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{{short description|Bengali philosopher}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Basanta Kumar Mallik
| image =
| caption =
| birth_date = 27 May 1879
| birth_place = [[Jamalpur, Bihar]], [[India]]
| death_date = 9 December 1958
| death_place = [[Polstead Road]], Oxford, United Kingdom
| alma_mater = [[Exeter College, Oxford]]
| occupation = {{hlist|Bengali tutor|author|philosopher}}
| known_for = Influence on the poet Robert Graves in the 1920s
| father = Srihari Kumar Mallik
}}

'''Basanta Kumar Mallik''' (27 May 1879 – 9 December 1958) was a Bengali tutor, author and philosopher. He spent two extended periods in Britain, and is known for his influence in the 1920s on the poet [[Robert Graves]]. Mallik, his family name, derives from an honorific given by the [[Moghul Empire]], and he preferred not to use it.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Radhakrishnan |first1=Sarvepalli |last2=Winifred |first2=Lewis |title=Basanta Kumar Mallik: A Garland of Homage from Some who Knew Him Well, with a Biography |date=1961 |publisher=V. Stuart |page=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIrRAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>

==Early life==
He was the son of Srihari Kumar Mallik, an [[East India Railway]] employee, and was born at [[Jamalpur, Bihar|Jamalpur]] in [[Bihar]]. The family moved to [[Halisahar]] in [[West Bengal]] when he was still young. His father had a drinking problem, and died in 1888. His mother, with her mother-in-law and the other children, then moved back to [[Meherpur]], the family home.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Radhakrishnan |first1=Sarvepalli |last2=Winifred |first2=Lewis |title=Basanta Kumar Mallik: A Garland of Homage from Some who Knew Him Well, with a Biography |date=1961 |publisher=V. Stuart |pages=3–5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIrRAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref> Robert Graves gave a version of Srihari's death: he was a Christian convert who gave up [[Hindu dietary practices]], wrecking his health.<ref name="Good-Bye">{{cite book |last1=Graves |first1=Robert |title=Good-Bye to All That, an autobiography |date=1929 |publisher=Jonathan Cape |location=London |page=402 |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.ministry.13534/page/402/mode/1up}}</ref>

After attending the Meherpur high school, Basanta Kumar Mallik went to the [[General Assembly's Institution]] in 1896. In Calcutta he encountered [[William Spence Urquhart]], a teacher at Duff College after 1902; Urquhart became a friend. After some family troubles, Mallik gained a B.A. degree in Mental and Moral Philosophy in 1902, having gone through an arranged marriage in 1900 in [[Hazaribagh]] which came to nothing.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Radhakrishnan |first1=Sarvepalli |last2=Winifred |first2=Lewis |title=Basanta Kumar Mallik: A Garland of Homage from Some who Knew Him Well, with a Biography |date=1961 |publisher=V. Stuart |pages=7–8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIrRAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite IBD1915|wstitle=Urquhart, Rev. William Spence}}</ref> He took an M.A. degree in Philosophy at [[Presidency College, Calcutta]], in 1903. For the next few years he divided his time between a tutoring job in [[Chitpur Road]], Calcutta, and Hazaribagh.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Radhakrishnan |first1=Sarvepalli |last2=Winifred |first2=Lewis |title=Basanta Kumar Mallik: A Garland of Homage from Some who Knew Him Well, with a Biography |date=1961 |publisher=V. Stuart |page=11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIrRAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref> He took on posts as warden of student hostels, befriended [[Kali Nath Roy]] and visited [[Varanasi]] in 1907.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Radhakrishnan |first1=Sarvepalli |last2=Winifred |first2=Lewis |title=Basanta Kumar Mallik: A Garland of Homage from Some who Knew Him Well, with a Biography |date=1961 |publisher=V. Stuart |pages=13–14 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIrRAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>

