Jadunath Sinha: Difference between revisions

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==Early life==
==Early life==
Jadunath Sinha was born in Kurumgram in [[Birbhum district|Birbhum]], West Bengal in 1892. Later he lived in [[Murshidabad]] and [[Kolkata]] (then Calcutta). Jadunath Sinha came from a Shakta family. So, Sinha had spiritual experiences throughout his life. He followed both classical tantra and emotional Shakta bhakti, with a philosophical position of Shakta universalism.<ref name=":OM">{{Cite web|url=http://www.om-guru.com/html/saints/sinha.html|title=A Biography of Jadunath Sinha|website=om-guru.com|access-date=7 September 2018}}</ref>
Jadunath Sinha was born in [[Kurumgram]] in [[Birbhum district|Birbhum]], West Bengal in 1892. Later he lived in [[Murshidabad]] and [[Kolkata]] (then Calcutta). Jadunath Sinha came from a Shakta family. So, Sinha had spiritual experiences throughout his life. He followed both classical tantra and emotional Shakta bhakti, with a philosophical position of Shakta universalism.


==Academic career==
==Academic career==
Jadunath Sinha had passed B.A., Honours in Philosophy in 1915 from the [[University of Calcutta|Calcutta University]] and simultaneously bagging the ''Philip Samuel Smith Prize'' and the ''Clint Memorial Prize''. Subsequently, he passed the M.A. on Philosophy from the [[University of Calcutta|Calcutta University]] in 1917. He did his PhD from the [[University of Calcutta|Calcutta University]] in 1934. He went on to become a versatile writer of Philosophy, [[Psychology]] etc. which were published by famous publishers. Two of his books were published by ''M/s. Kegan Paul'' of London. Dr. Sinha being the most original philosopher of [[Hinduism]] and Indian philosophy, psychology, etc. is still revered by the students of philosophy. He went into religion in the latter part of his life.
Jadunath Sinha had passed B.A., Honours in Philosophy in 1915 from the [[University of Calcutta|Calcutta University]] and simultaneously bagging the ''Philip Samuel Smith Prize'' and the ''Clint Memorial Prize''. Subsequently, he passed the M.A. on Philosophy from the [[University of Calcutta|Calcutta University]] in 1917.


Sinha has been cited as one of the early contributors to the field of [[Indian psychology]] that began to emerge more strongly in the 21st century.
In October 1922, he submitted a thesis on "Indian Psychology and Perception" and went on to win the Premchand Roychand Scholarship; his examiners were [[Brajendra Nath Seal]] and [[Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan]].{{sfn|Minor|1987|p=35}} The remaining parts were submitted till completion in 1925, when he was awarded the Mout Medal.{{sfn|Minor|1987|p=35}} This time, Radhakrishnan and [[Krishna Chandra Bhattacharya]] served as the readers.{{sfn|Minor|1987|p=35}}


