Susobhan Sarkar

Susobhan Chandra Sarkar (1900-1982) was an Indian historian.

Background and education

Sarkar was born into a Brahmo family of Dhaka. After he go attending Dhaka Collegiate School and then studying history at Presidency College, Calcutta, he continued his studies at Jesus College, Oxford from 1923 to 1925.

Career

He returned to India as a Lecturer in History at Calcutta University before being appointed Reader in History at Dhaka University in 1927. Through the 1920s he was involved in the administration of Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, still under the active tutelage of its founder, Rabindranath Tagore. In 1932, he was appointed Professor of History at Presidency College, Calcutta. He will be remembered as a long serving professor of the college who inspired generations of students from both science and arts streams.^[1]

He moved to Jadavpur University as Professor in 1956. He returned to Calcutta University for his final academic post from 1961 to 1967.

Sarkar, whose work was influenced by his Marxist views, taught the history of modern Europe, particularly the development of constitutional history in Britain and political thought in Western Europe. He also wrote from the 1930s about the Bengal Renaissance. His Notes on Bengal Renaissance sparked an interest in nationalist Indian historiography.^[2] He also wrote the manifesto of the CPI.

References