Benoy Kumar Sarkar

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Benoy Kumar Sarkar
বিনয় কুমার সরকার
Benoy Kumar Sarkar.jpg
Photo of Sarkar from the March–April 1917 issue of The Hindusthanee Student.
Born26 December 1887
Died24 November 1949(1949-11-24) (aged 61)
NationalityIndian
OccupationSocial scientist

Benoy Kumar Sarkar (sometimes Binoy Kumar Sarkar) (1887–1949) was an Indian social scientist, professor, and nationalist. He founded several institutes in Calcutta, including the Bengali Institute of Sociology, Bengali Asia Academy, Bengali Dante Society, and Bengali Institute of American Culture.

Early life and education[edit]

Binoy Kumar Sarkar was born in Malda Town, in Bengal Presidency . He started his early education in Malda Zilla School. Sarkar entered the University of Calcutta at the age of 13 after standing first at the entrance examination from Malda Zilla School,[1] while he graduated in 1905, at 18, with dual degrees in English and history. The following year he received his master's degree.

Statue of Benoy Kumar Sarkar, Malda BS Road

Career[edit]

In 1925 Sarkar started as a lecturer at the Department of Economics of University of Calcutta. He praised Nazism as "form of benevolent dictatorship", and advocated the establishment of a fascist dictatorship in India.[2] In 1947 he became a professor and head of the department. He died on a trip to the United States in Washington, DC, in November 1949.

Selected publications[edit]

Sarkar wrote in five languages, his native Bengali, English, German, French and Italian,[3] publishing a large volume of work on a variety of topics, including 53 books and booklets in English alone, his written production amounting in all to some 30 000 pages.[4] A complete list of his publications is contained in Bandyopadhyay's book The Political Ideas of Benoy Kumar Sarkar.[5]

  • 1914/1921 The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology[6]
  • 1916 The beginning of Hindu culture as world-power (A.D. 300-600)[7]
  • 1916 Chinese Religion Through Hindu Eyes[8]
  • 1918 Hindu achievements in exact science a study in the history of scientific development[9]

Notes[edit]

  1. Suhrita Saha, "Benoy Kumar Sarkar (1887-1949): A Tryst with Destiny" in Sociological Bulletin, 62 (1), January–April 2013, p. 5
  2. Manjapra, Kris (2014), Age of Entanglement, Harvard University Press, p. 209
  3. Andrew Sartori, "Beyond Culture-Contact and Colonial Discourse: "Germanism" in Colonial Bengal" in Shruti Kapila (ed.), An Intellectual History for India, Cambridge University Press (2010), p. 82
  4. Suhrita Saha, "Benoy Kumar Sarkar (1887-1949): A Tryst with Destiny" in Sociological Bulletin, 62 (1), January–April 2013, p. 4
  5. Bandyopadhyay, B. (1984) The Political Ideas of Benoy Kumar Sarkar K. P. Bagchi, Calcutta, ISBN 0-8364-1336-9, OCLC 12419520
  6. published in two parts, the first in 1914 and the later in 1921: Sarkar, Benoy Kumar (1914) The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology (Part 1) Pânini Office, Allahabad, OCLC 2005865; and Sarkar, Benoy Kumar (1914) The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology (Part 2, with appendices by Brajendranáth Seal) Sudhindra Natha Vasu, Allahabad, OCLC 48121776
  7. Sarkar, Benoy Kumar (1916) The beginning of Hindu culture as world-power (A.D. 300-600) Commercial Press, Shanghai, OCLC 5732399
  8. Sarkar, Benoy Kumar (1916) Chinese Religion Through Hindu Eyes: a study in the tendencies of Asiatic mentality Commercial Press, Shanghai, OCLC 82020
  9. Sarkar, Benoy Kumar (1918) Hindu achievements in exact science a study in the history of scientific development Longmans, Green and Co., New York, OCLC 1193853

References[edit]

  • Sen, Satadru (2015) "Benoy Kumar Sarkar. Restoring the nation to the world", Taylor and Francis: London. ISBN 9781317410676
  • Behn, Wolfgang (2004) "Benoy Kumar Sarkar: 1887-1949" Concise Biographical Companion to Index Islamicus, 1665-1980: An international who's who in Islamic studies from its beginnings down to the twentieth century (Volume Three (N-Z)) Koninklijke Brill: Leiden, Netherlands. ISBN 90-04-14189-8
  • Sinha, Vineeta (2007) "Sarkar, Benoy Kumar (1887–1949)" in Ritzer, George (ed.) (2007) Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology Blackwell Publishing: Malden, MA. ISBN 978-1-4051-2433-1
  • Sarkar, Ida (1977) "My life with Prof. Benoy Kumar Sarkar", compiled and translated from the German text by Indira Palit. Prabhat: Calcutta. (BEPI, 1994. The Natl. bibliogr. of Indian literature / gen. ed. B.S. Kesavan ; V.Y. Kulkarni, 1962, vol. I, p. 246. NUC pre-1956)

External links[edit]

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