== Controversy with Radhakrishnan ==
He was then appointed as a faculty at the [[Meerut College]].{{sfn|Minor|1987|p=35}} Sinha has been cited as one of the early contributors to the field of [[Indian psychology]] that began to emerge more strongly in the 21st century.
In the January 1929 issue of ''Modern Review'', the [[Bengalis|Bengali]] philosopher Jadunath Sinha made the sensational claim that parts of his doctoral thesis, ''Indian Psychology of Perception'', published in 1925, were copied by his teacher Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan into his book ''Indian Philosophy II'', published in 1927.<ref name="Minor1987">{{cite book|author=Robert Neil Minor|title=Radhakrishnan: A Religious Biography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2LzRkWABC6sC&pg=PA35|access-date=17 May 2020|date=1 January 1987|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-0-88706-554-5|pages=33–37}}</ref><ref name="dawn2012">{{cite web | url=http://www.dailyo.in/politics/teachers-day-dr-sarvepalli-radhakrishnan-education-universities/story/1/19357.html | title=Why Teachers' Day in India is a sham | publisher=Dailyo | date=6 September 2017 | access-date=10 September 2017}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.anandabazar.com/editorial/letters-to-the-editor/do-sarvepalli-radhakrishnan-write-the-book-of-indian-philosophy-controversy-arises-1.858698?ref=letters-to-the-editor-new-stry|title=সম্পাদক সমীপেষু: জেনে রাখা ভাল|work=Anandabazar Patrika|access-date=7 September 2018|language=bn}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=http://roundtableindia.co.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8753:dr-sarvepalli-radhakrishnan-the-teacher-who-plagiarised-his-student-s-thesis&catid=119:feature&Itemid=132|title=Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan: The teacher who stole from his student's thesis|last=Aich|first=Utpal|work=Round Table India|date=5 September 2016}}</ref> The controversy continued into the February, March and April issues of the magazine.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|url=https://madrascourier.com/biography/sarvepalli-radhakrishnan-the-challenge-of-the-philosopher-king/|title=S. Radhakrishnan: Philosopher, President, Plagiarizer? {{!}} Madras Courier|date=20 October 2016|work=Madras Courier|access-date=8 September 2018|language=en-US}}</ref>
In August 1929, Sinha filed a case in the [[Calcutta High Court]], against Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan for infringement of his copyrights. Sinha claimed damages for Rs 20,000.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.om-guru.com/html/saints/sinha.html|title=A Biography of Jadunath Sinha|website=www.om-guru.com|access-date=7 September 2018}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|Then in the first half of the month of August 1929, Prof Jadunath Sinha sued , claiming Rs.20,000/- as damages. Sometime in the first week of September 1929, Radhakrishnan filed a counter libel suit against Jadunath Sinha and Shri Ramananda Chattopadhyay demanding Rs.1,00,000/-. Probably Radhakrishnan thought that attack was the best defence!|group=note|name=merge}}
Radhakrishnan denied these claims and pointed out that manuscript of his book had been sent to publisher in 1924, but it was published after 3 years as the General Editor Muirhead was in the US.<ref name="hislife"/> Radhakrishnan counter-sued for defamation of character, demanding Rs 100,000 from Sinha and the editor of ''Modern Review'', ''Ramananda Chattopadhyay''.<ref name=":3" /> Sinha's case was strong as many of his articles were already published.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.dawn.com/news/742051/subcontinental-plagiarism | title=Subcontinental plagiarism | publisher=Dawn | work=Idrees Bakhtiar | date=14 August 2012 | access-date=16 May 2020}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|Dr. Radhakrishnan had published another book titled "The Vedanta according to Sankara and Ramanuja" in 1928, which was actually a reprint of Chapters 8 & 9 of his book "Indian Philosophy Vol. II." That book also had extensive pirated paragraphs from Prof. Jadunath Sinha's Premchand Roychand Studentship thesis. Luckily for Prof. Jadunath Sinha, he had published extracts from those two parts of his Premchand Roychand Studentship thesis in the Meerut College Magazines of 1924 and 1926.|group=note}} However, the parties found the cost of litigation very high.


Henceforth the member of [[Bengal Legislative Council]] from [[University of Calcutta|Calcutta University]], [[Syama Prasad Mookerjee]] mediated between them to settle the issue out of court. The suits were settled in May 1933, the terms of the settlement were not disclosed and the allegations made in the pleadings were withdrawn.<ref name="hislife">{{cite book|title=Radhakrishnan: His Life and Ideas|pages=31–33|publisher=SUNY Press|year=1990|isbn=9780791403433|author=K. Satchidananda Murty, Ashok Vohra}}</ref>
=== Controversy ===
 
