra Lal Mitter, Advocate General of Bengal.
*[[Harish Chandra Mukherjee]], Journalist.
*[[Girish Chandra Sen]], Translated the [[Quran]] into Bengali.
*[[Sir]] Nripendra Nath Sircar, Advocate General of Bengal.
*Shree [[Suresh Chandra Roy]], Padma Bhushan, Sheriff of Calcutta (1957, 1958).
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20200622013516/http://www.thebrahmosamaj.net/founders/sivnath.html] Sivnath Shastri (1847-1919), Poet and Social Reformer

== See also ==
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Brahmo Dharma]]
* [[History of Bengal]]
* [[Indian National Congress]]
* [[Kayastha]]
* [[Prarthana Samaj]]
* [[Tattwabodhini Patrika]]
* [[Trust deed of Brahmo Sabha]]
* [[Vaishya]]
{{div col end}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20091104073944/http://www.brahmo.org/ brahmo.org]
* [http://www.brahmosamaj.org/ brahmosamaj.org]

[[Category:Bengal Renaissance]]
[[Category:Brahmoism]]
[[Category:Brahmos]]
[[Category:Religious organisations based in India]]

Barun De

2021-12-28T22:51:31Z

2402:3A80:1CD6:126B:778:5634:1232:5476: /* Early life and education */

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2018}}
{{About|the historian|the pathologist|Barun K. De}}
{{refimprove|date=August 2013}}

{{Infobox scientist
| name =Barun De
| image =
| caption =
| birth_date = 30 October 1932
| birth_place=[[Calcutta]], [[Bengal]]
| death_date = 16 July 2013 (aged 80)
| death_place = [[Calcutta]], [[West Bengal]]
| fields =[[History]]
| alma_mater ={{Plainlist|
*[[St. Xaviers Collegiate School]]
*[[Presidency College, Calcutta]]
*[[St Catherine's College, Oxford|St Catherine's Society, Oxford]]
*[[Nuffield College, Oxford]]
| Awards = Banga Samman Award, 2008-2009
}}
| notable_students = [[Sumit Sarkar]], [[Dipesh Chakrabarty]], [[Rudrangshu Mukherjee]]
}}

'''Barun De''' (বরুণ দে) (30 October 1932 – 16 July 2013) was an Indian historian. He served as the first professor of social and economic history of the [[Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta]], founder-director of the [[Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta]] and the [[Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies]], Kolkata and as the honorary state editor for the West Bengal District Gazetteers. He was chairman of the West Bengal Heritage Commission.

==Early life and education==
De, a member of a [[Kayastha]]-[[Brahmo]] family of Calcutta<ref name="telegraphindia">{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130718/jsp/calcutta/story_17126553.jsp |title=Historian Barun De dead |date=18 July 2013 |accessdate=2016-08-15}}</ref> was the son of [[Draft: Basanta Kumar De|Basanta Kumar De]]<ref name="frontline1">[http://www.frontline.in/other/obituary/historian-and-administrator/article4995294.ece "Historian and Administrator" - Aniruddha Ray] Retrieved 2015-03-03</ref><ref name="liveslessforgotten">[http://rajsaday.com/?p=1950 Lives Less Forgotten: Basanta Kumar De]</ref> and Pramila De (nee Gupta). His grandfather was [[Brajendranath De]], ICS.<ref name="vmh">[http://www.victoriamemorial-cal.org/official_info/victoria_newsletter_feb2014.pdf Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, 'Obituary' in the ''Victoria Memorial Newsletter'', 2014]</ref> He studied at [[St. Xavier's Collegiate School]], [[Calcutta]]. He completed his I.A. & B.A. (Honours) in History at [[Presidency College, Calcutta]], where he was a student of [[Susobhan Sarkar|Susobhan Chandra Sarkar]]. He was a Debate Secretary of the student's union of the college.

Later, De completed his B.A. (Honours School) at [[St. Catherine's College, Oxford|St. Catherine's Society, Oxford]], where his tutor was George Holmes. He completed his [[D.Phil.]] thesis on "Henry Dundas and the Government of India, 1784-1801" under the supervision of Colin Cuthbert Davies.<ref name="telegraphindia1">
{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130718/jsp/opinion/story_17126533.jsp#.vOvi_Tb9nIU |title=Clio's Disciple |first=Rudrangshu|last=Mukherjee |date=18 July 2013 |accessdate=2015-02-24}}</ref> on a Beit studentship at [[Nuffield College, Oxford]]. As the holder of this scholarship he taught students of the college. He was awarded the Curzon Memorial Prize for his essay "Macaulay and India". He was Secretary, Treasurer and President of the Oxford India Majlis.<ref name="thestatesman1">[http://www.thestatesman.com/news/6074-Historian-Barun-De-dead.html "Historian Barun De dead" - The Statesman, 18 July 2013] Retrieved 2015-03-05.</ref>

After returning from Oxford, he formed a lasting friendship with [[Saiyid Nurul Hasan]].<ref name="thetelegraphindia">{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150405/jsp/opinion/story_12677.jsp#.V7E5UjgkrIU |title=State of Abounding Grace |first=Gopal Krishna|last=Gandhi |date=2015 |accessdate=2016-08-15}}</ref>

==Career==
De held various positions at various times, including a senior professorship at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta,<ref name="timesofindia1"/> the founder-directorship of the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta and the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies,<ref name="telegraphindia1"/> a membership, held for three terms, of the [[Indian Council of Historical Research]], New Delhi, and the role of honorary state editor of the West Bengal District Gazetteers.<ref name="ihr1">[http://ihr.sagepub.com/content/41/1/147.full.pdf+html "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" - Sabyasachi Bhattacharya] Indian Historical Review. Retrieved 2015-03-15.</ref> He taught and worked abroad, among other places, at [[Duke University]] as a visiting [[associate professor]], the [[Indian Institute of Advanced Studies]], [[Shimla]], as a senior fellow,<ref name="thestatesman1"/> Fondation Maison des sciences de l'homme, [[Paris]] as a [[directeur]], [[University of Sydney]] and [[University of Milan]] as a visiting [[professor]], and the [[University of World Economy and Diplomacy]], [[Tashkent]] as the India Chair (in the rank of minister-counsellor) for three years, with attachment to the Indian Embassy of [[Uzbekistan]],.<ref name="businessstandard1">[http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/historian-barun-de-dies-at-80-113071700809_1.html "Historian Barun De dies at 80" - Business Standard] Retrieved 2015-03-06.</ref> He was secretary (1974-76), sectional president and general president (1988) of the Indian History Congress.<ref name="frontline1"/>

In 2004, he was appointed to a membership of the [[NCERT]] textbook review committee.<ref>[http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/arjun-singh-appoints-panel-to-review-ncert-textbooks/1/196584.html ''India Today'', 2004]</ref>
In his post-retirement years, he was chairman of the West Bengal State Archives, Calcutta,<ref name="businessstandard1"/> a vice president of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,<ref name="frontline1"/>
a member of the Board of Trustees of the Indian Museum, Calcutta,<ref name="frontline1"/> and a member of the Heritage Conservation Committee of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, in which capacity he was among several people who prepared a list of heritage buildings of West Bengal.<ref>[https://www.kmcgov.in/KMCPortal/downloads/Graded_List_of_Heritage_Buildings_Grade_I_IIA_IIB.pdf "Heritage Conservation Committee"] p. 3. Retrieved 2015-03-23</ref> ''[[The Times of India]]'' has described him as "a pioneer of the heritage movement of West Bengal",<ref name="timesofindia1">[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Historian-scholar-Barun-De-dies-at-80/articleshow/21156245.cms "The Times of India" - Staff Reporter] Retrieved 2015-02-27.</ref> From 2008-2011 he was honorary chairman (in the rank of minister-of-state) of the West Bengal Heritage Commission, of which he was a member from 2001–2008.<ref name="businessstandard1"/>

He was appointed as a Tagore National Fellow, which he held at the Victoria Memorial Hall, Calcutta.<ref name="victoriamemorialnewsletter1">[http://www.victoriamemorial-cal.org/official_info/victoria_newsletter_feb2014.pdf "Obituary" in the ''Victoria Memorial Newsletter'' - Sabyasachi Bhattacharya] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150226153443/http://www.victoriamemorial-cal.org/official_info/victoria_newsletter_feb2014.pdf |date=2015-02-26 }} Retrieved 2015-0317.</ref>

==Research==
De's research spanned from early- to late-modern periods of Indian history. In the earlier part of his career he wrote on Henry Dundas and the conquest of India, while later on he addressed the Marxist critique of the colonial context of the Bengal renaissance.<ref>[http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/a-great-conversationalist-intellectual/article4925060.ece "A Conversationalist Intellectual - Sugata Bose"] Retrieved 2015-03-27.</ref> He was also concerned with the national movement: his popular textbook book, ''Freedom Struggle'', co-authored with [[Bipan Chandra]] and Amalesh Tripathi,<ref name="telegraphindia1"/> was censored by the new Central government that came to power in India in 1977.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=4DlMSrtOGLIC&pg=PA272 "Censorship of Historical Thought: A World Guide" - Antoon de Baets] Retrieved 2015-02-21.</ref> It has been translated into Bengali by Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya.<ref>[http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article4385.html "Historian Barun De passes away - Panchanan Chattopadhyay"]. ''Mainstreamweekly''. Retrieved 2015-03-23.</ref> In 1975 he edited a thick volume in honour of Prof. Susobhan Sarkar in which he wrote the main essay on his teacher which reveals his preference for objectivity and critical analysis.<ref name="proceedingsoftheindianhistorycongress1">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/44156392?seq=2&loggedin=true#page_scan_tab_contents Irfan Habib, "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" in ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', Volume 73, 2012, p. 1554]</ref> He was the editor of 24 Parganas and Darjeeling ''District Gazetteers''.<ref name="districtgazetteers">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/44156392?loggedin=true&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Irfan Habib, "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" in ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', Volume 73, 2012, pp. 1553-1555]</ref> He contributed to the editing of the Jalpaiguri District Gazetteers.<ref name="districtgazetteers1">[https://books.google.com/books?id=UfToffd1KxMC&pg=PA201&lpg=PA201&dq=Barun+De,+Jalpaiguri+district+gazetteers&source=bl&ots=LCjhrE6fY2&sig=Rw9AXjtY445QnVTRA6XHXnuaZpU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjWy5HlxfzaAhXIqo8KHROuAZMQ6AEIQzAF#v=onepage&q=Barun%20De%2C%20Jalpaiguri%20district%20gazetteers&f=false Abani Mohan Kusari, West Bengal District GazetteersL Jalpaiguri, Gazetteer of India, Calcutta, Barun De, Honorary State Editor, West Bengal District Gazetteers, Calcutta, 1981 in Michael Lampert, Discipline and Debate: The Language of Violence in Tibetan Buddhist Monastery, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012].</ref>

==Views==
De was well known for his criticism of the emergency of 1975–77.<ref name="proceedingsoftheindianhistorycongress">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/44156392?seq=1&loggedin=true#page_scan_tab_contents Irfan Habib, "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" in ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', Vol. 73, 2012, p. 1554]</ref>

==Awards==
*D.Litt. (''Honouris Causa''), North Bengal University, 2000.<ref name="jagranjosh">[http://www.jagranjosh.com/current-affairs/barun-de-the-renowned-historian-and-academician-passed-away-at-80-1377577861-1 Akanksha Sharma, 'Barun De, The Renowned Historian and Academician Passed Away at 80' in ''Jagran Josh'', 17 July 2013]</ref>

*Banga Samman, 2008-09

==Death and legacy==

De died due to [[renal failure]] in [[Kolkata]] on 16 July 2013 aged 80.<ref name="timesofindia1" /><ref name="HT20130718">{{cite news|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/kolkata/Historian-Barun-De-passes-away/Article-1094187.aspx |date=18 July 2013 |title=Historian Barun De passes away |publisher=Hindustan Times |accessdate=4 October 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131010131755/http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/kolkata/Historian-Barun-De-passes-away/Article-1094187.aspx |archivedate=10 October 2013 }}</ref>

The Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Calcutta has instituted a Barun De Memorial Lecture.<ref>[http://makaias.gov.in/Programme_BarunDe_Memorial_Lecture1.pdf Barun De Memorial Lecture] Retrieved 2015-02-27.</ref> Barun De Auditorium of Jadunath Bhavan Museum and Resource Centre, the museum of the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, is named after him.<ref name="jadunathbhavan">[http://jbmrc.cssscal.org/remembering-professor-barun-de/ Barun De Auditorium, CSSSC]</ref>

==Publications==

*''Secularism at Bay: Uzbekistan at the Turn of the Century'' (New Delhi, 2006)<ref>[https://books.google.com/books/about/Secularism_at_Bay.html?id=TjE74t1I9NsC&redir_esc=y "Secularism at Bay: Uzbekistan at the Turn of the Century" - Barun De] Retrieved 2015-02-17.</ref>
*(ed.) ''State, Development and Political Culture: Bangladesh and India'', (New Delhi, 1997) (co-edited with Ranabir Samaddar)
*(ed.) ''Mukti Sangrame Banglar Chatra-Samaj'' (''Students of Bengal in the Struggle of Liberation'') (in Bengali), (Calcutta: Paschim Banga Itihas Samsad, 1992)
*(ed.) ''West Bengal District Gazetteers, 24 Parganas'', (Calcutta, 1983)
*(ed.) ''West Bengal District Gazetteers, Jalpaiguri'', (Calcutta, 1981) (co-edited with Abani Mohan Kusari).
*(ed.) ''West Bengal District Gazetteers, Darjeeling'', (Calcutta, 1980)
*''The Dialectics Between Response to Exogenous and Autochthonous Innovation in India in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, with Special Reference to Modern Bengal'', (Tokyo: United Nations University, 1979)<ref name="unu">[https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/1713550 The Dialectics Between Response to Exogenous and Autochthonous Innovation in India in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, with Special Reference to Modern Bengal - Barun De] Retrieved 2018-01-12.</ref>
*(ed.) ''Perspectives in Social Sciences, 1: Historical Dimensions'' (New Delhi, 1977)<ref name="perspectivesinsocialscienceihistoricaldimensions">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/2055079?seq=1 David L.Curley (reviewer), ''Perspectives in Social Sciences I: Historical Dimension'', in ''The Journal of Asian Studies'', Vol. 40, No. 1, (Nov. 1980), pp. 158–60]</ref><ref name="perspectivesinsocialscienceshistoricaldimensions1">[https://books.google.com/books?id=GHxJDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT234&lpg=PT234&dq=Barun+De&source=bl&ots=X75XMnufBq&sig=zpY72FIOO7UfU3rH8I71SAT1GPc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi1qJrP29vZAhXHPo8KHZP4DMM4FBDoAQhDMAg#v=onepage&q=Barun%20De&f=false Chandak Sengoopta, ''The Rays before Satyajit: Creativity and Modernity in Colonial India'', (New Delhi, Oxford, 2016)]</ref>
* "A Biographical Perspective on the Political and Economic Ideas of Rammohun Ray", in V.C.Joshi, (ed.), ''Rammohun Roy and the Process of Modernisation in India'', New Delhi, 1975<ref name="indianpoliticalthought">[https://books.google.com/books?id=yP59iDghcIkC&pg=PA68&lpg=PA68&dq=Barun+De&source=bl&ots=JEIKcyzgDB&sig=bHJMaKGdoWOXXD6JRAzKMD9DZLY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiKyazs3tvZAhUUTo8KHXDCCMM4HhDoAQg1MAQ#v=onepage&q=Barun%20De&f=false Amiya P. Sen, "Rammohan Roy", in Mahendra Prasad Singh and Himanshu Roy, ''Indian Political Thought: Themes and Thinkers'', (Delhi, Pearson, 2011), p. 68]</ref>
*(ed.) ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', (Calcutta: Jadavpur Session, 1974)
*(ed.) ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', (Aligarh: Aligarh Session, 1975)
*(et al. eds.) ''Essays in Honour of Professor Sushobhan Chandra Sarkar'' (New Delhi, 1975)<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=xJgDawlnknwC&pg=PA190 "Peasant Labour and Colonial Capital: Rural Bengal since 1770" - Sugata Bose] 2015-02-19.</ref>
*''Freedom Struggle'' (New Delhi, 1972), (co-authored with [[Bipan Chandra]] and Amalesh Tripathi)<ref>[https://www.amazon.in/Freedom-Struggle-Bipan-Chandra/dp/8123702493 "Freedom Struggle" - Bipan Chandra, Amalesh Tripathi and Barun De] Retrieved 2015-02-18.</ref>

== See also ==
*[[NCERT textbook controversies]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.cssscal.org/ Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta]
*[http://www.makaias.gov.in/ Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Calcutta]
*[http://rajsaday.com/?p=1958 Lives Less Forgotten: Barun De]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:De, Barun}}
[[Category:1932 births]]
[[Category:2013 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian historians]]
[[Category:Alumni of Nuffield College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Alumni of St Catherine's College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Bengali historians]]
[[Category:Brahmos]]
[[Category:Deaths from kidney failure]]
[[Category:Economic historians]]
[[Category:Historians of South Asia]]
[[Category:Indian civil servants]]
[[Category:Indian Marxist historians]]
[[Category:Indian Institute of Management Calcutta faculty]]
[[Category:Indian political writers]]
[[Category:Indian institute directors]]
[[Category:Presidency University, Kolkata alumni]]
[[Category:Scientists from Kolkata]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta faculty]]

Barun De

2021-12-28T22:37:24Z

2402:3A80:1CD6:126B:778:5634:1232:5476: /* Early life and education */

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2018}}
{{About|the historian|the pathologist|Barun K. De}}
{{refimprove|date=August 2013}}

{{Infobox scientist
| name =Barun De
| image =
| caption =
| birth_date = 30 October 1932
| birth_place=[[Calcutta]], [[Bengal]]
| death_date = 16 July 2013 (aged 80)
| death_place = [[Calcutta]], [[West Bengal]]
| fields =[[History]]
| alma_mater ={{Plainlist|
*[[St. Xaviers Collegiate School]]
*[[Presidency College, Calcutta]]
*[[St Catherine's College, Oxford|St Catherine's Society, Oxford]]
*[[Nuffield College, Oxford]]
| Awards = Banga Samman Award, 2008-2009
}}
| notable_students = [[Sumit Sarkar]], [[Dipesh Chakrabarty]], [[Rudrangshu Mukherjee]]
}}

'''Barun De''' (বরুণ দে) (30 October 1932 – 16 July 2013) was an Indian historian. He served as the first professor of social and economic history of the [[Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta]], founder-director of the [[Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta]] and the [[Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies]], Kolkata and as the honorary state editor for the West Bengal District Gazetteers. He was chairman of the West Bengal Heritage Commission.

==Early life and education==
De, a member of a [[Kayastha]]-[[Brahmo]] family of Calcutta<ref name="telegraphindia">{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130718/jsp/calcutta/story_17126553.jsp |title=Historian Barun De dead |date=18 July 2013 |accessdate=2016-08-15}}</ref> was the son of [[Draft: Basanta Kumar De|Basanta Kumar De]]<ref name="frontline1">[http://www.frontline.in/other/obituary/historian-and-administrator/article4995294.ece "Historian and Administrator" - Aniruddha Ray] Retrieved 2015-03-03</ref><ref name="liveslessforgotten">[http://rajsaday.com/?p=1950 Lives Less Forgotten: Basanta Kumar De]</ref> and Pramila De (nee Gupta). His grandfather was [[Brajendranath De]], ICS.<ref name="vmh">[http://www.victoriamemorial-cal.org/official_info/victoria_newsletter_feb2014.pdf Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, 'Obituary' in the ''Victoria Memorial Newsletter'', 2014]</ref> He studied at [[St. Xavier's Collegiate School]], [[Calcutta]]. He completed his I.A. & B.A. (Honours) in History at [[Presidency College, Calcutta]], where he was a student of [[Susobhan Sarkar|Susobhan Chandra Sarkar]].

Later, De completed his B.A. (Honours School) at [[St. Catherine's College, Oxford|St. Catherine's Society, Oxford]], where his tutor was George Holmes. He completed his [[D.Phil.]] thesis on "Henry Dundas and the Government of India, 1784-1801" under the supervision of Colin Cuthbert Davies.<ref name="telegraphindia1">
{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130718/jsp/opinion/story_17126533.jsp#.vOvi_Tb9nIU |title=Clio's Disciple |first=Rudrangshu|last=Mukherjee |date=18 July 2013 |accessdate=2015-02-24}}</ref> on a Beit studentship at [[Nuffield College, Oxford]]. As the holder of this scholarship he taught students of the college. He was awarded the Curzon Memorial Prize for his essay "Macaulay and India". In addition to his academic work, he was Secretary, Treasurer and President of the Oxford India Majlis.<ref name="thestatesman1">[http://www.thestatesman.com/news/6074-Historian-Barun-De-dead.html "Historian Barun De dead" - The Statesman, 18 July 2013] Retrieved 2015-03-05.</ref>

After returning from Oxford, he formed a lasting friendship with [[Saiyid Nurul Hasan]].<ref name="thetelegraphindia">{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150405/jsp/opinion/story_12677.jsp#.V7E5UjgkrIU |title=State of Abounding Grace |first=Gopal Krishna|last=Gandhi |date=2015 |accessdate=2016-08-15}}</ref>

==Career==
De held various positions at various times, including a senior professorship at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta,<ref name="timesofindia1"/> the founder-directorship of the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta and the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies,<ref name="telegraphindia1"/> a membership, held for three terms, of the [[Indian Council of Historical Research]], New Delhi, and the role of honorary state editor of the West Bengal District Gazetteers.<ref name="ihr1">[http://ihr.sagepub.com/content/41/1/147.full.pdf+html "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" - Sabyasachi Bhattacharya] Indian Historical Review. Retrieved 2015-03-15.</ref> He taught and worked abroad, among other places, at [[Duke University]] as a visiting [[associate professor]], the [[Indian Institute of Advanced Studies]], [[Shimla]], as a senior fellow,<ref name="thestatesman1"/> Fondation Maison des sciences de l'homme, [[Paris]] as a [[directeur]], [[University of Sydney]] and [[University of Milan]] as a visiting [[professor]], and the [[University of World Economy and Diplomacy]], [[Tashkent]] as the India Chair (in the rank of minister-counsellor) for three years, with attachment to the Indian Embassy of [[Uzbekistan]],.<ref name="businessstandard1">[http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/historian-barun-de-dies-at-80-113071700809_1.html "Historian Barun De dies at 80" - Business Standard] Retrieved 2015-03-06.</ref> He was secretary (1974-76), sectional president and general president (1988) of the Indian History Congress.<ref name="frontline1"/>

In 2004, he was appointed to a membership of the [[NCERT]] textbook review committee.<ref>[http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/arjun-singh-appoints-panel-to-review-ncert-textbooks/1/196584.html ''India Today'', 2004]</ref>
In his post-retirement years, he was chairman of the West Bengal State Archives, Calcutta,<ref name="businessstandard1"/> a vice president of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,<ref name="frontline1"/>
a member of the Board of Trustees of the Indian Museum, Calcutta,<ref name="frontline1"/> and a member of the Heritage Conservation Committee of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, in which capacity he was among several people who prepared a list of heritage buildings of West Bengal.<ref>[https://www.kmcgov.in/KMCPortal/downloads/Graded_List_of_Heritage_Buildings_Grade_I_IIA_IIB.pdf "Heritage Conservation Committee"] p. 3. Retrieved 2015-03-23</ref> ''[[The Times of India]]'' has described him as "a pioneer of the heritage movement of West Bengal",<ref name="timesofindia1">[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Historian-scholar-Barun-De-dies-at-80/articleshow/21156245.cms "The Times of India" - Staff Reporter] Retrieved 2015-02-27.</ref> From 2008-2011 he was honorary chairman (in the rank of minister-of-state) of the West Bengal Heritage Commission, of which he was a member from 2001–2008.<ref name="businessstandard1"/>

