Surendranath Dasgupta

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Surendranath Dasgupta (Bengali: সুরেন্দ্রনাথ দাসগুপ্ত) (1887–1952) was a scholar of Sanskrit and philosophy. He was principal of Sanskrit College and later a professor at the University of Calcutta.

Dasgupta was born in Kushtia, Bengal (now in Bangladesh). His ancestral home was in the village Goila in Barisal District. He studied in Ripon College an affiliated college of the University of Calcutta and graduated with honours in Sanskrit. Later, he received his Masters degree from Sanskrit College in 1908. He got a second Masters degree in Western Philosophy in 1910 from the University of Calcutta.

His career in teaching began with a short stint as a lecturer in Rajshahi College. Later, he became a professor of Sanskrit and Bengali in Chittagong College. After some time, he went back to graduate school and received a PhD from the University of Calcutta, and later went to England to work on his second PhD at the University of Cambridge.

Following his return in 1924, Dasgupta joined the Presidency College as professor of philosophy. Later, he became the principal of Sanskrit College, and later joined the University of Calcutta as a professor.

In 1932, he served as the president of the Indian Philosophical Congress. His own philosophy was known as Theory of Dependent Emergence.

His two daughters Maitreyi Devi(Sen) and Chitrita Devi(Gupta) were also famous writers. The list of his famous students includes scholars like Mircea Eliade.