https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=R._C._MajumdarR. C. Majumdar - Revision history2026-08-22T02:29:21ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=R._C._Majumdar&diff=142886&oldid=previmported>Mayuricky: /* Early life and education */2021-07-18T12:51:48Z<p><span class="autocomment">Early life and education</span></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{short description|Indian historian}}<br />
{{for|the Indian physicist|Ramesh Chandra Majumdar (physicist)}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2014}}<br />
{{Infobox officeholder<br />
| image = R C Majumdar.jpg<br />
| name = R. C. Majumdar<br />
| office = [[Vice-Chancellor]] of [[University of Dhaka]]<br />
| term_start = 1 January 1937<br />
| term_end = 30 June 1942<br />
| predecessor = [[A. F. Rahman]]<br />
| successor = [[Mahmud Hasan (academic)|Mahmud Hasan]]<br />
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1888|12|4|df=yes}}<br />
| birth_place = Khandapara, [[Gopalganj District, Bangladesh|Gopalganj]], [[Bengal Presidency]], [[British India]]<br />
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1980|2|11|1888|12|4|df=yes}}<br />
| death_place = [[Kolkata]], [[West Bengal]], India<br />
| alma_mater = [[University of Calcutta]]<br />
| nationality = Indian<br />
}}<br />
<br />
'''Ramesh Chandra Majumdar''' (known as '''R. C. Majumdar'''; 4 December 1888 – 11 February 1980)<ref name="bio">{{cite journal|jstor=41691933|first=H. B.|last=Sarkar|title=Ramesh Chandra Majumdar|date=29 March 1980|journal=Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute|volume=61|issue=1/4|pages=361–365}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Basa|first=Kishor K.|date=1998|title=Indian Writings on Early History and Archaeology of Southeast Asia: A Historiographical Analysis|journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society|volume=8|issue=3|pages=395–410|doi=10.1017/S135618630001049X|issn=1356-1863|jstor=25183571}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Group|first=Aligarh Historians|date=1979|title=The RSS Coup in the ICHR: Its First Fruits|url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/books/socialscientist/pager.html?issue=83&objectid=HN681.S597_83_058.gif|journal=Social Scientist|volume=7|issue=11|pages=56–60|doi=10.2307/3516534|issn=0970-0293|jstor=3516534}}</ref> was a historian and professor of [[History of India|Indian history]]. He was a former [[Sheriff of Kolkata]].<ref>{{cite news |author=Shobhan Saxena |date=17 October 2010 |title=Why is our past an area of darkness? |url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-10-17/special-report/28235234_1_indian-history-people-history-poets |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120923130828/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-10-17/special-report/28235234_1_indian-history-people-history-poets |url-status=dead |archive-date=23 September 2012 |newspaper=[[The Times of India]] |access-date=15 December 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Books |url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060903/spectrum/book1.htm |work=Spectrum |publisher=The Sunday Tribune |date=3 September 2006 |access-date=15 December 2012}}</ref><br />
<br />
==Early life and education==<br />
Coming from a [[Baidya|Vaidya]] family, Majumdar was born in [[Khandarpara]], [[Gopalganj District, Bangladesh|Gopalganj]], [[Bengal Presidency]], [[British India]] (now in [[Bangladesh]]) on 4 December 1888, to Haladhara Majumdar and Bidhumukhi.<ref name="bio" /> In 1905, he passed his Entrance Examination from [[Ravenshaw College]], [[Cuttack]].<ref name="bio" /> In 1907, he passed F.A. with first class scholarship from [[Surendranath College]] and joined [[Presidency College, Calcutta]].<ref name="bio" /> Graduating in B.A.(Honours) and M.A. from [[Calcutta University]] in 1909 and 1911 respectively, he won the [[Premchand Roychand]] scholarship from the [[University of Calcutta]] for his research work in 1913.<ref name="bio" /><br />
<br />
==Career==<br />
Majumdar started his teaching career as a lecturer at [[Dhaka|Dacca]] Government Training College. Since 1914, he spent seven years as a professor of history at the [[University of Calcutta]]. He got his doctorate for his thesis "Corporate Life in Ancient India".<ref>[http://socserv2.socsci.mcmaster.ca/econ/ugcm/3ll3/majumdar/corporatelifeancientindia.pdf Corporate Life in Ancient India: Thesis]. ''mcmaster.ca''. Retrieved 17 November 2013</ref> In 1921 he became professor of history in newly established [[University of Dacca]]. He also served, until he became its Vice Chancellor, as the head of the Department of History as well as the dean of the Faculty of Arts. Between 1924 and 1936 he was Provost of [[Jagannath Hall]]. Then he became the Vice Chancellor of that University, for five years from 1937 to 1942. From 1950, he was [[Dean (education)|Principal]] of the College of Indology, [[Benares Hindu University]]. He was elected the general president of the [[Indian History Congress]] and also became the vice president of the International Commission set up by the [[UNESCO]] for the history of mankind.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}<br />
<br />
==Works==<br />
Majumdar started his research on ancient India. After extensive travels to Southeast Asia and research, he wrote detailed histories of Champa (1927), Suvarnadvipa (1938) and Kambuja Desa (1944). On the initiative of [[Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Educational Trust|Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan]], he took up the mantle of editing a multi-volume tome on Indian history. Starting in 1951, he toiled for twenty-six long years to describe the history of the Indian people from the Vedic Period until the [[Independence of India]] in eleven volumes. In 1955, Majumdar established the College of Indology of [[Nagpur University]] and joined as Principal. In 1958–59, he taught Indian history in the [[University of Chicago]] and [[University of Pennsylvania]]. He was also the president of the Asiatic Society (1966–68) and the [[Bangiya Sahitya Parishad]] (1968–69), and also the [[Sheriff of Calcutta]] (1967–68).{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}<br />