In 1908 a recommendation by a friend gained Mallik a position as tutor to [[Kaiser Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana]], son of [[Chandra Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana]], [[Prime Minister of Nepal]], who held the title of Maharaja.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sondhi |first1=Madhuri |title=Intercivilizational Dialogue on Peace: Martin Buber and Basanta Kumar Mallik |date=2008 |publisher=Indian Council of Philosophical Research |isbn=978-81-89963-03-3 |page=26 |language=en}}</ref> Kaiser, who later became a bibliophile, visited the United Kingdom with his father that year.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kaiser Library, About Us |url=https://klib.gov.np/about-us/ |website=klib.gov.np |access-date=2022-11-23 |archive-date=2023-03-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230328152726/https://klib.gov.np/about-us/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> He was the third son, born in 1892, and his mother had died in 1905. He had been a student at the [[Durbar High School]]. In 1907 he was given a position in the Foreign Imports Department.<ref>{{cite book |title=Who's Who India |date=1927 |publisher=Tyson & Co. |location=Calcutta |page=131 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.48158/page/n155/mode/1up}}</ref> Mallik had been chosen after Kaiser's current tutor consulted the principal of the Durbar High School, and joined the court in [[Kathmandu]] in May 1909, meeting Kaiser who was camping with his father in the [[Gokarneshwar|Gokarna reserve]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Radhakrishnan |first1=Sarvepalli |last2=Winifred |first2=Lewis |title=Basanta Kumar Mallik: A Garland of Homage from Some who Knew Him Well, with a Biography |date=1961 |publisher=V. Stuart |page=149 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIrRAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref> He shortly took on responsibility for another of the sons, and started to work under the Foreign Secretary. He was involved in preliminary discussion of what became the [[Nepal–Britain Treaty of 1923]], the long-term goal of Chandra Shumsher's diplomacy.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Radhakrishnan |first1=Sarvepalli |last2=Winifred |first2=Lewis |title=Basanta Kumar Mallik: A Garland of Homage from Some who Knew Him Well, with a Biography |date=1961 |publisher=V. Stuart |pages=14–15 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIrRAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>

Life in Kathmandu near the [[Pashupatinath Temple]] suited Mallik, but Chandra Shumsher was able, through [[Lord Curzon]], to arrange for his admission to [[Exeter College, Oxford]], to read law.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Radhakrishnan |first1=Sarvepalli |last2=Winifred |first2=Lewis |title=Basanta Kumar Mallik: A Garland of Homage from Some who Knew Him Well, with a Biography |date=1961 |publisher=V. Stuart |page=17 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIrRAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>

==Oxford 1912–1923==
Mallik arrived in Oxford in 1912, and was admitted to [[Lincoln's Inn]] on 20 November.<ref>{{cite book |last1=The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn |title=Admissions Registers|volume=3 1894-1956 |date=1981 |url=https://archive.org/details/VOL318941956/page/n124/mode/1up |language=English}}</ref> He took a law degree as an undergraduate at Exeter College, graduating B.A. in Jurisprudence in 1916.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Radhakrishnan |first1=Sarvepalli |last2=Winifred |first2=Lewis |title=Basanta Kumar Mallik: A Garland of Homage from Some who Knew Him Well, with a Biography |date=1961 |publisher=V. Stuart |page=23 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIrRAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref> The original intention that he should return to Nepal in 1915 was made impractical by [[World War I]].<ref name="RL150">{{cite book |last1=Radhakrishnan |first1=Sarvepalli |last2=Winifred |first2=Lewis |title=Basanta Kumar Mallik: A Garland of Homage from Some who Knew Him Well, with a Biography |date=1961 |publisher=V. Stuart |page=150 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIrRAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>

In Michaelmas Term 1917 Mallick began a diploma course in anthropology.<ref>{{cite web |title=Oxford Diploma Students 1907-1920 |url=http://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/sma/index.php/articles/article-index/341-oxford-diploma-students-1907-1920.html |website=web.prm.ox.ac.uk}}</ref> It led to certificates in anthropology in 1918, and a diploma in 1919. He then started on doctoral study, producing a dissertation on "The Problem of Freedom", but leaving Oxford in 1923 before his examination.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Madhuri |first1=Sondhi |title=The Making of Peace: A Logical and Societal Framework According to Basanta Kumar Mallik |date=1985 |publisher=Selectbook Service Syndicate |page=309}}</ref>

