Babina at 19:11, 12 January 2026

2026-01-12T19:11:40Z

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{{Short description|Indian historian (1955–2024)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Use Indian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Hari Sen
| native_name =
| image = Hari sen pic.jpg
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1955|08|15}}
| birth_place = [[Sundar Nagar]], [[Himachal Pradesh]], India
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|2024|03|30|1955|08|15}}
| death_place = [[New Delhi]], India
| citizenship = Indian
| alma_mater = {{Plainlist|
*[[St. Columba's School, Delhi]]
*[[St. Stephen's College, Delhi]]
*[[Delhi University]]
}}
| employer = [[Ramjas College]], Delhi University
| known_for = Teaching history at Delhi University
| works =
| spouse = Prof. Radhika Chopra
| relatives = [[Lalit Sen]] (father)<br>[[Laxman Singh]] (maternal grandfather)<br>[[Pran Chopra]] (father-in-law)
| family = The royal family of [[Suket State]]
| awards =
}}

'''Hari Sen''' (15 August 1955 – 30 March 2024) was an Indian academic historian from [[Himachal Pradesh]]. He taught history at [[Delhi University]] and conducted research on the [[Bhil|Bhils]] of colonial [[Rajasthan]]. He was also the titular [[Raja]] of the erstwhile [[princely state]] of [[Suket State|Suket]].

== Personal life ==
Hari Sen was born in 1955 in the royal family of Suket, an erstwhile [[Salute state|11-gun salute princely state]] whose capital used to be the present-day town of [[Sundar Nagar]] in Himachal Pradesh.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brentnall |first=Mark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ayYbAvECXQwC&dq=hari+sen+suket+state&pg=PA98 |title=The Princely and Noble Families of the Former Indian Empire: Himachal Pradesh |date=2004 |publisher=Indus Publishing |isbn=978-81-7387-163-4 |pages=94 |language=en}}</ref> Sen's father was [[Lalit Sen]] (1932–1985) – a two-time [[Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha|member of parliament]] from the [[Mandi Lok Sabha constituency|Mandi constituency]] – and his paternal grandfather was Raja Lakshman Sen Bahadur (1895–1970), the last ruling king of Suket. Sen's mother was Krishna Kumari, daughter of [[Laxman Singh|Maharawal Sir Lakshman Singh]] (the last ruling king of [[Dungarpur State|Dungarpur]]) from his second wife. Sen nominally succeeded to the 'gaddi' (throne) of Suket on 18 October 1985, as the 52nd 'Raja Saheb' of Suket. His nominal title was ''His Highness Raja Hari Sen Bahadur of Suket''. Sen was married to Dr. Radhika Chopra, a renowned Indian sociologist and the daughter of the journalist [[Pran Chopra]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rathore |first=Abhinay |title=Suket (Princely State) |url=https://www.indianrajputs.com/view/suket |access-date=2022-12-08 |website=Rajput Provinces of India |date=15 August 1955 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Brentnall |first=Mark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ayYbAvECXQwC&dq=hari+sen+suket+state&pg=PA98 |title=The Princely and Noble Families of the Former Indian Empire: Himachal Pradesh |date=2004 |publisher=Indus Publishing |isbn=978-81-7387-163-4 |pages=98 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Joshi |first=Sriniwas |date=15 September 2014 |title=Once again in Sundernagar |url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140915/himachal.htm |access-date=2022-12-08 |website=www.tribuneindia.com}}</ref>

Sen was the trustee and president of the Maharaja Lakshman Sen Memorial College in Sundar Nagar.<ref>{{Cite web |title=MLSM College {{!}} Sundernagar, Mandi, Himachal Pradesh |url=https://www.mlsmc.ac.in/thefounder.aspx |access-date=2022-12-08 |website=www.mlsmc.ac.in}}</ref>

