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- Abala Bose
- Adi Dharm
- Aghore Nath Gupta
- Aliah University
- Anandamohan College
- Ashutosh Mukherjee
- Bangabasi College
- Banglapedia
- Bengal Province
- Bengal Renaissance
- Bengali literature
- Bengali music
- Bengali poetry
- Bethune College
- Brahmo Samaj
- Brajalal College
- Brajendra Nath Seal
- British India
- British Raj
- Brojomohun College
- Calcutta
- Calcutta University
- Chandrakumar De
- Chittagong College
- Debendranath Tagore
- Dhaka College
- Dhaka Nawab Family
- Dwarkanath Ganguly
- Eugene Lafont
- Fort William College
- Girish Chandra Sen
- Gour Govinda Ray
- Haraprasad Shastri
- Hare School
- Hindu College
- Hindu Theatre
- History of Bengal
- Homeopath
- Homeopathy
- Howrah district
- Kadambini Ganguly
- Kaykobad
- Kazi Nazrul Islam
- Keshub Chandra Sen
- Khwaja Abdul Ghani
- Khwaja Ahsanullah
- Khwaja Salimullah
- Maharaja
- Mahendralal Sarkar
- Medicine
- Meghnad Saha
- Midnapore College
- Monomohun Ghose
- Muhammad Shahidullah
- Murari Chand College
- Nawab Abdul Latif
- Nazrul geeti
- Oriental Seminary
- Rabindra Sangeet
- Rabindranath Tagore
- Rajendralal Dutt
- Rajnarayan Basu
- Rajshahi College
- Ram Mohan Roy
- Ramakrishna
- Ramgopal Ghosh
- Rammohan College
- Romesh Chunder Dutt
- Sambad Prabhakar
- Sambhunath Pandit
- Sanskrit College
- Santiniketan
- Satyagraha
- Satyendra Nath Bose
- Satyendranath Tagore
- Sheriff
- Sivanath Sastri
- Socialism in India
- Sri Aurobindo
- Surendranath College
- Swadeshi
- Swami Vivekananda
- Syed Amir Ali
- Tagore family
- The Asiatic Society
- Tripura
- University of Dhaka
- Vidyasagar College
- Wikipedia Persondata
- William Morgan
- Young Bengal
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Santiniketan
Santiniketan (Bengali: শান্তিনিকেতন Shantiniketôn) is a small town near Bolpur in the Birbhum district of West Bengal, India, approximately 180 kilometres north of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta). It was made famous by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, whose vision became what is now a university town (Visva-Bharati University) that attracts thousands of visitors each year. Santiniketan is also a tourist attraction because Rabindranath Tagore wrote many of his literary classics here, and his house is a place of historical importance.
Santiniketan was previously called Bhubandanga (named after Bhuban Sinha). This area was gifted from the Sinha family (family of Lord SP Sinha) to the Tagore family. Rabindranath's father, Maharshi Debendranath Tagore, found it very peaceful and renamed it Santiniketan, which means abode (niketan) of peace (shanti). It was here that Rabindranath Tagore started Patha Bhavana, the school of his ideals, whose central premise was that learning in a natural environment would be more enjoyable and fruitful. After he received the Nobel Prize (1913), the school was expanded into a university in 1921. By 1951, it had become one of India's central universities. Many world famous teachers came to be associated with it, including C.F. Andrews and Alex Aronson. Some of its illustrious students are Gayatri Devi, Indira Gandhi, Satyajit Ray, Abdul Ghani Khan and Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen.
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The Asiatic Society
The Asiatic Society was founded by Sir William Jones (1746–1794) on January 15, 1784 in a meeting presided over by Sir Robert Chambers, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court at the Fort William in Calcutta, then capital of the British Raj, to enhance and further the cause of Oriental research. At the time of its foundation, this Society was named as "Asiatick Society". In 1825, the society dropped the antique k without any formal resolution and the Society was renamed as "The Asiatic Society". In 1832 the name was changed to "The Asiatic Society of Bengal" and again in 1936 it was renamed as "The Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal." Finally, on July 1, 1951 the name of the society was changed to its present one. The Society is housed in a building at Park Street in Kolkata (Calcutta). The Society moved into this building during 1808. In 1823, the Medical and Physical Society of Calcutta was formed and all the meetings of this society were held in the Asiatic Society.
In January, 1784 Sir William Jones sent out a circular-letter to a selected number of British residents of Calcutta with a view to establish a society for the Asiatic studies. In response to his letter, thirty European gentlemen of Calcutta including Mr. Justice John Hyde[disambiguation needed
], John Carnac, Henry Vansittart, John Shore, Charles Wilkins, Francis Gladwin, Jonathan Duncan and others gathered on January 15, 1784 in the Grand Jury Room of the old Supreme Court of Calcutta. The Chief Justice Sir Robert Chambers presided at the first meeting and Jones delivered his first discourse in which he put forward his plans for the Society. "Asia", he said, was the "nurse of sciences" and the "inventress of delightful and useful arts." He proposed to found a Society under the name of The Asiatic Society. All the thirty European gentlemen who had assembled accepted the membership of this Society.
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Tripura
Tripura /ˈtrɪpərə/ is a state in North East India, and one of the Seven Sister States. The third smallest state of India, it occupies an area of 4,051 sq mi (10,490 km2). Tripura is surrounded by Bangladesh on the north, south, and west. The Indian states of Assam and Mizoram lie to its east. The state capital is Agartala. A landlocked state, Tripura's geography is characterized by several north-south laid parallel hill ranges with intervening valleys, and plain in the western part of the state.
The area of the modern Tripura was part of an independent Tripuri kingdom that ruled for several centuries, probably millennia. It was known as "Hill Tippera" during the British rule in India. The kingdom merged with independent India on 15 October 1949 by the Tripura Merger Agreement. Ethnic strife between original tribes and largely migrant Bengali population led to tension and scattered violence since 1970s. Establishment of an autonomous tribal zone soothed such tensions to a great extent, and the state remains peaceful, as of 2012.
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Abala Bose
Abala, Lady Bose (Bengali: অবলা বসু Ôbola Boshu) (April 8, 1864 – August 26, 1951) was a social worker well-known for her efforts in the field of women’s education and her contribution towards the alleviation of the condition of widows.
Daughter of the renowned Brahmo reformer Durga Mohan Das, sister of Satish Ranjan Das and Sarala Roy, and cousin of Chittaranjan Das, and also Chief Justice of India Sudhi Ranjan Das she was born at Barisal on 8 April 1864. She belonged to the famous Das family of Telirbagh, Dhaka, now in Bangladesh. She was married to Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, the renowned scientist, and had occasion to travel abroad with him many times.
She was amongst the early students of Banga Mahila Vidyalaya and Bethune School (established by Bethune), and passed entrance with a scholarship in 1881. As she could not secure admission to Calcutta Medical College, being a woman, she went to Madras (Now Chennai) in 1882 on Bengal government scholarship to study medicine but had to give up because of ill health. She was married in 1887.
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Aghore Nath Gupta
Aghore Nath Gupta (Bengali: অঘোরনাথ গুপ্ত) was a great scholar of Buddhism and a preacher of the Brahmo Samaj. He was designated Sadhu (saint) after his premature death in recognition of his pious life.Sivanath Sastri wrote about him, “His unfeigned humility, deep spirituality and earnest devotion were a new revelation to the members of the Samaj.”
