Panchanan Mitra () (25 May 1892 – 25 July 1936) was an Indian professor of

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

.Bose, Kaushik (2006) Panchanan Mitra. ''Current Science'' 91(11), Indian Academy of Sciences
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/ref> He was succeeded by Sarat Chandra Mitra(1863-1938) and B.S.Guha(1894-1961). He was among the first Indians to study at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

and conducted several anthropological expeditions in India and abroad. He was the head of the Department of Anthropology of 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 ...

and is most known for his works ''Prehistoric India'' (1923), ''History of Ameri-can Anthropology'' (1930) and ''Indo-Poly-nesian Memories'' (1933). He was awarded the Fellowship of the

Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (RAI) is a long-established anthropological organisation, and Learned Society, with a global membership. Its remit includes all the component fields of anthropology, such as biolo ...

and today the

Asiatic Society The Asiatic Society is an organisation founded during the Company rule in India to enhance and further the cause of " Oriental research" (in this case, research into India and the surrounding regions). It was founded by the philologist Will ...

awards an annual 'Panchanan Mitra Memorial Lectureship' for outstanding contributions to anthropology.

Personal life and family

He was born to a well-known

Bengali Kayastha Bengali Kayastha is a Bengali Hindu caste that originated from the Bengal region of Indian subcontinent, and is one of the main subgroups of the Kayastha community. The historical caste occupation of Kayasthas throughout India has been that of ...

family at

Soora ''Soora'' is a 2008 Maldivian drama film written and directed by Fathimath Nahula. Produced under Crystal Entertainment, the film stars Ali Ahmed, Amira Ismail and Aminath Ameela in pivotal roles. Premise Riyaz and Niyaz (both roles played by ...

, an eastern suburb of

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 ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

on 24 May 1892. The

Mitra ''Mitra'' (Proto-Indo-Iranian language, Proto-Indo-Iranian: wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-Iranian/mitrás, ''*mitrás'') is the name of an Indo-Iranians#Religion, Indo-Iranian divinity that predates the Rigveda, Rigvedic Mitra (Hindu god), Mitrá ...

family was one of the oldest families of

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

and received various honours from the Bengal

Nawab Nawab is a royal title indicating a ruler, often of a South Asian state, in many ways comparable to the Western title of Prince. The relationship of a Nawab to the Emperor of India has been compared to that of the Kingdom of Saxony, Kings of ...

. Raja Pitambar Mitra migrated to

Oudh The Kingdom of Awadh (, , also Oudh State, Kingdom of Oudh, Awadh Subah, or Awadh State) was a Mughal subah, then an independent kingdom, and lastly a British protectorate in the Awadh region of North India until its annexation by the Br ...

after the disaster at

Palashi Palashi or Plassey, , ) is a town on the east bank of Bhagirathi River, located approximately 50 kilometres north of the city of Krishnanagar in Kaliganj CD Block in the Nadia District of West Bengal, India. It is particularly well kno ...

, and the family was settled there for many generations. When the family was under Ajodhyaram they received many honors from the Nawab Vizir of Oudh and the emperor at

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

as well. Many members of the Mitra family were well known in literary circles. Pitambar and his grandson, Janmejay Mitra wrote

Brajabuli Brajabuli (), is an artificial literary language popularized by the Maithili poet Vidyapati. His Brajabuli lyrics about the love for Radha Krishna is considered to his best of works. Other poets emulated his writing, and the language became estab ...

poems. Janmejay was an Urdu poet of distinguished standing as well. Dr. Mitra's 1892. His grandfather's elder brother was

Rajendralal Mitra Raja Rajendralal Mitra (16 February 1822 – 26 July 1891) was among the first Indian cultural researchers and historians writing in English. A polymath and the first Indian president of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, he was a pioneering figur ...

was the first Indian President of

The Asiatic Society The Asiatic Society is an organisation founded during the Company rule in India to enhance and further the cause of " Oriental research" (in this case, research into India and the surrounding regions). It was founded by the philologist Will ...

and one of the pioneers of the Indian Renaissance. Rajendralal was the third son of Janmejay Mitra. Mitra died on 25 July 1936.

Career

He was the first Professor of Anthropology at the

, and received the "

Bishop Museum The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, designated the Hawaii State Museum of Natural and Cultural History, is a museum of history and science in the historic Kalihi district of Honolulu, Hawaii, Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu. Founded in 1 ...

Fellowship" in 1924 for studying " Polynesian affinities with India". Panchanan Mitra was the first Indian to obtain a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from

, USA in the year 1930.Bulletin of Yale University ''Series 37, No. 1'' 1 January 1941. p. 29
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/ref> At Yale, he worked under the supervision of

Clark Wissler Clark David Wissler (September 18, 1870 – August 25, 1947) was an American anthropologist, ethnologist, and archaeologist. Early life Clark David Wissler was born in Cambridge City, Indiana on September 18, 1870 to Sylvania (née Needler) and ...

. Mitra undertook and supervised several pioneering anthropological expeditions in India and abroad. Several of his students became notable. Nirmal Kumar Bose, personal secretary of

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

during the

Noakhali Noakhali District (), historically known as Bhulua (), is a Districts of Bangladesh, district in southeastern Bangladesh, located in Chattogram Division. It was established as a district in 1821, and officially named Noakhali in 1868. The distr ...

pre-partition riots was his student.

Awards and memberships

He was awarded several medals and fellowships during his lifetime and was a member of several professional bodies. He was awarded the ''Fellowship of the

''. He was appointed as the Assistant Curator of the Archaeology section of the Indian Museum. He was the Honorary Magistrate of Kolkata from 1922 to 1924 and later served as a councillor in the Municipal corporation of the city till 1927. He presided over the Anthropology proceedings in the Indian Science Congress in 1933 and the anthropogenetics sessions of the Indian Population Congress, Lucknow in 1936.Obituary of Panchanan Mitra in ''Current Science'' Vol. 5, Aug. 193
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/ref> He was also an associate member at the American Museum of Natural History.

awards an annual 'Panchanan Mitra Memorial Lectureship' for outstanding contributions to the field of anthropology in his name.

Legacy

The recent (2005) publication of his book entitled ''Manual of Prehistoric India'' shows the continuing importance of his work. Although his contributions included much outside the realm of anthropology, probably his greatest legacy is the introduction and development of anthropology as an academic discipline in India. Presently, anthropology and its related sub-disciplines are taught in more than 40 Indian universities.

Bibliography

* 1923
A History of American Anthropology
', University of Calcutta. 193
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* 1927
Prehistoric India: Its place in the World's Cultures
' * 1933 ''Indo-Polynesian Memories'' * ''A Manual of Prehistoric India'

References

External links

Books by Panchanan Mitra on openlibrary.orgKenneth A. R. Kennedy on Dr. Panchanan Mitra in his book ''God-apes and Fossil Men''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitra, Panchanan 20th-century Indian anthropologists 1892 births 1936 deaths Scientists from Kolkata Yale University alumni Academic staff of the University of Calcutta Anthropology educators 20th-century Indian educational theorists Indian social sciences writers 20th-century Indian non-fiction writers Writers from Kolkata Expatriates from British India Indian expatriate academics in the United States