Akshay Kumar Maitreya ( bn, অক্ষয় কুমার মৈত্রেয়) (1 March 1861–10 February 1930) was an Indian historian and social worker from

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

Life

Maitreya was born in Nadia (now in

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

) to Mathuranath Maitreya. Much of his education was in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

and

Rajshahi Rajshahi ( bn, রাজশাহী, ) is a metropolis, metropolitan city and a major urban, commercial and educational centre of Bangladesh. It is also the administrative seat of the eponymous Rajshahi Division, division and Rajshahi District ...

(in

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

). He passed his B.L. examination from Rajshahi College. He was a friend of

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

, but famously engaged with him in an argument about whether history based fiction should necessarily represent historical facts correctly. Maitreya, being a historian, called for historical correctitude, while Tagore declared that an artist has freedom to bend historical facts. Maitreya was instrumental in creating the

Varendra Research Museum Varendra Museum ( bn, বরেন্দ্র জাদুঘর) is a museum, research centre, and popular visitor attraction at the heart of Rajshahi and maintained by Rajshahi University in Bangladesh. It is considered the oldest museum i ...

. He was also credited for disproving the

Black Hole of Calcutta The Black Hole of Calcutta was a dungeon in Fort William, Calcutta, measuring , in which troops of Siraj-ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal, held British prisoners of war on the night of 20 June 1756. John Zephaniah Holwell, one of the Britis ...

theory used by the colonial British to discredit

Siraj Ud Daulah Mirza Muhammad Siraj-ud-Daulah ( fa, ; 1733 – 2 July 1757), commonly known as Siraj-ud-Daulah or Siraj ud-Daula, was the last independent Nawab of Bengal. The end of his reign marked the start of the rule of the East India Company over Be ...

in a seminar organized by the ''Calcutta Historical Society'' on 24 March 1916. His most significant work is ''Gaudalekhamala''. It consists the Sanskrit texts (along with their translations in Bengali) of a number of stone and copper-plate inscriptions issued by the

Pala emperors Pala may refer to: Places Chad *Pala, Chad, the capital of the region of Mayo-Kebbi Ouest Estonia * Pala, Kose Parish, village in Kose Parish, Harju County * Pala, Kuusalu Parish, village in Kuusalu Parish, Harju County *Pala, Järva County, vi ...

Works

Maitreya's works include: * ''Samarsimha'' (1883) * ''Sitaram Ray'' (1898) * ''Sirajuddaulah'' (1898) * ''Mir Qasim'' (1906) * ''Aitihasik Chitra'' (Snapshots of History) * ''Gaudalekhamala'' (The epigraphs of Gaud), Rajshahi (1912) * ''Phiringi Banik'' (European Traders) (1922) * " Sagarika" * " Rani Bhabani"

References

Rajshahi College alumni People from West Bengal 1861 births 1930 deaths Bengali Hindus Bengali historians {{India-academic-bio-stub