Jadunath Sarkar

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Sir Jadunath Sarkar (Bengali: যদুনাথ সরকার) (December 10, 1870 - May 19, 1958) was a noted Indian Bengali historian. He was born in Karchamaria village in the present day Natore District in Bangladesh. His father Rajkumar Sarkar was a landlord of the village. In 1891, he passed the B.A. examination with honours in English and History from Presidency College, Kolkata. In 1892, he stood first in the M.A. examination of Calcutta University in English. In 1897, he received Premchand-Roychand scholarship. He became a teacher in 1893 at Ripon College, Kolkata, instructing English literature. In 1898, he started teaching at Presidency College, Kolkata. In 1899, he was transferred to Patna College, where he taught till 1926. In between, in 1917-19, he taught Modern Indian Histoty in Benaras Hindu University and during 1919-23 he taught in Ravenshaw College in Cuttack,Orissa. In August 1926, he became the Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University. In 1928, he joined as Sir W. Meyer Lecturer in Madras University. In 1923, he became an honorary member of the Royal Asiatic Society of London.

[edit] Major works

He is most remembered for his magnum opus, A History of Aurangzib in 5 volumes (1912-24) and Shivaji and his Times (1919), which were about the history of the seventeenth century CE and centred around around two individuals. While A History of Aurangzib traced the fall of the Mughal Empire, Shivaji and his Times traced the rise of the Marathas under a heroic leader. His other important works include:

Anecdotes of Aurangzib
Studies in Mughal India
India of Aurangzib (1901)
A Short History of Aurangzib
Mughal Administration (1920)
The Fall of the Mughal Empire (in 4 volumes)(1932-38)
Military History of India
The House of Shivaji
The Rani of Jhansi
Famous Battles of Indian History
A History of Jaipur (1984)
Chronolgy of Indian History
Shivaji (in Bengali)

His edited works include Later Mughals (in 2 volumes) (1922). He also edited, translated and compiled the collection of Mirza Raja Jai Singh I's letters titled Haft Anjuman.

[edit] Criticisms

Sarkar has often been viewed as a supporter of the British, a view that was strengthened when he was knighted by the British government. He had mostly praise for the English, whom he thought were instrumental in bringing progress in India.