Barun De

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Barun Dey
Born(1932-10-30)30 October 1932
Calcutta, Bengal, British India
Died16 July 2013(2013-07-16) (aged 80)(Bengali: ৮১)
Kolkata, West Bengal, India
OccupationHistorian
Years active1961-2001
Spouse(s)Romabai De (Bengali: রমাবাঈ দে) (nee Datta Gupta) (Bengali: দত্তগুপ্ত)
Children2

Barun Kumar Dey (Bengali: বরুণ কুমার দে (দেব সরকার)) (30 October, 1932 – 16 July, 2013) (Bengali: ১৩ কার্তিক, ১৩৩৯ - ৩১ আষাঢ়, ১৪২০) was an Indian historian and institution builder.

Early life and education[edit]

Dey was a member of a Bengali (বাঙালি) Hindu (হিন্দু) Uttar Rarhi Kayastha (উত্তর রার্হি কায়স্থ)-Brahmo (ব্রাহ্ম) family of Calcutta.[1][2] He was the son of Basanta Kumar Dey, a senior of the Bengal Nagpur Railways[3] and Pramila Dey (nee Gupta). His paternal grandfather was the Persianist and civil servant, Brajendranath Dey, who edited and translated Nizamuddin Ahmed's Tabaqat-i-Akbari from Persian to English[4] while his maternal granduncle, Amritalal Gupta (অমৃতলাল গুপ্ত), was the Acharya (আচার্য) of the Dacca Brahmo Samaj, who wrote Cheleder Katha (ছেলেদের কথা) and Punnyabati Nari (পূণ্যবতি নারী).

Dey studied at St. Xavier's Collegiate School, Calcutta. He completed his I.A. & B.A. (Honours) in History at Presidency College, Calcutta, where he was a student of Susobhan Chandra Sarkar. He was a debate secretary of the student's union of the college.

Dey completed his 2nd B.A. (Honours School) at St. Catherine's Society, Oxford, where his tutors were George Holmes and Wilfred Knapp. He completed his D.Phil. thesis on "Henry Dundas and the Government of India, 1784-1801" under the supervision of Colin Cuthbert Davies[5] on a Beit studentship at Nuffield College, Oxford. As the holder of this scholarship he took classes in the college. He was awarded the Curzon Memorial Prize for his essay "Macaulay and India". He was secretary, treasurer and president of the Oxford India Majlis.[6]

After returning from Oxford, he formed a lasting friendship with Saiyid Nurul Hasan.[7]

Career[edit]

Dey was a lecturer at the University of Calcutta, a reader at the University of Burdwan, an associate professor and programme director of the Post-Graduate Programme (later Post-Graduate Diploma in Management) and then professor and senior professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta,[8][9] a professor and the founder-director of the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, and the honorary state editor of the West Bengal District Gazetteers.[10]

He has taught and worked at various universities in India and abroad, such as Duke University as visiting associate professor, the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla, as senior fellow,[6] Fondation Maison des sciences de l'homme, Paris as directeur, and University of Sydney and University of Milan as visiting professor. He was a delegate to several conferences of the United Nations University held at Madrid, Tokyo, Caracass, Mexico City and Berlin.[11]

He was a member of the Indian Council of Historical Research, New Delhi, the Indian Council for Social Science Research, New Delhi, the Executive Council (Karma Samity) of Vishva Bharati University, Santiniketan, the West Bengal Higher Education Commission and the Executive Council of the A.N. Sinha Institute, Patna. He was secretary, sectional president and general president of the Indian History Congress.[3]

Dey formally retired from service in 1993.

Post-retirement[edit]

Soon after his retirement De was once again appointed as director of the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Calcutta. From 1997-1998, he was Maulana Abul Kalam Azad fellow of this institute.[5] He was a member of the Indian Council of Cultural Relations in this period. From 1998-2001 he held the India Chair (in the rank of minister-counsellor), with attachment to the Indian Embassy of Uzbekistan, at the University of World Economy and Diplomacy, Tashkent.[12]

After returning to India he was made a member of the textbook review committee of the National Council for Educational Research and Training (2004).[13] He became chairman of the West Bengal State Archives, Calcutta,[12] vice president of the Center for Archaeology and Training, Calcutta, vice president of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,[3] member of the Board of Trustees of the Indian Museum, Calcutta,[3], and member of the Court of Vishva Bharati University, Santiniketan.