He was appointed as a Tagore National Fellow, which he held at the Victoria Memorial Hall, Calcutta.<ref name="victoriamemorialnewsletter1">[http://www.victoriamemorial-cal.org/official_info/victoria_newsletter_feb2014.pdf "Obituary" in the ''Victoria Memorial Newsletter'' - Sabyasachi Bhattacharya] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150226153443/http://www.victoriamemorial-cal.org/official_info/victoria_newsletter_feb2014.pdf |date=2015-02-26 }} Retrieved 2015-0317.</ref>

==Research==
De's research spanned from early- to late-modern periods of Indian history. In the earlier part of his career he wrote on Henry Dundas and the conquest of India, while later on he addressed the Marxist critique of the colonial context of the Bengal renaissance.<ref>[http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/a-great-conversationalist-intellectual/article4925060.ece "A Conversationalist Intellectual - Sugata Bose"] Retrieved 2015-03-27.</ref> He was also concerned with the national movement: his popular textbook book, ''Freedom Struggle'', co-authored with [[Bipan Chandra]] and Amalesh Tripathi,<ref name="telegraphindia1"/> was censored by the new Central government that came to power in India in 1977.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=4DlMSrtOGLIC&pg=PA272 "Censorship of Historical Thought: A World Guide" - Antoon de Baets] Retrieved 2015-02-21.</ref> It has been translated into Bengali by Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya.<ref>[http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article4385.html "Historian Barun De passes away - Panchanan Chattopadhyay"]. ''Mainstreamweekly''. Retrieved 2015-03-23.</ref> In 1975 he edited a thick volume in honour of Prof. Susobhan Sarkar in which he wrote the main essay on his teacher which reveals his preference for objectivity and critical analysis.<ref name="proceedingsoftheindianhistorycongress1">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/44156392?seq=2&loggedin=true#page_scan_tab_contents Irfan Habib, "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" in ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', Volume 73, 2012, p. 1554]</ref> He was the editor of 24 Parganas and Darjeeling ''District Gazetteers''.<ref name="districtgazetteers">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/44156392?loggedin=true&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Irfan Habib, "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" in ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', Volume 73, 2012, pp. 1553-1555]</ref> He contributed to the editing of the Jalpaiguri District Gazetteers.<ref name="districtgazetteers1">[https://books.google.com/books?id=UfToffd1KxMC&pg=PA201&lpg=PA201&dq=Barun+De,+Jalpaiguri+district+gazetteers&source=bl&ots=LCjhrE6fY2&sig=Rw9AXjtY445QnVTRA6XHXnuaZpU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjWy5HlxfzaAhXIqo8KHROuAZMQ6AEIQzAF#v=onepage&q=Barun%20De%2C%20Jalpaiguri%20district%20gazetteers&f=false Abani Mohan Kusari, West Bengal District GazetteersL Jalpaiguri, Gazetteer of India, Calcutta, Barun De, Honorary State Editor, West Bengal District Gazetteers, Calcutta, 1981 in Michael Lampert, Discipline and Debate: The Language of Violence in Tibetan Buddhist Monastery, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012].</ref>

==Views==
De was well known for his criticism of the emergency of 1975–77.<ref name="proceedingsoftheindianhistorycongress">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/44156392?seq=1&loggedin=true#page_scan_tab_contents Irfan Habib, "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" in ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', Vol. 73, 2012, p. 1554]</ref>

==Awards==
*D.Litt. (''Honouris Causa''), North Bengal University, 2000.<ref name="jagranjosh">[http://www.jagranjosh.com/current-affairs/barun-de-the-renowned-historian-and-academician-passed-away-at-80-1377577861-1 Akanksha Sharma, 'Barun De, The Renowned Historian and Academician Passed Away at 80' in ''Jagran Josh'', 17 July 2013]</ref>

*Banga Samman, 2008-09

==Death and legacy==

De died due to [[renal failure]] in [[Kolkata]] on 16 July 2013 aged 80.<ref name="timesofindia1" /><ref name="HT20130718">{{cite news|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/kolkata/Historian-Barun-De-passes-away/Article-1094187.aspx |date=18 July 2013 |title=Historian Barun De passes away |publisher=Hindustan Times |accessdate=4 October 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131010131755/http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/kolkata/Historian-Barun-De-passes-away/Article-1094187.aspx |archivedate=10 October 2013 }}</ref>

The Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Calcutta has instituted a Barun De Memorial Lecture.<ref>[http://makaias.gov.in/Programme_BarunDe_Memorial_Lecture1.pdf Barun De Memorial Lecture] Retrieved 2015-02-27.</ref> Barun De Auditorium of Jadunath Bhavan Museum and Resource Centre, the museum of the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, is named after him.<ref name="jadunathbhavan">[http://jbmrc.cssscal.org/remembering-professor-barun-de/ Barun De Auditorium, CSSSC]</ref>

==Publications==

*''Secularism at Bay: Uzbekistan at the Turn of the Century'' (New Delhi, 2006)<ref>[https://books.google.com/books/about/Secularism_at_Bay.html?id=TjE74t1I9NsC&redir_esc=y "Secularism at Bay: Uzbekistan at the Turn of the Century" - Barun De] Retrieved 2015-02-17.</ref>
*(ed.) ''State, Development and Political Culture: Bangladesh and India'', (New Delhi, 1997) (co-edited with Ranabir Samaddar)
*(ed.) ''Mukti Sangrame Banglar Chatra-Samaj'' (''Students of Bengal in the Struggle of Liberation'') (in Bengali), (Calcutta: Paschim Banga Itihas Samsad, 1992)
*(ed.) ''West Bengal District Gazetteers, 24 Parganas'', (Calcutta, 1983)
*(ed.) ''West Bengal District Gazetteers, Jalpaiguri'', (Calcutta, 1981) (co-edited with Abani Mohan Kusari).
*(ed.) ''West Bengal District Gazetteers, Darjeeling'', (Calcutta, 1980)
*''The Dialectics Between Response to Exogenous and Autochthonous Innovation in India in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, with Special Reference to Modern Bengal'', (Tokyo: United Nations University, 1979)<ref name="unu">[https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/1713550 The Dialectics Between Response to Exogenous and Autochthonous Innovation in India in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, with Special Reference to Modern Bengal - Barun De] Retrieved 2018-01-12.</ref>
*(ed.) ''Perspectives in Social Sciences, 1: Historical Dimensions'' (New Delhi, 1977)<ref name="perspectivesinsocialscienceihistoricaldimensions">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/2055079?seq=1 David L.Curley (reviewer), ''Perspectives in Social Sciences I: Historical Dimension'', in ''The Journal of Asian Studies'', Vol. 40, No. 1, (Nov. 1980), pp. 158–60]</ref><ref name="perspectivesinsocialscienceshistoricaldimensions1">[https://books.google.com/books?id=GHxJDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT234&lpg=PT234&dq=Barun+De&source=bl&ots=X75XMnufBq&sig=zpY72FIOO7UfU3rH8I71SAT1GPc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi1qJrP29vZAhXHPo8KHZP4DMM4FBDoAQhDMAg#v=onepage&q=Barun%20De&f=false Chandak Sengoopta, ''The Rays before Satyajit: Creativity and Modernity in Colonial India'', (New Delhi, Oxford, 2016)]</ref>
* "A Biographical Perspective on the Political and Economic Ideas of Rammohun Ray", in V.C.Joshi, (ed.), ''Rammohun Roy and the Process of Modernisation in India'', New Delhi, 1975<ref name="indianpoliticalthought">[https://books.google.com/books?id=yP59iDghcIkC&pg=PA68&lpg=PA68&dq=Barun+De&source=bl&ots=JEIKcyzgDB&sig=bHJMaKGdoWOXXD6JRAzKMD9DZLY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiKyazs3tvZAhUUTo8KHXDCCMM4HhDoAQg1MAQ#v=onepage&q=Barun%20De&f=false Amiya P. Sen, "Rammohan Roy", in Mahendra Prasad Singh and Himanshu Roy, ''Indian Political Thought: Themes and Thinkers'', (Delhi, Pearson, 2011), p. 68]</ref>
*(ed.) ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', (Calcutta: Jadavpur Session, 1974)
*(ed.) ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', (Aligarh: Aligarh Session, 1975)
*(et al. eds.) ''Essays in Honour of Professor Sushobhan Chandra Sarkar'' (New Delhi, 1975)<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=xJgDawlnknwC&pg=PA190 "Peasant Labour and Colonial Capital: Rural Bengal since 1770" - Sugata Bose] 2015-02-19.</ref>
*''Freedom Struggle'' (New Delhi, 1972), (co-authored with [[Bipan Chandra]] and Amalesh Tripathi)<ref>[https://www.amazon.in/Freedom-Struggle-Bipan-Chandra/dp/8123702493 "Freedom Struggle" - Bipan Chandra, Amalesh Tripathi and Barun De] Retrieved 2015-02-18.</ref>

== See also ==
*[[NCERT textbook controversies]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.cssscal.org/ Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta]
*[http://www.makaias.gov.in/ Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Calcutta]
*[http://rajsaday.com/?p=1958 Lives Less Forgotten: Barun De]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:De, Barun}}
[[Category:1932 births]]
[[Category:2013 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian historians]]
[[Category:Alumni of Nuffield College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Alumni of St Catherine's College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Bengali historians]]
[[Category:Brahmos]]
[[Category:Deaths from kidney failure]]
[[Category:Economic historians]]
[[Category:Historians of South Asia]]
[[Category:Indian civil servants]]
[[Category:Indian Marxist historians]]
[[Category:Indian Institute of Management Calcutta faculty]]
[[Category:Indian political writers]]
[[Category:Indian institute directors]]
[[Category:Presidency University, Kolkata alumni]]
[[Category:Scientists from Kolkata]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta faculty]]

Basanta Kumar De

2021-12-28T22:15:04Z

2402:3A80:1CD6:126B:778:5634:1232:5476: /* Early Life and education */

{{refimprove|date=December 2021}}

'''Basanta Kumar De''' (বসন্ত কুমার দে) (9 March, 1897 - 31 August, 1975) was a senior officer of the [[Bengal Nagpur Railway|BNR]].<ref name="frontline1">[http://www.frontline.in/other/obituary/historian-and-administrator/article4995294.ece Aniruddha Ray, "Historian and Administrator", 'Frontline', 2013] Retrieved 2015-03-03</ref>

==Early Life and education==
De, who was a member of a Kayastha-Brahmo family of Calcutta, was the third son of [[Brajendranath De]], Esq., ICS and Nagendranandini De (née Bose). He completed his education at [[Hare School|Hare School, Calcutta]] and [[Presidency College, Calcutta]], where he completed his B.A. (Hons.) in English. He attended [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], where his moral tutor was [[James Drummond Anderson]], Esq., ICS. Later, he was admitted to The Honourable Society of [[Middle Temple]].<ref name="awomanofindia">Kundu, Rajib, (tr. & ed.), Saroj Nalini: Shankhipta Jibani, (Ababhash, Kolkata, 2014) (in Bengali), (translation of her husband Gurusaday Dutt's, A Woman of India: Being the Life of Saroj Nalini (Founder of Women's Institute Movement in India (with a forward by Rabindranath Tagore), (Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, 1941)</ref> His son was the historian, [[Barun De]].

==Career==
He was recruited in to the BNR in London in 1921. His first posting was as Assistant Commercial Officer. In that capacity he played an important role in the building of the BNR Hotel in Puri. As a young officer posted in Kharagpore he witnessed the first railway workshop strike there led by V.V. Giri in 1927.<ref name="districtgazetteers">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/44156392?loggedin=true&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Irfan Habib, "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" in ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', Volume 73, 2012, pp. 1553-1555]</ref>

He was tasked with the responsibility of carrying out the survey work for the laying of the Raipur-Vizianagram and Sonepur-Bolangir railway lines in 1931. Through the 1930s he served as District Commercial Officer in Waltair, Kharagpore, Nainpur and Adra. While he was in Adra for a second time, he was given the responsibility of managing the transportation of Congress leaders and workers attending the Ramgarh Session of the Indian National Congress of 1941. In this connection he had to visit Mahatma Gandhi there. <ref name="oralhistory">[https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://wikis.uit.tufts.edu/confluence/display/atbohp/Barun%2BDe%3Fdesktop%3Dtrue%26macroName%3Dattachments&ved=2ahUKEwiykozQoIH1AhUVxDgGHaIvCykQFnoECAYQAQ&usg=AOvVaw083H797WHC9n5MOfE8i6xG Text of Barun De's interview given to Kris Manjapra for Tufts University Oral History Archive, 2009]</ref>

De was recruited as a Major in the Corps of Engineers of the Indian army during the Second World War years. He served as Regional Controller of Railway Priorities (RCRP) under the Railway Board and then as Traffic Superintendent General. In 1950, he was appointed as Commercial Traffic Manager. In the last two years of his career, he attended meetings chaired by the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, Bidhan Chandra Ray. De retired from active service at the end of 1952.