===Associations===
Mallik was involved in the [[Oxford Majlis]], a student group, and had contact with the literary circle around [[Robert Bridges]] at [[Boar's Hill]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Chatterjee |first1=Arup K. |title=Indians in London: From the Birth of the East India Company to Independent India |date=30 July 2021 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-93-89449-19-8 |page=299 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1sY4EAAAQBAJ&pg=PT299 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Sondhi |first1=Madhuri |title=Intercivilizational Dialogue on Peace: Martin Buber and Basanta Kumar Mallik |date=2008 |publisher=Indian Council of Philosophical Research |isbn=978-81-89963-03-3 |page=27 |language=en}}</ref> Friends who were Indian expatriates among the students were [[John Matthai]], Kiron Mukherji and [[K. M. Panikkar]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Radhakrishnan |first1=Sarvepalli |last2=Winifred |first2=Lewis |title=Basanta Kumar Mallik: A Garland of Homage from Some who Knew Him Well, with a Biography |date=1961 |publisher=V. Stuart |pages=25–26, 29 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIrRAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>

After World War I Mallik had a large social circle in Oxford.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Radhakrishnan |first1=Sarvepalli |last2=Winifred |first2=Lewis |title=Basanta Kumar Mallik: A Garland of Homage from Some who Knew Him Well, with a Biography |date=1961 |publisher=V. Stuart |pages=24–25 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIrRAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref> A smaller group of followers closely interested in Mallik's thought gathered round him: Thomas Wilfrid "Sam" Harries of [[Balliol College]] with Communist inclinations, Sydney Lewis of Exeter College who died shortly after leaving Oxford, the Serbian Alexander Vidaković who went on to be a journalist with ''[[Politika]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Radhakrishnan |first1=Sarvepalli |last2=Winifred |first2=Lewis |title=Basanta Kumar Mallik: A Garland of Homage from Some who Knew Him Well, with a Biography |date=1961 |publisher=V. Stuart |pages=25–26, 29 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIrRAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Martin |first1=James Joseph |title=American Liberalism and World Politics, 1931-1941: Liberalism's Press and Spokesmen on the Road Back to War Between Mukden and Pearl Harbor |date=1964 |publisher=Devin-Adair |page=662|volume=2 |language=en}}</ref>

In 1919 Mallik was elected a member of the [[Aristotelian Society]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Aristotelian Society (Great Britain) |title=Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society |date=1922 |publisher=Williams & Norgate |location=London |page=239|volume=XXII |url=https://archive.org/details/proceedings22arisuoft/page/239/mode/1up}}</ref> [[William Yandell Elliott]] was in Oxford as a [[Rhodes Scholar]]. He recalled a dominant role for Mallik among students who regarded him as a "wise man".<ref name="Garland">{{cite book |last1=Radhakrishnan |first1=Sarvepalli |last2=Winifred |first2=Lewis |title=Basanta Kumar Mallik: A Garland of Homage from Some who Knew Him Well, with a Biography |date=1961 |publisher=V. Stuart |pages=25–26, 29 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIrRAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>

The Oxford Lotus Club was a student society with a focus on the Indian subcontinent. According to an notice in the ''[[Amrita Bazar Patrika]]'', it was founded by the Merton College classicist Robert Levens (1901–1976), as an informal group.<ref name="ABP">{{cite news |last1=Collingridge |first1=Alan |title=Basanta Kumar Mallik |work=Amrita Bazar Patrika |date=9 December 1961}}</ref> Elliott, [[Stringfellow Barr]] and [[Scott Buchanan]], with others, attempted to debate with him in "Platonic dialogues". Elliott wrote that Mallik was cast as [[Socrates]]. His compressed, over-simplified version of Mallik's position was that "in every clash both sides are wrong".<ref name="Garland"/> Indians there included [[Govinda Krishna Chettur]] and [[K. P. S. Menon]]. At this period Mallik had Oxford lodgings at 22 Farndon Road, and some club members saw him there.<ref name="ABP"/>

