Prithwindra Mukherjee ( bn, পৃথ্বীন্দ্রনাথ মুখোপাধ্যায়; born 1936), who retired in 2003 from his career as a researcher in the Human and Social Sciences Department (Ethnomusicology) of the French National Centre of Scientific Research in Paris, is an author of a number of books and other publications on various subjects. He is the recipient of India's highly prestigious award

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is confe ...

2020 for his work in the field of literature and education.

Early life and education

Mukherjee was born in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

, in 1936, and educated at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram School (at present, the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education)Sri Aurobindo International Centre Of Education, Sri Aurobindo Society, Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo, yoga, the Mother, philosophy and religion
in

Pondicherry Pondicherry (), now known as Puducherry ( French: Pondichéry ʊdʊˈtʃɛɹi(listen), on-dicherry, is the capital and the most populous city of the Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the sout ...

. He is the grandson of the

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 ...

revolutionary

Jatindranath Mukherjee Bagha Jatin (; ) or Baghajatin, born Jatindranath Mukherjee (); 7 December 1879 – 10 September 1915) was an Indian independence activist. He was the principal leader of the Jugantar party that was the central association of revolutionary ...

(Bagha Jatin).

Professional and academic life

Prithwindra began his working life as a teacher of

, French and English languages and literature in

. He was mentioned by the

Sahitya Akademi The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of, the Indian government. Its of ...

(New Delhi) manuals and anthologies as a poet before he attained the age of 20. As a specialist in the French language and literature, he translated works by such French authors as

Albert Camus Albert Camus ( , ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, and journalist. He was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature The 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded the French writer Alb ...

Saint-John Perse Alexis Leger (; 31 May 1887 – 20 September 1975), better known by his pseudonym Saint-John Perse (; also Saint-Leger Leger), was a French poet-diplomat, awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1960 "for the soaring flight and evocative i ...

, and

René Char René Émile Char (; 14 June 1907 – 19 February 1988) was a French poet and member of the French Resistance. Biography Char was born in L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue in the Vaucluse department of France, the youngest of the four children of Emile ...

. He moved to Paris with a French Government Scholarship (1966–70). He prepared and defended a thesis on

Sri Aurobindo Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian philosopher, yogi, maharishi, poet, and Indian nationalist. He was also a journalist, editing newspapers such as ''Vande Mataram''. He joined t ...

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

. Later he served as a lecturer on Indian civilization and philosophy, producer of several radio features on Indian culture and music for

Radio France Radio France is the French national public radio broadcaster. Stations Radio France offers seven national networks: * France Inter — Radio France's " generalist" station, featuring entertaining and informative talk mixed with a wide variety o ...

, and he was also freelancing as a journalist for the Indian and French press. His next thesis for Doctorat d'Etat (Ph.D.), was supervised by

Raymond Aron Raymond Claude Ferdinand Aron (; 14 March 1905 – 17 October 1983) was a French philosopher, sociologist, political scientist, historian and journalist, one of France's most prominent thinkers of the 20th century. Aron is best known for his ...

University Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

IV, on the pre-

Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

a phase of India's freedom fight. His thesis discussed this movement from 1893 to 1918 and its spiritual roots. In 1977, invited by the National Archives of India as a guest of the Historical Records Commission, he presented a paper on ''Jatindra Nath Mukherjee and the Indo-German Conspiracy'' in the presence of personalities like Arthur L. Basham and Professor S. Nurul Hasan. Prithwindra's original contribution in this area has been recognized by Professor Amales Tripathi, Bhupendrakumar Datta, Dr. Jadugopal Mukhopadhyay, Dr. M.N. Das (

Utkal University Utkal University (UU) is a Public university in Bhubaneswar, Khordha district, Khordha, Odisha, and is the oldest university in Odisha, the state, and the 17th-oldest university in India. It is a teaching-cum-affiliating university. The pre ...

),¨Professor A.C. Bose, Samaren Roy, Bhupati Majumdar, Basudha Chakravarty. Quite a few of his papers on the subject have been translated into major Indian languages.

