Momtazur Rahman Tarafdar ( bn, মমতাজুর রহমান তরফদার; 1928–1997) was a

Bangladeshi Bangladeshis ( bn, বাংলাদেশী ) are the citizens of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centered on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the eponymous bay. Bangladeshi citizenship was formed in 1971, when the ...

historian and academic.

Early life

Tarafdar was born on 1 August 1928 to a Bengali Muslim family in Meghagacha, Bogra District,

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 ...

. After completing his education at Bogra's

Azizul Haque College Government Azizul Haque College in Bogura is a higher secondary school and college under the National University of Bangladesh. It is one of the largest educational institutions in Bangladesh's northern region. History The college was establis ...

, he enrolled at the University of Dacca in 1947. He completed his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from the university in 1949, and undertook his

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in Islamic History and Culture which was completed in 1951. In the same subject and university, he completed his

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

in 1961.

Career

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 the

Nuffield Foundation The Nuffield Foundation is a charitable trust established in 1943 by William Morris, Lord Nuffield, the founder of Morris Motors Ltd. It aims to improve social well-being by funding research and innovation projects in education and social pol ...

from 1972 to 1974. In 1997 he got a fellowship in

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

and in the Bangla Academy; and received the

Bangla Academy Literary Award The Bangla Academy Literary Award ( bn, বাংলা একাডেমি সাহিত্য পুরস্কার; ''Bangla Academy Shahitya Puroshkar''), is given by the Bangla Academy of Bangladesh in recognition of creative genius i ...

. 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 the

Hussain Shahi dynasty The Hussain Shahi dynasty ( bn, হোসেন শাহী খান্দান, fa, حسين شاهی خاندان) was a family which ruled the late medieval Sunni Muslim Sultanate of Bengal from 1494 to 1538. History The dynasty's founder, ...

. He studied the relationship between Hindi and Bengali medieval poetry. In his essay ''The 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.

Death

Tarafdar died on 31 July 1997.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tarafdar, Momtazur Rahman 20th-century Bangladeshi historians 1928 births 1997 deaths People from Bogra District University of Dhaka alumni Academic staff of the University of Dhaka Recipients of Bangla Academy Award 20th-century Bengalis