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Raja Rajendralal Mitra
রাজা রাজেন্দ্রলাল মিত্র
Raja Rajendralal Mitra
Born	(1824-02-15)15 February 1824 Kolkata, Bengal, British India
Died	26 July 1891(1891-07-26) (aged 67) Kolkata, Bengal, British India
Nationality	Indian
Occupation	Orientalist

Raja Rajendralal Mitra (16 February, 1822 – 26 July, 1891) is the first modern Indologist of Indian origin and the first scientific historiographer from Bengal. He was a pioneer figure in the Bengal Renaissanceand was also a noted antiquarian and archaeologist.

Early life

Raja Rajendralal Mitra was born on 16 February 1822 in Soora (now Beliaghata), an eastern suburb of Calcutta, to Janmajeya Mitra. The third of Janmajeya's six sons, he also had a sister. Raja Rajendralal's upbringing, however, was primarily the responsibility of a widowed and childless aunt.

The Mitra family traced its roots to Ancient Bengal, and Rajendralal further claimed a descent from the sage Vishvamitra of Adisura myth. They were Kulin Kayastha by caste and devout Vaishnavs by religion. Rajendralal's 4th great-grandfather, Ramchandra was a Dewan of the Nawabs of Murshidabad and Rajendralal's great-grandfather Pitambar Mitra held important positions at the Royal Court of Ajodhya and Delhi.Janmajeya was a noted oriental scholar, who was revered in the Brahmo circles and was probably the first Bengali to learn Chemistry.

However, due to a combination of his grandfather's spendthriftness and his father's refusal to seek paid employment, Rajendralal spent his early childhood in poverty.

Education

Rajendralal Mitra received his early education at a village pathshala, in Bengali medium. followed by a private English-medium school in Pathuriaghata. At around 10 years of age, he joined the Hindu School in Calcutta. Mitra's education became increasingly sporadic from this point. Although he enrolled at Calcutta Medical College in December 1837—where he apparently performed well—he was forced to leave in 1841 after getting embroiled in a controversy. He then began legal training, although not for long, and then shifted to studying languages. These included Greek, Latin, French and German and led to his eventual interest in philology.

Marriages

In 1839—when he was around 17 years old—Mitra married Soudamini. They had one child, a daughter, on 22 August 1844 and Soudamini died soon after as a result of complications. The daughter died within a few weeks of her mother. Mitra remarried at some point between 1860 and 1861 to Bhubanmohini. They had two sons, Ramendralal, born on 26 November 1864, and Mahendralal.

Asiatic Society

Mitra was appointed librarian-cum-assistant-secretary of the Asiatic Society in April 1846.He held the office for nearly 10 years, vacating it in February 1856. He was subsequently elected as the Secretary of the Society, and later appointed to the governing council. He was also elected vice president on three occasions, and, in 1885, Mitra became the first Indian president of the Asiatic Society. Although Mitra had received little formal training in history beyond what he had learned at school, it was his work with the Asiatic Society that helped establish Mitra as a leading advocate of the historical method in Indian historiography.

Influences and methodology

During his days in the Asiatic Society, Rajendralal came in contact with many distinguished luminaries and was distinctly impressed by two thought-streams of Orientalist intellectualism. Noted scholars like William Jones (who was also the founder of Asiatic Society) and H.T. Colebrooke propounded a theory of universal-ism and sought to make a comparative study of different races by chronicling history through the lens of cultural changes rather than political events and James Prinsep et al. sought for greater cultural diversity and glorified the past. Subsequently, he went on to utilize the tools of comparative philology and comparative mythology in penning down a narrative of the cultural history of Indo-Aryans.

Though he subscribed to the philosophies of orientalism, he did not subscribe to a blind adoption of the past and actively asked others to shun tradition, if they hindered the progress of the nation.

