Benoy Kumar Sarkar (sometimes Binoy Kumar Sarkar) (1887–1949) was an Indian social scientist, professor, and nationalist. He founded several institutes in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

, including the Bengali Institute of Sociology, Bengali Asia Academy, Bengali Dante Society, and Bengali Institute of American Culture.

Early life and education

Binoy Kumar Sarkar was born in Malda Town of

Malda, West Bengal Malda or English Bazar is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the sixth largest city (urban agglomeration) in West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Malda district as well as of the Malda division of West Bengal. It consists of ...

, in

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and ...

. He started his early education in

Malda Zilla School Malda Zilla School is the oldest school at Malda district, West Bengal, India. At present, the morning section of the school runs from Class – I to Class – V while the day section runs from Class – VI to Class – XII. In the higher second ...

. Sarkar entered the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...

at the age of 13 after standing first at the entrance examination from Malda Zilla School, while he graduated in 1905, at 18, with dual degrees in English and history. The following year he received his master's degree.

Career

In 1925 Sarkar started as a lecturer at the Department of Economics of

. He praised

Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

as "form of benevolent dictatorship", and advocated the establishment of a fascist dictatorship in India. In 1947 he became a professor and head of the department. In 1949, Sarkar went on a lecture tour in America, visiting 25 universities. During his trip to America, he interacted with scholars such as

John Dewey John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the f ...

Talcott Parsons Talcott Parsons (December 13, 1902 – May 8, 1979) was an American sociologist of the classical tradition, best known for his social action theory and structural functionalism. Parsons is considered one of the most influential figures in sociol ...

, Carle Zimmerman, and Raymond Leslie Buell. Closely involved with the National education movement of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, Professor Sarkar was highly influenced by the Nationalist action of

Sister Nivedita Sister Nivedita ( born Margaret Elizabeth Noble; 28 October 1867 – 13 October 1911) was an Irish teacher, author, social activist, school founder and disciple of Swami Vivekananda. She spent her childhood and early youth in Ireland. She was ...

Selected publications

Sarkar wrote in five languages, his native

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

, French and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

, publishing a large volume of work on a variety of topics, including 53 books and booklets in English alone, his written production amounting in all to some 30 000 pages. A complete list of his publications is contained in Bandyopadhyay's book ''The Political Ideas of Benoy Kumar Sarkar''. * 1914/1921 ''The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology'' * 1916 ''The beginning of Hindu culture as world-power (A.D. 300-600)'' * 1916 ''Chinese Religion Through Hindu Eyes'' * 1918 ''Hindu achievements in exact science a study in the history of scientific development'' In 1919, he authored a study in the ''American Political Science Review'' presenting a "Hindu theory of international relations" which drew on thinkers such as Kautilya, Manu and Shookra, and the text of the Mahabharata. In 1921, he authored a ''Political Science Quarterly'' study presenting a "Hindu Theory of the State." According to Barry Buzan and Amitav Acharya, Sarkar's works "may be the first major IR contributions by an Indian, and one of the first modern efforts to develop an indigenous Non-Western theory of IR."

Death

He died on a trip to the United States in Washington, DC, in November 1949.

Notes

References

*Sen, Satadru (2015) "Benoy Kumar Sarkar. Restoring the nation to the world", Taylor and Francis: London. *Behn, Wolfgang (2004) "Benoy Kumar Sarkar: 1887-1949" ''Concise Biographical Companion to Index Islamicus, 1665-1980: An international who's who in Islamic studies from its beginnings down to the twentieth century'' (Volume Three (N-Z)) Koninklijke Brill: Leiden, Netherlands. *Sinha, Vineeta (2007) "Sarkar, Benoy Kumar (1887–1949)" ''in'' Ritzer, George (ed.) (2007) ''Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology'' Blackwell Publishing: Malden, MA. *Sarkar, Ida (1977) "My life with Prof. Benoy Kumar Sarkar", compiled and translated from the German text by Indira Palit. Prabhat: Calcutta. (BEPI, 1994. The Natl. bibliogr. of Indian literature / gen. ed. B.S. Kesavan; V.Y. Kulkarni, 1962, vol. I, p. 246. NUC pre-1956)

External links

Benoy Kumar Sarkar materials in the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA)Online books by Benoy Kumar Sarkar in the University of Pennsylvania

Benoy Kumar Sarkar, WorldCat catalogue
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarkar, Benoy Kumar Indian sociologists 20th-century Indian social scientists Indian social scientists Indian political scientists International relations scholars University of Calcutta alumni Academic staff of the University of Calcutta 1887 births 1949 deaths Scientists from West Bengal People from Malda district Scholars from West Bengal 20th-century Indian male writers Bengali Hindus 20th-century Bengalis Bengali writers West Bengal academics 20th-century political scientists