Padmanath Bhattacharya (; 1868-1938) was an Indian historian. His works generally centred on the ancient

Kamrup region Kamrup is the modern region situated between two rivers, the Manas river, Manas and the Barnadi River, Barnadi in Western Assam, with the same territorial extent as the Colonial and post-Colonial "Undivided Kamrup district". It was the capita ...

.Sabyasachi Bhattacharya (2011), ''Approaches to History: Essays in Indian Historiography'', Page 229 The Padmanath Vidyabinod Memorial Awards are named after him.

Early life and education

Bhattacharya was born in 1868, to a Hindu family in the village of

Baniachong Baniachong (), is a village and upazila of Habiganj District in Sylhet Division, Bangladesh. History Baniachong constituted the grand estate (zamindari) of Anwar Khan, who was looked upon as a raja by the local people. Estate of Baniachong was ...

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 ...

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal until 1937, later the Bengal Province, was the largest of all three presidencies of British India during Company rule in India, Company rule and later a Provinces o ...

(now part of

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 ...

). The neighbourhood where he was born is now known as Vidyabhushan Para. He passed his matriculation examinations in 1880, topping the scores across the newly-established

North-East Frontier Assam Province was a province of British India, created in 1912 by the partition of the Eastern Bengal and Assam Province. Its capital was in Shillong. The Assam territory was first separated from Bengal in 1874 as the 'North-East Frontier' ...

(Assam) province. He then completed his

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

with honours from Dacca College in 1890, having studied English,

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

and philosophy. In recognition of Bhattacharya's talent, he was conferred the titles of Swaraswati and Vidyavinod. In 1892, he completed a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

in English.

Career

Bhattacharya started his career as a professor at the

Murari Chand College Murari Chand College () (usually referred to as MC College) was the first college in the Sylhet Division. It was established in 1892, making it the seventh oldest college in Bangladesh. Since then it has played an important role in the education ...

Sylhet Sylhet (; ) is a Metropolis, metropolitan city in the north eastern region of Bangladesh. It serves as the administrative center for both the Sylhet District and the Sylhet Division. The city is situated on the banks of the Surma River and, as o ...

where he taught English, Sanskrit, logic and history. He later joined the Assam Secretariat, and was appointed as the Deputy Inspector of the Province's Surma Valley Division in 1897. In 1901, he was promoted as a Governmental Censor Superintendent. From there, Bhattacharya joined the Guwahati College as professor of Sanskrit and History. The government awarded him the title of ''Mahamahopadhyaya'' (Great Professor). In 1911, he founded the Vangiya Anusandhan Samiti which led to many discoveries with regards to the history of South Asia. Bhattacharya also defended criticisms of

Bengali Muslims Bengali Muslims (; ) 'Mussalman'' also used in this work.are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising over 70% of the global Bengali population, they are the second-largest et ...

, in addition to his own community. His article, ''Bhranti Nirash'', was a response to

Prafulla Chandra Ray Sir Prafulla Chandra Ray (also spelled Prafulla Chandra Roy; ''Prôphullô Côndrô Rāẏ''; 2 August 1861 – 16 June 1944) was an Indian chemist, educationist, historian, industrialist and philanthropist. He established the first moder ...

's ''Bangali Mastisker Apabyabahar'' which attacked Hinduism and the Hindu society. Bhattacharya was also supportive to other researchers in the field, and was known to have donated five thousand ''taka''s in 1910 to fund

Achyut Charan Choudhury Achyut Charan Choudhury (; 5 February 1866 – 25 September 1953) was a Bengali writer and historian. Though he wrote several books regarding Vaishnav Hinduism, Choudhury is most well known for his monumental work on the history of the Sylhet reg ...

's ''Srihatter Itibritta'' series. Bhattacharya became a leading

scholar in the

Assam Province Assam Province was a province of British India, created in 1912 by the partition of the Eastern Bengal and Assam Province. Its capital was in Shillong. The Assam territory was first separated from Bengal in 1874 as the 'North-East Frontier' ...

. He was regularly involved in the discovery and deciphering of numerous Kamarupa inscriptions, such as the

Nidhanpur copperplate inscription The Nidhanpur copperplate inscription of the 7th-century Kamarupa king Bhaskaravarman gives a detailed account of land grants given to Brahmins. It records land grants to more than two hundred vaidika brahmanas belonging to 56 gotras. The copper ...

. He was also the first academic to write a scholarly article on the

Sylhet Nagri Sylheti Nagri or Sylheti Nāgarī (, , ), known in classical manuscripts as Sylhet Nagri () as well as by many other names, is an Indic script. The script was historically used in the regions of Bengal and Assam, that were east of the Padma. I ...

script, and has also researched about

Shashanka Shashanka Dev (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: Śaśāṅka) was the first independent king of a unified polity in the Bengal region, called the Gauda Kingdom. He reigned in the 7th century, some historians place his r ...

and the

Gauda Kingdom The Gauḍa kingdom was a kingdom during the Classical India, Classical era in the Indian subcontinent, which originated in the Gauḍa (region), Gauda region of Bengal (modern-day West Bengal and Bangladesh) in 4th century CE or possibly earl ...

. Bhattacharya served as a professor in

Cotton College Cotton College was a Roman Catholic boarding school in Cotton, Staffordshire, United Kingdom. It was also known as ''Saint Wilfrid's College''. The school buildings were centred on Cotton Hall, a country house used by religious communities fr ...

and was one of the founding members of

Kamarupa Anusandhan Samiti The Kamarupa Anusandhana Samiti (Assam Research Society) is the oldest Research institution in North-East India, which was established in the year 1912 at Kamakhya with a view to working in the field of antiquarian study and research, particularly ...

. He was critical and dissatisfied with Gait's perception of historical events and processes of Assam, and his interpretations, constructed meaning and political undertone in his works.

Authored works

Bhattacharya's notable works are ''Parshuramkunda O Badarikashrama Paribhramana'' (1914), ''Kamarupa Shasanavali'' (1931), ''Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Prasanga'' (1924) and ''Mr. Gait's History of Assam: A Critical Study''. He has also written articles that can be found in

Epigraphia Indica ''Epigraphia Indica'' was the official publication of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) from 1882 to 1977. The first volume was edited by James Burgess in the year 1882. Between 1892 and 1920 it was published as a quarterly supplement to ...

vol. XII, as well as for the Sahitya Parisad Patrika. In 1931, he submitted his collection of 37 Bhatta poems and biographies of Bhatta poets to the Srihatta Sahitya Parishad.

Death

Bhattacharya died in his own home in

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhattacharya, Padmanath 19th-century Indian historians 1868 births 1938 deaths 20th-century Indian historians Bengali historians People from Baniachong Upazila Murari Chand College people Dhaka College alumni 19th-century Bengalis 20th-century Bengalis Historians from British India

Early life and education

Career

Authored works

Death

See also

References