Nirmal Kumar Sidhanta was a renowned

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 ...

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 ...

n scholar of English literature, at the

University of Lucknow The University of Lucknow (informally known as Lucknow University, and LU) is a public state university based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Founded in 1920, the University of Lucknow is one of the oldest government owned institutions of higher ed ...

and at the

University of Calcutta 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, ...

. He was educated at the renowned

Scottish Church College Scottish Church College is a college affiliated by Calcutta University, India. It offers selective co-educational undergraduate and postgraduate studies and is the oldest continuously running Christian liberal arts and sciences college in A ...

in Calcutta, and at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

, from where he earned an MA degree. After starting out as a lecturer at the Scottish Church College,''Teaching Staff: English'' in ''175th Year Commemoration Volume''. Scottish Church College, April 2008. page 572 he moved on to be a professor of English and as dean of the faculty of Arts at the University of Lucknow. He would serve as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Calcutta from 15 May 1955 to 9 October 1960.List of Vice Chancellors of the University of Calcutta
His wife Chitralekha Sidhanta (1898-1974) was a renowned exponent of Rabindra Sangeet, a close associate of Rabindranath Tagore. She was one of those very few who popularised Tagore's songs to the masses. He was awarded the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...

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, ...

in 1959. He was also awarded an honorary

Doctor of Literature Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Docto ...

by the

in 1961.Honoris Causa

Works

''The Heroic Age of India : A Comparative Study
' (London: Kegan Paul, 1929)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sidhanta, Nirmalkumar Scottish Church College alumni University of Calcutta alumni Scottish Church College faculty Vice Chancellors of the University of Calcutta University of Lucknow faculty Alumni of the University of Cambridge Bengali people Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in literature & education 20th-century Indian linguists Scholars from West Bengal