==Post-retirement==

After retirement he was offered membership of the Railway Recruitment Board in Gorakhpur, which he declined. He took the initiative to publish large segments of his father, Brajendranath De's, memoir in the ''Calcutta Review'', on the occasion of the latter's birth centenary in 1952. As an original Trustee of the Estate of the Late Gurusaday Dutt, he recommended as well as contributed to the formation of the Gurusaday Dutt Folk Arts Museum, which is now under the Bratachari Society.

{{uncategorised|date=December 2021}}

Sarat Kumar Ghosh

2021-12-28T15:08:20Z

2402:3A80:1CD6:126B:778:5634:1232:5476:

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2017}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2017}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Sir Sarat Kumar Ghosh
| image_size =
| birth_date = 3 July 1879
| birth_place = [[Calcutta]], [[Bengal Presidency]], [[British Raj|British India]]
| death_date = 8 January 1963 (aged 83)
| death_place = [[Calcutta]], [[West Bengal]], India
| occupation = Civil servant, Judge
| spouse = Niraja Nalini Dé, Lady Ghosh
}}

'''Sir Sarat Kumar Ghosh''' or '''Ghose''' (শরৎ কুমার ঘোষ) [[Indian Civil Service|ICS]] (3 July 1879 – 8 January 1963) was an Indian civil servant and a [[jurist]].<ref name="burkewwii">{{cite book |title= [[Burke's Peerage|Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood]]|publisher=Burke's Peerage & Gentry |editor= Burke, Sir Bernard |editor-link=Bernard Burke |edition= 97th |year=1939 |page=2783 |ref=Burke }}</ref><ref name="times">{{cite news |title= Obituary: Sir Sarat Ghose |work=[[The Times]] |date= 9 January 1963|page=12 }}</ref>

==Background and education==
He was the son of [[Rai Bahadur]] Tarini Kumar Ghosh, [[Inspector General]] of [[Civil registration|Registration]] of the [[Government]] of [[Bengal]]. He was a student of Mitra Institution, Calcutta and [[Presidency College, Calcutta]], where he earned first-class honours.<ref name="times"/> He was married to Niraj Nalini Ghosh (née De), the third daughter of [[Brajendranath De]], the 8th Indian member of the [[Indian Civil Service]]. After his marriage he went to [[Trinity College, Cambridge]] where he successfully took the Open Competitive Service Examination, joining the judicial wing of the service.<ref name="Cambridge University Records">{{acad|id=GHS899SK|name= Cambridge University Records}}</ref> He joined the [[Indian Civil Service (British India)|ICS]] in 1903.<ref name="indiaofficelistandindiaofficerecords">[https://books.google.com/books?id=3VQTAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA540&lpg=RA1-PA540&dq=Kiran+Chandra+De&source=web&ots=emIDY4pxS4&sig=RwD0V057Pij7AsfxQNv6hTCm22I&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result#PRA1-PA607,M1/ Great Britain India Office, ''The India List and India Office List, 1905'', (India Office, Great Britain, Published by Harrison, 1905)]</ref> He was also called to the [[Barrister|Bar]] by [[Inner Temple|The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple]].<ref name="justice">Sarat Kumar Ghosh, Justice: A Journal of the West Bengal Judicial Service Association, July 1959, p. 134</ref>

==Career==
He was the Additional [[Judge]] of [[Chittagong]], [[District Courts of India|District Judge]] of [[Comilla]] and then the District Judge of [[Hooghly District|Hooghly]] in 1929. Later, he appointed as a [[Puisne Judge]] of the [[Calcutta High Court]]. He was conferred a [[knight]]hood in 1938.<ref>[http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/34534/pages/4740 London Gazette, 22 July 1938]</ref> He became the [[Chief Justice]] of the Indian Princely State of [[Jaipur]] and then the last Chief Justice of the Indian Princely State of [[Kashmir]] from 29 March 1946 to 29 March 1948. He was one of the last officials of the former regime in Kashmir to have left the state just before the first Indo-Pakistan war broke out in 1948.<ref name=formerchiefjusticesandjudgesofjammu&kashmirhighcourt>[http://www.jkhighcourt.nic.in/ Former Chief Justices and Judges of Jammu & Kashmir High Court]</ref> He was also Chairman of the Rajasthan Public Service Commission.<ref name=rajasthanpublicservicecommission>[http://www.rpsc.gov.in/Profile.htm Rajasthan Public Service Commission]</ref>

==Later life==
After retirement, he was appointed as a steward of the Royal Calcutta Turf Club, a position he retained until the end of his life.<ref name=royalcalcuttaturfclub>[http://www.rctconline.com/appendix4.1.htm Royal Calcutta Turf Club] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705083427/http://www.rctconline.com/appendix4.1.htm |date=5 July 2008 }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.rctconline.com/ Official Website of Royal Calcutta Turf Club]

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghosh, Sarat Kumar}}
[[Category:1879 births]]
[[Category:1963 deaths]]
[[Category:Administrators in the princely states of India]]
[[Category:Presidency University, Kolkata alumni]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Bengali people]]
[[Category:Indian barristers]]
[[Category:Indian civil servants]]
[[Category:Indian Civil Service (British India) officers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian judges]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Indian knights]]
[[Category:People from Hooghly district]]
[[Category:Chief Justices of the Rajasthan High Court]]
[[Category:Chief Justices of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian lawyers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian lawyers]]

Gurusaday Dutt

2021-12-28T15:05:10Z

2402:3A80:1CD6:126B:778:5634:1232:5476: Added the Bengali spelling of the person's name.

{{short description|Indian writer, folk literature researcher and civil servant}}
{{more citations needed|date=November 2011}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Gurusaday Dutt
| image = Gurusaday Dutt photo.png
| image_size = 200px
| caption = Gurusaday Dutt
| birth_date = {{birth-date|10 May 1882}}
| birth_place = Birasri, [[Karimganj district|Karimganj]], [[Assam Province]], [[British India]]
| death_date = {{d-da|25 June 1941|10 May 1882}}
| death_place = [[Calcutta]], India
| occupation = Civilian, folklorist
| spouse = [[Saroj Nalini Dutt]] (nee Dé)<ref name="socialthoughtofrabindranathtagore:ahistoricalanalysis">[http://www.books.google.com/books?id=0HrBJJBFutsC&pg=PA138&lpg=PA138&dq=%22brajendranath+de%22&source=web&ots=6hzMYqYpVY&sig=j0LN8UVyO09xXv-DDGe4tWswGIo/ Tapati Das Gupta, Social Thought of Rabindranath Tagore: A Historical Analysis, (Calcutta, 1993), p. 138]</ref>
| children = 1
}}

'''Gurusaday Dutt''' (গুরুসদয় দত্ত) (1882–1941)<ref name="Dasgupta1993">{{cite book|author=Tapati Dasgupta|title=Social Thought of Rabindranath Tagore: A Historical Analysis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0HrBJJBFutsC&pg=PA138|access-date=11 July 2012|date=1 January 1993|publisher=Abhinav Publications|isbn=978-81-7017-302-1|pages=138–}}</ref> was a civil servant, folklorist, and writer. He was the founder of the [[Bratachari movement|''Bratachari'' Movement]] in the 1930s.

==Early life and education==
Gurusaday was the son of the Ramkrishna Dutta Chaudhuri and Anandamayee Debi. His father was a son of the ''zamindar'' of [[Birasri]] village in Karimganj sub-division of [[Sylhet District|Sylhet]] district, in eastern Bengal (present day [[Bangladesh]]). Members of his family were followers of [[Vaishnavism]]. He lost his father at the age of 9 and his mother when he was 14. After their death, he did not get along well with his ''jyathamashai'' (father's elder brother), who was then the landlord of the village.

He completed his Entrance (School Leaving) examination at Government College, Sylhet where he stood first in 1898. He stood second in the F.A. examination (prior to Graduate studies) from [[Presidency College, Calcutta]] in 1901 and was awarded the Scindia Gold Medal. Despite objection from his ''jyathamashai'', who refused to pay for his further education, he went on a scholarship raised by the Sylhet Union to [[Emmanuel College, Cambridge]], in the United Kingdom. He passed the Indian Civil service ([[Indian Civil Service|ICS]]) examination in 1905. In the first part of the examination he stood seventh and in the second part he stood first. Overall he stood first in the examination in that year. He was the first Indian to have stood first in the Open Competitive Service examination. He also passed the Bar examination with a First Class, and was called to the Bar by the Honourable Society of [[Gray's Inn]].

He removed Chaudhuri from his surname while he was at Cambridge.

He repaid the scholarship money to Sylhet Union after working for a few years, so that the Union could help another student from the same district with that money. In 1905, he returned to India and started work as an ICS officer.

He was married to [[Saroj Nalini Dutt]] (née Dé), a daughter of [[Brajendranath Dé]]. His son was Birendrasaday Dutt, who was a co-Founder and an original trustee of the [[Gurusaday Museum]] in [[Joka, Kolkata|Joka]], [[Calcutta]].

==Career==
He served with distinction in the Bengal cadre, which in 1905 included the present day Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Bihar and Orissa in India. He served in various capacities in the districts of [[Arrah]], [[Hooghly District|Hooghly]], [[Pabna]], [[Bogra]], [[Jessore District|Jessore]], [[Faridpur District|Faridpur]], [[Comilla]], [[Dacca]], [[Barisal]], [[Khulna]], [[Birbhum]], [[Bankura]], [[Howrah]] and [[Mymensingh]], before coming to [[Calcutta]]. He was District Magistrate, Mymensingh, Director, Industries and Secretary, Local Self Government and Public Health. He was also the Government Chief Whip in the Bengal Legislative Council. From 1930 to 1933, he was a nominated Member of the Council of State and of the [[Central Legislative Assembly]] (the erstwhile Parliament of [[British India]]).

==Contributions to social work==
From his youth, Gurusaday started to take active interest in social service and participated in helping fire-fighters and assisting in relief work during floods and other natural disasters. He was one of the social reformers of the first half of the nineteenth century who thought independently about various avenues of service to the rural poor. He realised that in order to establish any progressive idea on firm foundation it was necessary to educate women and make them self-reliant. [[Saroj Nalini Dutt]], who became an eminent Social Worker in her own right, was inspired by Gurusaday to start Mahila Samitis (Women's Institutes) as early as 1913, at Pabna district in British India, where he was then the District Magistrate.

In 1918, Gurusaday started the first Rural Reconstruction Movement in India in Birbhum. He then extended the movement to several districts where he was subsequently posted, like Bankura, Howrah and Mymensingh. This movement was bold and unique, as India was under British Rule at the time. In fact, he was advised by his senior officer that he should spend time in the Club socialising with other officers rather than pursuing activities to promote rural development and social welfare.

He was the first amongst civilian officers to set an example of the [[dignity of labour]], by manually working with a group of followers to eradicate the water hyacinth, a plant that covers ponds and makes water unusable. He would also re-excavate silted irrigation canals with a band of workers. In those days, it was unthinkable for a Magistrate to work manually with ''common'' people.

In 1922, he started a Society for co-operative irrigation in Bankura, which he later extended to Mymensingh and Birbhum.

He headed the Indian delegation as a representative of the British Indian Government at a meeting of the Agricultural Institute at Rome in 1924.

In 1925, he lost his wife at a very early age. He established the [[Saroj Nalini Dutt]] Memorial Association, in February 1925, as a Central Training Institute for training crafts and basic education to provide livelihood to women who had been deprived from receiving formal education in early life and lived at the mercy of relatives. He thought of ''non-formal education'' many years before it was officially started. His pioneering work was started when most women in India were still behind the ''purdah'' (veil), and would not dare to come out in the world to create a future for themselves. This organisation became the apex organisation for Mahila Samitis (Women's Institutes) in Eastern India, and was later affiliated to the [[Associated Country Women of the World]] (ACWW) and the [[International Alliance of Women]].