Historiography

A noted antiquarian, Rajendralal played a substantial role in discovering and deciphering historical inscriptions, coins and texts. He established the relation between Shaka era and Gregorian Calendar thus identifying the year of Kanishka's ascent to throne and also contributed towards an accurate reconstruction of the history of Medieval Bengal esp. of the Pala and Sena dynasties, by deciphering historical edicts. He intensively studied the Gwalior-ian monuments and inscriptions, discovering many unknown kings/chieftains and assigned approximate time-spans to them. He was also the only historian, among his contemporaries to assign a near-precise time-frame to the rule of Toramana.

His affinity for concrete factual observations and inferences along with a dislike for abstract reasoning, (in contrary to most Indo-Historians of those days), has been favorably received.

Cataloging, Translation and Commentary

As a librarian of the Asiatic Society, Rajendralal was endowed with the charge of cataloging old Indic manuscripts, that were collected by the Pandits of the Society from across the country. He (along with several other scholars) choose to follow a central theme of European Renaissance that emphasised not only on mere collection of ancient texts (puthi) but also on their translation to the lingua-franca. A variety of Indic Text(s), along with extensive commentaries, were published (esp. in Bibliotheca Indica) and often they were translated to English.

His instructions for the Pandits to copy the texts verbatim and abide by the concept of Variae Lectiones was favorably critiqued.

Archaeology

Rajendralal did significant work as to chronicling the development of Aryan architecture in prehistoric times.

Under the patronage of Royal Society of Arts and the colonial government, Rajendralal led an expedition into the Bhubaneshwar region of Odisa during 1868-69 to study and obtain casts of Indian sculpture. The results were compiled in The Antiquities of Orissa which has since been revered as a magnum opus about Odisan architecture. Modeled on Ancient Egyptians by John Gardner Wilkinson and published in two volumes, they consisted of his own observations followed by a reconstruction of the socio-cultural history, in light of the architectural depictions. Rajendralal along with Alexander Cunningham also played an important role in the excavation and restoration of Mahabodhi Temple and Buddha Gaya: the hermitage of Sakya Muni was another of his major contribution, that collated the observations and commentaries of various scholars about Bodh Gaya.

Both of these works along with his other miscellaneous essays contributed immensely to a detailed study of varying forms of temple-architecture across the Indian landscape. He was the first scholar to correctly hypothesise about the reasons behind nude sculptures in temple-premises unlike his European counterparts who simply attributed them to a perceived lack of morality in ancient Indian social life.

A standard theme of Rajendralal's archaeological discourses was to rebut the prevalent European scholarly notion that India's architectural forms (esp. the art of building in stone) was derived from the Greeks and that there was no significant architectural advancement in the Aryan civilization. He often noted that the architecture of pre-Moslem India was equivalent to the Greek architecture and propounded the racial similarity of the Greeks and the Aryans, who had the same intellectual capacity. Rajendralal oft-conflicted with European scholars in the regard and his acrimonious dispute with James Fergusson has interested many historians. Ferguson would later even write a book titled Archaeology in India With Especial Reference to the Work of Babu Rajendralal Mitra to rebut Rajendralal's The Antiquities of Orissa, which criticized Ferguson's about Odisa architecture.The rebuttal, mostly comprising of ad-hominems and an acute politicization of the issue, the discourses shed light on the broader themes of nationalism.

Whilst, much of his archaeological observations and corresponding inferences were later refined and/or rejected, he did pioneer work in the field and his works were often substantially better than that of his European counterparts.

Lingustics

Rajendralal was the first Indian who tried to engage the common populace in a discourse of the phonology and morphology of Indian languages and tried to establish philology as a science. He debated European scholars on the locus of linguistic advances in Aryan culture and propounded that the Aryans had their own script, which was not derived from Dravidian culture. Rajendralal also did seminary work in the fields of Sanskrit Buddhist language and literature and Gatha dialect, in particular.

Vernacularization

He was a pioneer in the publication of maps in Bengali language and constructed the definitions of numerous geographical terms, (which were hitherto solely used in English) into Bengali. He published a series of maps about districts of Bihar, Bengal and Odisa for indigenous usage which was noted for assigning correct names even to the most minute of local villages courtesy his sourcing them from the local populace.

