Mahendralal Sarkar | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 2 November 1833 Paikpara village,Howrah district, India |
| Died | 23 February 1904 (aged 70) Calcutta, India |
| Occupation(s) | Physician, academic |
| Spouse | Rajkumari |
| Mahendralal Sarkar | |
|---|---|
 A commemorative postage stamp on Mahendra Lal Sircar issued on 02nd November 2009 by Department of Posts, Government of India. | |
| Type | Commemorative |
| Country of issue | INDIA |
| Date of issue | 02nd November 2009 |
| Face value | INR 05.00 |
Mahendralal SarkarCIE (other spellings: মহেন্দ্রলাল সরকার,Mahendra Lal Sarkar,Mahendralal Sircar; 2 November 1833 – 23 February 1904) was a Bengali medical doctor (MD), the second MD graduated from theCalcutta Medical College,social reformer, and propagator of scientific studies in nineteenth-century India. He was the founder of theIndian Association for the Cultivation of Science.[1][2]
Mahendralal Sarkar was born at Paikpara village inHowrah district in theBengal Province ofBritish India. He lost his father when he was five years old and his mother when he was nine years old. He was brought up by his maternal uncles, Iswar Chandra Ghosh and Mahesh Chandra Ghosh in their house at Nebutala in Calcutta. First he was sent to a "gurumasai" or tutor to learn Bengali, and subsequently to another tutor named Thakurdas Dey, to learn English. On learning some English he secured admission inHare School as a free student in 1840. In 1849, he passed the junior scholarship examination and joinedHindu College, where he studied up to 1854. At that time, Hindu College did not have facilities for teaching science and as he was bent upon studying medicine, he transferred toCalcutta Medical College.
At Calcutta Medical College he was so esteemed by his professors that in the second year of his course he was invited by them to deliver a series of lectures onoptics to his fellow students, a task he performed honourably. He had a brilliant career at that college, where, besides winning several scholarships, he passed the final examination in 1860 with the highest honours in medicine, surgery andmidwifery. In 1863, he took the degree of M.D. with special success.[3] He andJagabandhu Bose were the second MDs of theCalcutta University after Chandrakumar De (1862).[1][4][5]
Although educated in the traditional European system of medicine, Mahendralal Sarkar later turned tohomoeopathy due to inability of ordinary Indians to afford treatment with western medicines. He was influenced by reading William Morgan'sThe Philosophy of Homeopathy, and by interaction with Rajendralal Dutt, a leading homoeopathic practitioner of Calcutta. In a meeting of the Bengal branch of theBritish Medical Association, he proclaimed homoeopathy to be superior to the "Western medicine" of the time. Consequently, he was ostracised by the British doctors, and had to undergo loss in practice for some time.[6] However, soon he regained his practice and went on to become a leading homoeopathic practitioner in Calcutta, as well as India.[1]
In the course of his career, he treated several notable persons of those days, including the authorBankimchandra Chattopadhyay, the asceticRamakrishna, theMaharaja ofTripura and others.
Mahendralal Sarkar started a campaign with the motto of reconstructing colonial India in 1867 for a national science association. He planned for an association that would be funded, run, and managed by native Indians, with the aim of turning out a pool of scientists for national reconstruction.[1] TheIndian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS) was established in 1876, and Sarkar was its first secretary.[7] IACS was the first national science association of India.[8] Basic science departments such as Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physiology, Geology, Botany, etc. were established, and notable Indian scientists participated in the association. Regular lectures and demonstrations were arranged for the public to popularise science.[8] The weekly lectures ofSaint Xavier's CollegeJesuit Father,Eugène Lafont, cofounder of the IACS were particularly popular.[9]
Sarkar supported women's education in nineteenth-century India, when higher education among women was rare. For example, he was a supporter ofAbala Bose's decision to pursue the study of medicine atMadras Medical College instead ofCalcutta Medical College, where admission of females was not permitted. He also arranged forSarala Devi Chaudhurani's attendance in the evening lectures at IACS, so that she could pursue higher studies in physics.[10]
He was a fellow of Calcutta University and an honorary magistrate andSheriff of Calcutta (1887). He was made aCIE in 1883 and honoured with anhonorary doctorate degree byUniversity of Calcutta in 1898.[5]