===Relationship with Robert Graves===
Mallik first met Graves in 1922 at the Oxford Lotus Club, where Graves was giving a talk, a draft on "What is Bad Poetry?".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Jean Moorcroft |title=Robert Graves: From Great War Poet to Good-bye to All That (1895-1929) |date=9 August 2018 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4729-2915-0 |page=212 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C7NTDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT212 |language=en}}</ref> Graves's mentor [[W. H. R. Rivers]] had just died, and he had broken with his friend [[Robert Nichols (poet)|Robert Nichols]], also engaging in a spat with [[Diccon Hughes]], another friend. He was working on a [[Bachelor of Letters|B.Litt.]] dissertation but his supervisor for it at the university, [[Walter Raleigh (professor)|Walter Raleigh]], had died a few weeks before Rivers.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Graves |first1=Richard Perceval |title=Robert Graves, the Assault Heroic, 1895-1926 |date=1987 |publisher=Viking |isbn=978-0-670-81326-1 |pages=273–275 |language=en}}</ref>

Subsequently, Mallik brought some of his followers, including Sam Harries, to Graves's home in [[Islip, Oxfordshire|Islip]], to talk.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Jean Moorcroft |title=Robert Graves: From Great War Poet to Good-bye to All That (1895-1929) |date=9 August 2018 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4729-2915-0 |page=212 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C7NTDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT212 |language=en}}</ref> Alan Collingridge, counted as a disciple, left an account of discussions between Graves and Mallik there.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Jean Moorcroft |title=Robert Graves: From Great War Poet to Good-bye to All That (1895-1929) |date=23 October 2018 |publisher=Bloomsbury USA |isbn=978-1-4729-2914-3 |page=286 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ja4yEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA286 |language=en}}</ref> These intense encounters with Graves were also held around Oxford at Mallik's home on Farndon Road, at [[Garsington]] and elsewhere, and involved Collingridge, [[Wilfrid Roberts]] of Balliol College who became a good friend of Mallik, and Mary Neighbour.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Radhakrishnan |first1=Sarvepalli |last2=Winifred |first2=Lewis |title=Basanta Kumar Mallik: A Garland of Homage from Some who Knew Him Well, with a Biography |date=1961 |publisher=V. Stuart |pages=24–28 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIrRAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>

[[Jean Moorcroft Wilson]] considers that the five poetry collections published by Graves 1923–1925 show Mallik's influence.<ref name="JMW">{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Jean Moorcroft |title=Robert Graves: From Great War Poet to Good-bye to All That (1895-1929) |date=23 October 2018 |publisher=Bloomsbury USA |isbn=978-1-4729-2914-3 |page=287 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ja4yEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA287 |language=en}}</ref> Graves called his 1924 poetry collection ''Mock Beggar Hall'' (1924) a largely philosophical work; and in ''[[Good-Bye to All That]]'' (1929 edition) he noted that "This philosophic interest was a result of my meeting with Basanta Mallik". He also commented on how the encounter with Mallik allowed him to overcome some [[racial prejudice]].<ref name="Good-Bye"/> Graves dedicated ''The Marmosite's Miscellany'' (1925), a long pseudonymous poetical satire for the [[Hogarth Press]] published under the name John Doyle, to Mallik in India.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Radhakrishnan |first1=Sarvepalli |last2=Winifred |first2=Lewis |title=Basanta Kumar Mallik: A Garland of Homage from Some who Knew Him Well, with a Biography |date=1961 |publisher=V. Stuart |page=81 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIrRAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>

==India==
Mallik returned to India in October 1923.<ref name="JMW"/> He made a visit to Nepal at the end of the year and saw Kaiser Shumsher in his library, but was no longer in favour at court there: Kaiser had supported his post-war period in Oxford, but he was not to expect a post from Chandra Shumsher.<ref name="RL150"/> He found lodgings in Raja Nava Kissen Street, Calcutta, through the Sen family for whom he had worked as a tutor.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Radhakrishnan |first1=Sarvepalli |last2=Winifred |first2=Lewis |title=Basanta Kumar Mallik: A Garland of Homage from Some who Knew Him Well, with a Biography |date=1961 |publisher=V. Stuart |page=29i |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIrRAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>

