Ramesh Chandra Majumdar (December 4, 1888 – February 12, 1980) was an
IndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n historian of great repute. He is sometimes called "the dean of Indian historians" for his colossal contribution to the study of Indian history.
Early life and education
Born at Khandapara, in
Faridpur DistrictFaridpur is a district in central Bangladesh. It is a part of the Dhaka Division. Faridpur District has a population of over 1.7 million people and is situated on the banks of the Padma river . It is bordered by Madaripur, Narail, Rajbari, Magura, Shariatpur, Gopalgonj, Dhaka and Manikganj...
(now in
BangladeshBangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
), Majumdar passed his childhood in poverty. In 1905, he passed his Entrance Examination from
Ravenshaw CollegeRavenshaw College is located in Cuttack, India.The college was established in 1878 for Thomas Edward Ravenshaw, a descendant of William Withers...
,
CuttackCuttack is the former capital of the state of Orissa, India. It is the headquarters of Cuttack district and is located about 20 km to the north east of Bhubaneswar, the capital of Orissa. The name of the city is an anglicised form of Kataka that literally means The Fort, a reference to the...
. In 1907, he passed F.A. with first class scholarship from
Ripon CollegeSurendranath College is an undergraduate college affiliated to the University of Calcutta, in Kolkata, India. It was founded in 1884 by the nationalist leader Surendranath Banerjea....
(now Surendranath College) and joined Presidency College, Calcutta. Graduating in B.A.(Honours) in 1909, he won the Premchand-Roychand scholarship from the
University of CalcuttaThe University of Calcutta is a public university located in the city of Kolkata , India, founded on 24 January 1857...
for his research work in 1913.
Career
He started his teaching career as a Lecturer at Dacca Government Training College. Since 1914, he spent seven years as a professor of history at the
University of CalcuttaThe University of Calcutta is a public university located in the city of Kolkata , India, founded on 24 January 1857...
. He got his doctorate for his thesis "Corporate Life in Ancient India". In 1921, he joined the newly established Dacca University. After spending his days there as a Professor, then Departmental Head and then Provost, he became the Vice Chancellor of that university for five years from 1937–1942. From 1950, he was
PrincipalIn academic administration, a dean is a person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, or over a specific area of concern, or both...
of the College of Indology, Benares Hindu University. He was elected the General President of the
Indian History CongressIndian History Congress is the largest professional and academic body of Indian historians with over 10,000 members. It was established in 1935. The name of any new applicant for membership needs to be proposed and seconded by existing Ordinary or Life Members....
and also became the Vice President of the International Commission set up by the UNESCO for the history of mankind.
Works
He started his research on ancient India. After extensive travels to Southeast Asia and research, he wrote detailed histories of Champa (1927), Suvarnadvipa (1929) and Kambuja Desa. On the initiative of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, he took up the mantle of editing a multi-volume tome on Indian History. Starting in 1951, he toiled for twenty six long years to describe the history of the Indian people from the Vedic Period to the present day in eleven wonderful volumes. When the final volume of "The History and Culture of the Indian People" was published in 1977, he had turned eighty-eight. He also edited the three-volume history of Bengal published by Dacca University. His last book was "Jivaner Smritidvipe".
Views on the Indian independence movement
When the
Government of IndiaThe Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
set up an editorial Committee to author a history of the freedom struggle of India, he was its principal member. But, following a conflict with the then Education Minister
Maulana Abul Kalam AzadMaulana Abul Kalam Muhiyuddin Ahmed was an Indian Muslim scholar and a senior political leader of the Indian independence movement, who lived from 11 November 1888 – 22 February 1958. He was one of the most prominent Muslim leaders to support Hindu-Muslim unity, opposing the partition of India on...
on the Sepoy Mutiny, he left the government job and published his own book: "The Sepoy Mutiny & Revolt of 1857". According to him the origins of India's freedom struggle lie in the English-educated Indian middle-class and the freedom struggle started with the
Banga BhangaThe decision of the Partition of Bengal was announced on 19 July 1905 by the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon. The partition took effect on 16 October 1905...
movement in 1905. His views on the freedom struggle can be gone through in detail in his book "History of the Freedom Movement in India". He was also an admirer of Vivekananda and
RamakrishnaRamakrishna , born Gadadhar Chattopadhyay , 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...
.
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