On 20 December 1928, Sinha sent a letter to the Editor of ''[[Modern Review (Calcutta)|The Modern Review]]'' (TMR) which was reproduced in the January 1929 issue: it was claimed that "numerous passages" of his doctoral thesis were "bodily incorporated" into Radhakrishnan's second volume of ''Indian Philosophy'' (published in 1927) and "certain chapters" were summarized in toto but without any attribution.{{efn|Radhakrishnan's appointment, as a southerner, to "the most important chair of philosophy in India" in the north, was resented by a number of people from the Bengali intelligentsia and ''The Modern Review'' had become the main vehicle of criticism.{{sfn|Minor|1987|p=37}}{{sfn|Murty|Vohra|1990|p=30-31}}{{sfn|Gopal|1989|p=116}} Radhakrishnan's writings were subject of regular critiques in ''The Modern Review'' who alleged that he failed to cite multiple Bengali scholars with seminal contributions.{{sfn|Gopal|1989|p=116}}{{sfn|Minor|1987|p=34}}}}{{sfn|Minor|1987|p=34}}{{sfn|Murty|Vohra|1990|p=31}} 40 comparative instances were provided in support; the next issue of TMR, Sinha doubled down on his claims and cited another 70 instances.{{sfn|Murty|Vohra|1990|p=31}}{{sfn|Minor|1987|p=35}}
 
Radhakrishnan rejected the "extraordinary allegations", in what was his first publication for TMR, and claimed that partial similarities in translations of classics were unavoidable.{{sfn|Minor|1987|p=35}}{{sfn|Murty|Vohra|1990|p=31}} He counter-attacked Sinha for passing off [[Ganganath Jha]]'s translations as his own and emphasized upon their differential approaches — Sinha's was a literal translation while his was more of an overview commentary.{{sfn|Murty|Vohra|1990|p=32-33}} Radhakrishnan raised additional alibis: he had been long lecturing using these notes and his book was ready for publication by 1924, before Sinha's thesis was even complete.{{efn|The manuscript was sent in 1924 and General Editor of Radhakrishnan's publisher, professor Muirhead, confirmed to the Calcutta High Court that the publication got delayed for three years, due to his stay in the United States.{{sfn|Murty|Vohra|1990|p=32-33}}{{sfn|Minor|1987|p=35}}}}{{sfn|Minor|1987|p=35}} However, Sinha refused to concede and published two detailed rejoinders.{{sfn|Minor|1987|p=36}} Immediately, the editor of TMR — [[Ramananda Chatterjee]] — considered the controversy "closed" and refused to entertain any further discussion; he had been long convinced of Sinha's claims.{{sfn|Minor|1987|p=37}}{{sfn|Minor|1987|p=36}}{{efn|Chatterjee had earlier refused to publish a letter by Nalini Ganguli confirming that Radhakrishnan had provides the same translations/notes to him in 1922. The latter was then published in the March 1929 edition of [[The Calcutta Review]].{{sfn|Gopal|1989|p=117-118}}}}
 
This led to the dispute escalating into a juristic fight, with Radhakrishnan filing a suit for defamation of character against Sinha and Chatterjee, demanding Rs. 100,000 for the damage done,{{sfn|Gopal|1989|p=118}} and Sinha filing a case against Radhakrishnan for copyright infringement, demanding Rs. 20,000.{{sfn|Gopal|1989|p=118}}{{efn|The timeline is not clear. According to Gopal, Radhakrishnan filed his lawsuit in the summer of 1929, to which Sinha filed a counter-claim.{{sfn|Gopal|1989|p=118}} According to Minor as well as Murty & Vohra, Sinha filed a lawsuit first, to which Radhakrishnan responded.{{sfn|Minor|1987|p=37}}{{sfn|Murty|Vohra|1990|p=33}}}} While many scholars veered in support of Radhakrishnan — Jha, [[Kuppuswami Sastri]], and Nalini Ganguli confirmed that Radhakrishnan was distributing the notes in question among his students and colleagues since 1922 and even volunteered to give evidence — Brajendra Seal and a few others requested to be exempted from the purview of the case.{{sfn|Murty|Vohra|1990|p=32-33}}{{sfn|Gopal|1989|p=117-118}} Multiple legal stalwarts including [[Sarat Chandra Bose]], [[Dhirendra Chandra Mitra]], and N. N. Sirkar chose to appear for Radhakrishnan [[pro bono]].{{sfn|Gopal|1989|p=117-118}}
 