Life after reaching France

Since his reaching Paris, for a number of years, invited by the literary magazine ''Desh'' of

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 ...

he published his impressions of Paris life (''Paris'ér chithi'' – Letters from Paris), as well as several cover features including Jatin Mukherjee alias

Bagha Jatin Bagha Jatin (; ) or Baghajatin, born Jatindranath Mukherjee (); 7 December 1879 – 10 September 1915) was an Indian independence activist. He was the principal leader of the Jugantar party that was the central association of revolutionary ...

, M.N. Roy, Tarak Nath Das,

Dhan Gopal Mukerji Dhan Gopal Mukerji ( bn, ধন গোপাল মুখোপাধ্যায়; ''Dhan Gōpāl Mukhōpādhyāy'') (6 July 1890 – 14 July 1936) was the first successful Indian man of letters in the United States and won a Newbery Med ...

, French Revolutionary and the Bengali intelligentsia and the poetry-cum-dance genre of the '' kîrtana'' (on which he has also produced a documentary film). He went to the USA as a

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

scholar and discovered, especially in the Wilson Papers, scores of files covering the

Indian revolutionaries Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asi ...

. On returning to France in 1981, he joined the French National Centre of Scientific Research in 1981. He was also a founder-member of the French Literary Translators' Associatio

He retired from there a few years back. He has published as much in

as in French. One of his recent contributions is a documentary film on the musical pillars in the temples of

South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the States and union territories of India, Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and T ...

(CNRS-Audiovisual, Paris). Since 1981, Prithwindra Mukherjee joined the LACITO of the CNRS (Department of Ethnomusicology) working on a comprehensive cognitive study of scales of North and South Indian music. The eminent author

Jacques Attali Jacques José Mardoché Attali (; born 1 November 1943) is a French economic and social theorist, writer, political adviser and senior civil servant, who served as a counselor to President François Mitterrand from 1981 to 1991, and was the fir ...

in his French biography of Gandhi (Fayard, 2007) mentions his debt to PM for having revised the manuscripts and collaborated actively. Later, Mr. Attali has qualified Prithwindra Mukherjee as "the man of Franco-Indian Renaissance". On 1 January 2009, the Minister of Culture of France has appointed Prithwindra Mukherjee to the rank of chevalier (Knight) of the Order of Arts and Letters. The French Academy (Belles Lettres) selected Prithwindra Mukherjee for its Hirayama Award (Prix Hirayama) 2014. On 1 January 2015, the French Prime Minister, requested by the Minister of Education, has appointed Prithwindra Mukherjee to the rank of chevalier (Knight) of the order of Palmes académiques (Academic Laurels).

Selected bibliography

*''Danse cosmique'' – (trilingual collection of selected poems, published on the occasion of the creation of '' Correspondances'' for soprano and orchestra (

Dawn Upshaw Dawn Upshaw (born July 17, 1960) is an American soprano. She is the recipient of several Grammy Awards and has released a number of Edison Award-winning discs; she performs both opera and art song, and her repertoire spans Baroque to contempor ...

with the

Berliner Philharmoniker The Berlin Philharmonic (german: Berliner Philharmoniker, links=no, italic=no) is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world. History The Berlin Philharmonic was fo ...

, conducted by

Sir Simon Rattle Sir Simon Denis Rattle (born 19 January 1955) is a British-German conductor. He rose to international prominence during the 1980s and 1990s, while music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1980–1998). Rattle was principal ...

) by the senior French composer

Henri Dutilleux Henri Paul Julien Dutilleux (; 22 January 1916 – 22 May 2013) was a French composer active mainly in the second half of the 20th century. His small body of published work, which garnered international acclaim, followed in the tradition of ...

: it contains as the first movement PM's 'Danse cosmique', in homage to Shiva Nataraja; foreword by Jean Biès, éd. Le Décaèdre/ Findakly, 2003 *''Sri Aurobindo'', 'Biographies', Desclée de Brouwer, 2000 *''Nandî le Fou'' et autres nouvelles de

Banaphul Balai Chand Mukhopadhyay (19 July 1899 – 9 February 1979) was an Indian Bengali-language novelist, short story writer, playwright, poet, and physician who wrote under the pen name of Banaphul (meaning "the wild flower" in Bengali). He was a r ...