In October 1925, he started ''Bangalakshmi'', a monthly magazine that is still published.

In 1929, he started a magazine called ''Gramer Daak'' that dealt with agrarian and rural matters of concern.

It was at Mymensingh that he started a Folk Dance Revival Society. He revived the ''Jaari'' dance, being inspired by the secular nature of the dance and its spirit of unifying both Hindus and Muslims, at a time when communal tensions were running high.

In 1930, he discovered the ''[[Raibeshe]]'' folk dance, a martial dance of un-divided Bengal, in Birbhum. He studied the origins of the dance and discovered its rich cultural past and its connection with the army of Raja Man Singh of Rajasthan. Subsequently, he also revived the Kaathi, Dhamail, Baul, Jhumur, Brata and Dhali dances from different parts of un-divided Bengal.

In 1931, he met [[Cecil Sharp]], who revived Morris dancing in England, when he visited London. He also attended All-England Folk Dance & Folk Song Festival. This inspired him to set up the Bangiya Palli Sampad Raksha Samiti (translated as Cultural Heritage Protection Society of Bengal) on his return.

In 1932, he started the Bratachari movement. In his words in ''The Bratachari Synthesis'', first published in 1937,

{{quote|the Movement is to bring back to humanity, in all countries, the ideal and practice of the ''wholeness'' of life which, alike in the individual, the national and the international sphere has been so grievously shattered in the modern world in every country by the fragmentary outlook on, and treatment of, life in education, science, work, play and social functioning.}}

In its aim to re-establish life on its fundamental unity, while preserving the inherent values of the individual and regional diversities, the Bratachari movement relies on a system of simultaneous physical, moral and spiritual culture with the threefold objectives of
i) shaping of life in accordance with a fully balanced ideal comprising the five Bratas or ultimate ideals which are of universal application, and adopting a course for their pursuit for the integration of the culture of the body and the soul, and of the thought, speech, and behaviour;
ii) the pursuit of rhythmic discipline for bringing about unification, harmony and joy as well as inner transformation; and
iii) bringing men and women of every country in touch with the regional culture of their own soil and with the arts and crafts, dances and songs, and customs and manners of their own region, thus providing a natural cultural medium for their healthy all-round growth.
By this threefold sadhana (devotion), the Bratachari system seeks to enable men and women in each land to become, simultaneously, truly national and truly international.

In 1934, the Bangiya Palli Sampad Raksha Samiti was renamed as The Bengal Bratachari Society. In 1936, he started a magazine ''Banglar Shakti'' for The Bengal Bratachari Society.

Gurusaday Dutt did extensive research in the field of Folk art, crafts and folk dances of Bengal. He collected objects of folk art and crafts from the countryside. He had great compassion for the artists and craftsmen who created unique art objects without any training or technical knowledge. Folk art was neglected and not appreciated in those days. He wrote in different journals about the wealth and beauty of folk art and left his collection on his death to The Bengal Bratachari Society.

==Contributions to art and culture==
Gurusaday Dutt was mostly known for his interest and contributions to Bengal's folk art, folk dance and folk music. He spent a lifetime collecting and studying art objects and handiwork from the remotest corners of undivided rural Bengal collecting items of folk art such as Kalighat paintings, ''patuas''' scrolls, embroidered ''kanthas'', terracotta panels, stone sculptures, wooden carvings, dolls and toys, moulds used for making patterns on sweets or mango-paste etc. Gurusaday Dutt also wrote extensively on folk culture. Rabindranath Tagore and C.F. Andrews wrote in the foreword of the biography of his wife, [[Saroj Nalini Dutt]], which he wrote. Gurusaday Dutt also wrote a good deal about the Bratachari movement.

==Controversies==
His fearless independence and indomitable spirit of nationalism brought him into conflict with the British Government on more than one occasion. In 1928, at Howrah, in connection with the Bamangachi Firing case, he condemned the firing on a crowd of protesters by the police led by a British officer. The matter was raised in the British [[House of Lords]] and [[Lord Birkenhead]], then [[Secretary of State for India]] in the British Government, had to answer angry questions. British Parliamentarians wanted Dutt, referred to as this Indian officer, punished for having the audacity to question a British officer’s action. As a punitive measure he was transferred out of Howrah to Mymensingh.

His stay in Mymensingh was also cut short when he failed to give orders as required by him by the British Indian Government to deal with protesters against The Salt Act imposed by the Government. [[Mahatma Gandhi|M.K.Gandhi]] had called for a [[satyagraha]] against this Act. He was transferred to Birbhum by telegram (then the fastest means of communication), which was an unprecedented way of dealing with an ICS officer in those days.

==Organisations founded==
*Mymensingh Folk Dance and Folk Music Society (1929)
*Pallisampad Raksha Samiti (1931)
*Bratachari Lokanritya Samiti (1932)
*South India Bratachari Society (1932)
*Sarbabharatiya Bratachari Society etc.
*In 1941 he also set up the Bratachari village(Bratacharigram) near Calcutta, and the Bratachari Janashiksha Pratishthan. The [[Bratachari movement]] founded by Gurusaday Dutt (from ''vrata'', vow) was a movement for spiritual and social improvement. The movement aimed at creating a sense of world citizenship as well as national awareness among people, irrespective of caste, religion, sex and age. The movement aimed to nurture the mind and the body and to encourage people to work for national and individual improvement through encouraging traditional and folk culture, especially folk dance and folk song. The ''bratacharis'', or followers of the movement, pledged themselves to build their moral fibre and serve the country on the five principles of ''knowledge'', ''labour'', ''truth'', ''unity'' and ''joy''. They aimed at developing the mind and body through dance as well as by undertaking to perform good deeds. The Bratachari movement did not catch on all over India and slowly died away after the death of its founder. In 2011, the Mamata Banerjee Government again made Bratachari education compulsory in Primary schools in West Bengal, after the Marxist Communist Government withdrew it from the School curriculum in 1984.
*Gurusaday Museum (1961).

==Publications==
Gurusaday Dutt wrote many books and articles, which are listed below. The latest book to be published is "Banglar Lokashilpa o Lokanritya" (in Bengali), which is a collection of his essays and articles on Folk Art and Folk Dances of Bengal in various magazines between 1928 and 1941(his death), that were painstakingly obtained from the old magazines at Bangiya Sahitya Parishad's library by his grandson Devsaday Dutt and granddaughter-in-law Priyadarshini Dutt. The book has been published by Subhromani De and Subhadra De of Chhatim Books in 2008.

*''Bhajar Banshi'' (1922) (in Bengali) (A book of rhymes for children)
*''Palli Sangskar'' (in Bengali) (1925)
*''Village Reconstruction'' (1925)
*''Agricultural Organisation and Rural Reconstruction in Bengal'' (1919)
*''Ganer Saji'' (in Bengali) (1932)
*''Indian Folk Dance and Folklore Movement'' (in Bengali) (1933)
*''Bratachari Synthesis'' (in Bengali) (1937)
*''Patuya Sangit'' (in Bengali) (1939)
*''Bratacharir Marmakatha'' (in Bengali) (1940)
*''A Woman of India]'' (1941)
*''Bratachari: Its Aim and Meaning'' (1942)
*''The Folk Dances of Bengal'' (1954)
*''Shrihatter Lokasangit'' (in Bengali) (1966)
*''Folk Arts and Crafts of Bengal'' (1990)<ref name="publications">[http://www.seagullindia.com/books/default.asp/ Publications of G.S.Dutt]</ref>
*''Art of Kantha'' (1995)
*''Banglar Lokashilpa o Lokanritya'' (in Bengali) (Calcutta: Chatim Books, 2008)
*''Goraey Golod'' (in Bengali)
*''Gramer Kaajer ka kha Ga'' (in Bengali)
*''Saroj Nalini''
*''Palli Sanskar O Sangathan'' (in Bengali)
*''Paaglamir Puthi'' (in Bengali)
*''Purir Mahathwa'' (in Bengali)
*''Gaaner Saaji'' (in Bengali)
*''Banglar Samrik Krira'' (in Bengali)
*''Chaander Buri''(in Bengali)
*''Bratachari Shakhaa'' (in Bengali)
*''Bratachari Marmakatha'' (in Bengali)
*''Patua Sangeet'' (in Bengali)
*''Bratachari Parichoy'' (in Bengali)
*''Srihotter Lokageeti'' (in Bengali)
*''Banglar Bir Jodha Raebeshe'' (in Bengali)

==Death and commemoration==
He died at the age of 59 of cancer. After he died, his son, Birendrasaday Dutt, took the initiative in renaming Ballygunge Store Road, where he had built himself a house, after him.

His portrait adorns the walls of [[Mahajati Sadan]], Calcutta.

Biographies have been written on his life and works in Bangladesh by Shankar Prasad De, Amitabha Chowdhury, Shaikat Azgar and Naresh Banerjee.

A Medal in his honour, known as "The Gurusaday Dutt Medal" along with a Cash prize, was endowed by his grandson, Devsaday Dutt, at the University of Calcutta, which is given to the student who stands First in the Post-Graduate Examination in Geography, from 2008 onwards.

Gurusaday Dutt Scholarships are also being awarded by the Sylhet Union(Srihatta Sammilani), Kolkata for brilliant students pursuing post-graduate studies.

His articles initially published in the 1930s in journals such as ''Prabashi'', ''Banglar Shakti'', ''Bangalakshmi'' and ''Aloka'' (in Bengali), have been republished in a book entitled ''Banglar Lokashipla o Lokanritya'' in August 2008.

==Family==
His daughter-in-law, [[Aroti Dutt]], was an eminent social worker, and was the World President of the Associated Countrywomen of the World for two terms and President of the Saroj Nalini Dutt Memorial Association, Calcutta.
His grandson is Devsaday Dutt,FCA(England & Wales)and his great-grandsons are Rajsaday Dutt FCA, MBA (Darden School) and Shivsaday Dutt MBA (Kelley School).{{citation needed|date=January 2015}}

== See also ==
*[[Bratachari movement]]
*[[Saroj Nalini Dutt]]
*[[Gurusaday Museum]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.gurusadaymuseum.org/ Official Website of Gurusaday Museum]
*[http://rajsaday.com/?p=86/ Profile of Gurusaday Dutt at Lives Less Forgotten]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dutt, Gurusaday}}
[[Category:1882 births]]
[[Category:1941 deaths]]
[[Category:Presidency University, Kolkata alumni]]
[[Category:Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Bengali politicians]]
[[Category:Indian barristers]]
[[Category:Indian civil servants]]
[[Category:Indian Civil Service (British India) officers]]
[[Category:Bengali writers]]
[[Category:Bengali people]]
[[Category:Bengali Hindus]]
[[Category:People from Karimganj district]]
[[Category:Museum founders]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:Members of Central Legislative Assembly of India]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian lawyers]]
[[Category:20th-century philanthropists]]

Saroj Nalini Dutt

2021-12-28T15:03:22Z

2402:3A80:1CD6:126B:778:5634:1232:5476:

{{distinguish|Saroj Dutta}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2016}}
{{more citations needed|date=October 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Saroj Nalini Dutt
| honorific_suffix = <small>[[Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire|MBE]]</small>
| image = Saroj Nalini Dutt photo.jpg
| image_size = 175px
| caption =Saroj Nalini Dutt
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1887|10|9|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Bandel]], [[Hooghly district|Hooghly]], [[Bengal Presidency]], [[British India]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1925|1|19|1887|10|9|df=yes}}<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |editor1-last=Sengupta |editor1-first=Subhodh Chandra |editor2-last=Basu |editor2-first=Anjali |encyclopedia=Samsad Bangali Charitabhidhan (Bibliographical Dictionary) |title=সরোজনলিনী দত্ত |trans-title=Saroj Nalini Dutt |language=Bengali |edition=4th |date=January 2002 |publisher=Shishu Sahitya Samsad |volume=Volume 1 |location=Kolkata |isbn=81-85626-65-0 |pages=565}}</ref>
| death_place = [[Calcutta]], [[Bengal Presidency]], [[British India]]
| occupation = Social Worker, Feminist
| spouse = [[Gurusaday Dutt]]
| children = Captain Birendrasaday Dutt
| nationality = [[British India]]
| ethnicity =
| parents = [[Brajendranath De]]<br/>Nagendranandini De (''[[Birth name|née]]'' Bose)
}}

'''Saroj Nalini Dutt''' (''née'' [[De (surname)|De]]) (সরোজ নলিনী দত্ত) [[Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire|MBE]] (9 October 1887 – 19 January 1925) was an Indian feminist and social reformer.

