Tapan Raychaudhuri (8 May 1926 – 26 November 2014) was a British-Indian

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

specialising in British Indian history, Indian economic history and the

History of Bengal The history of Bengal is intertwined with the history of the broader Indian subcontinent and the surrounding regions of South Asia and Southeast Asia. It includes modern-day Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal and Assam's Karimga ...

Early life and education

He was the son of Prativa and Amiya Kumar Raychaudhuri, the last ''

zamindar A zamindar (Hindustani language, Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian language, Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous Raja, ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughal Em ...

'' of Kirtipasha in Barisal district of eastern Bengal. He came from a well-known

Baidya Baidya or Vaidya is a Hindu community located in Bengal. Baidyas, a caste ('' jāti'') of Ayurvedic physicians, have long had pre-eminence in society alongside Brahmins and Kayasthas. In the colonial era, the Bhadraloks were drawn primarily, b ...

family. He was a nephew of

Kiran Shankar Roy Kiran may refer to: Names * Kiran (given name), an Indian given name used for men or women (including a list of persons with the name) * Kiran, an anglicised variant of the Gaelic given name Ciarán People * ''Kiran'', pseudonym of the Indian w ...

Banglapedia: Kiron Shakar Roy
/ref> and Hem Chandra Roychaudhuri, through his paternal aunts.Sen Sharma, Tribhanga Mohan (1942). ''Kuladarpanam'', Behrampore: New Art Press. p.369 He was a student of

Ballygunge Government High School Ballygunge Government High School (BGHS) is a school in West Bengal, India. This is a boys' only school for secondary and higher secondary level students. Its medium of instruction is English. It was once considered one of the best Bengali medi ...

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, commer ...

and Barisal Zilla School,

Scottish Church College, Calcutta 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 ...

, where he completed his I.A. and finally

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 completed his B.A. (Hons.) in history with a high first class. He completed his first

D.Phil. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in history at

Calcutta University 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 ...

under the supervision of

Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

Jadunath Sarkar Sir Jadunath Sarkar (10 December 1870 – 19 May 1958) was a prominent Indian historian and a specialist on the Mughal dynasty. Academic career Sarkar was born in Karachmaria village in Natore, Bengal to Rajkumar Sarkar, the local Zamindar ...

, who was his Additional Supervisor and his second D.Phil. at

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the ...

, under the supervision of Major (Dr.) C.C. Davies.

Career

He started his career as a lecturer at the Department of Islamic History and Culture, Calcutta University. After his return from Britain, he became a deputy director of the

National Archives of India The National Archives of India (NAI) is a repository of the non-current records of the Government of India and holds them in trust for the use of administrators and scholars. Originally established as the Imperial Record Department in 1891, in Cal ...

. He was a reader and then professor of history and director of the

Delhi School of Economics Delhi School of Economics (DSE), popularly referred to as "D School", is a Higher Educational Institution within the University of Delhi. The Delhi School of Economics is situated in University of Delhi's North Campus in Maurice Nagar. Establ ...

and professor and the head of the department of history of

Delhi University Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and is recognized as an Institute of Eminence (IoE) ...

. He was a reader in modern South Asian history from 1973 to 1992 and then ad hominem professor of Indian history and civilization and fellow of

St. Antony's College, Oxford St Antony's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1950 as the result of the gift of French merchant Sir Antonin Besse of Aden, St Antony's specialises in international relations, econom ...

, from 1992 to 1993. He was an emeritus fellow of St. Antony's College, Oxford, after retirement. He also served on the inaugural Social Sciences jury for the

Infosys Prize The Infosys Prize is an annual award given to scientists, researchers, engineers and social scientists of Indian origin (not necessarily born in India) by the Infosys Science Foundation and ranks among the highest monetary awards in India to r ...

in 2009. He became a

national research professor The National Research Professorship is an Indian award given to scholars who have made exceptional contribution in their fields. Notable recipients * Satyendra Nath Bose * Suniti Kumar Chatterji * Jayanta Kumar Ray * C.S. Seshadri * S.R. Rangana ...

in India in 2010

Awards

* Watumull Prize awarded by the

American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world. Founded in 1884, the AHA works to protect academic freedom, develop professional s ...

, 1982. (jointly with

Irfan Habib Irfan Habib (born August 10, 1931) is an Indian historian of ancient and medieval India, following the methodology of Marxist historiography in his contributions to economic history. He identifies as a Marxist and is well known for his strong ...

) for the ''Cambridge Economic History of India''. *

Doctor of Letters 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 ...

1993,

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

''honoris causa'' by 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 yea ...

''honoris causa'' by the

University of Burdwan The University of Burdwan (also known as Burdwan University or B. U.) is a public university in Purba Bardhaman, West Bengal, India. It was established by the West Bengal Government as a teaching and affiliating university on 15 June 1960 with ...

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 ...

in 2007 in recognition to his contributions to history.

Death

He died at home in Oxford (England) on 26 November 2014, after suffering a stroke.

Publications

Books

* * * * * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raychaudhuri, Tapan 1926 births 2014 deaths People from Barisal District 20th-century Indian historians Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Scottish Church College alumni Presidency University, Kolkata alumni Bengali historians Bengali zamindars Economic historians Fellows of St Antony's College, Oxford Harvard University staff Historians of South Asia Indian autobiographers People associated with Santiniketan Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in literature & education Scholars from Kolkata University of Calcutta faculty Delhi University faculty University of California, Berkeley staff University of Pennsylvania staff Indian emigrants to the United Kingdom People from Oxford British people of Bengali descent British autobiographers 20th-century British historians