Jadunath Sarkar | |
|---|---|
 Sarkar, 1927[1] | |
| Born | 10 December 1870 |
| Died | 19 May 1958 (aged 87) Calcutta, West Bengal, India |
| Occupation | Historian |
| Spouse | Lady Kadambini Sarkar |
Sir Jadunath Sarkar,CIE,FRAS (10 December 1870 – 19 May 1958) was a prominentIndian historian and a specialist on theMughal dynasty.
Sarkar was educated in English literature and worked as a teacher for some time but later shifted his focus to history research writing. He had vast knowledge ofPersian language and all his books he wrote in English. He was vice-chancellor (VC) ofUniversity of Calcutta from 1926 to 1928 and a member ofBengal Legislative Council between 1929 and 1932. In 1929 the British knighted him.[2]
Sarkar was born on 10 December 1870 to aKayastha family in the village of Karachmaria inChhatardighi, Singra,Rajshahi district,Bengal Presidency (now inNatore District,Bangladesh).[3][4] His father, Rajkumar Sarkar, was a localzamindar and owned a large library. His mother Harisundari Devi had seven sons and three daughters, with Jadunath being the fifth child and third son.[5] In 1891, he graduated in English fromPresidency College, Calcutta.[5] In 1892, he topped theMaster of Arts examination, in English atCalcutta University and in 1897, he received thePremchand-Roychand Scholarship.[5]
In 1893, he was inducted as a faculty of English literature at Ripon College,Calcutta (later renamedSurendranath College).[5] In 1898, he was appointed atPresidency College, Calcutta after getting selected in the Provincial Education Services.[5] In between, from 1917 to 1919, he taught modern Indian history inBenaras Hindu University and from 1919 to 1923, both English and history, atRavenshaw College, Cuttack.[5] In 1923, he became an honorary member of theRoyal Asiatic Society of London. In August 1926, he was appointed as theVice-Chancellor ofCalcutta University. In 1928, he joined as Sir W. Meyer Lecturer inMadras University.
He has been called the "greatest Indian historian of his time" and one of the greatest in the world, whose erudite works "have established a tradition of honest and scholarly historiography" by E. Sreedharan.[6] He has also been compared withTheodor Mommsen andLeopold von Ranke.[6]Arthur Llewellyn Basham calls him "the greatest Indian historian of his generation."[7] He has also been described as "a star historian of modern India on medieval Indian history, who brilliantly caught the spirit of the age and devoted himself to the neglected field of Indian historiography."[8] He has also been appreciated as "unquestionably the greatest Indian historian of his time and one of the greatest in the world".[9]
Sarkar's works faded out of public memory, with the increasing advent ofMarxist andpostcolonial schools of historiography.[10]
Academically,Jos J. L. Gommans compares Sarkar's work with those of theAligarh historians, noting that while the historians from the Aligarh worked mainly on themansabdari system andgunpowder technology in theMughal Empire, Sarkar concentrated onmilitary tactics andsieges.[11]
His treatment ofShivaji was however criticised by N.S.Takakhav; as "his sympathies lay with the Moguls and the commanders of Mogul empire and the British factors of Surat and Rajapur."[12] Also in a letter dated 25 November 1945 to historian Dr. Raghubir Sinh ofSitamau, Sarkar says, "Aurangzib is my life's work; Shivaji is only an incidental off-shoot of it."[13]
In 1904, Sarkar was given the Griffith Prize by theUniversity of Calcutta (Kolkata, Bengal). He was elected as a member of the Indian Historical Records Commission in 1919. In 1923, he was made an Honorary Member of theRoyal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (Hon. MRAS) and Honorary Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal (Hon. FRASB).[14]
Sarkar was appointed aCompanion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) in the1926 New Year Honours[15] andknighted in the1929 Birthday Honours by KingGeorge V, then alsoEmperor of India.[16] On 22 August 1929, he was invested with his knighthood at Simla by the acting Viceroy of India,George Goschen, 2nd Viscount Goschen.[17]
In 1935, he became a corresponding member of theRoyal Historical Society (London, UK) and honorary member of theAmerican Historical Association (Washington, D.C., USA). In 1936 he received an honoraryD.Litt. degree from theUniversity of Dhaka and in 1944 from theUniversity of Patna. When he reached his eightieth year, he was honoured in 1949 and 1950 by the literary associationsBangiya Sahitya Parishat and the Bangiya Itihas Parishad (both inKolkata, West Bengal) for his lifetime achievements.[14]
TheCentre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, an autonomous research center, has been established in his house, which was donated to the state government by Sarkar's wife. CSSC also houses the Jadunath Bhavan Museum and Resource Centre, a museum-cum-archive of primary sources.[18]
Published works by Sarkar include:
Sir Jadunath was unquestionably the greatest Indian historian of his time and one of the greatest in the world, Naturally, therefore, his powerful personality and erudite works could not fail to exert great influence on contemporary scholars and historians. There was hardly any sensitive an honest worker in the field of medieval Indian history who could remain immune from this healthy influence in some way or other, directly or indirectly.
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