<br />
When the final volume of "[[The History and Culture of the Indian People]]" was published in 1977, he had turned eighty-eight. He also edited the three-volume history of Bengal published by Dacca University. His last book was "Jivaner Smritidvipe".{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}<br />
<br />
The proposal to write on "Freedom movement" with Government sponsorship was put forth by in 1948 by [[R C Majumdar]]. In 1952 the ministry of education appointed Board of Editors for the compilation of the History. Professor Majumdar was appointed by the Board as the Director and entrusted with the work of sifting and collecting materials and preparing the draft of the history. However, the Board as consisting of politicians and scholars, was least likely to function harmoniously. Perhaps this was the reason why it was dissolved at the end of 1955. The scheme remained in balance for a year until the government decided to transfer the work on to a single scholar. To the disappointment of Professor Majumdar the choice of the ministry of education fell on one Dr.Tara Chand, a historian but also an ex-secretary of the Ministry of Education. Professor Majumdar then decided to write independently '''The History of the Freedom movement in India''' in three volumes.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Heimsath|first=Charles H.|date=January 1964|title=History of the Freedom Movement in India. Volume I. By R. C. Majumdar. (Calcutta: Firma K. L. Mukhopadhyay. 1962. Pp. xxi, 556. Rs. 15)|url=https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article/69/2/465/344254|journal=The American Historical Review|language=en|volume=69|issue=2|pages=465–466|doi=10.1086/ahr/69.2.465|issn=0002-8762}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pandey |first1=B.N |title=Reviewed Work: History of the Freedom Movement in India. Vol. I by R. C. Majumdar |journal=The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |date=April 1966 |volume=1/2 |pages=86–87 |doi=10.1017/S0035869X00124748 |jstor=25202914 }}</ref><br />
<br />
==Views on the Indian independence movement==<br />
When the [[Government of India]] set up an editorial Committee to author a history of the freedom struggle of India, he was its principal member. But, following a conflict with the then Education Minister [[Maulana Abul Kalam Azad]] on the [[Sepoy Mutiny]], he left the government job and published his own book, ''The Sepoy Mutiny & Revolt of 1857''. According to him the origins of India's freedom struggle lie in the English-educated Indian middle-class and the freedom struggle started with the [[Partition of Bengal (1905)|Banga Bhanga]] movement in 1905. His views on the freedom struggle are found in his book ''History of the Freedom Movement in India''. He was an admirer of [[Swami Vivekananda]] and [[Ramakrishna Paramahamsa]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-12-04|title=R C Majumdar - A Forgotten Historian Who Rebelled Against The Establishment|url=https://unbumf.com/r-c-majumdar-a-forgotten-historian-who-rebelled-2/|access-date=2021-02-02|website=UnBumf|language=en-US}}</ref><br />
<br />
==Bibliography==<br />
*''The Early History of Bengal'', Dacca, 1924.<br />
*''Champa'', ''Ancient Indian Colonies in the Far East'', Vol.I, Lahore, 1927. {{ISBN|0-8364-2802-1}}<br />
*''Suvarnadvipa'', ''Ancient Indian Colonies in the Far East'', Vol.II, Calcutta, 1938<br />
*''The History of Bengal'', 1943. {{ISBN|81-7646-237-3}}<br />
*''Kambuja Desa Or An Ancient Hindu Colony In Cambodia'', Madras, 1944<br />
*''[[An Advanced History of India]]''. London, 1960. {{ISBN|0-333-90298-X}}<br />
*''[[The History and Culture of the Indian People]]'', Bombay, 1951–1977 (in eleven volumes).<br />
*''Ancient India,'' 1977. {{ISBN|81-208-0436-8}}<br />
*''History of the Freedom movement in India'' (in three volumes), Calcutta, {{ISBN|81-7102-099-2}}.<br />
*''Vakataka – Gupta Age Circa 200–550 A.D.'' {{ISBN|81-208-0026-5}}<br />
*''Main currents of Indian history'' {{ISBN|81-207-1654-X}}<br />
*''Classical accounts of India''<br />
*''Hindu Colonies in the Far East'', Calcutta, 1944, {{ISBN|99910-0-001-1}}<br />
*''India and South-East Asia'', I.S.P.Q.S. History and Archaeology Series Vol. 6, 1979, {{ISBN|81-7018-046-5}}.<br />
*''The History of Ancient Lakshadweep'', Calcutta, 1979<br />
*''Corporate Life in Ancient India'', Calcutta.<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
<br />
==External links==<br />
{{wikiquote}}<br />
* [http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/itihas/rc_majumdar.htm Interview with Majumdar]<br />
* [https://dharmadispatch.in/remembering-acharya-ramesh-chandra-majumdar-a-century-of-spotless-scholarship-and-inspiration/ Remembering Acharya Ramesh Chandra Majumdar: A Century of Spotless Scholarship and Inspiration]<br />
<br />
{{Authority control}}<br />
<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Majumdar, Ramesh Chandra}}<br />
[[Category:1888 births]]<br />
[[Category:1980 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:People from Faridpur District]]<br />
[[Category:Ravenshaw University alumni]]<br />
[[Category:Surendranath College alumni]]<br />
[[Category:Presidency University, Kolkata alumni]]<br />
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]<br />
[[Category:University of Calcutta faculty]]<br />
[[Category:Bengali historians]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian historians]]<br />
[[Category:Historians of South Asia]]<br />
[[Category:Vice-Chancellors of the University of Dhaka]]<br />
[[Category:Sheriffs of Kolkata]]</div>imported>Mayuricky