==Background==
She was born in her father, [[Brajendranath De]]’s, country house in [[Bandel]], near [[Hugli-Chinsura|Hooghly]], in [[Bengal Presidency|Bengal Province]]. She was brought up with her brothers and sisters and shared with them an education under a tutor and a governess. Members of her paternal family frequently visited the [[Brahmo]] Sammilan Samaj in [[Bhowanipore]], [[Calcutta]].

In 1905, she married [[Gurusaday Dutt]]. Her only child, Birendrasaday Dutt, was born in 1909.

==Work==
She was a reformer and a pioneer of the movement for the uplifting of women in Bengal. She pioneered the formation of Mahila Samitis (women's institutes) in Bengal. She started her first Mahila Samiti in 1913 in Pabna district with the object of developing friendly cooperation among the ''purdahnashin'' ladies. Subsequently, she started the Mahila Samitis of Birbhum (1916), Sultanpur (1917), and Rampurhat (1918) districts respectively.

She was the secretary of the Indian Section of the Calcutta League of Women’s Workers (later Bengal Presidency Council of Women), member of the Council of the Nari Siksha Samiti (Women’s Educational League), and Member of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation’s committee which was to make suitable arrangements for allowing women to elect councillors. She was also the vice president of the Sylhet Union, an association set up for the promotion of female education in [[Sylhet district]].

==Death==
She died suddenly of jaundice on 19 January 1925.{{Citation needed|date=March 2017}}

==Awards==
*[[Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire]], 1918.

==Legacy==
Institutions named after her:

*The Saroj Nalini Dutt Memorial Association (1925).<ref name="sarojnaliniduttmemorialassociation">[http://www.sarojnaliniduttmemorialassociation.com/ Saroj Nalini Dutt Memorial Association]</ref>
*A girls high school in Suri, earlier named after its founder, [[Augustus Rivers Thompson|Sir Rivers Thompson]], which she helped to reorganise, is now named after her.{{citation needed|date=March 2017}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.sarojnaliniduttmemorialassociation.com/ Saroj Nalini Dutt Memorial Association]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dutta, Saroj Nalini}}
[[Category:1887 births]]
[[Category:1925 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian women]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian people]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educational theorists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women scientists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian scientists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian social scientists]]
[[Category:Indian feminists]]
[[Category:Indian women educational theorists]]
[[Category:Indian women social workers]]
[[Category:Bengali people]]
[[Category:Bengali Hindus]]
[[Category:People from Hooghly district]]
[[Category:Scholars from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Women scientists from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Women educators from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Educators from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Social workers from West Bengal]]
[[Category:20th-century women educators]]

Brajendranath De

2021-12-28T15:01:22Z

2402:3A80:1CD6:126B:778:5634:1232:5476: Added the Bengali spelling of the person's name.

{{more citations needed|date=September 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Brajendranath De
| 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 De (nee Bose) 
}}

'''Brajendranath De''' (ব্রজেন্দ্রনাথ দে) (23 December 1852 – 20 September 1932) 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==
De, a scion of a Kayastha-Brahmo family of Calcutta, was born to Durgadas De, an early student and Junior Scholar of Hindu College, Calcutta (later [[Presidency University]]). He 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 grand-uncle, [[Peary Charan Sarkar]] and his father's mentor, [[Raja]] [[Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee]], the taluqdar of Shankarpore, [[United Provinces of Agra and Oudh|United Provinces]]{{dubious|date=February 2020|reason=United Provinces didn't exist until 1902}} 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>[http://hosted.law.wisc.edu/wordpress/sharafi/files/2010/07/Middle-2.0.pdf University of Wisconsin Law Library]{{Dead link|date=June 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> He was admitted to [[St. Mary Hall, Oxford]], where he spent one year, from 1874-1875, on a [[Boden Sanskrit Scholarship]], having attended the lectures of [[Professor]] [[Max Mueller]] and Mr. Ruslan.<ref name="oxforduniversitycalender">Oxford University Calendar, 1875, p. 366</ref> He was the first Indian barrister and 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 fifth daughter was the social reformer, [[Saroj Nalini Dutt]],<ref name="womenofindia"/> and his fifth son-in-law was Jyotish Chandra De,<ref name="livesless forgotten">[http://rajsaday.com/?p=2089 Lives Less Forgotten: Lieutenant Colonel Jyotish Chandra De]</ref> who was a member of the [[Indian Medical Service]]. His third son, [[Draft: Basanta Kumar De|Basanta Kumar De]], was a senior officer of the [[Bengal Nagpur Railway|BNR]], whose son was the historian, [[Barun De]]. Two of De's 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 |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 son, [[Draft:Basanta Kumar De|Basanta Kumar De]], 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 his grandson, [[Barun De]],<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|colwidth=30em}}

==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 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]]

Basanta Kumar De

2021-12-28T14:59:49Z

2402:3A80:1CD6:126B:778:5634:1232:5476: Added the Bengali spelling of the person's name.

{{refimprove|date=December 2021}}

'''Basanta Kumar De''' (বসন্ত কুমার দে) (9 March, 1897 - 31 August, 1975) was a senior officer of the [[Bengal Nagpur Railway|BNR]].<ref name="frontline1">[http://www.frontline.in/other/obituary/historian-and-administrator/article4995294.ece Aniruddha Ray, "Historian and Administrator", 'Frontline', 2013] Retrieved 2015-03-03</ref>

==Early Life and education==
De was born in Balasore, Orissa. He was born in to a Brahmo family of Calcutta. He was the second son of [[Brajendranath De]], Esq., ICS, the first Indian Magistrate and Collector of Hooghly and Commissioner (offg.) of Burdwan Division in Bengal and Nagendranandini De (née Bose). He completed his education at [[Hare School, Calcutta]] and [[Presidency College, Calcutta]], where he completed his B.A. (Hons.) in English. He attended [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], where his moral tutor was [[James Drummond Anderson]], Esq., ICS. Later he was also admitted to The Honourable Society of [[Middle Temple]].<ref name="awomanofindia">Kundu, Rajib, (tr. & ed.), Saroj Nalini: Shankhipta Jibani, (Ababhash, Kolkata, 2014) (in Bengali), (translation of her husband Gurusaday Dutt's, A Woman of India: Being the Life of Saroj Nalini (Founder of Women's Institute Movement in India (with a forward by Rabindranath Tagore), (Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, 1941)</ref> His son was the historian, [[Barun De]].

==Career==
He was recruited in to the BNR in London in 1921. His first posting was as Assistant Commercial Officer. In that capacity he played an important role in the building of the BNR Hotel in Puri. As a young officer posted in Kharagpore he witnessed the first railway workshop strike there led by V.V. Giri in 1927.<ref name="districtgazetteers">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/44156392?loggedin=true&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Irfan Habib, "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" in ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', Volume 73, 2012, pp. 1553-1555]</ref>

He was tasked with the responsibility of carrying out the survey work for the laying of the Raipur-Vizianagram and Sonepur-Bolangir railway lines in 1931. Through the 1930s he served as District Commercial Officer in Waltair, Kharagpore, Nainpur and Adra. While he was in Adra for a second time, he was given the responsibility of managing the transportation of Congress leaders and workers attending the Ramgarh Session of the Indian National Congress of 1941. In this connection he had to visit Mahatma Gandhi there. <ref name="oralhistory">[https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://wikis.uit.tufts.edu/confluence/display/atbohp/Barun%2BDe%3Fdesktop%3Dtrue%26macroName%3Dattachments&ved=2ahUKEwiykozQoIH1AhUVxDgGHaIvCykQFnoECAYQAQ&usg=AOvVaw083H797WHC9n5MOfE8i6xG Text of Barun De's interview given to Kris Manjapra for Tufts University Oral History Archive, 2009]</ref>

De was recruited as a Major in the Corps of Engineers of the Indian army during the Second World War years. He served as Regional Controller of Railway Priorities (RCRP) under the Railway Board and then as Traffic Superintendent General. In 1950, he was appointed as Commercial Traffic Manager. In the last two years of his career, he attended meetings chaired by the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, Bidhan Chandra Ray. De retired from active service at the end of 1952.

==Post-retirement==

After retirement he was offered membership of the Railway Recruitment Board in Gorakhpur, which he declined. He took the initiative to publish large segments of his father, Brajendranath De's, memoir in the ''Calcutta Review'', on the occasion of the latter's birth centenary in 1952. As an original Trustee of the Estate of the Late Gurusaday Dutt, he recommended as well as contributed to the formation of the Gurusaday Dutt Folk Arts Museum, which is now under the Bratachari Society.

{{uncategorised|date=December 2021}}

Barun De

2021-12-28T14:58:27Z

2402:3A80:1CD6:126B:778:5634:1232:5476: Added the Bengali spelling of the person's name.

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2018}}
{{About|the historian|the pathologist|Barun K. De}}
{{refimprove|date=August 2013}}

{{Infobox scientist
| name =Barun De
| image =
| caption =
| birth_date = 30 October 1932
| birth_place=[[Calcutta]], [[Bengal]]
| death_date = 16 July 2013 (aged 80)
| death_place = [[Calcutta]], [[West Bengal]]
| fields =[[History]]
| alma_mater ={{Plainlist|
*[[St. Xaviers Collegiate School]]
*[[Presidency College, Calcutta]]
*[[St Catherine's College, Oxford|St Catherine's Society, Oxford]]
*[[Nuffield College, Oxford]]
| Awards = Banga Samman Award, 2008-2009
}}
| notable_students = [[Sumit Sarkar]], [[Dipesh Chakrabarty]], [[Rudrangshu Mukherjee]]
}}

'''Barun De''' (বরুণ দে) (30 October 1932 – 16 July 2013) was an Indian historian. He served as the first professor of social and economic history of the [[Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta]], founder-director of the [[Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta]] and the [[Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies]], Kolkata and as the honorary state editor for the West Bengal District Gazetteers. He was chairman of the West Bengal Heritage Commission.

==Early life and education==
De was born into a [[Brahmo]] family.<ref name="telegraphindia">{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130718/jsp/calcutta/story_17126553.jsp |title=Historian Barun De dead |date=18 July 2013 |accessdate=2016-08-15}}</ref> His father, [[Draft: Basanta Kumar De|Basanta Kumar De]], was a high-ranking official of the Bengal Nagpur Railways.<ref name="frontline1">[http://www.frontline.in/other/obituary/historian-and-administrator/article4995294.ece "Historian and Administrator" - Aniruddha Ray] Retrieved 2015-03-03</ref><ref name="liveslessforgotten">[http://rajsaday.com/?p=1950 Lives Less Forgotten: Basanta Kumar De]</ref> His grandfather was [[Brajendranath De]], ICS.<ref name="vmh">[http://www.victoriamemorial-cal.org/official_info/victoria_newsletter_feb2014.pdf Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, 'Obituary' in the ''Victoria Memorial Newsletter'', 2014]</ref> He studied at [[St. Xavier's Collegiate School]], [[Calcutta]]. He completed his higher studies at [[Presidency College, Calcutta]], where he was a student of [[Susobhan Sarkar|Susobhan Chandra Sarkar]] and later at [[St. Catherine's College, Oxford|St. Catherine's Society, Oxford]]. He completed his [[D.Phil.]] thesis on "Henry Dundas and the Government of India, 1784-1801" under the supervision of Colin Cuthbert Davies.<ref name="telegraphindia1">
{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130718/jsp/opinion/story_17126533.jsp#.vOvi_Tb9nIU |title=Clio's Disciple |first=Rudrangshu|last=Mukherjee |date=18 July 2013 |accessdate=2015-02-24}}</ref> on a Beit studentship at [[Nuffield College, Oxford]]. As the holder of this scholarship he taught students of the college. He was awarded the Curzon Memorial Prize for his essay "Macaulay and India". In addition to his academic work, he was secretary, treasurer and president of the Oxford India Majlis.<ref name="thestatesman1">[http://www.thestatesman.com/news/6074-Historian-Barun-De-dead.html "Historian Barun De dead" - The Statesman, 18 July 2013] Retrieved 2015-03-05.</ref>