The son of Jadab Chandra Roy Kabibhusan, he was born at Shantipur in Nadia. He lost his father at the age of twelve and had his early education in the traditional centres of education, the tols and pathasalas. When he went to Kolkata to study in Sanskrit College, he came under the influence of Debendranath Tagore and Keshub Chunder Sen and joined the Brahmo movement.
Initiated into the Brahmo movement by his fellow-villager Vijay Krishna Goswami, he was amongst the first apostles of the Brahmo Samaj, who took up its banner in the midst of bitter persecution and great privations.
A strict vegetarian in his personal life, he devoted much of his time to prayers. Aghore Nath married a child widow of a different caste in 1863.
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Ashutosh Mukherjee
Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee, CIE (Bengali: আশুতোষ মুখোপাধ্যায়) (1864–1924) was a prolific Bengali educator and the first Indian Vice Chancellor of the University of Calcutta from 1906 to 1924. Perhaps the most emphatic figure of Indian education, he was a man of great personality, high self-respect, courage and towering administrative ability. He became the first student to be awarded a dual degree (MA in Mathematics and Physics) from Calcutta University and received the prestigious Premchand-Roychand scholarship.
Mukherjee was responsible for the foundation of the Bengal Technical Institute in 1906 and the Calcutta University, College of Science in 1914. The Calcutta Mathematical Society was also founded by Sir Ashutosh Mookerjee in 1908 and he served as the founder president of the Society during 1908 to 1923. He was the first president of the inaugural session of the Indian Science Congress in 1914. Ashutosh Mukherjee was knighted in 1911. For his intransigence attitude with British Govt., high self-respect, courage and academic integrity he was known as the "Tiger of Bengal". He was the father of famous Syama Prasad Mookerjee the founder of Bharatiya Jana Sangh.
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Brajendra Nath Seal
Sir Brajendra Nath Seal KCIE (Bengali: ব্রজেন্দ্রনাথ শীল) (1864–1938) was a renowned Bengali Indian humanist philosopher. He was one of the greatest original thinkers of the Brahmo Samaj and did work in comparative religion and on the philosophy of science. He systematized the humanism of the Brahmo philosophical thought. In his work, he underscored the tectonic shift in Brahmo theology in the late eighteenth century from liberal theism to secular humanism. Like his better known ideological precursor Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Seal was an educator, a firm believer in the cause of rationalism and scientific enquiry, a polymath in his own right and yet at the same time a preacher of humanism as a religious doctrine (as opposed to organized religion).
He was born in Calcutta in 1864. His father Mohendranath Seal was one of the earliest followers of Comtean positivism in Bengal. As a student of philosophy at the General Assembly's Institution (now Scottish Church College, Calcutta), he became attracted to Brahmo theology. And along with his better known classmate and friend Narendranath Dutta, the future Swami Vivekananda, he regularly attended meetings of the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj. Later they would part ways with Dutta aligning himself with Keshub Chunder Sen's New Dispensation (and later on to found his own religious movement, the Ramakrishna Mission) and Seal staying on as an initiated member. During this time spent together, both Seal and Dutta sought to understand the intricacies of faith, progress and spiritual insight into the works of John Stuart Mill, Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer and G.W.F. Hegel. Seal had a natural aptitude for mathematics and logic.
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Debendranath Tagore
Debendranath Tagore (Bengali: দেবেন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর, Debendronath Ţhakur) (15 May 1817 – 19 January 1905) was a Hindu philosopher and religious reformer, active in the Brahmo Samaj (“Society of Brahmā,” also translated as “Society of God”), which purged the Hindu religion and way of life of many abuses. He was one of the founders in 1848 of the Brahmo Religion which today is synonymous with Brahmoism the youngest religion of India and Bangladesh.
A Bengali, he was born in Shilaidaha. His father, was the fabulous "Prince" Dwarkanath Tagore.
Debendranath was a deeply religious man. His movement the Brahmo Samaj was formed in 1843 by merging his Tattwabodhini Sabha with the Brahmo Sabha, ten years after the death of the latter's founder, Raja Ram Mohan Roy. The Brahmo Sabha had fallen away from its original practices put forth in its Trust deed of Brahmo Sabha, however, Tagore revived the importance of this deed.
Although Debendranath was deeply spiritual, he managed to continue to maintain his worldly affairs – not renouncing his material possessions as some Hindu traditions prescribed but rather continuing to enjoy them in a spirit of detachment. His considerable material property included several estates spread over the districts of Bengal; most famously, the later acquisition Santiniketan estate near Bolpur in the Birbhum district where his eldest son Dwijendranath Tagore set up his school.
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Dwarkanath Ganguly
Dwarkanath Ganguly (also spelt as Dwarka Nath Gangopadhyay) (Bengali: দ্বারকানাথ গাঙ্গুলী Darkanath Gangguli) (20 April 1844 - 27 June 1898) was a Brahmo reformer in Bengal of British India. He contributed substantially towards the enlightenment of society and the emancipation of women.
Dwarkanath Ganguly was born on the Bengali New Year’s Day, 1st Baisakh (mid-April), 1845 at Magurkhanda village in Bikrampur, now in Bangladesh. At the time of Ganguly's birth, his father, Krishnapran Ganguli lived in Faridpur in connection with some family work. His mother hailed from a rich family. Once she wanted to go on a pilgrimage to Puri. In those days, one had to use boats and elephants for transport. Her parent’s family would have been too happy to support her financially for that but she was too upright a person to accept such support. Instead, she covered the long distance for the pilgrimage on foot. This incident portrays the strong will power of Ganguly's mother. The same would be apparent in his life later.
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Eugene Lafont
Eugene Lafont (26 March 1837, Mons, Hainaut, Belgium - 10 May 1908, Darjeeling, India) was a Belgian Jesuit, Missionary in Bengal, scientist and founder of the first Scientific Society in India.
After secondary studies in the Jesuit High School of Mons, Lafont entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus in Ghent (1854). He then went through the usual Jesuit formation, with period of pedagogical experiences as teacher in Ghent (1857–59) and Liège (1862–63) and years of philosophical formation (Tournai) and a degree in natural sciences in Namur (1863–65). In Namur he showed already a particular aptitude for physical experimentation. In 1865 Lafont left for India where he arrived, in Calcutta the 4 December 1865.
Soon after arriving in the capital city of British India Lafont was appointed to teach science. St. Xavier's College, Calcutta, was hardly 5 years old and everything had to be done. However he could not think of teaching science without practical experiments; he promptly installed a laboratory in the college, probably the first such science laboratory of modern India. Within two years he made headlines in the local press: in November 1867, thanks to a makeshift observatory set on the roof of the college he recorded daily meteorological observations which allowed him to anticipate with much accuracy the arrival of a devastating cyclone. The government authorities were informed and took immediate measures that prevented the loss of many human lives. From that day meteorological forecasts of Lafont were regularly published in the widely read weekly paper of Calcutta: the Indo-European Correspondence.
