Momtazur Rahman Tarafdar (Bengali:মমতাজুর রহমান তরফদার; 1928–1997) was aBangladeshi historian and academic.[1][2][3]
Tarafdar was born on 1 August 1928 to aBengali Muslim family inMeghagacha,Bogra District,Bengal Presidency. After completing his education at Bogra'sAzizul Haque College, he enrolled at theUniversity of Dacca in 1947.[4] He completed hisBachelor of Arts from the university in 1949, and undertook hisMaster of Arts in Islamic History and Culture which was completed in 1951. In the same subject and university, he completed hisPhD in 1961.[5]
Tarafdar first job was in Haraganga College in Munshiganj as a lecturer in 1952. He joined University of Dhaka in 1953 as a lecturer where he worked till his death. He had a fellowship in theNuffield Foundation from 1972 to 1974. In 1997 he got a fellowship inDuke University and in theBangla Academy; and received theBangla Academy Literary Award. His PhD thesis, Hussain Shahi Bengal, was published as a book. According to Banglapedia, the national encyclopedia of Bangladesh, the book is considered the most definite work on the history of Bengal. It deals with the administration, art, architecture, economy, literature, and religion of Bengal. He wrote about theHussain Shahi dynasty. He studied the relationship between Hindi and Bengali medieval poetry. In his essayThe Cultural Identity of Bengali Muslims as Reflected in Medieval Bengali Literature he wrote about the arrival of Islam in Bengal and its influence on the people. He was a staunch secularist. He believed history should be divided into periods by economic activity. He was against his contemporaries who divided eras by the religion of those in power, i.e. Christian era, Muslim era, Hindu era etc.[5]
Tarafdar died on 31 July 1997.[5]
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