Sen, who was a friend of the writer [[Amitav Ghosh]],<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=16 January 2020 |title=Very few are listening: Writer Amitav Ghosh on climate crisis - Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/global-warming/very-few-are-listening-writer-amitav-ghosh-on-climate-crisis/articleshow/73304042.cms |access-date=2022-12-09 |website=The Times of India |language=en}}</ref> features prominently in Ghosh's often-reprinted essay about the [[1984 anti-Sikh riots]] in Delhi, 'The Ghosts of Mrs Gandhi'.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Ghosh |first=Amitav |date=1995-07-10 |title=THE GHOSTS OF MRS. GANDHI |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1995/07/17/the-ghosts-of-mrs-gandhi |access-date=2022-12-08 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ghosh |first=Amitav |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QQHp9wsWaZcC&dq=hari+sen+delhi+university&pg=PA48 |title=The Imam and the Indian: Prose Pieces |date=2002 |publisher=Orient Blackswan |isbn=978-81-7530-047-7 |pages=46–63 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ghosh |first=Amitav |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ipd9qQWAXA4C&dq=hari+sen+delhi+university&pg=PA195 |title=The Individual and Society |date=2005 |publisher=Pearson Education India |isbn=978-81-317-0417-2 |pages=194–206 |language=en |chapter=Ghosts of Mrs Gandhi}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ghosh |first=Amitav |title=The ghosts of Mrs Gandhi: Amitav Ghosh looks back at the 1984 massacre of Sikhs |url=https://scroll.in/article/906350/the-ghosts-of-mrs-gandhi-amitav-ghosh-looks-back-at-the-1984-massacre-of-sikhs |access-date=2022-12-08 |website=Scroll.in |date=20 December 2018 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ghosh |first=Amitav |date=2022-02-03 |title=The Ghosts Of Mrs Gandhi |url=https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/the-ghosts-of-mrs-gandhi/282817 |access-date=2022-12-08 |website=Outlook |language=en}}</ref>

Sen died in New Delhi on 30 March 2024, at the age of 68.<ref>[https://www.amarujala.com/shimla/mlsm-college-sundernagar-president-dr-hari-sen-passes-away-2024-03-30 पूर्व सुकेत रियासत के राजा हरि सेन का दिल्ली में लंबी बीमारी के बाद निधन] {{in lang|hi}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Simeon |first=Dilip |date=April 9, 2024 |title=R.I.P. Hari Sen (1955-2024). Beloved teacher and outstanding human being |url=https://dsimian.com/2024/04/09/r-i-p-hari-sen-1955-2024-beloved-teacher-and-outstanding-human-being/ |access-date=2024-04-21 |website=After the truth-shower |language=en}}</ref>

== Academic career ==
=== Education ===
Sen did his schooling from [[St. Columba's School, Delhi]], his MA in history from [[St. Stephen's College, Delhi|St. Stephen's College]], Delhi University, and PhD from the Department of History, Delhi University.<ref name=":1" /> His PhD dissertation was titled ''Popular Protest in Mewar in the Late-Nineteenth and Early-Twentieth Centuries'' (unpublished, 1996)''.''<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hardiman |first=David |date=2006 |title=Knowledge of the Bhils and their Systems of Healing |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/49329.pdf |access-date=8 December 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hardiman |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uX4fEAAAQBAJ&dq=hari+sen+Popular+Protest+in+Mewar+in+the+Late-Nineteenth+and+Early-Twentieth+Centuries&pg=PA327 |title=Noncooperation in India: Nonviolent Strategy and Protest, 1920-22 |date=2021-03-01 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-758056-1 |pages=327 |language=en}}</ref>