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Girish Chandra Sen
Girish Chandra Sen (Bengali: গিরিশ চন্দ্র সেন) (1835–1910), a Brahmo Samaj missionary, was the first person to translate the Qur’an into Bengali language in 1886. It was his finest contribution to Bengali literature.
Son of Madhabram Sen of Panchdona, Dhaka in Bengal (now part of Narayanganj District in Bangladesh), he learnt Persian and Sanskrit in early life and started working as a copywriter in the court of the deputy magistrate in Mymensingh. He was attracted to the Brahmo Samaj under the influence of Keshub Chunder Sen and Bijay Krishna Goswami and joined it as a missionary in 1871.
In 1869, Keshub Chunder Sen chose from amongst his missionaries, four persons and ordained them as professors of four old religions of the world. He was selected to study Islam. Others selected to study different religions were Gour Govinda Ray for Hinduism, Protap Chandra Mozoomdar for Christianity, and Aghore Nath Gupta for Buddhism. A firm believer in the basic unity of all religions, he immersed himself in his studies and later went to Lucknow to study Arabic and the Islamic religious texts. He was involved in intense studies for about five years.
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Gour Govinda Ray
Gour Govinda Ray, Upadhyay, (1841 - 1912) was a notable scholar on Hinduism and a Brahmo missionary. He had edited for forty years Dhamatattva, an official publication of the Brahmo Samaj and assisted Keshub Chunder Sen in the compilation of Slokasangraha, a collection of quotes from different religious texts.
The son of Gour Mohan Ray, he was brought up by his uncle. He studied up to the Entrance (school leaving) standard in Rangpur High School. Later he studied Sanskrit and Persian. For sometime he studied ‘Daras’ under a Muslim fakir.
During the period 1863 – 1866 he was a sub-inspector of police. At the age of twenty-five, he gave up his job and became a follower of Keshub Chandra Sen. He joined the Brahmo Samaj as a missionary.
In 1869, Keshab Chandra Sen selected from his missionaries four persons and ordained them as adhypaks or professors of four old religions of the world. Gour Govinda Ray was made the professor of Hinduism, Protap Chunder Mozoomdar, the professor of Christianity, Aghore Nath Gupta, the professor of Buddhism and Girish Chandra Sen, the professor of Islam. Subsequently, Trailokyanath Sanyal was also ordained as an adhyapak of music. In the same year Keshub Chunder Sen’s move towards universalism in religion was further strengthened by the publication of four books - Gour Govinda Ray's work on the Gita, P C Mozoomdar's book The Oriental Christ, Aghore Nath Gupta's study on Buddha and Girish Chandra Sen's Tapasmala - life of Muslim saints and his Bengali translation of Koran and Hadis. For his erudition, he was bestowed with the title of ‘Upadhyay’ by Keshub Chanuder Sen.
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Haraprasad Shastri
Haraprasad Shastri (Bengali: হরপ্রসাদ শাস্ত্রী) (6 December 1853 – 17 November 1931), also known as Haraprasad Bhattacharya, was an Indian academic, Sanskrit scholar, archivist and historian of Bengali literature. He is most known for discovering the Charyapada, the earliest known examples of Bengali literature.
Haraprasad Shastri was born in Kumira village in Khulna, Bengal (now in Bangladesh) to a family that hailed from Naihati in North 24 Parganas. The family name was Bhattacharya, a common Bengali surname.
Shastri studied at the village school initially and then at Sanskrit College and Presidency College in Calcutta (now Kolkata). While in Calcutta, he stayed with the noted Bengali scholar and social reformer, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, who was a friend of Shastri's older brother Nandakumar Nyayachunchu.
Shastri passed entrance (school-leaving) examination in 1871, First Arts, the undergraduate degree, in 1873, received a BA in 1876 and Honours in Sanskrit in 1877. Later, he was conferred the title of Shastri when he received a MA degree. The Shastri title was conferred on those who secured a first class (highest grade) and he was the only student in his batch (class) to do so. He then joined Hare School as a teacher in 1878.
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Kadambini Ganguly
Kadambini Ganguly (Bengali: কাদম্বিনী গাঙ্গুলি) (18 july 1861 – 3 October 1923) was one of the first female graduates of the British Empire along with Chandramukhi Basu. She was one of the first female physicians of South Asia to be trained in European medicine.
The daughter of Brahmo reformer Braja Kishore Basu, she was born at Bhagalpur, Bihar in British India. The family was from Chandsi, in Barisal which is now in Bangladesh. Her father was headmaster of Bhagalpur School. He and Abhay Charan Mallick started the movement for women's emancipation at Bhagalpur, establishing the women's organisation Bhagalpur Mahila Samiti in 1863, the first in India.
Kadambini started her education at Banga Mahila Vidyalaya and while at Bethune School (established by Bethune) in 1878 became the first woman to pass the University of Calcutta entrance examination. It was partly in recognition of her efforts that Bethune College first introduced FA (First Arts), and then graduation courses in 1883. She and Chandramukhi Basu became the first graduates from Bethune College, and in the process became the first female graduates in the country and in the entire British Empire.
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Kaykobad
Kaykobad (Bengali: কায়কোবাদ; also spelt Kaikobad) or Mohakobi Kaykobad (Kaykobad the great poet) was the pen name of the poet Kazem Ali Quereshi.
Kaikobad (1858–1952) was a Bengali epic poet and writer. He was born in 1857 in the village of Agla in the Upazila of Nawabganj, in the district of Dhaka, in what is now Bangladesh. He was the son of Shahamatullah Al Qureshi, a lawyer at the Dhaka District Judge Court.
Kaikobad studied at Pogose School and St.Gregory School in Dhaka. He then went to Dhaka Madrasah where he studied up to the Entrance Examination. However, he did not sit for the examinations, returning instead to his native village to take up the job of postmaster, where he worked until his retirement. In 1932, he presided over the main session of the Bangiya Muslim Sahitya Sammelan in Kolkata.
Kaikobad revealed his poetic genius early. His Birahabilap was published in 1870, when he was about thirteen. Kaikobad was influenced by the epics written by hemchandra banerjee and nabinchandra sen and, in 1904, published Mahashmashan (The Great Crematorium), based on the Third Panipat War. The epic, which shows the destructive nature of war in both victory and defeat, is considered his masterpiece.
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Kazi Nazrul Islam
Kazi Nazrul Islam (Bengali: কাজী নজরুল ইসলাম Kazi Nozrul Islam) (25 May 1899–29 August 1976), sobriquet Bidrohi Kobi (Rebel Poet), was a Bangladeshi poet, musician and revolutionary who pioneered poetic works espousing intense spiritual rebellion against fascism and oppression. His poetry and nationalist activism earned him the popular title of Bidrohi Kobi (Rebel Poet). Accomplishing a large body of acclaimed works through his life, Nazrul is officially recognised as the national poet of Bangladesh and commemorated in India.
Born into a Muslim quazi (justice) family in India, Nazrul received religious education and worked as a muezzin at a local mosque. He learned of poetry, drama, and literature while working with theatrical groups. After serving in the British Indian Army, Nazrul established himself as a journalist in Kolkata (then Calcutta ). He assailed the British Raj in India and preached revolution through his poetic works, such as "Bidrohi" ("The Rebel") and "Bhangar Gaan" ("The Song of Destruction"), as well as his publication "Dhumketu" ("The Comet"). His impassioned activism in the Indian independence movement often led to his imprisonment by British authorities. While in prison, Nazrul wrote the "Rajbandir Jabanbandi" ("Deposition of a Political Prisoner"). Exploring the life and conditions of the downtrodden masses of India , Nazrul worked for their emancipation.