. Selection of texts, translation, introduction and notes. Gallimard, 1994. *''Anthologie de la poésie bengalie'', choix de textes, traduction, introduction et notes, 1991. 301p. Repr. in pocket book, 1992, L'Harmattan. * ''Les écrits bengalis de Sri Aurobindo''. Foreword by Olivier LACOMBE of the French Academy. Dervy-Livres, 1986. *''Chants bâuls, les Fous de l'Absolu'', selection of texts, translation in French and English, introduction, notes on esoteric symbols. éd. Findakly/ Ministry of Culture, 1985. *''Maître Camkara, discours sur le bouddhisme'', éd. Trédaniel, 1985 * ''Le sâmkhya,'' essai philosophique. Foreword by Professor Guy BUGAULT (University Paris IV). Epi/DDB, 1983. *''Serpent de flammes'', poèmes. Foreword G. MOURGUE. éd. Estienne, 1981 *''Chants Caryâ,'' a collection of Bengali ''sahaj-yâna'' texts, with introduction and notes, Le Calligraphe, Paris, 1981 *''Poèmes du Bangladesh'', a selection of poems, Publications Orientalistes de France, Paris, 1975 (with LP containing some poems recited by Madeleine Renaud, Jean-Louis Barrault and PM) *''Thât/Mélakartâ : The Fundamental Scales in Indian Music of the North and the South'', Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi, 2004; foreword by Pandit Ravi Shankar *Prasanga bâul: kichhu durbhâvanâ ('About the Bâuls : Some Questions') in ''Ebong mushâyérâ'', Kolkâtâ *Sri aurobindo ki samasâmayik ? ('Is Sri Aurobindo our contemporary ?') in ''Vasudhârâ'', Kolkâtâ, *''Sri Aurobindo'' (biography),

Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture Shri (; , ) is a Sanskrit term denoting resplendence, wealth and prosperity, primarily used as an honorific. The word is widely used in South and Southeast Asian languages such as Marathi, Malay (including Indonesian and Malaysian), Javanes ...

, Kolkâtâ, 2003 ri Aurobindo Award*Cognitive Prototypes in Râgas of Indian Music .in ''Proceedings of the XVth International Congress of Linguists'', Palais de Congress, 1997, Elsevier Science, Oxford, 1998 *"Rabindranâth Tagore" in ''Les Prix Nobel de Littérature'', éd. L'Alhambra, Paris, 1992, pp. 185–191. *"

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

" in ''Encyclopédie Universalis'' (several editions since 1982) *"Rabindranath Tagore" in ''Dictionnaire des littératures'', Presses Universitaires de France, Paris *''Vishvéra chokhé Rabindranath'', tributes to the Poet, Rupa & Co, Calcutta, 1991 *''Undying Courage'' : Biography of Jatindranath Mukherjee (one of the founders of the Freedom Movement in India), Academic Publishers, Calcutta, 1992 *''Sâdhak biplabi jatîndranâth'' : a comprehensive biography of Jatindranath Mukherjee, West Bengal Board of Books, Calcutta, 1991 *''Bâghâ Jatîn'', an abridged biography, Dey's Publishing, Calcutta, 4th Edition. *''Mélakartâ'', Mukherjee, Prithwindra (auteur), Préface de Ravi Shankar, Editions Publibook Université, 2010, *''Les racines intellectuelles du mouvement d'indépendance de l'Inde (1893–1918)'', Préface de Jacques Attali, Editions Codex, 2010

References

* "Prithwindra Mukherjee" in ''Translation & Translators: An International Directory and Guide'' (ed.) Stefan Congrat-Butlar, R.R. Bowker Company, New York & London, 1979, pp153–154, 173, 174 * "Prithwindra Mukherjee" in ''International Who's Who in Translation & Terminology'', Union Latine, Paris, Nottingham, Viena, 1995, pp262–3 * "Prithwindra Mukherjee" in ''bangiya sahityakosha'',(ed.) Ashoke Kundu, Vol. XI,1979, p230 * "Prithwindra Mukherjee" in ''The Golden Treasury of Indo-Anglian Poetry'', (ed.) V.K. Gokak, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, pxxi, p261 {{DEFAULTSORT:Mukherjee, Prithwindra 1936 births Bengali writers Living people University of Paris alumni Indian emigrants to France French people of Indian descent Writers from Kolkata French Hindus Sri Aurobindo 20th-century Indian translators Bengali Hindus 20th-century Indian biographers Recipients of the Padma Shri in literature & education