Rajendralal Mitra

Raja Rajendralal Mitter (1823 or 1824 – 1891) was the first modern Indologist of Indian origin, and was a key figure in the Bengal Renaissance. He was pioneer in scientific study of history and contributed substantially in the field of archaeology. Eminent Historian Professor R.S. Sharma writes of him as, "A great lover of ancient heritage, he took a rational view of ancient society and produced a forceful tract to show that in ancient times people ate beef." He was the author of Antiquities of Orissa (1872). In 1846 he was appointed librarian of the Asiatic Society, and to that society the remainder of his life was devoted—as philological secretary, as vice-president, and as the first Indian president in 1885.

In 1876 the University of Calcutta honoured him with a honorary doctorate degree.

Works

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

• The Antiquities of Orissa (2 vols, 1875 and 1880), illustrated with photographic plates
• 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.

External links

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