As a member of the short-lived Sarasvat Samaj, (which was set up as a literature society by Jyotirindranath Tagore with some help from the colonial government, for publication of higher-education books in Bengali medium) he wrote A Scheme for the Rendering of European Scientific terms in India which is credited with imparting the earliest set of ideas as to the vernacularization of scientific discourse. He was also a member of several other societies (Vernacular Literature Society, Calcutta School Book Society et cetera) which advocated and played important roles in the propagation of textual books esp. in Bengali literature and Wellesley's Textbook Committee (1877). Many of his Bengali texts (Shivaji Charitra and Mewarer Rajetibritta) were adopted for school-education and one of his texts on Bengali Grammar and Patra-Kaumudi (Book of Letters) attained widespread popularity in later times.

Publication of magazines

From 1851 onward, under a grant of Vernacular Literature Society, he started publishing the Bibhidartha Sangraha. An illustrated monthly periodical, it was the first of its kind in Bengal and aimed to educate the native populace in western knowledge, without coming across as too rigid. It had a huge reader base and introduced the concept of literary criticism and reviews in Bengali literature. It is also noted for introducing Michael Madhusudan Dutt's Bengali works to the public.

Mitra retired from its editorship, in 1856 citing health reasons and Kaliprassana Singha took over the roles.In 1861, the magazine was compelled by the government to withdraw from active publication. Rajendralal came back to the fold in 1863 and restarted a similar publication under the name of Rahasya Sandarbha, maintaining the same form and content.It continued for about five and a half years before being voluntarily called off. Rajendralal's writings in these magazines have been acclaimed.

He was also involved with the Hindoo Patriot for a long span of time and held editorial duties, for a while.

Socio-political activities

Rajendralal was a prominent social figure during his times and was a poster-child of the Bengal Reneissance. Close to several contemporary thinkers including Rangalal Bandyopadhyay, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Kishori Chand Mitra, Peary Chand Mitra, Ramgopal Ghosh, Digambar Mitra et al, his name has been regularly located in wide forms of social activities ranging from hosting condolence meetings to presiding sabhas and giving political speeches. He held important roles in a variety of societies including the famed Tattwabodhini Sabha. He was an executive committee member of the Bethune Society, served as a translator in Calcutta Photographic Society and was an influential figure in the Society for the Promotion of the Industrial Art, which took major roles in the development of voluntary education in Bengal.

Rajendralal wrote several essays chronicling widow-remarriage as an ancient societal norm; vouching against its portrayal as a corruption of the Hindu culture and opposed polygamy. He also wrote numerous discourses on the socio-cultural history of the nation including on the topics of beef-consumption in ancient India, prevalence of drinking et al; the latter at a time when Moslems were increasingly blamed for the social affinity for drinking. Whilst Rajendralal was primarily apathetic to religious stuff, he sought for a disassociation of religion from state and spoke against the proposals of the Colonial Government to tax the natives for spread of Christian ideologies.

From 1856 to 1881 (till its closure), he was the Director of the Wards' Institution, an establishment formed by the Colonial Government for privileged education of the issues of Zamindars and upper classes. He was also actively associated with the British Indian Association since its inception; serving as the President for 3 terms (1881–82, 1883–84, 1886–87) and Vice-President for another 3 terms (1878-80, 1887-88, 1890-91). Several speeches on the broader locus of regional politics have been recorded. He was also involved with Indian National Congress, serving as the President of the Reception Committee in the Second National Conference in Calcutta and was also a Justice of the peace of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation for many years having served as its Commissioner from 1876.

Criticism

Despite the acclaim of his monumental work, Rajendralal has been the subject of multi-faceted criticism. Despite his self-declaration to be neither be in favor of Indian mythology nor be its apologist, and his procrastination about his fellow Indians showing an obsession towards an uncritical acceptance of the glory of their own past, his works have suffered from ethno-nationalistic biases.

Rajendralal often intended to prove the ancient origin of the Hindus and accepted legends and myths at their face-value, as evident from his Antiquities in Orissa. In the reconstruction of the history of Sen dynasty, he relied upon a wide number of ideal propositions but concurrently accepted genealogical tables (whose authenticity was highly doubted by himself) and assigned a historical status to the Adisura myth. Later studies have shown (somewhat remarkably) that, shortcomings of his works did not render his inferences as entirely invalid or absurd.