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Khwaja Abdul Ghani
Nawab Bahadur Sir Khwaja Abdul Ghani Mian KCSI (1813–1896) was the first Nawab of Dhaka recognized by the British Raj.
He introduced the panchayat system, gaslights, water works, newspaper, and the zoological garden to Dhaka. He established Ahsan Manzil, the residence and seat of power for Dhaka Nawab Family, Victoria Park, the gardens at Dilkhusha and Shahbag, where he initiated many annual events like Boli Khela and agricultural and industrial fair to celebrate the Christian New Year. He was also responsible for the Buckland Bund and the first female ward in the first hospital in Dhaka, and was a founding commissioner of Dhaka municipality.
Khwaja Abdul Ghani was the second son of Khwaja Alimullah, who consolidated the Khwaja estates to be come the first Nawab of the family. He inherited the estate from his father, which included the French kuthi at Kumartuli bought by Alimullah in 1830, the Shahbag garden bought by Alimullah from Griffith Cook, a British Justice in 1840. His mother was Zinat Begum. Alimullah had 8 other wives and 15 other children.
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Khwaja Ahsanullah
Nawab Khwaja Ahsanullah (1846–1901), Khan Bahadur KCIE, was the Nawab of Dhaka. He was a renowned Urdu litterateur.
He was born in 1846 the son of Khwaja Abdul Ghani and Ismatun Nesa. As a young child he learned Urdu, Arabic and Persian in addition to his native Bengali. He was noted as being a very gifted child, and mastered the Koran at a young age. By the age of 22, he was entrusted with the maintenance and expansion of the family estates.
He wrote widely in Urdu under the pen name "Shaheen". Those around him noted that he had a talent for composing spontaneous poetry which generally evoked sunny imagery. Much of his spare time was spent composing literature in Urdu and Persian. He published a book of Urdu poems Kulliyat-e-Shaheen which has been preserved at Dhaka University. He also published his diaries, titled Tariq-e-Kandan-e-Kashmiriya. In 1884, he started an Urdu magazine, Ahsanut Qasas, which was published in Dhaka.
Ahsanullah was a noted philanthropist. He donated over 50 lakh rupees to various charitable projects. He spent over 50,000 rupees on famine relief in Barisal District, Mymensingh District and Dhaka District in 1896. He also was one of the chief backers for the building of Comilla. Many hospitals were funded and constructed by him, including: the Patuankali Begam Hospital, Lady Dufferin Women's Hospital, and the Mitford Hospital. He also spend 40 thousand rupees on creating an Engineering College in Dhaka, which is now Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.
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Khwaja Salimullah
Nawab Sir Khwaja Salimullah Bahadur, GCIE, KCSI (1871–1915) was the fourth Nawab of Dhaka and one of the leading Muslim politicians during the British Raj. It was he who, in the wake of partition of Bengal in 1905, corresponded and discussed with Nawab Muhsinul Mulk at Aligarh over the issue of formation of the All India Muslim League. It led to the holding of convention at Ahsan Manzil, the official residence of the Dhaka Nawab Family. The convention was the annual meeting of Muhammadan Educational Conference whose fourth session was the founding convention of All India Muslim League which was presided over by Nawab Wiqar ul Mulk. Sir Salimullah, as he is commonly known, was also a key patron of education for the Muslims of Bengal. He had been one of the founders of the University of Dhaka and the prestigious Ahsanullah School of Engineering (now the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology). Sir Salimullah was a staunch supporter of the Partition of Bengal and was a member of East Bengal and Assam Legislative Council from 1906 to 1907. He was also a member of Bengal Legislative Assembly from 1913 till his death in Calcutta in 1915 at the age of 43. He was the founder President of Bengal Muslim League in 1907.
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Mahendralal Sarkar
Mahendralal Sarkar (other spellings: Mahendra Lal Sarkar, Mahendralal Sircar, Mahendralal Sircir) (1833–1904) was a conventional-turned-homeopath doctor, social reformer, and propagator of scientific studies in nineteenth-century India. He was the founder of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science.
Mahendralal Sarkar was born at Paikpara village in Howrah district, near Calcutta (now known as Kolkata) in the Bengal Province of British India. He lost both his parents early in life, his father when he was five years old and his mother when he was nine years old. His mother had shifted to his maternal uncles’ house earlier and subsequently, he was brought up by his maternal uncles, Iswar Chandra Ghosh and Mahesh Chandra Ghosh in their house at Nebutala in Calcutta. First he was sent to a ‘gurumasai’ or tutor to learn Bengali and subsequently to another tutor named Thakurdas Dey, to learn English. On learning some English he secured admission in Hare School as a free student in 1840. In 1849, he passed the junior scholarship examination and joined Hindu College, where he studied up to 1854. At that time, Hindu College did not have facilities for teaching science and as he was bent upon studying medicine, he transferred to Calcutta Medical College. He obtained IMS in 1861 and MD degrees in 1863. He and Jagabandhu Bose were the second MDs of the Calcutta University after Chandrakumar De (1862).
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Meghnad Saha
Meghnad Saha FRS (Bengali: মেঘনাদ সাহা) (6 October 1893 – 16 February 1956) was an Indian astrophysicist noted for his development in 1920 of the thermal ionization equation, which, in the form perfected by the British astrophysicist Edward A. Milne, has remained fundamental in all work on stellar atmospheres. This equation has been widely applied to the interpretation of stellar spectra, which are characteristic of the chemical composition of the light source. The Saha equation links the composition and appearance of the spectrum with the temperature of the light source and can thus be used to determine either the temperature of the star or the relative abundance of the chemical elements investigated.
In his later years Saha increasingly turned his attention to the social relation of science and founded the outspoken journal Science and Culture in 1935. In 1951 he was elected to the Indian Parliament as an independent. He co-authored A Treatise on Heat (4th ed., 1958) and A Treatise on Modern Physics (1934). One of his most important papers is “Ionization in the Solar Chromosphere,” Phil. Mag. (vol. 40, 1920).
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Monomohun Ghose
Monomohun Ghose (Bengali: মনমোহন ঘোষ Mônmohon Ghosh) (also spelt Monomohun Ghosh, Manmohan Ghosh) (March 13, 1844 – October 16, 1896) was the first practicing barrister of Indian origin. He is notable for his contributions towards the fields of women’s education, for arousing the patriotic feeling of his countrymen and for being one of the earliest persons in the country in organised national politics. At the same time his Anglicised habits often made him a target of ridicule in Calcutta.
He was the son of Ramlochan Ghose, of Bikrampur (now Munshiganj in Bangladesh). His father was a renowned sub-judge and a patriot, and had acquired his broad frame of mind from Ram Mohan Roy, when he came in contact with him.
As a child Ghose lived with his father in Krishnanagar and passed the Entrance Examination (school leaving or university entrance) in 1859 from Krishnanagar College. In 1858, he was married to Swarnalata, daughter of Shyma Charan Roy of Taki-Sripur in 24 Parganas.
