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{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Panchanan Mitra<br/>পঞ্চানন মিত্র
| image =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1892|5|25|df=yes}}<ref name=Yale />
| birth_place = [[Kolkata]], [[Bengal Presidency|Bengal]], [[British India]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1936|7|25|1892|5|25|df=yes}}<ref name=Yale />
| death_place = Kolkata, Bengal, British India
| other_names =
| known_for = Anthropology
| education = [[Anthropologist]]
| spouse = Nirmala
| children =
}}

'''Dr. Panchanan Mitra''' ({{lang-bn|পঞ্চানন মিত্র}}) (25 May 1892 – 25 July 1936) was the first professor of [[anthropology]]<ref name=Bose>Bose, Kaushik (2006) Panchanan Mitra. ''Current Science'' 91(11), Indian Academy of Sciences. [http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/dec102006/1439.pdf PDF]</ref> in India. He was among the first Indians to study at [[Yale University]] and conducted several anthropological expeditions in India and abroad. He was the head of the Department of Anthropology of the [[University of Calcutta]] and is most known for his works ''Prehistoric India'' (1923), ''History of Ameri-can Anthropology'' (1930) and ''Indo-Poly-nesian Memories'' (1933). He was awarded the Fellowship of the [[Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland]] and today the [[Asiatic Society]] awards an annual ‘Panchanan Mitra Memorial Lectureship’ for outstanding contributions to anthropology.<ref name="na">{{cite journal|date=138, 750-750 (31 October 1936)|title=Obituary: Dr. Panchanan Mitra|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]|volume=138|issue=3496|doi=10.1038/138750a0|doi-access=free}}</ref>

==Personal life and family==
He was born to a well-known [[Kayastha]] family at [[Soora]], an eastern suburb of [[Kolkata]], [[India]] on 24 May 1892. The [[Mitra]] family was one of the oldest families of [[Bengal]] and received various honours from the Bengal [[Nawab]]. Raja Pitambar Mitra migrated to [[Oudh]] after the disaster at [[Palashi]], and the family was settled there for many generations. When the family was under Ajodhyaram they received many honors from the Nawab Vizir of Oudh and the emperor at [[Delhi]] as well. Many members of the Mitra family were well known in literary circles. Pitambar and his grandson, Janmejay Mitra wrote [[Brajabuli]] poems. Janmejay was an Urdu poet of distinguished standing as well. Dr. Mitra's 1892. His grandfather’s
elder brother was [[Rajendralal Mitra]] was the first Indian President of [[The Asiatic Society]] and one of the pioneers of the Indian Renaissance. Rajendralal was the third son of Janmejay Mitra. Mitra died on 25 July 1936.<ref name=Bose />

==Career==
He was the first Professor of Anthropology at the [[University of Calcutta]], and received the "[[Bishop Museum]] Fellowship" in 1924 for studying "[[Polynesians|Polynesian]] affinities with India".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-BucIntr-t1-body-d7-d3-d2.html|title=Bishop Museum Fellowships}}</ref> Panchanan Mitra was the first Indian to obtain a [[PhD]] from [[Yale University]], USA in the year 1930.<ref name=Yale>Bulletin of Yale University ''Series 37, No. 1'' 1 January 1941. p. 295 [http://mssa.library.yale.edu/obituary_record/1925_1952/1939-40.pdf PDF]</ref> At Yale, he worked under the supervision of [[Clark Wissler]].<ref name=Bose /> Mitra undertook and supervised several pioneering anthropological expeditions in India and abroad. Several of his students became notable. [[Nirmal Kumar Bose]], personal secretary of [[Mahatma Gandhi]] during the [[Noakhali]] pre-partition riots was his student.

==Awards and memberships==
He was awarded several medals and fellowships during his lifetime and was a member of several professional bodies. He was awarded the ''Fellowship of the [[Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland]]''. He was appointed as the Assistant Curator of the Archaeology section of the Indian Museum. He was the Honorary Magistrate of Kolkata from 1922 to 1924 and later served as a councillor in the Municipal corporation of the city till 1927. He presided over the Anthropology proceedings in the Indian Science Congress in 1933 and the anthropogenetics sessions of the Indian Population Congress, Lucknow in 1936.<ref name=cs>Obituary of Panchanan Mitra in ''Current Science'' Vol. 5, Aug. 1936 [http://www.ias.ac.in/j_archive/currsci/5/2/98/viewpage.html PDF]</ref> He was also an associate member at the American Museum of Natural History. [[The Asiatic Society]] awards an annual '''‘Panchanan Mitra Memorial Lectureship’''' for outstanding contributions to the field of anthropology in his name.<ref name=Bose />

==Legacy==
The recent (2005) publication of his book entitled ''Manual of Prehistoric India'' shows the continuing importance of his work. Although his contributions included much outside the realm of anthropology, probably his greatest legacy is the introduction and development of anthropology as an academic discipline in India. Presently, anthropology and its related sub-disciplines are taught in more than 40 Indian universities.<ref name=Bose />

==Bibliography==
* 1923 ''[https://archive.org/stream/historyofamerica032947mbp#page/n7/mode/2up A History of American Anthropology]'', University of Calcutta. 1933([https://archive.org/download/historyofamerica032947mbp/historyofamerica032947mbp.pdf PDF])
* 1927 ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=NYhCAAAAIAAJ&q=panchanan+mitra&dq=panchanan+mitra&pgis=1 Prehistoric India: Its place in the World's Cultures]''
* 1933 ''Indo-Polynesian Memories''
* ''A Manual of Prehistoric India'' [http://www.gyanbooks.com/index.php?p=sr&Uc=8130700964]

==See also==
* [[Rajendralal Mitra]]
* [[Biraja Sankar Guha]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://openlibrary.org/a/OL208768A Books by Panchanan Mitra on openlibrary.org]
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=W6zQHNavWlsC&pg=PA44&vq=Panchanan+Mitra&dq=God-apes+and+Fossil+Men+by+Kenneth&source=gbs_search_s&cad=0 Kenneth A. R. Kennedy on Dr. Panchanan Mitra in his book ''God-apes and Fossil Men'']

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitra, Panchanan}}
[[Category:Indian anthropologists]]
[[Category:1892 births]]
[[Category:1936 deaths]]
[[Category:Scientists from Kolkata]]
[[Category:Yale University alumni]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta faculty]]
[[Category:Anthropology educators]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educational theorists]]
[[Category:Indian social sciences writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Writers from Kolkata]]
[[Category:20th-century anthropologists]]

Panchanan Mitra - Revision history

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