Susobhan Sarkar
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Susobhan Chandra Sarkar (1900–1982) was an Indian historian.
Susobhan Chandra Sarkar | |
|---|---|
| Born | 19 August 1900 |
| Died | 26 August 1982 (aged 82) Calcutta, West Bengal, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Alma mater | Presidency College, Calcutta, Jesus College, Oxford |
| Occupation | Historian |
Background and education
Sarkar, son of Suresh Chandra Sarkar, a deputy magistrate in Bihar and Orissa. His paternal family came from Sarisha in Diamond Harbour in 24 Parganas of Bengal. His childhood was spent in Kanthi in Midnapur and different places in Bihar. Later, he became a Brahmo.
He attended Dhaka Collegiate School, studied history at Presidency College, Calcutta, where he stood first in the first class and continued his higher education at Jesus College, Oxford from 1923 to 1925, where he obtained a 2:1. His daughter Sipra Sarkar was a professor of history at Jadavpur University, Calcutta and Sumit Sarkar was professor of history at Delhi University.
Career
He returned to India as a Lecturer in History at Calcutta University in 1925 before being appointed Reader in History at Dhaka University in 1929. He was a member of Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan Executive Council from 1925 to 1935. In 1933, he was appointed Professor of History at Presidency College, Calcutta.[1]
After retirement he moved to Jadavpur University as Professor and Head of Department of History in 1956. He returned to Calcutta University for his final academic post from 1961 to 1967.
Sarkar, whose work was influenced by his Marxist and Gramscian ideas, taught the history of modern Europe, particularly the development of constitutional history in Britain and political thought in Western Europe. He also wrote from the 1930s about the Bengal Renaissance. His Notes on Bengal Renaissance sparked an interest in nationalist Indian historiography.[2] He also wrote the manifesto of the CPI.
Awards
Sarkar was awarded the Rabindra Puraskar in 1981 for his book Notes on the Bengal Renaissance.
Legacy
The Paschimbanga Itihas Samsad, in collaboration with Presidency University, Kolkata (erstwhile Presidency College), has been organizing a lecture series in Sarkar's memory since 1994.[3]
References
- ↑ Amartya Sen, Autobiography (The Nobel Foundation, 1998)
- ↑ De, Barun (February 1983). "Susobhan Sarkar (1900–1982): A Personal Memoir". Social Scientist. Social Scientist. 11 (2): 3–15. JSTOR 3517030.
- ↑ Noted scholars, such as Ashin Das Gupta, B.N. Mukherjee, Goutam Chattopadhyay, Gautam Bhadra, Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, Partha Chatterjee, Sukanta Chaudhuri, D.N. Jha, Jasodhara Bagchi, Rajat Kanta Ray, and Sugata Bose, have delivered this lecture. The Itihas Samsad brought out a collection of these lectures, from 1996-2016, in a volume (edited by Ramkrishna Chatterjee) entitled Sahitya Samaj Itihas (Bengali সাহিত্য সমাজ ইতিহাস). This volume was released by Sarkar's son, Sumit Sarkar, on 24 January 2018 at the venue of the 34th annual conference of the Itihas Samsad, held at the School of Women's Studies, Jadavpur University. The volume also includes a translation, in to Bengali, of the obituary written by Barun De, which was published in the 'Social Scientist', as well as a report of the proceedings of the first seminar held in Sarkar's memory at Presidency College in 1994
External links
- Notes on the Bengal Renaissance (1946) People's Publishing House, Bombay.