He was a member of the Heritage Conservation Committee of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, in which capacity he contributed to the preparation of a list of heritage buildings of West Bengal.[14] The Times of India has described him as "a pioneer of the heritage movement of West Bengal".[8] From 2001-2008 he was member of the West Bengal Heritage Commission, of which he was the honorary chairman (in the rank of minister-of-state) from 2008-2011.[12]

He was nominated for a Padma award in 2010, which he did not accept.[15] From 2011-2013 he was the Tagore national fellow, which he held at the Victoria Memorial Hall, Calcutta.[16]

Research[edit]

Dey's research spanned from early to late modern period of Indian history. In the early half of his career he wrote on Henry Dundas and the conquest of India. Later, he addressed the Marxist critique of the colonial context of the Bengal renaissance.[17]

He was also concerned with India's national movement. His popular textbook, Freedom Struggle, co-authored with Bipan Chandra and Amalesh Tripathi,[5] was censored by the Indian government in 1977,[18] although he was well-known for his criticism of India's first emergency.[19] This book has been translated into Bengali by Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya.[20]

In 1975, he edited a volume in honour of Susobhan Chandra Sarkar, in which he wrote the main essay that reveals his preference for objectivity and critical analysis.[21] He edited the 24 Parganas and Darjeeling District Gazetteers[22] and contributed to the editing of the Jalpaiguri District Gazetteers too.[23]

Awards[edit]

Dey was awarded the D.Litt. (Honouris Causa) by North Bengal University in 2000.[24] He was confererred the Banga Samman by the Rotary International in Calcutta in 2008-09.

Legacy[edit]

After Dey's death the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Calcutta had instituted a memorial lecture in his name.[25] The Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta has renamed its auditorium at the Jadunath Bhavan Museum and Resource Centre after him.[26]

Publications[edit]

