Prithwindra Mukherjee | |
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| Born | (1936-10-20)October 20, 1936 |
| Died | November 30, 2024(2024-11-30) (aged 88) |
| Alma mater | University of Paris (Sorbonne) |
| Occupation(s) | Writer, historian, musicologist, translator, academic |
| Known for | Research onBagha Jatin, Indian revolutionary movement, and Indian classical music |
| Notable work | The Intellectual Roots of India's Freedom Struggle (1893–1918),Vivekananda: The Soul of India,Bagha Jatin |
| Parents |
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| Relatives | Bagha Jatin (grandfather) |
| Awards | Padma Shri (2020),Ordre des Arts et des Lettres,Ordre des Palmes académiques, Hirayama Award (Académie française) |
Prithwindra Mukherjee (Bengali:পৃথ্বীন্দ্রনাথ মুখোপাধ্যায়; 20 October 1936 – 30 November 2024) was a French-Indian writer and researcher. Until his retirement in 2003, he was a researcher in the Human and Social Sciences Department (Ethnomusicology) of the FrenchNational Centre of Scientific Research in Paris. Mukherjee was also an author of a number of books and other publications on various subjects.
Mukherjee was a recipient of India's highly prestigious awardPadma Shri 2020 for his work in the field of literature and education.[1][2]
Born to Tejendranath and Usharani Mukherjee inKolkata,India, on 20 October 1936,[3] Mukherjee was educated at theSri Aurobindo Ashram School (at present, the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education)[4] inPondicherry. He is the grandson of theBengali revolutionaryJatindranath Mukherjee (Bagha Jatin).
Prithwindra began his working life as a teacher ofBengali, French and English languages and literature inPondicherry. He was mentioned by theSahitya Akademi (New Delhi) manuals and anthologies as a poet before he attained the age of 20. As a specialist in the French language and literature, he translated works by such French authors asAlbert Camus,Saint-John Perse, andRené Char.
He moved to Paris with a French Government Scholarship (1966–70). He prepared and defended a thesis onSri Aurobindo atSorbonne. Later he served as a lecturer on Indian civilization and philosophy, producer of several radio features on Indian culture and music forRadio France, and he was also freelancing as a journalist for the Indian and French press. His next thesis for Doctorat d'Etat (Ph.D.), was supervised byRaymond Aron inUniversity Paris IV, on the pre-Gandhi a phase ofIndia's freedom fight. His thesis discussed this movement from 1893 to 1918 and its spiritual roots.
In 1977, invited by the National Archives of India as a guest of the Historical Records Commission, he presented a paper onJatindra Nath Mukherjee and the Indo-German Conspiracy in the presence of personalities likeArthur L. Basham and Professor S. Nurul Hasan. Prithwindra's original contribution in this area has been recognized by Professor Amales Tripathi, Bhupendrakumar Datta, Dr. Jadugopal Mukhopadhyay, Dr. M.N. Das (Utkal University),¨Professor A.C. Bose, Samaren Roy, Bhupati Majumdar, Basudha Chakravarty. Quite a few of his papers on the subject have been translated into major Indian languages.
Since his reaching Paris, for a number of years, invited by the literary magazineDesh ofCalcutta he published his impressions of Paris life (Paris'ér chithi – Letters from Paris), as well as several cover features includingJatin Mukherjee aliasBagha Jatin,M.N. Roy,Tarak Nath Das,Dhan Gopal Mukerji, French Revolutionary and the Bengali intelligentsia and the poetry-cum-dance genre of thekîrtana (on which he has also produced a documentary film).
He went to the USA as aFulbright scholar and discovered, especially in theWilson Papers, scores of files covering theIndian revolutionaries. On returning to France in 1981, he joined the French National Centre of Scientific Research in 1981. He was also a founder-member of the French Literary Translators' Association[1]. He retired from there a few years back. He has published as much inBengali as in French. One of his recent contributions is a documentary film on the musical pillars in the temples ofSouth India (CNRS-Audiovisual, Paris).
Since 1981, Prithwindra Mukherjee joined the LACITO of the CNRS (Department of Ethnomusicology) working on a comprehensive cognitive study of scales of North and South Indian music.
The eminent authorJacques Attali in his French biography of Gandhi (Fayard, 2007) mentions his debt to PM for having revised the manuscripts and collaborated actively. Later, Mr. Attali has qualified Prithwindra Mukherjee as "the man of Franco-Indian Renaissance".
On 1 January 2009, the Minister of Culture of France has appointed Prithwindra Mukherjee to the rank of chevalier (Knight) of the Order of Arts and Letters. The French Academy (Belles Lettres) selected Prithwindra Mukherjee for its Hirayama Award (Prix Hirayama) 2014. On 1 January 2015, the French Prime Minister, requested by the Minister of Education, has appointed Prithwindra Mukherjee to the rank of chevalier (Knight) of the order of Palmes académiques (Academic Laurels).
Mukherjee died on 30 November 2024, at the age of 88.[5]
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