He formed a lasting friendship with [[Saiyid Nurul Hasan]], the historian and Governor of West Bengal.<ref name="thetelegraphindia">{{cite news|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150405/jsp/opinion/story_12677.jsp#.V7E5UjgkrIU |title=State of Abounding Grace |first=Gopal Krishna|last=Gandhi |date=2015 |accessdate=2016-08-15}}</ref>

==Career==
De held various positions at various times, including a senior professorship at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta,<ref name="timesofindia1"/> the founder-directorship of the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta and the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies,<ref name="telegraphindia1"/> a membership, held for three terms, of the [[Indian Council of Historical Research]], New Delhi, and the role of honorary state editor of the West Bengal District Gazetteers.<ref name="ihr1">[http://ihr.sagepub.com/content/41/1/147.full.pdf+html "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" - Sabyasachi Bhattacharya] Indian Historical Review. Retrieved 2015-03-15.</ref> He taught and worked abroad, among other places, at [[Duke University]] as a visiting [[associate professor]], the [[Indian Institute of Advanced Studies]], [[Shimla]], as a senior fellow,<ref name="thestatesman1"/> Fondation Maison des sciences de l'homme, [[Paris]] as a [[directeur]], [[University of Sydney]] and [[University of Milan]] as a visiting [[professor]], and the [[University of World Economy and Diplomacy]], [[Tashkent]] as the India Chair (in the rank of minister-counsellor) for three years, with attachment to the Indian Embassy of [[Uzbekistan]],.<ref name="businessstandard1">[http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/historian-barun-de-dies-at-80-113071700809_1.html "Historian Barun De dies at 80" - Business Standard] Retrieved 2015-03-06.</ref> He was secretary (1974-76), sectional president and general president (1988) of the Indian History Congress.<ref name="frontline1"/>

In 2004, he was appointed to a membership of the [[NCERT]] textbook review committee.<ref>[http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/arjun-singh-appoints-panel-to-review-ncert-textbooks/1/196584.html ''India Today'', 2004]</ref>
In his post-retirement years, he was chairman of the West Bengal State Archives, Calcutta,<ref name="businessstandard1"/> a vice president of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,<ref name="frontline1"/>
a member of the Board of Trustees of the Indian Museum, Calcutta,<ref name="frontline1"/> and a member of the Heritage Conservation Committee of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, in which capacity he was among several people who prepared a list of heritage buildings of West Bengal.<ref>[https://www.kmcgov.in/KMCPortal/downloads/Graded_List_of_Heritage_Buildings_Grade_I_IIA_IIB.pdf "Heritage Conservation Committee"] p. 3. Retrieved 2015-03-23</ref> ''[[The Times of India]]'' has described him as "a pioneer of the heritage movement of West Bengal",<ref name="timesofindia1">[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Historian-scholar-Barun-De-dies-at-80/articleshow/21156245.cms "The Times of India" - Staff Reporter] Retrieved 2015-02-27.</ref> From 2008-2011 he was honorary chairman (in the rank of minister-of-state) of the West Bengal Heritage Commission, of which he was a member from 2001–2008.<ref name="businessstandard1"/>

He was appointed as a Tagore National Fellow, which he held at the Victoria Memorial Hall, Calcutta.<ref name="victoriamemorialnewsletter1">[http://www.victoriamemorial-cal.org/official_info/victoria_newsletter_feb2014.pdf "Obituary" in the ''Victoria Memorial Newsletter'' - Sabyasachi Bhattacharya] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150226153443/http://www.victoriamemorial-cal.org/official_info/victoria_newsletter_feb2014.pdf |date=2015-02-26 }} Retrieved 2015-0317.</ref>

==Research==
De's research spanned from early- to late-modern periods of Indian history. In the earlier part of his career he wrote on Henry Dundas and the conquest of India, while later on he addressed the Marxist critique of the colonial context of the Bengal renaissance.<ref>[http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/a-great-conversationalist-intellectual/article4925060.ece "A Conversationalist Intellectual - Sugata Bose"] Retrieved 2015-03-27.</ref> He was also concerned with the national movement: his popular textbook book, ''Freedom Struggle'', co-authored with [[Bipan Chandra]] and Amalesh Tripathi,<ref name="telegraphindia1"/> was censored by the new Central government that came to power in India in 1977.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=4DlMSrtOGLIC&pg=PA272 "Censorship of Historical Thought: A World Guide" - Antoon de Baets] Retrieved 2015-02-21.</ref> It has been translated into Bengali by Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya.<ref>[http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article4385.html "Historian Barun De passes away - Panchanan Chattopadhyay"]. ''Mainstreamweekly''. Retrieved 2015-03-23.</ref> In 1975 he edited a thick volume in honour of Prof. Susobhan Sarkar in which he wrote the main essay on his teacher which reveals his preference for objectivity and critical analysis.<ref name="proceedingsoftheindianhistorycongress1">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/44156392?seq=2&loggedin=true#page_scan_tab_contents Irfan Habib, "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" in ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', Volume 73, 2012, p. 1554]</ref> He was the editor of 24 Parganas and Darjeeling ''District Gazetteers''.<ref name="districtgazetteers">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/44156392?loggedin=true&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Irfan Habib, "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" in ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', Volume 73, 2012, pp. 1553-1555]</ref> He contributed to the editing of the Jalpaiguri District Gazetteers.<ref name="districtgazetteers1">[https://books.google.com/books?id=UfToffd1KxMC&pg=PA201&lpg=PA201&dq=Barun+De,+Jalpaiguri+district+gazetteers&source=bl&ots=LCjhrE6fY2&sig=Rw9AXjtY445QnVTRA6XHXnuaZpU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjWy5HlxfzaAhXIqo8KHROuAZMQ6AEIQzAF#v=onepage&q=Barun%20De%2C%20Jalpaiguri%20district%20gazetteers&f=false Abani Mohan Kusari, West Bengal District GazetteersL Jalpaiguri, Gazetteer of India, Calcutta, Barun De, Honorary State Editor, West Bengal District Gazetteers, Calcutta, 1981 in Michael Lampert, Discipline and Debate: The Language of Violence in Tibetan Buddhist Monastery, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012].</ref>

==Views==
De was well known for his criticism of the emergency of 1975–77.<ref name="proceedingsoftheindianhistorycongress">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/44156392?seq=1&loggedin=true#page_scan_tab_contents Irfan Habib, "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" in ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', Vol. 73, 2012, p. 1554]</ref>

==Awards==
*D.Litt. (''Honouris Causa''), North Bengal University, 2000.<ref name="jagranjosh">[http://www.jagranjosh.com/current-affairs/barun-de-the-renowned-historian-and-academician-passed-away-at-80-1377577861-1 Akanksha Sharma, 'Barun De, The Renowned Historian and Academician Passed Away at 80' in ''Jagran Josh'', 17 July 2013]</ref>

*Banga Samman, 2008-09

==Death and legacy==

De died due to [[renal failure]] in [[Kolkata]] on 16 July 2013 aged 80.<ref name="timesofindia1" /><ref name="HT20130718">{{cite news|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/kolkata/Historian-Barun-De-passes-away/Article-1094187.aspx |date=18 July 2013 |title=Historian Barun De passes away |publisher=Hindustan Times |accessdate=4 October 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131010131755/http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/kolkata/Historian-Barun-De-passes-away/Article-1094187.aspx |archivedate=10 October 2013 }}</ref>

The Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Calcutta has instituted a Barun De Memorial Lecture.<ref>[http://makaias.gov.in/Programme_BarunDe_Memorial_Lecture1.pdf Barun De Memorial Lecture] Retrieved 2015-02-27.</ref> Barun De Auditorium of Jadunath Bhavan Museum and Resource Centre, the museum of the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, is named after him.<ref name="jadunathbhavan">[http://jbmrc.cssscal.org/remembering-professor-barun-de/ Barun De Auditorium, CSSSC]</ref>

==Publications==

*''Secularism at Bay: Uzbekistan at the Turn of the Century'' (New Delhi, 2006)<ref>[https://books.google.com/books/about/Secularism_at_Bay.html?id=TjE74t1I9NsC&redir_esc=y "Secularism at Bay: Uzbekistan at the Turn of the Century" - Barun De] Retrieved 2015-02-17.</ref>
*(ed.) ''State, Development and Political Culture: Bangladesh and India'', (New Delhi, 1997) (co-edited with Ranabir Samaddar)
*(ed.) ''Mukti Sangrame Banglar Chatra-Samaj'' (''Students of Bengal in the Struggle of Liberation'') (in Bengali), (Calcutta: Paschim Banga Itihas Samsad, 1992)
*(ed.) ''West Bengal District Gazetteers, 24 Parganas'', (Calcutta, 1983)
*(ed.) ''West Bengal District Gazetteers, Jalpaiguri'', (Calcutta, 1981) (co-edited with Abani Mohan Kusari).
*(ed.) ''West Bengal District Gazetteers, Darjeeling'', (Calcutta, 1980)
*''The Dialectics Between Response to Exogenous and Autochthonous Innovation in India in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, with Special Reference to Modern Bengal'', (Tokyo: United Nations University, 1979)<ref name="unu">[https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/1713550 The Dialectics Between Response to Exogenous and Autochthonous Innovation in India in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, with Special Reference to Modern Bengal - Barun De] Retrieved 2018-01-12.</ref>
*(ed.) ''Perspectives in Social Sciences, 1: Historical Dimensions'' (New Delhi, 1977)<ref name="perspectivesinsocialscienceihistoricaldimensions">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/2055079?seq=1 David L.Curley (reviewer), ''Perspectives in Social Sciences I: Historical Dimension'', in ''The Journal of Asian Studies'', Vol. 40, No. 1, (Nov. 1980), pp. 158–60]</ref><ref name="perspectivesinsocialscienceshistoricaldimensions1">[https://books.google.com/books?id=GHxJDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT234&lpg=PT234&dq=Barun+De&source=bl&ots=X75XMnufBq&sig=zpY72FIOO7UfU3rH8I71SAT1GPc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi1qJrP29vZAhXHPo8KHZP4DMM4FBDoAQhDMAg#v=onepage&q=Barun%20De&f=false Chandak Sengoopta, ''The Rays before Satyajit: Creativity and Modernity in Colonial India'', (New Delhi, Oxford, 2016)]</ref>
* "A Biographical Perspective on the Political and Economic Ideas of Rammohun Ray", in V.C.Joshi, (ed.), ''Rammohun Roy and the Process of Modernisation in India'', New Delhi, 1975<ref name="indianpoliticalthought">[https://books.google.com/books?id=yP59iDghcIkC&pg=PA68&lpg=PA68&dq=Barun+De&source=bl&ots=JEIKcyzgDB&sig=bHJMaKGdoWOXXD6JRAzKMD9DZLY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiKyazs3tvZAhUUTo8KHXDCCMM4HhDoAQg1MAQ#v=onepage&q=Barun%20De&f=false Amiya P. Sen, "Rammohan Roy", in Mahendra Prasad Singh and Himanshu Roy, ''Indian Political Thought: Themes and Thinkers'', (Delhi, Pearson, 2011), p. 68]</ref>
*(ed.) ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', (Calcutta: Jadavpur Session, 1974)
*(ed.) ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', (Aligarh: Aligarh Session, 1975)
*(et al. eds.) ''Essays in Honour of Professor Sushobhan Chandra Sarkar'' (New Delhi, 1975)<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=xJgDawlnknwC&pg=PA190 "Peasant Labour and Colonial Capital: Rural Bengal since 1770" - Sugata Bose] 2015-02-19.</ref>
*''Freedom Struggle'' (New Delhi, 1972), (co-authored with [[Bipan Chandra]] and Amalesh Tripathi)<ref>[https://www.amazon.in/Freedom-Struggle-Bipan-Chandra/dp/8123702493 "Freedom Struggle" - Bipan Chandra, Amalesh Tripathi and Barun De] Retrieved 2015-02-18.</ref>

