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{{Short description|Arnold of the East}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Peary Charan Sarkar
| native_name =
| image = Pearycharan_Sarkar.jpg
| caption =
| other_names = Pyari Churn Sircar, Pyari Charan Sircar, Peary Churn Sircar
| birth_date = 23 January 1823
| birth_place = Chorbagan, [[Calcutta]], [[Bengal Presidency]], [[Company Raj]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1875|09|30|1823|01|23}}
| death_place = [[Calcutta]], British India
| occupation = Educationist, textbook Writer, school teacher
| spouse =
| organization = [[Barasat Peary Charan Sarkar Government High School]]
| children = [[Sailendra Sircar]]
| father = Bhairav Chandra Sarkar
| relatives = [[Nripendra Nath Sircar]] (grandson) [[Birendranath Sircar]] (Great Grandson) [[Brajendranath De]] [[Indian Civil Service|ICS]] (Great Nephew)
| alma_mater = [[Hare School]], [[Presidency University, Kolkata|Hindu College]]
| known_for = [[Female education]]
}}
'''Peary Charan Sarkar''' (1823–1875) was an [[educationist]], philanthropist and textbook writer in the nineteenth century [[Bengal]]. His series of Reading Books introduced a whole generation of Bengalis to the English language, sold in the millions and were translated into every major Indian language.<ref>{{Cite web |title=বাঙালিদের ইংরেজি শিক্ষার জন্য প্রথম টেক্সটবুক লেখেন প্যারীচরণ সরকার |url=https://www.bongodorshon.com/home/story_detail/paricharan-sarkar-s-first-book-was-the-first-step-in-teaching-english-to-bengalis-in-the-nineteenth-century |access-date=2025-12-29 |website=Bongodorshon {{!}} ইতিবাচক বাংলা}}</ref> He was also a pioneer of women's education in Bengal and was called '[[Matthew Arnold|Arnold]] of the East.<ref name= "Bose291">Sengupta, Subodh Chandra and Bose, Anjali (editors), (1976/1998), ''Sansad Bangali Charitabhidhan'' (Biographical dictionary) in Bengali, pp 291–292, {{ISBN|81-85626-65-0}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=THOUGHT OF THE DAY {{!}} Delhi Public Primary School, Jodhpur {{!}} DPPS Jodhpur {{!}} Primary School in Jodhpur Rajasthan |url=https://www.dpsjodhpur.co.in/notice_board/detail/58 |access-date=2025-12-29 |website=www.dpsjodhpur.co.in}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mukherjee |first=Nilmani |url=https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/A_Bengal_Zamindar_Jaykrishna_Mukherjee_o/QGmAAAAAIAAJ?hl=en |title=A Bengal Zamindar, Jaykrishna Mukherjee of Uttarpara, and His Times, 1808-1888 |date=1975 |publisher=Firma K.L. Mukhopadhyay |pages=337 |language=en}}</ref>

==Early life and family==
Sarkar was born at Chorbagan in North [[Calcutta]]. His family hailed from Taragram in [[Hooghly district]] of [[West Bengal]], and the family name was originally Das. For services rendered, the [[Nawab of Bengal]] had awarded the title 'Sarkar' to [[Bireshwar Das]], an ancestor. Bhairav Chandra Sarkar, Pyari Charan's father, had become quite wealthy as a ship chandler serving the East India Company, and the family was a fairly good example of the new [[bhadralok]] class. Sarkar was and educated at [[David Hare (philanthropist)|David Hare's]] Pataldanga School,<ref name= "Bose291"/> and admitted to [[Presidency College, Kolkata|Hindu College]], but shortly afterwards his father and then one of his brothers died. His eldest brother was working in Hooghly and could only send money to their mother; as a Hindu widow she had little standing in the family and was ejected from the family home, along with Sircar and his younger brothers and sisters.

Sarkar was forced to leave college and take up a job in 1843 as a teacher at the [[Hooghly School]]. In the same year (1843) his essay 'On the Effect upon India of the New Communication with Europe by Means of Steam' appeared in the Department of Public Instruction's Report on Education. Sarkar became headmaster of [[Barasat School]] (later named [[Barasat Peary Charan Sarkar Government High School]] in his honour), in 1846, and occupied the post till 1854.{{citation needed|date= December 2022}}

==The Barasat Girls' School==

At Barasat, two brothers, [[Nabin Krishna Mitra]] and [[Kalikrishna Mitra]], offered in 1847 to fund Bengal's first private school for girls if Sarkar would agree to help set it up.<ref name= "Bose291"/> The school (later renamed [[Kalikrishna Girls' High School]]) began operations, but Barasat was an extremely conservative Brahmin-majority area and the residents were outraged. Swapan Basu, in his biography of Sircar, alleges that rumours circulated that several landlords were offering money to have Sircar assassinated (p. 24). At this juncture [[John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune]] stepped in to help. He exhorted the financiers not to give up, and with time the opposition weakened. Bethune visited the Barasat school in 1848, and was so impressed that in 1849 he set up the [[Bethune School]] for Girls in Calcutta.<ref>Bagal, Jogesh C., ''History of The Bethune School and College'' in the ''Bethune School and College Centenary Volume, 1849–1949. ''</ref> Sircar continued to be active in campaigning for women's education, helping to set up several more such schools, including a technical and an agricultural school.<ref name= "Bose291"/> In 1854, with a stipend of two hundred rupees, he was appointed headmaster of the [[Colootollah School]]<ref>{{Cite news |title=Yesterdate: This day from Kolkata’s past, January 1, 1846 |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/kolkata/yesterdate-this-day-from-kolkatas-past-january-1-1846/cid/2074620 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250523085931/https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/kolkata/yesterdate-this-day-from-kolkatas-past-january-1-1846/cid/2074620 |archive-date=2025-05-23 |access-date=2025-12-31 |language=en}}</ref> and was responsible for changing its name to [[Hare School]].{{citation needed|date= December 2022}}

