Sankari Prasad Basu (21 October 1928 – 6 July 2014, also credited as Sankariprasad Basu) was an Indian scholar, writer and critic who writes mainly in the

Bengali language Bengali ( ), generally known by its endonym Bangla (, ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language native to the Bengal region of South Asia. It is the official, national, and most widely spoken language of Bangladesh and the second m ...

. He is a researcher on

Swami Vivekananda Swami Vivekananda (; ; 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta (), was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the intro ...

and his books on the subject include ''Sahashya Vivekananda'' and ''Bandhu Vivekananda''. One of his notable publications is his seven-volume research work ''Vivekananda o Samakalin Bharatbarsha'', for which he won the prestigious

Sahitya Akademi Award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...

in 1978. He was born in

Howrah Howrah (, , alternatively spelled as Haora) is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. Howrah is located on the western bank of the Hooghly River opposite its twin city of Kolkata. Administratively it lies within Howrah district, and is th ...

, West Bengal, and studied at the Howrah Vivekananda Institution. He was a student and professor at

Calcutta University The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a public collegiate state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered one of best state research university all over India every year, C ...

, and retired in 1993 as the Head of the Bengali Language Department there.

Biography

Basu was born on 21 October 1928 in

, West Bengal. He was a student at the Howrah Vivekananda Institution. He received an M.A. degree from

, and later became a professor of Bengali literature there. He was appointed the head of the department in 1985, and remained in that position until his retirement in 1993. He has been associated with the Swami Vivekananda Archives of the

Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture (RMIC) in Kolkata, India, is a branch of the Ramakrishna Mission founded on 29 January 1938 as an outcome of the commemoration of Sri Ramakrishna's Birth Centenary Celebrations, the institute has gr ...

in Kolkata from its founding in 1995 to the present day, and has served as director of the Archives. He died on 6 July at the Ramakrishna Mission Seva Pratishthan.

Literary career

Basu had written 48 publications by 1999. Many of his printed works have been in Bengali, including biographies, essays, and criticism: ''Vivekananda o Samakalin Bharatbarsha'' (seven volumes), ''Sahasya Vivekananda'', ''Nivedita Lokmata'' (four volumes), ''Samakalin Bharate Subhaschandra'', ''Madhya Yuger kabi o Kabya'', ''Chandidas o Bidyapati'', ''Amader Nivedita'', ''Krishna'' anad ''Rasasagar Vidyasagar''. His English language books have included ''Comparative Religion'' and ''Swadeshi Movement in Bengal and Freedom Struggle of India'', and he was the chief editor of the book ''Letters of Sister Nivedita''. He has also penned books on

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

. Basu's seven-volume ''Vivekananda o Samakalin Bhartbarsha'' is considered a monumental work, for which he was honoured with

in 1978 by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

Bibliography

; Color key : Light green indicates "Bengali language book"; pink indicates "English language book"

Awards

Basu has received the following awards and honours in his academic and literary career: *

for Bengali language in 1978 * Ananda Puraskar in 1979 * Sarat Puraskar in 1980 * Vivekananda Award in 1986 * Vivekananda Soc. Centennial Award, New York in 1994 * Vidyasagar Puraskar by Government of West Bengal in 1996

References

Citations

Works cited

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Basu, Sankari Prasad 1928 births Bengali-language writers 2014 deaths 20th-century Indian biographers University of Calcutta alumni Academic staff of the University of Calcutta People from Howrah Scholars from West Bengal Ramakrishna Mission schools alumni