Rajat Kanta Ray ( bn, রজত কান্ত রায়) is a historian of South Asian history, specializing in Modern

Indian history According to consensus in modern genetics, anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. Quote: "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by m ...

Background

He is the son of Kumud Kanta Ray, ICS who was a Home Secretary of West Bengal in the 1960s. His grandfather, Kamakshya Ray was a contemporary of

Rathindranath Tagore Rathindranath Thakur (anglicised as Rathindranath Tagore, 27 November 1888 – 3 June 1961) was an Indian educationist, agronomist and painter. He served as the first vice-chancellor of Visva-Bharati University, which was founded by his father ...

in Santiniketan.

Education

He completed his schooling at Ballygunge Government High School, Calcutta, and his B.A. (Honours) in History at

Presidency College, Calcutta Presidency University, Kolkata (formerly known as Presidency College, Kolkata) is a second major public state aided research university located in College Street, Kolkata. Considered as one of best colleges when Presidency College was affili ...

where he was a student of Ashin Dasgupta. He then completed his Ph.D. under the supervision of Anil Seal at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

Career

He was an

Assistant Professor Assistant Professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States and Canada. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doctoral degree and general ...

of History at the

Indian Institute of Management Calcutta Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM Calcutta or IIM-C) is a public business school located in Joka, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It was the first Indian Institute of Management to be established, and has been recognized as an Institut ...

. From 1975-1982 he was

Reader A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...

and then from 1982-2006 he was the

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

and Head of the Department of History at Presidency College, Calcutta. He is one of the longest serving professors of the college. From 2006 to 2011, he was the Upacharya of

Visva Bharati Visva-Bharati () is a public central university and an Institution of National Importance located in Shantiniketan, West Bengal, India. It was founded by Rabindranath Tagore who called it ''Visva-Bharati'', which means the communion of the w ...

.Nandini Guha, "Kalam Picks Presidency Professor as Vishwa Bharati VC" in ''Kolkata Newsline'', Thursday, 29 June 2006
/ref> He is now

Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

Professor of History at Presidency University, Calcutta.

Bibliography

Books

* ''The Felt Community: Commonality and Mentality Before the Emergence of Indian Nationalism'', (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2007) * ''Exploring Emotional History: Gender, Mentality, and Literature in the Indian Awakening'' (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001) * (ed.) ''Mind, Body and Society: Life and Mentality in Colonial Bengal'' (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1996) * ''Palasir Sharayantra O Sekaler Samaj'' (1994) (in Bengali) * (ed.) ''Entrepreneurship and Industry in India 1800-1947'' (1994) * (with Basudeb Chattopadhyay and Hari S. Vasudevan) (eds.), ''Dissent and Consensus: Protest in Pre-Industrial Societies'' (Calcutta: K.P.Bagchi, 1989) * ''Social Conflict and Political Unrest in Bengal 1875-1927'' (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1985) * ''The Evolution of the Professional Structure in Modern India: Older and New Professions in a Changing Society'' (1983) * ''Urban Roots of Indian Nationalism: Pressure Groups and Conflict of Interests in Calcutta City Politics, 1875-1939'' (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1979) * ''Industrialization in India: Growth and Conflict in the Private Corporate Sector, 1914-47'' (1979)

Articles

* "Prasanga Rabindranath: Jivandevatar Jivani" (In Bengali) rofessor Susovan Chandra Sarkar Memorial Lecture(2012) * "Foreword" to D.A. Low (ed.) ''Congress and the Raj: Facets of the Indian Struggle 1917 - 47'', (2006) * "Indian Society and the Establishment of British Supremacy" in P.J. Marshall and Alaine Low, (eds.) ''The Oxford History of the British Empire, Vol. II, The Eighteenth Century'', (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1998) * * "Merchants and Politics: From the Great Mughals to the East India Company", with Lakshmi Subramanian, in Dwijendra Tripathi (ed.), ''Business and Politics in India: A historical perspective'', (New Delhi, 1991) * "The Raj, the Congress and the Bengal Gentry 1880-1905" in Rajat Kanta Ray, Basudeb Chattopadhyay and Hari S. Vasudevan (eds.), ''Dissent and Consensus: Protest in Pre-Industrial Societies'', (Calcutta: K.P.Bagchi, 1989) * "The Retreat of the Jotedars?" ''Indian Economic and Social History Review'', 25. 2, 1988 * * "The Bazar: Indigenous Sector of the Indian Economy" in Dwijendra Tripathi (ed.), ''Business Communities of India'', (New Delhi, 1984) * "Pedhis and Mills: The Historical Integration of Formal and Informal Sectors in the Economy of Ahmedabad", ''Indian Economic and Social History Review'', 19:3 & 4, 1982 * (with Ratnalekha Ray), "Zamindars and Jotedars: A Study in Rural Politics in Bengal", ''Modern Asian Studies'', Vol. 9, 1, 1975, pp. 81–102 * "The Crisis in Bengal Agriculture 1870-1927: The Dynamics of Immobility", ''Indian Economic and Social History Review'', 10, 3, 1973, pp. 244–279 * (with Ratnalekha Ray), "The Dynamics of Continuum in Rural Bengal under the British Imperium", ''Indian Economic and Social History Review'', 10, 2, 1973, pp. 103–128

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ray, Rajat Kanta Presidency University, Kolkata alumni Bengali historians Academic staff of Presidency University, Kolkata Historians of South Asia Scholars from Kolkata 20th-century Indian historians Living people University of Calcutta alumni Academic staff of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta Academic staff of the University of Calcutta Academic staff of Visva-Bharati University People associated with Santiniketan 1946 births