==Presidency College==
In 1863 Sarkar was appointed as a temporary lecturer at [[Presidency College, Kolkata]], and in 1867 he was made permanent. There was some opposition to this as he had never completed his education, but in those days this was not so unusual as it later was to become, and Sircar's abilities were plainly evident to the authorities.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Śāstrī |first=Śibanātha |url=https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/Ramtanu_Lahiri_Brahman_and_Reformer/mnS-KQgZg38C?hl=en |title=Ramtanu Lahiri, Brahman and Reformer: A History of the Renaissance in Bengal, from the Bengali of Pandit Sivanáth Sástri, M.A. |date=1907 |publisher=S. Sonnenschein & Company limited |pages=14 |language=en}}</ref>

He continued his campaigning for women's rights, donating two and a half thousand rupees (then a huge sum of money) to the [[Widow remarriage]] Fund in 1869. In 1873, he became a member of the working committee of [[Keshub Chunder Sen]]'s [[Society for the Suppression of Vice in Indian Society]]. He was also associated with the [[Bengal Temperance Society]]. Keshab Chandra Sen later took up his work on temperance in [[Indian Reform Association]].<ref>Sastri, Sivanath, ''History of the Brahmo Samaj'', p. 155</ref>

Even after he was appointed as Professor at Presidency College,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Deb |first=Binaya Krishna |url=https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/The_Early_History_and_Growth_of_Calcutta/nNQBAAAAMAAJ?hl=en |title=The Early History and Growth of Calcutta |date=1905 |publisher=Romesh Chandra Ghose |pages=235 |language=en}}</ref> he used to visit Colootollah school and take a few classes whenever he could. He was a very meticulous teacher and always corrected his students' work minutely. He also insisted that they learn practical skills as well, and used to teach them gardening. In 1875, while working in his garden, he cut his finger. The wound turned gangrenous and an operation failed to save his life. He died on 1 October 1875.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lokare |first=Priya |url=https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/The_History_of_Women_Education_in_India/095kEAAAQBAJ?hl=en |title=The History of Women Education in India |date=2022-03-18 |publisher=Book Saga Publications |pages=23 |language=en}}</ref>

==The Reading Books==
The ''First Book of Reading for Native Children'' was published in 1850, probably by the School Book Press, and the rest of the Reading Books (numbers two to six) came out between 1851 and 1870, not necessarily in sequence.<ref name= "Bose291"/> In 1875 Sarkar's friend and colleague at Presidency College, E. R. Lethbridge, proposed a revision of the books and began negotiations with [[Thacker and Spink]] of Calcutta to republish them. However, at around this time Lethbridge was contacted by [[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]] and Company and (rather unethically) he gave the books to them. Thacker had already printed a few copies and when this was discovered Macmillan had to buy them up and soothe Thacker's ruffled feelings.<ref>Rimi B. Chatterjee, 'A History of the Trade to South Asia of Macmillan & Co. and Oxford University Press, 1875–1900', unpublished D.Phil. dissertation, University of Oxford, 1997.</ref>
[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]] were looking for a ready made series with which to launch their Indian publishing business.{{citation needed|date= December 2022}}

==Other achievements==

Sarkar played a significant role in the [[Bengal Renaissance]]. Apart from his role in initiating women's education and impressing upon people to send their daughters to school when Bethune school was opened, he played a pioneering role in the teaching of agriculture in a scientific manner. He set up a vocational training centre for the children of women workers and was instrumental in opening many new schools.<ref name= "Bose291"/> He was one of the patrons of [[Hindu Mela]].<ref>Sastri, Sivanath, ''Ramtanu Lahiri O Tatkalin Banga Samaj'', page 151.</ref>

He took charge of editing the government newspaper ''Education Gazette'' in 1866, but resigned from that position when he was not allowed to publish certain news. He took a leading part to promote prohibition and was one of the founders of [[Eden Hindu Hostel]] which is located on the street names after Sarkar- [[Peary Charan Sarkar Street]]<ref name= "Bose291"/>

He published two newspapers named ''Well Wisher'' and ''Hitasadhak''.<ref name= "Bose291"/>

==Sources==
*''Sangsad Bangla Charitrabhidhan'' (The Sangsad Dictionary of Biography) (Calcutta: Sahitya Sangsad, 1998) (Bengali language source).
*Swapan Basu, ''Pyari Charan Sarkar'', (Calcutta: Bangla Sahitya Akademi, 2001) (Bengali language source).

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarkar, Peary Charan}}
[[Category:1823 births]]
[[Category:1875 deaths]]
[[Category:Bengali Hindus]]
[[Category:Bengali educators]]
[[Category:People from the Bengal Presidency]]
[[Category:Hare School alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Presidency University, Kolkata]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Calcutta]]
[[Category:Writers from British India]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian educational theorists]]
[[Category:Writers from Kolkata]]
[[Category:People from Hooghly district]]
[[Category:Founders of Indian schools and colleges]]
[[Category:Educators from British India]]

Peary Charan Sarkar - Revision history

Pankaj Kumar (Actor): put up new data w/ refs...