While he was still at school, the indigo movement was raging. He wrote an article against indigo merchants and sent it for publication in the Hindu Patriot but the same could not be published owing to the untimely death of its editor, Harish Chandra Mukherjee. He joined Presidency College in 1861 and while a student there, he developed a friendship with Keshub Chunder Sen. Together they started the Indian Mirror.
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Muhammad Shahidullah
Muhammad Shahidullah (Bengali: মুহম্মদ শহীদুল্লাহ Muhômmod Shohidullah), popularly known as Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah (July 10, 1885 – July 13, 1969) was a famous Bengali educationist, writer philologist and linguist. A dormitory in University of Dhaka is named after him (Shahidullah Hall).
He was born in the village Peyara, 24 Pargana, West Bengal (now in India). His father Mafizuddin Ahmed was a warden of a shrine.
Muhammad Shaidullah passed his school finals (known as Entrance examination at that time) in 1904 from Howrah Zila School. In 1906 he passed the FA exam (equivalent to HSC) from Presidency College, Kolkata. He received the Bachelor of Arts degree with Honors in Sanskrit in 1910 from City College, Kolkata, and Master of Arts in 1912 in Comparative Philology from the University of Calcutta. He also received a PhD from Sorbonne university.
Shahidullah's teaching career started in Jessore Zilla School where he taught between 1908 and 1909. He also worked as the headmaster of Sitakunda High School, Chittagong between 1914 and 1915. However, he returned to research and worked as Sharatchandra Lahiri Research Fellow (1919–21) under the supervision of Prof. Dinesh Chandra Sen at the University of Calcutta. Subsequently, Shahidullah joined the University of Dhaka as a lecturer of Sanskrit and Bengali languages in 1921 . His years at the University of Dhaka constituted the most important period of his life. During his teaching and research career there, he explored the origins of the Bengali language. In 1925, he was able to show that Bengali originated from Gaudi or Magadhan Prakrit (or derivative of Sanskrit).
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Nawab Abdul Latif
Abdul Latif (1828–1893) or Nawab Abdul Latif (Bengali: নবাব আবদুল লতীফ) was a nineteenth century educator and social worker in Bengal, later Bangladesh. His title, Nawab was awarded by the British in 1880. Abdul Lateef was one of the first Muslims in nineteenth century India to embrace the idea of modernization. He was a professor at Calcutta Madrasah. His achievements include working to turn Hindu College into Presidency College and thus open it for non-Hindus as well. He also established numerous educational institutes, including Rajshahi Madrasah.
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Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (Bengali: রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941), sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. In translation his poetry was viewed as spiritual and mercurial; his seemingly mesmeric personality, flowing hair, and other-worldly dress earned him a prophet-like reputation in the West. His "elegant prose and magical poetry" remain largely unknown outside Bengal. Tagore introduced new prose and verse forms and the use of colloquial language into Bengali literature, thereby freeing it from traditional models based on classical Sanskrit. He was highly influential in introducing the best of Indian culture to the West and vice versa, and he is generally regarded as the outstanding creative artist of modern India.
A Pirali Brahmin from Calcutta, Tagore wrote poetry as an eight-year-old. At age sixteen, he released his first substantial poems under the pseudonym Bhānusiṃha ("Sun Lion"), which were seized upon by literary authorities as long-lost classics. He graduated to his first short stories and dramas—and the aegis of his birth name—by 1877. As a humanist, universalist internationalist, and strident anti-nationalist he denounced the Raj and advocated independence from Britain. As an exponent of the Bengal Renaissance, he advanced a vast canon that comprised paintings, sketches and doodles, hundreds of texts, and some two thousand songs; his legacy endures also in the institution he founded, Visva-Bharati University.
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Rajnarayan Basu
Rajnarayan Basu (Bengali: রাজনারায়ণ বসু) (1826 – 1899) was a writer and intellectual of the Bengal Renaissance. He was born in Boral in 24 Parganas and studied at the Hare School and Hindu College, both premier institutions in Kolkata, Bengal at the time. A monotheist at heart, Rajnarayan Basu converted to Brahmoism at the age of twenty. After retiring, he was given the honorary title of Rishi or sage. As a writer, he was one of the best known prose writers in Bengali in the nineteenth century, writing often for the Tattwabodhini Patrika, a premier Brahmo journal. Due to his defence of Brahmoism, he was given the title "Grandfather of Indian Nationalism"
Rajnarayan Basu was a close friend of Michael Madhusudan Dutt, a prominent poet of the time, and the introducer of free verse in Bengali. Both were responsible for introducing classical Western elements into Bengali literature. He briefly tutored Asia's first Nobel prizewinner, Rabindranath Tagore and spent three years translating the Upanishads into English. As a member of Young Bengal, Rajnarayan Basu believed in "nation-building" at the grassroots level. To do his part, after teaching at Vidyasagar's Sanskrit College, he moved to Midnapore to teach in the mofussil district town. He served as the headmaster of Midnapore Zila School which was both the forerunner of Midnapore Collegiate School and Midnapore College. He established a public library that is still in use, although now it is known as the Rishi Rajnarayan Basu Smriti Pathagar (Rishi Rajnaraya Basu Memorial Library). He was the first person to suggest using Bengali at meetings of the Vangiya Sahitya Parishad (Bengali literature society). The Parishad was established to promote Bengali language literature yet ironically conducted meetings in English until Basu's request.
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Ram Mohan Roy
Ram Mohun Roy, Ram Mohun also spelled Rammohun, Rammohan, or Ram Mohan (Bengali: রাজা রামমোহন রায়; 22 May 1772 – 27 September 1833) was an Indian religious, social, and educational reformer who challenged traditional Hindu culture and indicated the lines of progress for Indian society under British rule. He is sometimes called the "father of modern India". He, along with Dwarkanath Tagore and other Bengalis, founded the Brahmo Sabha in 1828, which engendered the Brahmo Samaj, an influential Indian socio-religious reform movement during the Bengal Renaissance. His influence was apparent in the fields of politics, public administration, and education, as well as religion. He is known for his efforts to abolish the practice of sati, the Hindu funeral practice in which the widow immolated herself on her husband's funeral pyre.
Roy was born in Radhanagore, Hooghly, Bengal, in August 1772 or 22 May 1774, into the Rarhi Brahmin caste. His family background displayed religious diversity; his father Ramkanto Roy was a Vaishnavite, while his mother Tarinidevi was from a Shivaite family. This was unusual for Vaishanavites did not commonly marry Shaivites at that time. Thus, one parent wanted him to be a scholar, a sastrin, while the other wanted him to have a career dedicated to the laukik, which was secular public administration. He wandered around the Himalayas and went to Tibet.
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Ramakrishna
Ramakrishna (pronounced: IPA: [Ramkṛiṣṇo Pôromôhongśo]
listen (help·info)) (18 February 1836 – 16 August 1886), born Gadadhar Chattopadhyay (IPA: [Gôdadhor Chôṭṭopaddhae]), was a famous mystic of 19th-century India. His religious school of thought led to the formation of the Ramakrishna Mission by his chief disciple Swami Vivekananda – both were influential figures in the Bengali Renaissance as well as the Hindu renaissance during the 19th and 20th centuries. Many of his disciples and devotees believe he was an Avatar or incarnation of God. He is also referred to as "Paramahamsa" by his devotees, as such he is popularly known as Ramkrishna Paramhamsa.