== See also ==
*[[NCERT textbook controversies]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.cssscal.org/ Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta]
*[http://www.makaias.gov.in/ Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Calcutta]
*[http://rajsaday.com/?p=1958 Lives Less Forgotten: Barun De]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:De, Barun}}
[[Category:1932 births]]
[[Category:2013 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian historians]]
[[Category:Alumni of Nuffield College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Alumni of St Catherine's College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Bengali historians]]
[[Category:Brahmos]]
[[Category:Deaths from kidney failure]]
[[Category:Economic historians]]
[[Category:Historians of South Asia]]
[[Category:Indian civil servants]]
[[Category:Indian Marxist historians]]
[[Category:Indian Institute of Management Calcutta faculty]]
[[Category:Indian political writers]]
[[Category:Indian institute directors]]
[[Category:Presidency University, Kolkata alumni]]
[[Category:Scientists from Kolkata]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta faculty]]

Mira Datta Gupta

2021-12-28T14:55:46Z

2402:3A80:1CD6:126B:778:5634:1232:5476: /* Background */

{{Short description|Indian politician}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{more citations needed|date=June 2012}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Mira Dutta Gupta
| image =
| image_size =
| caption =
| birth_date = 5 October 1907
| birth_place = [[Dhaka]], [[Bengal Presidency]], [[British India]]
Present day, [[Bangladesh]]
| death_date = 18 January 1983 (aged 76)
| death_place = [[Calcutta]], [[West Bengal]], [[India]]
| alma mater = [[Bethune College]]
| occupation = Educationist and politician
}}

'''Mira Datta Gupta''' ({{lang-bn|মীরা দত্ত গুপ্ত}}) (5 October 1907 - 18 January 1983) was a well-known [[freedom fighter]], [[social worker]], [[educationist]], politician and activist on women's issues in [[Calcutta]], India. She was a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in Bengal and then West Bengal for twenty years from 1937 to 1957, firstly representing Women's constituency from 1937 to 1952, and then Bhowanipore from 1952 to 1957. She was the first MLA from Bhowanipore.

==Background==

She was the daughter of Sarat Kumar Datta Gupta, [[Indian Audits and Accounts Service|IAAS]], who retired as the Accountant General of India and later served as Agent (Railway Finance) of Jaipur State and Sarajubala Datta Gupta (née Sen). She was born on 5 October in her maternal grandparents' home in [[Dhaka]]. Her paternal ancestors owned substantial tracts of land on the Tarpasha side of Jainshar village in Dacca, Bikrampur, which the family held until the second partition of Bengal in 1947. Her paternal relatives were however not too significantly affected by the partition since most members of the family had been living and working in Calcutta since the end of the nineteenth century. In Calcutta she lived with her parents for the most part of her life at 41, Hazra Road.

Shanti Dasgupta, MLA, who was an education minister in the Government of West Bengal (1972–77) was her nephew. [[Barun De]], the historian, was a nephew-in-law.{{citation needed|date=April 2016}} Ardhendu Sen, IAS, a former Chief Secretary of West Bengal, is a grandnephew of hers.

==Education and early influences==
{{unreferenced section|date=December 2019}}
She was a brilliant student of St. John's Diocesan, Calcutta and [[Bethune College]], Calcutta. She completed her MSc in mathematics at the [[University of Calcutta]], coming first class second in the examination in 1930.

Her parents were greatly inspired by patriotic feelings and she too absorbed these ideas as she was growing up. Since her father was a senior government official, the police did not suspect her of being a revolutionary worker for a long time. She secretly kept documents and even arms and ammunition for revolutionary party workers at her family home in Hazra Road. During the Calcutta Riots of 1946 she gave shelter to both Muslim and Hindu riot victims. In this endeavour she had the active backing of her family members, including her parents. In the initial years of her political career, she was a member of the [[Indian National Congress]], but later disillusioned by the INC, she joined the Forward Bloc.

==Academic and social work==
{{unreferenced section|date=December 2019}}
The last decades of the nineteenth century and the start of the twentieth century saw the dawn of awakening of Indian women across India. Born in early twentieth century, Mira, like some of her contemporaries contributed towards the education and advancement of women in her province. As the vice principal of [[Vidyasagar College]], Calcutta and the founder-principal of the women's section of [[Surendranath College]], Calcutta, (appointed in 1931) she was very well known and also popular for her strong sense of discipline and academic standards. She retired from Surendranath Women's College in 1972.

She was the founder of many prominent women's organisations and educational institutions in [[West Bengal]], India. She was among the founder members of the [[All India Women's Conference]] and [[All Bengal Women's Union]].

==Political career==

She was a member of the [[Indian National Congress|Indian Congress Party]] between 1937 and 1946. She was elected four times (1937, 1942, 1946 and 1951) as Member of the [[State Legislative Assembly (India)|State Legislative Assembly]] of [[Bengal]], later renamed West Bengal. She was offered the post of Deputy Minister in the Cabinet of 1952 of the then [[Chief Minister]], [[Bidhan Chandra Roy]], which she declined.<ref name="keyhighlightsofgeneralelections1951tothelegislativeassemblyofwestbengal">[http://www.eci.gov.in/SR_KeyHighLights/SE_1951/STATISTICALREPORTS_51_WestBengal.pdf Key Highlights of General Elections 1951 to the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930062737/http://www.eci.gov.in/SR_KeyHighLights/SE_1951/STATISTICALREPORTS_51_WestBengal.pdf |date=30 September 2007 }}</ref>

Mira's reputation grew with her increasing involvement in the revolutionary movement. She was associated with Indian revolutionary groups, such as [[Anushilan]], [[Jugantar]] and [[Bengal Volunteers]]. As a member of [[Bengal Volunteers]] she was the editor of the women's section of its magazine – ''Benu''. While, initially she was put in charge of the organisation's South Calcutta Women's group, she later moved into a low profile role, choosing to work for India's independence secretly. In those days she used to donate her entire salary towards India's freedom movement to her party Bengal Volunteers. Around this time she also provided a channel for information between the revolutionaries who had to remain under cover and other members of the party. She participated in one of the important meetings of Bengal Volunteers held at [[Baranagar]] near Kolkata to discuss the group's activities in Midnapore and other parts of the state. From 1933, the police grew suspicious of her activities and she was placed under constant surveillance. In 1938, many party members such as Bhavani Bhattacharya and Ujjala Mazumdar were arrested in connection with the shooting of Governor John Anderson in [[Darjeeling]] district. Mira was cross-examined by the police for many hours in connection with this case. At this stage her father sent her away from Calcutta for two years to ensure her personal safety. She was very actively involved in fund raising activities during the Quit India Movement of 1942. In 1946, she was jailed for her nationalist activities. After her released from prison she became one of the first members of Netaji [[Subhas Chandra Bose]]'s [[Forward Bloc]].{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}

She had a devoted following in the [[Ballygunge]] [[Constituency]], all along the southeastern environs of the city, and was known for her social commitment. During the devastating [[Bengal Famine of 1943]], she, along with co-Congress workers played a leading role in organising [[relief]] for famine victims.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}

Later, after independence, her many activities included relief activities for those affected by famines, floods, and also the rehabilitation of the homeless and economically weaker women.

==Post-retirement==

In her post-retirement years, she served as an honorary justice of peace in the juvenile court in Kolkata and was a member of the [[Board of Film Censors]] in West Bengal. In 1958 she joined the Indian goodwill mission to China and later visited [[Berlin]], Copenhagen and Moscow to attend developmental, educational and women's conferences. She was also a member of the Calcutta University Senate and the [[West Bengal Board of Secondary Education]]. She also contributed to the setting up of [[Patha Bhavan, Kolkata]], a school named after the university school in [[Santiniketan]].{{citation needed|date=April 2016}}

==Death==
She died of [[pneumonia]] on 18 January 1983, at the age of 76.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dattagupta, Mira}}
[[Category:1907 births]]
[[Category:1983 deaths]]
[[Category:All India Forward Bloc politicians]]
[[Category:Indian feminists]]
[[Category:Members of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly]]
[[Category:Bethune College alumni]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta faculty]]
[[Category:Social workers]]
[[Category:Women in West Bengal politics]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educational theorists]]
[[Category:Indian women educational theorists]]
[[Category:Women scientists from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Politicians from Kolkata]]
[[Category:Indian National Congress politicians from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Women Indian independence activists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian politicians]]
[[Category:Scholars from Kolkata]]
[[Category:Women educators from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Social workers from West Bengal]]
[[Category:20th-century women educators]]

Basanta Kumar De

2021-12-28T09:52:35Z

2402:3A80:1CD6:126B:778:5634:1232:5476: /* Early Life and education */

{{refimprove|date=December 2021}}

'''Basanta Kumar De''' (9 March, 1897 - 31 August, 1975) was a senior officer of the [[Bengal Nagpur Railway|BNR]].<ref name="frontline1">[http://www.frontline.in/other/obituary/historian-and-administrator/article4995294.ece Aniruddha Ray, "Historian and Administrator", 'Frontline', 2013] Retrieved 2015-03-03</ref>

==Early Life and education==
De was born in Balasore, Orissa. He was born in to a Brahmo family of Calcutta. He was the second son of [[Brajendranath De]], Esq., ICS, the first Indian Magistrate and Collector of Hooghly and Commissioner (offg.) of Burdwan Division in Bengal and Nagendranandini De (née Bose). He completed his education at [[Hare School, Calcutta]] and [[Presidency College, Calcutta]], where he completed his B.A. (Hons.) in English. He attended [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], where his moral tutor was [[James Drummond Anderson]], Esq., ICS. Later he was also admitted to The Honourable Society of [[Middle Temple]].<ref name="awomanofindia">Kundu, Rajib, (tr. & ed.), Saroj Nalini: Shankhipta Jibani, (Ababhash, Kolkata, 2014) (in Bengali), (translation of her husband Gurusaday Dutt's, A Woman of India: Being the Life of Saroj Nalini (Founder of Women's Institute Movement in India (with a forward by Rabindranath Tagore), (Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, 1941)</ref> His son was the historian, [[Barun De]].

==Career==
He was recruited in to the BNR in London in 1921. His first posting was as Assistant Commercial Officer. In that capacity he played an important role in the building of the BNR Hotel in Puri. As a young officer posted in Kharagpore he witnessed the first railway workshop strike there led by V.V. Giri in 1927.<ref name="districtgazetteers">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/44156392?loggedin=true&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Irfan Habib, "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" in ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress'', Volume 73, 2012, pp. 1553-1555]</ref>

He was tasked with the responsibility of carrying out the survey work for the laying of the Raipur-Vizianagram and Sonepur-Bolangir railway lines in 1931. Through the 1930s he served as District Commercial Officer in Waltair, Kharagpore, Nainpur and Adra. While he was in Adra for a second time, he was given the responsibility of managing the transportation of Congress leaders and workers attending the Ramgarh Session of the Indian National Congress of 1941. In this connection he had to visit Mahatma Gandhi there. <ref name="oralhistory">[https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://wikis.uit.tufts.edu/confluence/display/atbohp/Barun%2BDe%3Fdesktop%3Dtrue%26macroName%3Dattachments&ved=2ahUKEwiykozQoIH1AhUVxDgGHaIvCykQFnoECAYQAQ&usg=AOvVaw083H797WHC9n5MOfE8i6xG Text of Barun De's interview given to Kris Manjapra for Tufts University Oral History Archive, 2009]</ref>

De was recruited as a Major in the Corps of Engineers of the Indian army during the Second World War years. He served as Regional Controller of Railway Priorities (RCRP) under the Railway Board and then as Traffic Superintendent General. In 1950, he was appointed as Commercial Traffic Manager. In the last two years of his career, he attended meetings chaired by the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, Bidhan Chandra Ray. De retired from active service at the end of 1952.

==Post-retirement==

After retirement he was offered membership of the Railway Recruitment Board in Gorakhpur, which he declined. He took the initiative to publish large segments of his father, Brajendranath De's, memoir in the ''Calcutta Review'', on the occasion of the latter's birth centenary in 1952. As an original Trustee of the Estate of the Late Gurusaday Dutt, he recommended as well as contributed to the formation of the Gurusaday Dutt Folk Arts Museum, which is now under the Bratachari Society.

{{uncategorised|date=December 2021}}