Around 1924 [[Radhakrishnan]] found in Mallik and Kiron Mukherji two younger thinkers who shared his interest in [[European philosophy]], and later in the 1920s Mallik came to be on close terms with him.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gopal |first1=Sarvepalli |title=Radhakrishnan: A Biography |date=1992 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-562999-6 |page=58 |language=en}}</ref> In June 1925 Sam Harries arrived in Calcutta to visit Mallik. He died suddenly while there, from [[cerebral malaria]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Radhakrishnan |first1=Sarvepalli |last2=Winifred |first2=Lewis |title=Basanta Kumar Mallik: A Garland of Homage from Some who Knew Him Well, with a Biography |date=1961 |publisher=V. Stuart |pages=31–32 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIrRAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>

Taking on legal work, Mallik was able to afford a home of his own, Palashi in the district of [[Kanchrapara]]. He was also engaged once more in Nepal, as adviser, at a
time when [[Juddha Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana]] was faced with some serious family issues. In 1933 Mallik encountered numerous problems, with the finances of Palashi, with the death in the family of a brother involved with the [[Indian National Congress|Congress Party]] and independence politics, and an uncomfortable exit from Kathmandu via a journey on foot before he could find adequate transport to [[Raxaul]] on the Indian border. He suffered a breakdown of his physical health.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Radhakrishnan |first1=Sarvepalli |last2=Winifred |first2=Lewis |title=Basanta Kumar Mallik: A Garland of Homage from Some who Knew Him Well, with a Biography |date=1961 |publisher=V. Stuart |pages=35–39|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIrRAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>

At a low point, Mallik was contacted by Lilian Huss, a Swedish slight acquaintance from his early years in Oxford. In 1936 he voyaged from [[Kidderpore]] on the [[DDG Hansa]] line cargo steamer SS ''Neuenfels'' to [[Hamburg]], where Lilian Huss met him. They went on to [[Stockholm]], where he met Lilian's husband, [[Harald Axel Huss]]. He stayed with them, writing to Mary Neighbour from his old Oxford circle.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Radhakrishnan |first1=Sarvepalli |last2=Winifred |first2=Lewis |title=Basanta Kumar Mallik: A Garland of Homage from Some who Knew Him Well, with a Biography |date=1961 |publisher=V. Stuart |pages=40–43|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIrRAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>

==Oxford from 1937==
Mallik returned to Oxford in February 1937, with the support of Lilian Huss in Stockholm, on what was intended to be a visit. He had few resources and no job, but began renewing old relationships, and stayed on.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Radhakrishnan |first1=Sarvepalli |last2=Winifred |first2=Lewis |title=Basanta Kumar Mallik: A Garland of Homage from Some who Knew Him Well, with a Biography |date=1961 |publisher=V. Stuart |pages=43–45 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIrRAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>

Robert Graves was living on [[Majorca]], but arrived in London in the summer of 1937, escaping the [[Spanish Civil War]] with [[Laura Riding]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Graves |first1=Richard Perceval |title=Robert Graves : the years with Laura, 1926-1940 |date=1990 |location=New York |isbn=0670813273 |page=246 |edition=First American}}</ref> Riding vetoed further contact with Mallik.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Graves |first1=Richard Perceval |title=Robert Graves : the years with Laura, 1926-1940 |date=1990 |location=New York |isbn=0670813273 |page=256 |edition=First American}}</ref> Mallik sent as intermediary Ethel Reeves, sister of [[James Reeves (writer)|James Reeves]]. She made a verbose appeal to Graves which changed nothing.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Graves |first1=Richard Perceval |title=Robert Graves : the years with Laura, 1926-1940 |date=1990 |location=New York |isbn=0670813273 |page=281 |edition=First American}}</ref> Graves concluded that under the influence of philosophy, an interest that came with his friendship with Mallik, he had written bad poetry.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Carter |first1=D. N. G. |title=Robert Graves: The Lasting Poetic Achievement |date=1989 |publisher=Carter |isbn=978-0-333-44742-0 |page=123 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q5TMDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA123 |language=en}}</ref> In the first edition of ''Good-Bye to All That'', he expressed the thought that the intense discussions he had had with Mallik and Sam Harries, in particular, had almost led to [[metaphysics]] for him driving out poetry. The revision of 1957 omitted this passage and the other mentions of Mallik.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Quinn |first1=Patrick J. |title=The Great War and the Missing Muse: The Early Writings of Robert Graves and Siegfried Sassoon |date=1994 |publisher=Susquehanna University Press |isbn=978-0-945636-49-6 |page=104 |language=en}}</ref>

