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'''Saratchandra Mitra''' ('''Sarat Chandra Mitra''' in his English writings, sometimes as '''Çarat Candra Mitra''') (15 November 1863 - 15 December 1938) was a [[Bengalis|Bengali]] [[Folklore studies|folklorist]] and scholar who studied and wrote extensively on plants and animals in Indian lore. Although trained in legal practice, he was appointed in later life as the founding head of the department of anthropology at the [[University of Calcutta]].<br />
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==Biography==<br />
Saratchandra came from a family with origins in Hogulkuria in Sutaniti Taluk where his ancestor Rammohan Mitra had moved to after leaving his original home at [[Barisha, India|Borisha]] due to raids made by the [[Maratha Empire|Mahrattas]]. Saratchandra's father was Narasinghachandra Mitra, a legal adviser and pleader to the Hathwa Raj, and his mother was Nistarini Dasi. Saratchandra's older brother Amulyachandra died young and sister Sailabala Dasi was married to Purnachandra Chaudhuri of [[Shimla|Simla]].<ref name=folk /><br />
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Saratchandra studied at the Calcutta Training Academy School at Chapra during 1875, followed by studies with scholarships at the [[Vidyasagar College|Metropolitan Institution]] founded by [[Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar|Ishwarchand Vidyasagar]] before passing the Entrance Examination of 1880 from the City School at Calcutta in the first division. He received a [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] with honours in English in 1885 from the Metropolitan Institution with scholarships followed by an [[Master of Arts|MA]] in English in 1886 and a [[Bachelor of Laws|BL]] in 1888. He joined the Chapra Bar in May 1889 and was guided by his father. He continued to work with the Bar until 1894 although he attempted to move into Judicial services as a Gazetted officer. From February 1894 to March 1903 he worked as a Superintendent of Survey and Settlement in the [[Hathua (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Huthwa]] Raj. The Court of Wards was however abolished and he returned to the Chapra Bar (Saratchandra's father had worked here and died on 11 July 1905) in 1904 and worked till November 1911. From 1911 he worked as an assistant manager, appointed by the Maharani of Hathua. In 1921 he was appointed professor in charge of the newly created Department of Anthropology<ref>{{cite journal|title=Recent Advances in Anthropology, Ethnology and Ethnography in India |pages=236-238| author=Iyer, L. K. Anantakrishna| journal=Current Science|volume=2| issue=6| year=1934|url=http://www.currentscience.ac.in/Downloads/download_pdf.php?titleid=id_002_07_0236_0239_0}}</ref> at the University of Calcutta but he retired in 1926 due to ill health and loss of vision. His position was then briefly taken by the American trained [[Biraja Sankar Guha]] who however moved out of the university to join government service.<ref name=folk /><br />
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== Writings ==<br />
Saratchandra's interests were in travel, history, folklore, biography, and anthropology. He was influenced by the Ethnographic Survey of India which had begun in 1905 under [[Herbert Hope Risley|Herbert Risley]] as well as the [[Linguistic Survey of India]] by [[George_Abraham_Grierson|George Grierson]]. He wrote on a range of subjects such as ''The Legends of Buddha in Indo-Hellenistic Art'' (In a Bombay-based magazine ''East and West'', August 1913) which was reviewed by the ''Evening Gazette'' of Aberdeen. During his postings and travels in North Bihar he collected information from the local people. He was a prolific writer and published nearly 183 papers in the ''Journal of the Anthropological Society'' of Bombay, 97 in the ''Quarterly Journal of the Mythic Society'', 37 in the ''National Magazine'', Calcutta, 34 in ''Man-in-India'' (Ranchi), 21 each in the ''Journal of the Asiatic Society'' ''of Bengal'' and the ''Hindustan Review'' and many more in university journals. He also wrote under a pseudonym "Aescyem" (for his initials) to the ''Calcutta Review''. He was a corresponding member of the Anthropological Society of Bombay from 1895. In 1912 the Society decided to reprint Mitra's collected writings as a book.<ref name=folk /><br />
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Mitra was also a promoter of outdoor natural history education in schools.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Mitra, S.C.|year=1911|title=A plea for nature-study in Indian Schools |pages=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.180403/page/n56 48]-64|volume=263|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.180403}}</ref><br />
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Among the topics that Mitra explored where folk rhymes, drolls, tales, riddles, and beliefs. He took a particular interest in myth and lore around plants and animals and recorded a range of didactic and aetiological myths.<ref name=folk /><br />
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== Personal life==<br />
Saratchandra married Sarasibala Ray, daughter of the Subordinate Judge of Gaya district, Dineshchandra Ray. They had three sons.<ref name=folk>{{cite book|author=Gupta, Sankar Sen|year= 1965| publisher=Indian Publications| place= Calcutta| title=Folklorists of Bengal. Life-sketches and Bibliographical Notes|pages=53-88|url=https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.98610/2015.98610.Folklorists-Of-Bengal#page/n83}}</ref><br />
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==References==<br />
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[[Category:Indian folklorists]]<br />
[[Category:Indian anthropologists]]<br />
[[Category:Writers from Kolkata]]</div>imported>Shyamal