  • Secularism at Bay: Uzbekistan at the Turn of the Century (New Delhi, 2006)[27]
  • (ed.) State, Development and Political Culture: Bangladesh and India, (New Delhi, 1997) (co-edited with Ranabir Samaddar)
  • (সম্পাদক) 'মুক্তি সংগ্রামে বাংলার ছাত্র-সমাজ' (কলকাতা, পশ্চিমবঙ্গ ইতিহাস সংসদ, ১৯৯২) (Students of Bengal in the Struggle of Liberation, Paschim Banga Itihas Samsad, 1992)
  • (ed.) West Bengal District Gazetteers, 24 Parganas, (Calcutta, 1983)
  • (ed.) West Bengal District Gazetteers, Jalpaiguri, (Calcutta, 1981) (co-edited with Abani Mohan Kusari).
  • (ed.) West Bengal District Gazetteers, Darjeeling, (Calcutta, 1980)
  • The Dialectics Between Response to Exogenous and Autochthonous Innovation in India in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, with Special Reference to Modern Bengal, (Tokyo: United Nations University, 1979)[28]
  • (ed.) Perspectives in Social Sciences, 1: Historical Dimensions (New Delhi, 1977)[29][30]
  • "A Biographical Perspective on the Political and Economic Ideas of Rammohun Ray", in V.C.Joshi, (ed.), Rammohun Roy and the Process of Modernisation in India, New Delhi, 1975[31]
  • (ed.) Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, (Calcutta: Jadavpur Session, 1974)
  • (ed.) Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, (Aligarh: Aligarh Session, 1975)
  • (et al. eds.) Essays in Honour of Professor Sushobhan Chandra Sarkar (New Delhi, 1975)[32]
  • Freedom Struggle (New Delhi, 1972), (co-authored with Bipan Chandra and Amalesh Tripathi)[33]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ "Historian Barun De dead". 18 July 2013. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  2. ↑ "Historian Barun Dey passes away". Hindustan Times. 18 July 2013. Archived from the original on 10 October 2013. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Historian and Administrator" - Aniruddha Ray Retrieved 2015-03-03
  4. ↑ Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, 'Obituary' in the Victoria Memorial Newsletter, 2014
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Mukherjee, Rudrangshu (18 July 2013). "Clio's Disciple". Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Historian Barun De dead" - The Statesman, 18 July 2013 Retrieved 2015-03-05.
  7. ↑ Gandhi, Gopal Krishna (2015). "State of Abounding Grace". Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "The Times of India" - Staff Reporter Retrieved 2015-02-27.
  9. ↑ Rudrangshu Mukherjee, 'Ashok Mitra (1928-2018): A Voice of Dissent with a Tender Heart', Business Standard, 2 May, 2018
  10. ↑ "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" - Sabyasachi Bhattacharya Indian Historical Review. Retrieved 2015-03-15.
  11. ↑ Barun De, 'Imperialism, Nationalism and the Dialectics of Changing Identity in the Indian Subcontinent', in Joachim Heidrich, (ed.), 'Changing Identities: The Transformation of Asian and African Societies under Colonialism', Papers of a symposium held at the Centre for Modern Oriental Studies, Berlin, 21-22 October, 1993, Studien 1, (Berlin: Verlag Das Arabische Buch, 1994), pp. 61-78
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 "Historian Barun De dies at 80" - Business Standard Retrieved 2015-03-06.
  13. ↑ India Today, 2004
  14. ↑ "Heritage Conservation Committee" p. 3. Retrieved 2015-03-23
  15. ↑ List of nominees is in the Barun Dey Archive.
  16. ↑ "Obituary" in the Victoria Memorial Newsletter - Sabyasachi Bhattacharya Archived 2015-02-26 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2015-0317.
  17. ↑ "A Conversationalist Intellectual - Sugata Bose" Retrieved 2015-03-27.
  18. ↑ "Censorship of Historical Thought: A World Guide" - Antoon de Baets Retrieved 2015-02-21.
  19. ↑ Irfan Habib, "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" in Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Vol. 73, 2012, p. 1554
  20. ↑ "Historian Barun De passes away - Panchanan Chattopadhyay". Mainstreamweekly. Retrieved 2015-03-23.
  21. ↑ Irfan Habib, "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" in Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Volume 73, 2012, p. 1554
  22. ↑ Irfan Habib, "Professor Barun De (1932-2013)" in Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Volume 73, 2012, pp. 1553-1555
  23. ↑ Abani Mohan Kusari, West Bengal District GazetteersL Jalpaiguri, Gazetteer of India, Calcutta, Barun De, Honorary State Editor, West Bengal District Gazetteers, Calcutta, 1981 in Michael Lampert, Discipline and Debate: The Language of Violence in Tibetan Buddhist Monastery, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012.
  24. ↑ Akanksha Sharma, 'Barun De, The Renowned Historian and Academician Passed Away at 80' in Jagran Josh, 17 July 2013
  25. ↑ Barun De Memorial Lecture Retrieved 2015-02-27.
  26. ↑ Barun De Auditorium, CSSSC
  27. ↑ "Secularism at Bay: Uzbekistan at the Turn of the Century" - Barun De Retrieved 2015-02-17.
  28. ↑ The Dialectics Between Response to Exogenous and Autochthonous Innovation in India in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, with Special Reference to Modern Bengal - Barun De Retrieved 2018-01-12.
  29. ↑ David L.Curley (reviewer), Perspectives in Social Sciences I: Historical Dimension, in The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 40, No. 1, (Nov. 1980), pp. 158–60
  30. ↑ Chandak Sengoopta, The Rays before Satyajit: Creativity and Modernity in Colonial India, (New Delhi, Oxford, 2016)
  31. ↑ Amiya P. Sen, "Rammohan Roy", in Mahendra Prasad Singh and Himanshu Roy, Indian Political Thought: Themes and Thinkers, (Delhi, Pearson, 2011), p. 68
  32. ↑ "Peasant Labour and Colonial Capital: Rural Bengal since 1770" - Sugata Bose 2015-02-19.
  33. ↑ "Freedom Struggle" - Bipan Chandra, Amalesh Tripathi and Barun De Retrieved 2015-02-18.

External links[edit]

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