Mallik did meet Radhakrishnan with Kaiser Shumser in London that year, 1937.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Radhakrishnan |first1=Sarvepalli |last2=Winifred |first2=Lewis |title=Basanta Kumar Mallik: A Garland of Homage from Some who Knew Him Well, with a Biography |date=1961 |publisher=V. Stuart |page=151 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIrRAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref> Alan Collingridge, who was on the council of [[Morley College]], sought out Mallik on his return.<ref>{{cite book |title=Education Today: Journal of the College of Preceptors |date=1972 |publisher=College of Preceptors |page=32 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Radhakrishnan |first1=Sarvepalli |last2=Winifred |first2=Lewis |title=Basanta Kumar Mallik: A Garland of Homage from Some who Knew Him Well, with a Biography |date=1961 |publisher=V. Stuart |page=44 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIrRAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref> Mallik gave two public lectures there, in 1942.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Radhakrishnan |first1=Sarvepalli |last2=Winifred |first2=Lewis |title=Basanta Kumar Mallik: A Garland of Homage from Some who Knew Him Well, with a Biography |date=1961 |publisher=V. Stuart |page=55 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIrRAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref> [[L. A. G. Strong]], a friend of Sydney Lewis from undergraduate days, renewed his acquaintance with Mallik through Winifred Lewis, Sydney's elder sister who became Mallik's biographer.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Strong |first1=Leonard Alfred George |title=Green Memory |date=1961 |publisher=Methuen |pages=292–293 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SIhAAAAAIAAJ |language=en}}</ref> Winifred had heard about Mallik's return from Alexander Vidaković, who had met Mallik by chance on [[Broad Street, Oxford|The Broad]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Radhakrishnan |first1=Sarvepalli |last2=Winifred |first2=Lewis |title=Basanta Kumar Mallik: A Garland of Homage from Some who Knew Him Well, with a Biography |date=1961 |publisher=V. Stuart |page=48 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIrRAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>

In rooms on [[Iffley Road]], Mallik wrote his first book, which he had begun in Stockholm. He consulted Radhakrishnan, and drew on discussions in which he had been involved, with the ''[[Parichay (magazine)|Parichay]]'' circle around [[Sudhindranath Dutta]], on [[Hindu–Islamic relations]]. Through Radhakrishnan's influence, it was published in 1939 by [[Allen & Unwin]] ''as The Individual and the Group: An Indian Study in Conflict''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Radhakrishnan |first1=Sarvepalli |last2=Winifred |first2=Lewis |title=Basanta Kumar Mallik: A Garland of Homage from Some who Knew Him Well, with a Biography |date=1961 |publisher=V. Stuart |pages=44–46 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIrRAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>

From 1942 Mallik lived in a household at 16 Polstead Road, in north Oxford, with supporters including Winifred Lewis, Nora Bolton and Hilda Alden;<ref>{{cite book |last1=Radhakrishnan |first1=Sarvepalli |last2=Winifred |first2=Lewis |title=Basanta Kumar Mallik: A Garland of Homage from Some who Knew Him Well, with a Biography |date=1961 |publisher=V. Stuart |page=51 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIrRAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref> [[M. N. Srinivas]] described meeting [[Franz Baermann Steiner]] there, at the "residence of four or five middle-aged English women and an elderly Indian philosopher".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Steiner |first1=Franz Baermann |last2=Srinivas |first2=Mysore Narasimhachar |title=Selected Writings |date=1999 |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=978-1-57181-713-6 |page=8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JkUGVWjgHakC&pg=PA8 |language=en}}</ref> That year Mallik started to give lectures in Exeter College, for undergraduates studying [[Greats]] or [[Modern Greats]] (PPE). For two academic years he covered history, and then in 1944/5 logic and theory of knowledge.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Radhakrishnan |first1=Sarvepalli |last2=Winifred |first2=Lewis |title=Basanta Kumar Mallik: A Garland of Homage from Some who Knew Him Well, with a Biography |date=1961 |publisher=V. Stuart |page=55 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIrRAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>