The disputed were finally settled by out-of-court mediation at the behest of [[Syama Prasad Mookerjee]] and both suits were withdrawn in April 1933; acting Chief Justice [[Phani Bhushan Chakravarti]] dismissed the case on 3 May noting a decree of compromise.{{sfn|Murty|Vohra|1990|p=32-33}}{{sfn|Minor|1987|p=37}} The terms of the settlement were not disclosed, and all allegations (and counter-allegations) were withdrawn.{{sfn|Minor|1987|p=37}}{{sfn|Murty|Vohra|1990|p=32-33}}{{sfn|Gopal|1989|p=119}}  


==Notable works==
==Notable works==
* ''Indian Psychology Perception'' (1934), page: 400<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.218406|title=Indian Psychology Perception|journal=Nature|volume=135|issue=3404|pages=352–353|last=Jadunath Sinha|date=1934|bibcode=1935Natur.135R.132.|doi=10.1038/135132d0|pmc=5159082}}</ref>
* ''Indian Psychology Perception'' (1934).<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.218406|title=Indian Psychology Perception|journal=Nature|volume=135|issue=3404|pages=352–353|last=Jadunath Sinha|date=1934|bibcode=1935Natur.135R.132.|doi=10.1038/135132d0|pmc=5159082}}</ref>
* ''A Manual Of Ethics'' (1962)
* ''A Manual Of Ethics'' (1962)
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=3TSNhTFaoycC&source=gbs_similarbooks Indian psychology] (1934) {{ISBN|9788120801653}} Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass, pg 512
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=3TSNhTFaoycC&source=gbs_similarbooks Indian psychology] (1934) {{ISBN|9788120801653}} Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass.
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=RsQnAQAAIAAJ&source=gbs_similarbooks A History of Indian Philosophy], Volume 1, Sinha Publishing House, 1956, 912 pages<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RsQnAQAAIAAJ|title=A History of Indian Philosophy|last=Sinha|first=Jadunath|date=1956|publisher=Sinha Publishing House|language=en}}</ref>
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=RsQnAQAAIAAJ&source=gbs_similarbooks A History of Indian Philosophy], Volume 1, Sinha Publishing House, 1956.
* [https://archive.org/details/HistoryOfIndianPhilosophyVol2ByJadunathSinha History Of Indian Philosophy](1930) vol 2, Publisher: London Macmillan and co. limited
* [https://archive.org/details/HistoryOfIndianPhilosophyVol2ByJadunathSinha History Of Indian Philosophy](1930) vol 2, London Macmillan.
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=_VGdbeLN6CQC&source=gbs_similarbooks Outline Of Indian Philosophy], New Central Book Agency, 1998 {{ISBN|9788173812033}}, 480 pages<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_VGdbeLN6CQC|title=Outline of Indian Philosophy|last=Sinha|first=Jadunath|date=1998|publisher=New Central Book Agency|isbn=9788173812033|language=en}}</ref>
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=_VGdbeLN6CQC&source=gbs_similarbooks Outline Of Indian Philosophy], New Central Book Agency, 1998 {{ISBN|9788173812033}}.
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=vDEKAQAAIAAJ&source=gbs_similarbooks The Philosophy of Vijnanabikshu], Sinha Publishing House, 1976, pg:73
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=vDEKAQAAIAAJ&source=gbs_similarbooks The Philosophy of Vijnanabikshu], Sinha Publishing House, 1976.


==Note==
==Note==
{{Reflist|group=note}}
{{notelist}}


==References==
==References==