Ramakrishna was born in a poor Brahmin Vaishnava family in rural Bengal. He became a priest of the Dakshineswar Kali Temple, dedicated to the goddess Kali, which had the influence of the main strands of Bengali bhakti tradition. The most widely known amongst his first spiritual teachers was an ascetic woman skilled in Tantra and Vaishnava bhakti. Later an Advaita Vedantin ascetic taught him non-dual meditation, and according to Ramakrishna, he experienced nirvikalpa samadhi under his guidance. Ramakrishna also experimented with other religions, notably Islam and Christianity, and said that they all lead to the same God. Though he quit conventional education, he attracted the attention of the middle class, upper middle class and numerous Bengali intellectuals.[citation needed]
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Ramgopal Ghosh
Ramgopal Ghosh (Bengali: রামগোপাল ঘোষ) (1815 - 1868) was an Indian businessman, social reformer, orator and one of the leaders of the Young Bengal group. He was called the Indian Demosthenes. Ghosh was one of the persons who helped John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune to establish his girls school.
The family hailed from Bagati, near Mogra in Hooghly District. His father, Gobinda Chandra Ghosh had a small shop in Kolkata’s China Bazar. His maternal grandfather, Dewan Ramprasad Singha, used to work in the office of King Hamilton & Co. in Kolkata. Ghosh was born in his maternal grandfather’s house.
There are two opinions about his childhood. The first says that he initially joined Sherburne’s School and started learning English. At that time Hara Chandra Ghosh, then a student of Hindu College and later one of the leading Derozians, married a relative of his. Observing the keenness of young Ramgopal, Hara Chandra pestered the former’s father to get him admitted in Hindu College. His father did not have the means to pay for his education at Hindu College. However, one Mr. Rogers of King Hamilton & Co. agreed to pay the fees and he was admitted to Hindu College. The second opinion is that Mr. Rogers got him admitted in Hindu College right from the beginning.
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Romesh Chunder Dutt
Romesh Chunder Dutt, CIE (Bengali: রমেশচন্দ্র দত্ত) was an Indian civil servant, economic historian, writer, and translator of Ramayana and Mahabharata.
Dutt was born into a distinguished Bengali Kayastha caste family well known for its members' literary and academic achievements. His parents were Thakamani and Isam Chunder Dutt. His father, Isam Dutt, was a Deputy Collector of Bengal, whom Romesh often accompanied on official duties. Romesh was educated in various Bengali District schools, then at Hare School, Calcutta, founded by the philanthropist, David Hare. After his father's untimely death in a boat accident in eastern Bengal, Romesh's uncle, Shoshee Chunder Dutt, an accomplished writer, became his guardian in 1861. Romesh wrote about his uncle, "He used to sit at night with us and our favorite study used to be pieces from the works of the English poets." He was a relative of Toru Dutt, one of nineteenth century Bengal's most prominent poets.
He entered the University of Calcutta, Presidency College in 1864, then passed the First Arts examination in 1866, second in order of merit, and won a scholarship. While still a student in the B.A. class, without his family's permission, he and two friends, Beharilal Gupta and Surendranath Banerjee, left for England in 1868. Only one other Indian, Satyendra Nath Tagore, had ever before qualified for the Indian Civil Service. Romesh aimed to emulate Satyendranath Tagore's feat. For a long time, before and after 1853, the year the ICS examination was introduced in England, only British officers were appointed to covenanted posts. The 1860s saw the first attempts, largely successful, on the part of the Indians, and especially members of the Bengali intelligentsia, to occupy the superior official posts in India, until then completely dominated by the British.
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Sambhunath Pandit
Sambhunath Pandit (Bengali: শম্ভুনাথ পন্ডিত) (1820-1867) was the first Indian to become judge of Calcutta High Court in 1863. He served in that position from 1863-1867. One of the leading personalities of Kolkata in his age, he had contributed in many ways to the development of legal systems and enrichment of social life.
Son of Sadasiv Pandit, he belonged to a Kashmiri Pandit family. He was brought up in Bhowanipur, Kolkata. As a child, he went to Lucknow to study Urdu and Persian. On return to Kolkata, he joined the Oriental Seminary.
In 1861, he joined Dewani Adalat as assistant record keeper. Having acquired experience in law matters he was posted as a court clerk issuing decrees. He wrote a book about the faults in the system of issuing decrees and attracted the attention of the government. The laws were modified with his assistance. He qualified as a lawyer in 1848 and started practising as a criminal lawyer. He taught law at Presidency College and became a senior government counsel. When the high court was established at Kolkata, he became the first Indian to be a judge of the high court. He used to contribute articles on law matters in the Hindu Patriot, then being edited by Harish Chandra Mukherjee.
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Santiniketan
Santiniketan (Bengali: শান্তিনিকেতন Shantiniketôn) is a small town near Bolpur in the Birbhum district of West Bengal, India, approximately 180 kilometres north of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta). It was made famous by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, whose vision became what is now a university town (Visva-Bharati University) that attracts thousands of visitors each year. Santiniketan is also a tourist attraction because Rabindranath Tagore wrote many of his literary classics here, and his house is a place of historical importance.
Santiniketan was previously called Bhubandanga (named after Bhuban Sinha). This area was gifted from the Sinha family (family of Lord SP Sinha) to the Tagore family. Rabindranath's father, Maharshi Debendranath Tagore, found it very peaceful and renamed it Santiniketan, which means abode (niketan) of peace (shanti). It was here that Rabindranath Tagore started Patha Bhavana, the school of his ideals, whose central premise was that learning in a natural environment would be more enjoyable and fruitful. After he received the Nobel Prize (1913), the school was expanded into a university in 1921. By 1951, it had become one of India's central universities. Many world famous teachers came to be associated with it, including C.F. Andrews and Alex Aronson. Some of its illustrious students are Gayatri Devi, Indira Gandhi, Satyajit Ray, Abdul Ghani Khan and Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen.
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Satyendra Nath Bose
Prof. Satyendra Nath Bose (Bengali: সত্যেন্দ্র নাথ বসু Shottendronath Boshū, IPA: [ʃot̪ːend̪ronat̪ʰ boʃu]; 1 January 1894 – 4 February 1974) was an Indian mathematician and physicist noted for his collaboration with Albert Einstein in developing a theory regarding the gaslike qualities of electromagnetic radiation. He is best known for his work on quantum mechanics in the early 1920s, providing the foundation for Bose–Einstein statistics and the theory of the Bose–Einstein condensate. He is honoured as the namesake of the boson. A Fellow of the Royal Society, he was awarded India's second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan in 1954 by the Government of India.
Bose’s numerous scientific papers (published from 1918 to 1956) contributed to statistical mechanics, the electromagnetic properties of the ionosphere, the theories of X-ray crystallography and thermoluminescence, and unified field theory. Bose’s Planck’s Law and the Hypothesis of Light Quanta (1924) led Einstein to seek him out for collaboration.