==Death==
In autumn 1958 Winifred Lewis, Mallik's long-term companion, took him for a holiday on [[Dartmoor]]. After a collapse in health on 23 September, he was admitted to the [[Acland Nursing Home]]. He was taken home to Polstead Road in November, and died there on 9 December. Winifred Lewis took his body to [[Bombay]] on the [[P&O (company)|P&O]] steamer SS ''Pinjarra'', arriving 22 January 1959. It went to Varanasi for cremation, and she placed his ashes in the [[River Ganges]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Radhakrishnan |first1=Sarvepalli |last2=Winifred |first2=Lewis |title=Basanta Kumar Mallik: A Garland of Homage from Some who Knew Him Well, with a Biography |date=1961 |publisher=V. Stuart |pages=76–77 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIrRAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>

==Works==
* ''The Individual and the Group: An Indian Study in Conflict'' (1939). This work and the next, together with Radhakrishnan's ''Indian Philosophy'' (1923), have been seen as containing critique of Western philosophy for its poor grasp of [[lived experience]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kaminsky |first1=Arnold P. |last2=Long |first2=Roger D. |title=India Today: An Encyclopedia of Life in the Republic |date=30 September 2011 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-313-37462-3 |page=549 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wWDnTWrz4O8C&pg=PA549 |language=en}}</ref>
* ''The Real and the Negative'' (1940)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mallik |first1=Basanta Kumar |title=The Real and the Negative |date=1940 |publisher=G. Allen & Unwin Limited |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wAAZAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>
* ''Gandhi – A Prophecy'' (1948)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mallik |first1=Basanta Kumar |title=Gandhi: A Prophesy |date=1948 |publisher=Hall |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2UY_AAAAIAAJ |language=en}}</ref>
* ''Related Multiplicity'' (1952)
* ''The Towering Wave'' (1953)
* ''Non Absolutes'' (1956)
* ''Mythology and Possibility'' (1960)

''Interchange of Selves'', a "dramatic treatise on stoicism" by Mallik, was rewritten by Robert Graves for publication in his [[little magazine]], ''The Owl'', and appeared in the 1923 final issue, ''Winter Owl'', edited by Graves and [[William Nicholson (artist)|William Nicholson]]. It was then reprinted in 1924, in ''Mock Beggar Hall''.<ref name="JMW"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Modernist Journals, The Owl: An Introduction |url=https://modjourn.org/the-owl-an-introduction/ |website=modjourn.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=British Literary Magazines |date=1983–1986 |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=Westport, Conn. |isbn=0313243360|volume=IV |page=334}}</ref> Graves referred to it as "An Actionless Drama for Three Actors and a Moving Background" and gave a dedication to Lady Cecilia Roberts, wife of [[Charles Henry Roberts]] and a long-term supporter of Mallik, the mother of Wilfrid Roberts.<ref name="Kersnowski">{{cite book |last1=Kersnowski |first1=Frank L. |title=The Early Poetry of Robert Graves: The Goddess Beckons |date=15 July 2002 |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=978-0-292-74343-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pDeabvPJC5oC&pg=PA76 |page=76 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Radhakrishnan |first1=Sarvepalli |last2=Winifred |first2=Lewis |title=Basanta Kumar Mallik: A Garland of Homage from Some who Knew Him Well, with a Biography |date=1961 |publisher=V. Stuart |page=24 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIrRAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref> Kersnowski suggests that Graves may have tried to impose on Mallik's work dramatic conventions of [[Symbolist theatre]] from a generation earlier. The intellectual content concerns conflict, endurance and history.<ref name="Kersnowski"/>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mallik, Basanta Kumar}}
[[Category:1879 births]]
[[Category:1958 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian writers]]
[[Category:Indian philosophers]]
[[Category:Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Writers from British India]]
[[Category:Expatriates from British India in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:People from Munger district]]

Basanta Kumar Mallik - Revision history

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