=== Teaching ===
Sen taught history at [[Ramjas College]], Delhi University, from October 1991 till his retirement in August 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |date=26 September 2019 |title=Seniority List of Teachers, Ramjas College |url=https://ramjas.du.ac.in/college/web/notice/SeniorityList.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Joshi |first=Aditya |date=2016-04-18 |title=14 Members Of Royal Families Who Have Jobs Just Like The Rest Of Us |url=https://www.scoopwhoop.com/life/royalty-with-day-jobs-like-us/ |access-date=2022-12-08 |website=ScoopWhoop |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Chakravarti |first=Balaram |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pFNuAAAAMAAJ&q=hari+sen+delhi+university |title=The Sens of Himachal: Their Pan-Indian Heritage |date=1999 |publisher=Self Employment Bureau (Publications) |language=en}}</ref> He was widely known as a teacher of history at Delhi University.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Deshpande |first=Sudhanva |title=Ramjas has a history of violence – and of standing up to it: An ex-student recalls his college days |url=https://scroll.in/article/830224/ramjas-has-a-history-of-violence-and-of-standing-up-to-it-an-ex-student-recalls-his-college-days |access-date=2022-12-08 |website=Scroll.in |date=25 February 2017 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Gangopadhyay |first=Uttara |title=Vintage Assam: Chronicles Of A Bygone Era |url=https://www.outlookindia.com/outlooktraveller/explore/story/71131/vintage-assam |access-date=2022-12-08 |website= |language=en}}</ref> He has been mentioned as an influence in the works of several historians and other scholars of [[South Asia]], including [[Ramachandra Guha|Ramchandra Guha]] (2000),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Guha |first=Ramachandra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UHfJLK6g_a8C&dq=hari+sen+delhi+university&pg=PR18 |title=The Unquiet Woods: Ecological Change and Peasant Resistance in the Himalaya |date=2000-02-02 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-22235-9 |pages=xviii |language=en}}</ref> Prakash Kumar (2012),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kumar |first=Prakash |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OldjkdRrKXAC&dq=hari+sen+mukul+manglik&pg=PR13 |title=Indigo Plantations and Science in Colonial India |date=2012-08-27 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-02325-3 |language=en}}</ref> Monika Saxena (2018),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Saxena |first=Monika |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OwtpDwAAQBAJ&dq=hari+sen+mukul+manglik&pg=PT13 |title=Women and the Puranic Tradition in India |date=2018-09-03 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-429-82639-9 |language=en}}</ref> Pankaj Jha (2018),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jha |first=Pankaj |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8xl9DwAAQBAJ&dq=hari+sen+ramjas&pg=PT12 |title=A Political History of Literature: Vidyapati and the Fifteenth Century |date=2018-11-20 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-909535-3 |language=en}}</ref> Radhika Chopra (2018),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chopra |first=Radhika |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1oVuDwAAQBAJ&dq=hari+sen+delhi+university&pg=PR12 |title=Amritsar 1984: A City Remembers |date=2018-08-15 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4985-7106-7 |pages=xii |language=en}}</ref> and Nikhil Menon (2022).<ref>{{Citation |title=Acknowledgements |date=2022 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/planning-democracy/acknowledgements/9422BD5473D5D71021D8797848DC67CB |work=Planning Democracy: Modern India's Quest for Development |pages=x–xiv |editor-last=Menon |editor-first=Nikhil |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-316-51733-8 |access-date=2022-12-08}}</ref>

== Bibliography ==
=== Book chapters ===
* Sen, Hari. "The Bhil rebellion of 1881". In ''Issues in Modern Indian History: for Sumit Sarkar''. Popular Prakashan, 2000.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pati |first=Biswamoy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S2Yn4LlujqsC&dq=hari+sen+bhils&pg=PR9 |title=Issues in Modern Indian History: For Sumit Sarkar |date=2000 |publisher=Popular Prakashan |isbn=978-81-7154-658-9 |language=en}}</ref>
* Sen, Hari. "The Bhils in Colonial Mewar." In ''Negotiating India’s Past: Essays in Memory of Partha Sarathi Gupta.'' Tulika Books'','' 2003.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Pati |first1=Biswamoy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XypuAAAAMAAJ&q=hari+sen+bhils+in+colonial+mewar |title=Negotiating India's Past: Essays in Memory of Partha Sarathi Gupta |last2=Sahu |first2=Bhairabi Prasad |last3=Venkatasubramanian |first3=T. K. |date=2003 |publisher=Tulika Books |isbn=978-81-85229-81-2 |language=en}}</ref>
* Sen, Hari. "The Maharana and the Bhils: The ‘Eki’ movement in Mewar, 1921–22." In ''India's Princely States'', pp. 157-172. Routledge, 2007.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ernst |first1=Waltraud |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4hl9AgAAQBAJ&dq=%22The+Maharana+and+the+Bhils:+The+%E2%80%98Eki%E2%80%99movement+in+Mewar,&pg=PT299 |title=India's Princely States: People, Princes and Colonialism |last2=Pati |first2=Biswamoy |date=2007-10-18 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-11987-5 |language=en}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sen, Hari}}
[[Category:1955 births]]
[[Category:2024 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Mandi district]]
[[Category:Indian royalty]]
[[Category:Scholars from Himachal Pradesh]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Delhi University]]
[[Category:Delhi University alumni]]
[[Category:Historians of India]]
[[Category:Historians of colonialism]]
[[Category:Historians of South Asia]]
[[Category:St. Stephen's College, Delhi alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian historians]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian historians]]
[[Category:St. Columba's School, Delhi alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian royalty]]

Hari Sen - Revision history

Babina at 19:11, 12 January 2026