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Dinesh Chandra Sen ( bn, দীনেশ চন্দ্র সেন) (3 November 1866 – 20 November 1939)Sengupta, Subodh Chandra (ed.) (1988) ''Sansad Bangali Charitabhidhan'' (in Bengali), Kolkata: Sahitya Sansad, p.208 was a

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 ...

writer, educationist and researcher of

folklore from the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India ...

. He was the founding faculty member and the Ramtanu Lahiri Research Fellow of the Department of Bengali Language and Literature of 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, C ...

. He died in

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, comm ...

in 1939.

Early life and family

Sen was born to Ishwar Chandra Sen and Rupalata Devi, in the village of Suapur (in present-day

Dhaka District Dhaka District ( bn, ঢাকা জেলা, Dhaka jela) is a district in central Bangladesh, and is the densest district in the nation. It is a part of the Dhaka Division. Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, and rests on the eastern banks o ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million pe ...

). His mother's family was from ''Bogjuri'' in

Manikganj District Manikganj ( bn, মানিকগঞ্জ ) is a district in central Bangladesh. It is a part of the Dhaka Division, In 1845 AD it was at first declared as a sub-division. It was at first, under Faridpur district (Faridpur Zila) then it was in ...

Hiralal Sen Hiralal Sen ( bn, হীরালাল সেন, ''Hiralal Shen''; 2 August 1868 – 26 October 1917) is generally considered one of India's first filmmakers. In 1903, he filmed the popular Alibaba and Forty Thieves, the first full-length In ...

was a cousin on that side. His grandson Samar Sen was a noted Bengali poet.

Education and career

In 1882, he passed his university entrance examination from

Jagannath University Jagannath University (JnU) ( bn, জগন্নাথ বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় ''Jagannātha biśbabidyālaẏa'', University Acrostic : জবি or JnU) is a state-funded public university at 9–10, Chittaranjan Avenue in ...

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...

. In 1885, he passed his F.A. examination from

Dhaka College Dhaka College ( bn, ঢাকা কলেজ also known as DC) is the oldest secular educational institution of Bangladesh located in Dhaka. It offers higher secondary education ( HSC). It has Honours and Masters programs as well which are af ...

. He passed his B.A. examination with Honours in English literature in 1889 as a private student. In 1891, he became the headmaster of the Victoria School in

Comilla Comilla (; bn, কুমিল্লা, Kumillā, ), officially spelled Cumilla, is the fifth largest city of Bangladesh and second largest in Chittagong division. It is the administrative centre of the Comilla District. The name Comilla wa ...

. During 1909–13, he was a ''Reader'' in the newly founded Department of Bengali Language and Literature of the

. In 1913, he became the Ramtanu Lahiri Research Fellow in the same department. In 1921, the University of Calcutta conferred on him the Doctorate of Literature in recognition of his work. In 1931, he received the ''Jagattarini gold medal'' for his contribution to the Bengali literature. He retired from service in 1932.

Works

He worked on collection and compilation of Bengal folklore. Along with Chandra Kumar De, he published '' Mymensingh Gitika'' (Ballads of

Mymensingh Mymensingh ( bn, ময়মনসিংহ) is the capital of Mymensingh Division, Bangladesh. Located on the bank of Brahmaputra River, about north of the national capital Dhaka, it is a major financial center and educational hub of north- ...

), a collection of 21

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or '' ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

In Bengali

* ''Bangla Bhasa O Sahitya'' (1896) * ''Tin Bandhu'' (Three Friends) (1904) * ''Ramayani Katha'' (Tales of Ramayana) (1904) * ''Behula'' (a folk tale) (1907) * ''Sati'' (1907) * ''Phullara'' (1907) * ''Jada Bharat'' (1908) * ''Sukatha'' (a collection of essays) (1912) * ''Grihashri'' (1916) * ''Nilmanik'' (1918) * ''Mukta Churi'' (1920) * ''Saral Bangla Sahitya'' (1922) * ''Vaidik Bharat'' (Vedic India: based on stories from the Vedas) (1922) * ''Gharer Katha O Yugasahitya'' (autobiographical work) (1922) * ''Aloke Andhare'' (1925) * ''Chaukir Vidambana'' (1926) * ''Oparer Alo'' (1927) * ''Pauraniki'' (Tales from the Puranas) (1934) * ''Brihat Banga'' (Greater Bengal: a

social history Social history, often called the new social history, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in his ...

) in two volumes (1935) * ''Ashutosh Smriti Katha'' (1936) * ''Shyamal O Kajjal'' (1936) * ''Padavali Madhurya'' (1937) * ''Puratani'' (1939) * ''Banglar Puranari'' (1939) * ''Prachin Bangla Sahitye Musalmaner Avadan'' (1940) * ''Rakhaler Rajgi''

In English

* ''History of Bengali Language and Literature'' (1911) * ''Sati'' (1916) * ''The Vaishnava Literature of Medieval Bengal'' (1917) * ''Chaitanya and His Companions'' (1917) * ''The Folk Literature of Bengal'' (1920) * ''The Bengali Ramayana'' (1920) * ''Bengali Prose Style, 1800-1857'' (1921) * ''Chaitanya and His Age'' (1922) * ''Eastern Bengal Ballads'' in four volumes (1923–1932) * ''Glimpses of Bengal Life'' (1925)

References

Indian folklorists Bengali writers University of Calcutta alumni University of Calcutta faculty 1866 births 1939 deaths Bengali Hindus 19th-century Bengalis 20th-century Bengalis Bengali historians Dhaka College alumni Scholars from Kolkata Rai Bahadurs 20th-century Indian scholars 20th-century Indian historians 20th-century Indian educational theorists 20th-century Indian male writers 20th-century Indian educators Bengali educators Indian academics Indian folk-song collectors {{India-academic-bio-stub People from Dhaka