He also held the Aryans to be superior than others and wrote numerous discourses covering spans, which were (self-admittedly) far away from the realms of authentic history.His archaeological discourses have been criticized for suffering from the same issues and being utilized to forward the view that the ancient settlement place of Aryans corresponded to Northern India. A preface of one of his book mentions:-

The race of whom it is proposed to give a brief sketch in this paper belonged to a period of remote antiquity, far away from the range of authentic history....The subject, however, is of engrossing interest, concerning, as it does, the early history of the most progressive branch of the human race.

He also shared a veneration for the Hindu rule and a profound dislike for the Muslim invasion of the nation. Rajendralal writes:-

Countries like Kabul, Kandahar and Balkh from where Muslims had flooded India and had destroyed Hindu freedom, had sometimes been brought under the sway of the kings of the Sun (Saura) dynasty. Sometimes peoples of those countries had passed their days by carrying the orders of the Hindus. The dynasty had a tremendous power with which it had been ruling India for two thousand years.......

Moslem fanaticism, which after repeated incursions, reigned supreme in India for six hundred years, devastating everything Hindu and converting every available temple, or its materials, into masjid, or a palace, or a heap of ruins, was alone sufficient to sweep away everything in the way of sacred building.

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar had criticized Rajendralal's command of Sanskrit grammar and contemporary portrayals oft-described him as having exploited Sanskrit Pandits in the collecting and editing of ancient texts, without giving them the required credit. It has been refuted, though.

Much of his text-commentaries, were later deemed to be faulty and rejected by modern scholars. His equating extreme examples of Tathagata Tantric traditions, from GuhyaSamaja Tantra-scriptures in a literal sense and as an indicator of mainstream Buddhist Tantra (......the most revolting and horrible, that human depravity could think of.......) were criticized and rejected esp. in light of the fact that such texts were long disconnected, in a historical sense, from the culture that created and sustained them. Renowned polymath Sushil Kumar De though has noted that whilst Rajendralal's editions have been superseded by more accurate translations and commentaries, they still retain significant value as the editio princeps.

Some of the extreme biases, though might have stemmed in, as a response to European scholars like Fergusson et al., who were extremely anti-Indian in their perspectives. Furthermore, there were unavoidable limitations within the perspectives of an orientalist scholarship including the lack of social anthropology.

He has been also criticized to not actively speak out against the conservative society and for the need of any social reform but maintaining an ambiguous nuanced stance. When the British Government sought for the views of notable Indian thinkers as to establishing a minimum legal of marriage with an aim to abolish child-marriage, Rajendralal spoke against it, emphasizing upon the social and religious relevance of child-marriage and Hindu customs.

Last years and death

Rajendralal spend the last years of his life at the Wards' Institution, Manicktala which was his de-facto residence, (after its closure). Even in his last days, he was extensively involved with the Asiatic Committee and was a member of multiple sub-committees.

On 26 July 1891, at around 9 pm, Rajendralal died in his own home amidst bouts of intense fever. Contemporary news-reports mention that these fevers have been common occurrences for the last few years post his suffering a stroke that induced a paralysis and grossly affected his health. Numerous condolence meetings were held across different places and newspapers were filled with obituaries. A huge gathering took place at the Kolkata Town Hall under the auspices of Lt. Gov. Charles Eliot to commemorate Rajendralal as well as Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (who has recently expired) and was the first of its type to be ever presided by a Lieutenant Governor.

Contemporary reception

His academic works along with his oratory, debating skills and miscellaneous writings were extensively praised by his contemporaries and admired for their exceptionally clarity.