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Satyendranath Tagore
Satyendranath Tagore was the first Indian to join the Indian Civil Service. He was an author, song composer, linguist and made significant contribution towards the emancipation of women in Indian society during the British Raj.
The second son of Debendranath Tagore and grandson of Dwarkanath Tagore of the Jorasanko branch of the Tagore family of Calcutta (now Kolkata), he learnt Sanskrit and English at home. A student of Hindu School, he was part of the first batch of students to appear for the entrance examinations of the University of Calcutta in 1857. He was placed in the first division and was admitted to Presidency College.
As was the custom of the day, he was married early in life to Jnanadanandini Devi in 1859. The same year, he and Keshub Chunder Sen accompanied his father on a visit to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).
For a long time, only British officers were appointed to all covenanted posts. In 1832, the posts of musif and sadar amin were created and opened to Indians. In 1833, the posts of deputy magistrate and deputy collector were created and opened to Indians. The ICS Act of 1861 established the Indian Civil Service. The Act of 1853 had already established the practice of recruiting covenanted civilians through competitive examinations.
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Sivanath Sastri
Sivanath Sastri (as spelt by himself, but also spelt as Shibnath Shastri, Shib Nath Shastri, Shibanath Shastri, Shivanath Shastri) (Bengali: শিবনাথ শাস্ত্রী Shibonath Shastri) (1847-1919) was a scholar, religious reformer, educator, writer and historian. He played an active role in the society of his times and kept a wonderful record of events but for which it would have been difficult to know and understand his turbulent age. His views have, occasionally, been criticised. He was not merely a detached historian but also an active participant of the age.
Son of Harananda Bhattacharya, a native of Majilpur, in 24 Parganas, he was born in the house of his maternal uncle at Chingripota village, 24 Parganas, on 31 January 1847. The family were Vedic Brahmins, possibly migrated from the South. According to family hearsay, they had come from Jajpur in Orissa and settled in Majilpur. Most of the members of the family were learned and poor, and many of them engaged in priestcraft.
He started attending the local pathsala and when an English school was established at Majilpur with the support of the local zemindar, he joined it. During his childhood, one of the villagers, Brajanath Dutta and his son, Shib Krishna Dutta, used to subscribe to the Tattwabodhini Patrika and discuss religious and social matters with learned people. They had later influenced other villagers, such as Umesh Chandra Dutta, to convert to the Brahmo Samaj.
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Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo (Bengali: শ্রী অরবিন্দ Sri Ôrobindo) (15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950), born Aurobindo Ghosh or Ghose (Bengali: অরবিন্দ ঘোষ Ôrobindo Ghosh), was an Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru, and poet. He joined the Indian movement for freedom from British rule and for a duration became one of its most important leaders, before developing his own vision of human progress and spiritual evolution.
The central theme of Aurobindo's vision was the evolution of human life into life divine. He wrote: "Man is a transitional being. He is not final. The step from man to superman is the next approaching achievement in the earth evolution. It is inevitable because it is at once the intention of the inner spirit and the logic of nature's process."
Aurobindo's writings synthesized Eastern and Western philosophy, religion, literature, and psychology. Aurobindo was the first Indian to create a major literary corpus in English.His works include philosophy; poetry; translations of and commentaries on the Vedas, Upanishads, and the Gita; plays; literary, social, political, and historical criticism; devotional works; spiritual journals and three volumes of letters. His principal philosophical writings are The Life Divine and The Synthesis of Yoga, while his principal poetic work is Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol.
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Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda (pronounced: IPA: [ʂāmiː biːbeːkānoːnɗoː] listen (help·info)) (12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendra Nath Datta (IPA: [nôreːnd̪roː naːt̪ʰ d̪ôttoː] was the chief disciple of the 19th century saint Ramakrishna and the founder of the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission. He is considered a key figure in the introduction of Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the western world, mainly in America and Europe and is also credited with raising interfaith awareness, bringing Hinduism to the status of a major world religion during the end of the 19th century CE. Vivekananda is considered to be a major force in the revival of Hinduism in modern India. He is perhaps best known for his inspiring speech which began: "Sisters and Brothers of America," through which he introduced Hinduism at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago in 1893.
Swami Vivekananda was born in an aristocratic Bengali Kayastha family of Calcutta on 12 January 1863. Vivekananda's parents influenced his thinking—his father by his rationality and his mother by her religious temperament. From his childhood, he showed an inclination towards spirituality and God realisation. His guru, Ramakrishna, taught him Advaita Vedanta (non-dualism); that all religions are true and that service to man was the most effective worship of God. After the Mahasamadhi of his guru, Vivekananda became a wandering monk, touring the Indian subcontinent and acquiring first-hand knowledge of conditions in India. He later travelled to Chicago and represented India as a delegate in the 1893 Parliament of World Religions. He conducted hundreds of public and private lectures and classes, disseminating Vedanta and Yoga in America, England and Europe. He also established the Vedanta societies in America and England.
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Tagore family
The Tagore family, with over three hundred years of history, has been one of the leading families of Kolkata, and is regarded as a key influence during the Bengal Renaissance. The family has produced several persons who have contributed substantially in the fields of business, social and religious reformation, literature, art and music.
Europeans started coming to Bengal in the 17th century. The Battle of Plassey in 1757 resulted in the deposition of the last independent Nawab of Bengal and the British (British East India Company) became the main ruling force in Bengal.
The Bengal renaissance of the 19th century was a remarkable period of societal transformation in which whole range of creative activities – literary, cultural, social and economic- flourished The Bengal Renaissance was the culmination of the process of emergence of the cultural characteristics of the Bengali people that had started in the age of Hussein Shah (1493–1519). This spread over covering around three centuries had a tremendous impact on Bengali society. Incidentally that coincided with the rise of the Tagore family. The Tagore family attained prominence during this period through its unusual social positioning between Indian and European influences.
