Sarat Kumar Ray (1876–1946) was a member of the royal family of Dighapatia. A noted scholar, he was the son of the Raja (''

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

'') Pramathanath Ray and lived in the Maharaja's Palace. Along with historian Ramaprasad Chanda, he co-founded 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 ...

, which Lord Dundas the Governor of Bengal, inaugurated in November 1919. He was well traveled, and visited England in 1900. 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 ...

Early life

Ray was born in 1876 in

Dighapatia Raj Dighapatia Raj (sometimes called ''Dighapatia Raj Paribar'' literally ''Dighapatia Royal Family'') was a zamindari in present-day Rajshahi, which was ruled by this dynasty of 7 generations of Rajas from early 18th century till the mid-20th centur ...

family in

Natore District Natore district is a district of Rajshahi Division located in northern Bangladesh. It borders the metropolitan city of Rajshahi, and used to be part of Rajshahi district. History Natore was the District Headquarters of Rajshahi from 1769 to 182 ...

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 ...

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

. His father was Pramathanath Ray, the

Zamindar A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as a ...

of Dighapatia. He studied at

Rajshahi Collegiate School Rajshahi Collegiate School ( bn, রাজশাহী কলেজিয়েট স্কুল) in Boalia Thana in the center of Rajshahi, a city in northern Bangladesh, is the oldest school in the country. History After completing MA in Phi ...

and Ripon College (renamed

Surendranath College Surendranath College is an undergraduate college affiliated to the University of Calcutta, in Kolkata, India. It was founded in 1884 by the nationalist leader and scholar Surendranath Banerjee. The Women's section of the college was founded ...

). He earned a B.A. from Presidency College and a Masters in Physics from 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 ...

. He joined the

Bangiya Sahitya Parishad Bangiya Sahitya Parishat is a literary society in Maniktala of Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Established during the time of the British Raj, its goal is to promote Bengali literature, both by translating works in other languages to Bengali and ...

after being introduced to it by his teacher

Ramendra Sundar Tribedi Ramendra Sundar Tribedi (22 August 1864 – 6 June 1919) was a renowned Bengali author. He is known for his works in Bengali poems, and stories. He is one of the most popular poets of India. Life Ramendra Sundar Tribedi was born at Kandi, Mursh ...

. Through the Parishad he became aquinted with

Dwijendranath Tagore Dwijendranath Tagore (11 March 1840 – 19 January 1926) was an Indian Bengali poet, song composer, philosopher, mathematician and painter. He was one of the pioneers of shorthand and notation in Bengali script. He was the eldest son of Debendr ...

and

Career

Ray published his book, ''Sivaji O Guru Gobinda Singha'', in 1908 for which an introduction was written by Rabindranath Tagore. Ray, along with Ramaprasad Chanda and

Akshay Kumar Maitreya Akshay Kumar Maitreya ( bn, অক্ষয় কুমার মৈত্রেয়) (1 March 1861–10 February 1930) was an Indian historian and social worker from Bengal. Life Maitreya was born in Nadia (now in West Bengal) to Mathu ...

, worked to discover and preserve the archeological sites in the

Varendra Varendra ( bn, বরেন্দ্র), also known as Barind ( bn, বারিন্দ, link=no), was a region of North Bengal, now mostly in Bangladesh and a little portion in the Indian state of West Bengal. It formed part of the Pundrav ...

region of Bengal. They also worked with

R. D. Banerji Rakhal Das Banerji, also Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay (12 April 1885 – 23 May 1930), was an Indian archaeologist and an officer of the Archeological Survey of India (ASI). In 1919, he became the second ASI officer deputed to survey the site of ...

to explore different sites. On 27 September 1910 they founded the

Varendra Research Society Varendra Research Society (1910–1963) was established in Rajshahi in 1910 for the promotion of studies and research into the History of Bengal in general, and in particular of the Varendra area History Some of the leading and enlightened citiz ...

. Ray was the president of the society. They needed a museum to preserve the antiques they discovered. Ray donated 63 thousand rupee and his brother donated the land for the museum. The museum was inaugurated by Lord Dundas the Governor of Bengal, inaugurated in November 1919. Ray backed Ramaprasad Chanda in his

anthropometric Anthropometry () refers to the measurement of the human individual. An early tool of physical anthropology, it has been used for identification, for the purposes of understanding human physical variation, in paleoanthropology and in various atte ...

research work circa 1910. Ray was a management member of Bangiya Sahitya Sammilani, Indian Music Society,

Rajshahi Association Rajshahi ( bn, রাজশাহী, ) is a metropolitan city and a major urban, commercial and educational centre of Bangladesh. It is also the administrative seat of the eponymous division and district. Located on the north bank of the Pad ...

Rajshahi Public Library Rajshahi Public Library is a public library in Rajshahi and is one of the oldest libraries in Bangladesh. History Rajshahi Public Library was founded by Ananada Nath Roy as Ananada Nath Library in 1866. Ananada Nath Roy was the Raja(king) of N ...

, and

The Asiatic Society The Asiatic Society is a government of India organisation founded during the Company rule in India to enhance and further the cause of "Oriental research", in this case, research into India and the surrounding regions. It was founded by the p ...

. He was elected to the

Bengal Legislative Council The Bengal Legislative Council ( was the legislative council of British Bengal (now Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal). It was the legislature of the Bengal Presidency during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After reforms wer ...

in 1930.

Death

Ray died on 12 April 1946.

References

1876 births 1946 deaths People from Rajshahi District {{Bangladesh-bio-stub