Max Müller showered profuse praise on Rajendralal noting:-

....He has edited Sanskrit texts after a careful collection of manuscripts, and in his various contributions to the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, he has proved himself completely above the prejudices of his class, freed from the erroneous views on the history and literature in India in which every Brahman is brought up, and thoroughly imbued with those principles of criticism which men like Colebrooke, Lassen and Burnouf have followed in their researches into the literary treasures of his country.His English is remarkably clear and simple, and his arguments would do credit to any Sanskrit scholar in England....

Rabindranath Tagore commented of him being a Sabyasachi, who could work with both hands and was an association, condensed into one man. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee had also praised Rajendralal's efforts as a historian.

Contemporary historians Rajkrishna Mukhopadhyay and Ramdas Sen were heavily influenced by Rajendralal. Roper Lethbridge and Romesh Chunder Dutt also derived from his works..

Legacy

Rajendralal has been widely viewed as the first modern historian of Bengal in that he applied a rigorous scientific methodology to the study of history. Those who preceded him including the likes of Govind Chandra Sen, Gopal Lal Mitra, Baidyanath Mukhopadhyay, Ramram Basu, Mrityunjaya Vidyalankar, Dwarkanath Vidyabhusan et al despite being well-aware of the modern concepts of Western History, majorly depended upon translating and adopting European history-texts with their own noble interpretations and hence were not professional historians. From a pan-Indian perspective, R. G. Bhandarkar who trod a similar path of scientific-historiography was one of his contemporaries.

Haraprasad Shastri mentioned Rajendralal as one of his primary influences. He has been also alluded to have triggered the Golden age of Bengali historiography that comprised of numerous stalwarts including the likes of Akshaya Kumar Maitra, Nikhil Nath Roy, Rajani Kanta Gupta, Rakhaldas Bandopadhyay and Ramaprasad Chandra.

Eminent historian R.S. Sharma described him as "a great lover of ancient heritage, he took a rational view of ancient society...."

His 'Sanskrit Buddhist Literature' was heavily utilised by Rabindranath Tagore for many episodes of his poems and plays. A street in Kolkata, adjoining his birthplace, is named after him.

Honors

In 1863, the Calcutta University appointed him as a corresponding fellow and he played an important role in its education-reforms. In 1864, the German Oriental Society appointed him as a corresponding fellow. In 1865, the Royal Academy of Science, Hungary appointed him as a foreign fellow. In 1865, the Royal Asiatic society of Great Britain appointed him as an honorary fellow. In October 1867, the American Oriental Society appointed him as an honorary fellow. In 1876, the University of Calcutta honoured Mitra with a honorary doctorate degree.

He was awarded with the honorary titles of Rai Bahadur in 1877, C.I.E in 1878 and Raja in 1888. Rajendralal had expressed displeasure about the awardings.

Publications

Apart from very numerous contributions to the society's journal, and to the series of Sanskrit texts entitled "Bibliotheca indica," he published four separate works:

• The Antiquities of Orissa (2 vols, 1875 and 1880), illustrated with photographic plates
• Buddha Gaya : the hermitage of Sakya Muni (1878), a description of a holy place of Buddhism where Buddha attained Enlightenment.
• a similarly illustrated work on Bodh Gaya (1878), the hermitage of Sakya Muni.
• Indo-Aryans (2 vols, 1881), a collection of essays dealing with the manners and customs of the people of India from Vedic times.
• The Sanskrit Buddhist Literature of Nepal (1882), a summary of the avadana-literature.

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Major Sources

• Sur, Shyamali (1974). "RAJENDRALAL MITRA AS A HISTORIAN : A REVALUATION". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 35: 370–378.
• Ray, Alok (1969). Rajendralal Mitra. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Iyengar, M.S. Ramaswami (1922). "Rajendralal Mitra". Eminent Orientalists.

External links

• Rajendralal Mitra Endowment Lecture at Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata (IACS)
• Prehistoric India (1923), Calcutta University (Calcutta)

• Indian orientalists
• Indian Indologists
• 1824 births
• 1891 deaths
• University of Calcutta alumni
• Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire
• Presidents of The Asiatic Society
• Writers from Kolkata
• 19th-century Indian historians
• 19th-century Indian essayists
• Bengali writers
• Bengali historians
• Scholars from Kolkata