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Wikipedia Persondata
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photo: AP / New York City Police Department
30 Dec 2012
A woman who told police she shoved a man to his death off a subway platform because she has hated Muslims since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the US and thought he was one was charged on Saturday with murder as a hate crime, prosecutors said ... Menendez, 31, was awaiting arraignment on the charge on Saturday evening, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said. She faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted ... On Dec ... ....(size: 3.0Kb)
photo: WN / Bhaskar Mallick
30 Dec 2012
Comet Ison is likely to light up the skies in 2013. David Shukman, science editor, BBC News Continue reading the main story Related Stories. A science news preview of 2012. As the Philippines, New Jersey and Britain count the cost of ferocious flooding, expect another year in which extreme weather exacts a human toll. Partly this is because more and more of us live in harm's way on coasts and flood plains ... ....(size: 9.2Kb)
photo: AP / Shaam News Network
30 Dec 2012
London. UN-Arab League envoy to Damascus, Lakhdar Brahimi, has said that a diplomatic solution to the conflict in Syria seemed far away, adding that the country risked being slithering into ‘hell’ ... (ANI). For Zee News’s Updates, follow us on Twitter , Facebook, Google+, Pinterest. First Published ... ....(size: 1.7Kb)
photo: AP / John MacDougall
31 Dec 2012
Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned that the German economic climate in 2013 will be "even more difficult". In her new year message, she also cautioned that the eurozone debt crisis was far from over. However, she did say that reforms designed to address the roots of the problem were beginning to bear fruit ... In a taped interview to be broadcast later on Monday, Mrs Merkel urged Germans to be more patient ... Voters 'wary' ... ....(size: 2.3Kb)
photo: AP / Arshad Butt
30 Dec 2012
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – At least 19 people were killed by a car bomb in Pakistan on Sunday, the latest in a pattern of escalating attacks by militants in recent weeks. An explosives-laden car was detonated next to a convoy of three buses carrying Shiite Muslim pilgrims from Pakistan’s western Baluchistan province to Iran. The blast also injured 25 people ... “The other two buses were partially damaged.” ... ALSO. ... 0 ... ... . ... ....(size: 29.9Kb)
The Telegraph India
27 Aug 2011
Nilmani joined London Missionary School in Bhowanipore and later went to Duff College ... He had redesigned the chariot of Mahesh and constructed such remarkable buildings as Sadharan Brahmo Samaj, Emerald Bower, Nandalal-Pashupatinath Basu's house in Bagbazar, and Kirtichandra Mitra's Mohan Bagan Villa and Mahendralal Sarkar's Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science in Bowbazar. The last two buildings have disappeared. ... ....(size: 4.1Kb)
| Mahendralal Sarkar | |
|---|---|
| 120px | |
| Born | November 2, 1833 Paikpara village, Howrah district |
| Died | February 23, 1904 Calcutta |
| Occupation | Physician, Academic |
| Spouse | Rajkumari |
Mahendralal Sarkar (other spellings: Mahendra Lal Sarkar, Mahendralal Sircar, Mahendralal Sircir) (1833–1904) was a conventional-turned-homeopath doctor, social reformer, and propagator of scientific studies in nineteenth-century India. He was the founder of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science.[1]
Contents |
Early life and education[link]
Mahendralal Sarkar was born at Paikpara village in Howrah district, near Calcutta (now known as Kolkata) in the Bengal Province of British India. He lost both his parents early in life, his father when he was five years old and his mother when he was nine years old. His mother had shifted to his maternal uncles’ house earlier and subsequently, he was brought up by his maternal uncles, Iswar Chandra Ghosh and Mahesh Chandra Ghosh in their house at Nebutala in Calcutta. First he was sent to a ‘gurumasai’ or tutor to learn Bengali and subsequently to another tutor named Thakurdas Dey, to learn English. On learning some English he secured admission in Hare School as a free student in 1840. In 1849, he passed the junior scholarship examination and joined Hindu College, where he studied up to 1854. At that time, Hindu College did not have facilities for teaching science and as he was bent upon studying medicine, he transferred to Calcutta Medical College. He obtained IMS in 1861 and MD degrees in 1863. He and Jagabandhu Bose were the second MDs of the Calcutta University after Chandrakumar De (1862).[1][2][3]
Career[link]
Although educated in the traditional European system of medicine, Mahendralal Sarkar turned to homeopathy. He was influenced by reading William Morgan's The Philosophy of Homeopathy, and by interaction with Rajendralal Dutt, a leading homeopath practitioner of Calcutta. Indeed, in a meeting of the Bengal branch of the British Medical Association, he proclaimed homeopathy to be superior to the "Western medicine" of the time. Consequently, he was ostracised by the British doctors, and had to undergo loss in practice for some time.[4] However, soon he regained his practice and went on to become a leading homeopath practitioner in Calcutta, as well as India.[1]
In course of his career, he treated several notable persons of those days, including the author Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay, the ascetic Ramakrishna, the Maharaja of Tripura and others.
Championing scientific knowledge and higher education[link]
Mahendralal Sarkar started a campaign in 1867 for a national science association. He planned for an association that would be funded, run, and managed by native Indians, with the aim of turning out a pool of scientists for national reconstruction.[1] The Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS) was established in 1876, and Sarkar was its first director.[5] IACS was the first national science association of India.[5] Basic science departments such as Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physiology, Geology, Botany, etc. were established, and notable Indian scientists participated in the association. Regular lectures and demonstrations were arranged for the public in order to popularise science.[5]
Mahendralal supported women's education in nineteenth-century India, when higher education among women was rare. For example, he was a supporter of Abala Bose's decision to pursue the study of medicine in Madras Medical College instead of Calcutta Medical College, where admission of females was not permitted. He also arranged for Sarala Devi Chaudhurani's attendance in the evening lectures in IACS, so that she could pursue higher studies in Physics.[6]
Other achievements[link]
He was a fellow of Calcutta University, an honorary magistrate and Sheriff of Calcutta (1887), He was made a C.I.E. in 1883 and honoured with a doctor of law degree by Calcutta University in 1898.[3]
Notes[link]
- ^ a b c d Palit, Chittabrata. "Sircir, Mahendralal". Banglapedia. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/S_0414.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-21.
- ^ Sastri, Sivanath, Ramtanu Lahiri O Tatkalin Banga Samaj, 1903/2001, (Bengali), pp. 170-176, New Age Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
- ^ a b Sengupta, Subodh Chandra and Bose, Anjali (editors), 1998 edition, Sansad Bangali Charitabhidhan (Biographical dictionary) Vol I, (Bengali), p. 408, ISBN 81-85626-65-0
- ^ Das, Eswara (2005). "India". History & Status of Homoeopathy Around the World. B. Jain Publishers. pp. 103–107. ISBN 81-8056-573-4.
- ^ a b c Palit, Chittabrata. "Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science". Banglapedia. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/I_0042.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-21.
- ^ Thorner, Alice; Raj, Maithreyi Krishna (2000). Ideals, Images, and Real Lives: Women in Literature and History. Sameeksha Trust. Orient Longman. pp. 51–52. ISBN 81-250-0843-8.
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Mahendralal Sarkar |
| Alternative names | Mahendralal Sircir |
| Short description | Physician, Academic, Social reformer |
| Date of birth | 1833 |
| Place of birth | Howrah district, India |
| Date of death | 1904 |
| Place of death | Calcutta |
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Mahendralal Sarkar (other spellings: Mahendra Lal Sarkar, Mahendralal Sircar, Mahendralal Sircir) (1833–1904) was a conventional-turned-homeopath doctor, social reformer, and propagator of scientific studies in nineteenth-century India. He was the founder of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science.
Mahendralal Sarkar was born at Paikpara village in Howrah district, near Calcutta (now known as Kolkata) in the Bengal Province of British India. He lost both his parents early in life, his father when he was five years old and his mother when he was nine years old. His mother had shifted to his maternal uncles’ house earlier and subsequently, he was brought up by his maternal uncles, Iswar Chandra Ghosh and Mahesh Chandra Ghosh in their house at Nebutala in Calcutta. First he was sent to a ‘gurumasai’ or tutor to learn Bengali and subsequently to another tutor named Thakurdas Dey, to learn English. On learning some English he secured admission in Hare School as a free student in 1840. In 1849, he passed the junior scholarship examination and joined Hindu College, where he studied up to 1854. At that time, Hindu College did not have facilities for teaching science and as he was bent upon studying medicine, he transferred to Calcutta Medical College. He obtained IMS in 1861 and MD degrees in 1863. He and Jagabandhu Bose were the second MDs of the Calcutta University after Chandrakumar De (1862).
