Govinda Chandra Dev (1 February 1907 – 26 March 1971) (Full name : Govinda Chandra Dev Purakayastha), also known as Dr. G. C. Dev, was a professor of philosophy at the

University of Dhaka The University of Dhaka (), also known as Dhaka University (DU), is a public university, public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Established in 1921, it is the oldest active university in the country. The University of Dhaka w ...

. He was assassinated at the onset of the

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War (, ), also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, was an War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalism, Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan, which res ...

of 1971 by the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ), commonly known as the Pak Army (), is the Land warfare, land service branch and the largest component of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The president of Pakistan is the Commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the army. The ...

Early life and education

Dev was born in the village of Lauta of the Panchakhanda Pargana (currently

Beanibazar Upazila Beanibazar () is an upazila (sub-district) of Sylhet District in northeastern Bangladesh, part of the Sylhet Division. The area is the successor of the territory of Panchakhanda, formerly ruled by the aristocratic Pal family. History Beanibazar ...

) of

Sylhet District Sylhet District (), located in north-east Bangladesh, is one of the four districts in Sylhet Division, which contains Sylhet, the regional capital. History Sylhet District was established on 3 January 1782, and until 1878 it was part of Benga ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

(present-day

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 and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

) on 1 February 1907. After his father's death at an early age, Dev was raised by the local Christian missionaries. Dev passed the Entrance Examination in first division from Biani Bazar High English School in 1925. In 1927, he passed the Intermediate Examination from Ripon College,

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from

Sanskrit College Sanskrit College and University (erstwhile Sanskrit College) is a state university located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It focuses on liberal arts, offering both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Ancient Indian and world history, Be ...

in 1929. In 1931, he received his Master of Arts in philosophy from the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

. He graduated

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

in both Bachelors and Masters. His Doctoral thesis was titled ''Reason, intuition and reality'', and for this, he received a PhD degree from Calcutta University in 1944. The thesis dissertation was later published as a book titled ''Idealism and Progress''.

Life and career

Dev started his career as a lecturer at Ripon College in Kolkata. As the college was transferred from Calcutta to

Dinajpur Dinajpur ( ) is a city and the district headquarters of Dinajpur district situated in Rangpur Division, Bangladesh. It was founded in 1786. It is located 413 km north-west of Dhaka. It is bounded on the north by Suihari, Katapara, Bangi ...

(now in Bangladesh) during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he moved as well. In 1945, the college re-located to Kolkata, but Dev decided to stay back in Dinajpur as the founding principal of the new branch of Surendranath College (now Dinajpur Government College). Later, in July 1953, he joined the Department of Philosophy at

Dhaka University The University of Dhaka (), also known as Dhaka University (DU), is a public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Established in 1921, it is the oldest active university in the country. The University of Dhaka was founded in 1921 ...

. He also served as the house tutor of Dhaka Hall (present Shahidullah Hall) in 1957 before being appointed the provost of

Jagannath Hall Jagannath Hall of Dhaka University is a residence hall for students from religious minorities, including Buddhists, Christian, and Hindus. It is one of the three original residence halls that date from the founding of the university in 1921, and ...

in the same year. Dev was appointed the chairman of the department of philosophy in 1963. On 1 July 1967, Dev became a full professor. In the late 1960s, he taught at Wilkes-Barre College in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, US, as a visiting professor. His admirers in the college founded ''The Govinda Dev Foundation for World Brotherhood'' for the propagation of Dev's humanist philosophy. Dev was elected the general secretary of the Pakistan Philosophical Congress in the 1960s and held the post till his death in 1971. He also set up a ''Philosophy House'' in Dhaka University to promote and practice his life-oriented and humanist philosophy, which became a center for intellectual and cultural activities in the university. Dev donated the bulk of his belongings to the university in his lifetime. The donation facilitated the establishment of the ''Center for Philosophical Studies (DCPS)'' at Dhaka University in 1980. Dev was a life-long bachelor, although he adopted a son, Jyoti Prakash Dutta, and a daughter, Rokeya Begum Sultana.

Assassination

Dev was assassinated along with the husband of his adopted daughter by

Pakistan army The Pakistan Army (, ), commonly known as the Pak Army (), is the Land warfare, land service branch and the largest component of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The president of Pakistan is the Commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the army. The ...

personnel involved in

1971 Dhaka University massacre 1971 Dhaka University massacre was the mass murder of students and faculty at the University of Dhaka in East Pakistan (present Bangladesh) by the Pakistan Army, at the beginning of what would become the Bangladesh War of Independence. In Marc ...

on the black night of 25 March. At that time, Dev was residing in a university quarter near Jagannath Hall with his adopted daughter Rokeya Sultana and her husband Mohammad Ali. At around 11 p.m., the residents of the house were awakened by the sound of gunfire as the army raided the campus. As Rokeya remarked later, bullets were hitting the house like a hailstorm. The family took shelter in a small room and kept awake the whole night. In the morning of 26 a group of soldiers came to the door. They started banging on the door as they shouted in

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

, "Kanha Malaun kanha, daravaaja khol" ("You son of an infidel, open the door"). As Dev proceeded to open the door, the door collapsed on him. Upon entering the house, one of the soldiers hit his head with his rifle, and another one shot him in the chest. His adopted daughter Rokeya Begum's husband Mohammad Ali came to rescue him and recited Kalima to calm the soldiers. But it didn't work. Dev feebly asked, "What do you want here, son?" But in response, the soldiers opened fire and shot a few more rounds at him. Two bullets hit him in the head, and the other bullets hit him in the chest. Dev died immediately. The soldiers beat Rokeya mercilessly and also killed her husband. They also plunged a bayonet into the professor's lifeless body. Rokeya Begum survived the sudden attack and was knocked unconscious. They later took the dead bodies to the grounds of Jagannath Hall, where the bodies of the other victims of the massacre were dumped.

Bibliography

Dev wrote over a hundred articles in English and Bangla in national and international journals. He also published seven books in his lifetime – * ''Idealism and Progress'' (1952) * ''Idealism: A New Defence and A New Application'' (1958) * ''Amar Jibandarshan (The Philosophy of My Life)'' (1960) * ''Aspiration of the Common Man'' (1963) * ''The Philosophy of Vivekananda and the Future of Man'' (1963) * ''Tattvavidya-sara'' (1966) * ''Buddha: the Humanist'' (1969). Two other books, ''Parables of the East'' (1984) and ''My American Experience'' (1993) were published posthumously.

References

External links

My Philosophy of Synthesis: Factors that Moulded It
by G. C. Dev

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dev, Govinda 1907 births 1971 deaths People from Beanibazar Upazila Bangladeshi Hindus Bangladeshi philosophers Surendranath College alumni The Sanskrit College and University alumni University of Calcutta alumni Academic staff of the University of Calcutta Academic staff of the University of Dhaka Martyred intellectuals of the Bangladesh Liberation War Assassinated educators Recipients of the Independence Award Recipients of the Ekushey Padak 20th-century philosophers