Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri
Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri looking right of camera
Bhaduri in 2015
Born (1950-11-23) 23 November 1950
Gopalpur, Pabna, East Bengal
NationalityIndian
Alma materUniversity of Calcutta
Occupation(s)Professor (retired), writer
Known forScholar of Indian epics and Puranas
AwardsBanga Bibhushan (2014)[1]

Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri (born 23 November 1950) is an Indian historian, writer, and Indologist. He is a specialist in Indian epics, Vedas, and Puranas.[2][3] In 2012, Bhaduri undertook the large-scale project of creating an encyclopedia of the major Indian epics of the Mahabharata and Ramayana. The project is freely available online. Due to the difficulty and complexity of the task, it took Bhaduri a decade to conceptualize the project. During the compendium's creation, several Indian journalists stated that the encyclopaedia was poised to challenge many long-held beliefs about the epics.[2]

Personal life

Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri was born on 23 November 1950 in the village of Gopalpur in Pabna (now in Bangladesh). He earned a Master of Arts degree in the Sanskrit language from the University of Calcutta. He was a reader of Sanskrit at Gurudas College, Kolkata.[4] He retired from his job on 30 November 2010.[5]

Literary career

Bhaduri is noted for his scholarly but simple interpretations of ancient Indian tales, particularly those appearing in the Indian epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.[5] He generally writes in Bengali and has written books like Balmikir Ram O Ramayan, Arjun o Draupadi, Krishna, Kunti Ebong Kaunteyo, and others.[4] For many years, he has been writing essays on Hindu epic characters in Bengali magazines, including Sarodiya issues in Bartaman, Ananda Publishers, Anandamela, Desh, etc. In his book Dandaniti, Bhaduri deals with politics in ancient and medieval India.[6] Bhaduri writes a regular column, Katha Amrita Saman, which is published in Sangbad Pratidin's Sunday supplement issue Robbar.

The deity Krishna has been a special interest to Bhaduri. He has written multiple books and essays on the character. In the book Mahabharater Bharat Yuddha Ebong Krishna, he discusses the role of Krishna in the Kurukshetra War.

Encyclopedia project

In March 2012, Bhaduri began directing a major encyclopedia project intended to compile the Indian epics Ramayana, Mahabharata, as well as the Puranas, which is being sponsored by Bengali book publisher Sahitya Samsad and the Netaji Subhas Institute of Asian Studies. Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey of The Times of India has said "The encyclopaedia will challenge claims of certain Indian scholars, who under Western influences have often tried to "sanitise" the character of Krishna. In Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay's Krishnacharitra, for instance, Krishna is supposed to not have even a single consort."[2] Jaideep Mazumdar of The Times of India said "the encyclopaedia will shatter the colonial hangover that a lot of the research into our ancient scriptures in recent times have suffered from and will present many historical figures in a new light."

Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri was quoted in an interview as saying–

"I thought it would be a good idea since all the smaller encyclopedias I came across on the Puranas were incomplete and didn't have proper reference labels. I started poring through the Puranas and making card entries. After some time, I thought I should include the Mahabharata also since the stories in the Mahabharata have a parampara (continuity and tradition) with the Puranas. For instance, names of some kings, conventions and rituals for marriages, childbirth and funerals that are found in the Vedas find mention in the Mahabharata as well. And gaps in the Mahabharata's stories, I discovered, can be filled from the Puranas and the Vedas. And since the story of Ramayana is found in a gist in the Mahabharata, I finally decided that a complete encyclopaedia of the epics and the Puranas is necessary since all these texts and scriptures complement each other."

Though the project was planned long ago, it started only in 2010. According to a report published in The Times of India in August 2012, Debojyoti Dutta, chief of the publication, requested Bhaduri to lead the project. Firstly, they planned to make the encyclopedia on the Mahabharata only, but found it was too difficult to cover only one of the epics. For example, the Hindu epic character Krishna is found in a section of the Ramayana as well.

Due to the complexity and difficulty of the project, it took Bhaduri a whole decade to work on the concept alone. Bhaduri received assistance from research scholars at the Netaji Subhas Institute of Asian Studies. The team felt they could finish the project by 2013, but Bhaduri later said – "after going full steam we realised that it is going to be more difficult than we thought. I think we will go well into 2015".[2]

Books

TitleYearLanguagePublishersISBN
Balmikir Ram O Ramayan1989BengaliAnanda PublishersISBN 978-81-7066-226-6
Mahabharater Bharat Juddho O Krishna1990BengaliAnanda PublishersISBN 978-81-7215-028-0
Mahabharat (Chotoder Jonyo)' 1993BengaliSishu Sahitya Sansad
Arjun O Draupadi1993BengaliSahitya Sansad
Syama Mayer Charit Katha, Syama Mayer Gaan1993BengaliAntaranga Publishers
Debatara manabayana, sastre, sahitye ebam kautuke1995BengaliAnanda PublishersISBN 978-81-7215-156-0
Krishna, Kunti Ebong Kaunteyo1998BengaliAnanda PublishersISBN 978-81-72153-85-4
Dandaniti1998BengaliSahitya Sansad
Sukasaptati: Alocana, Samskrta-mula ebam banganubada : dvadasa-trayodasa satakera Samskrta galpa samkalana2001BengaliAnanda PublishersISBN 978-81-7756-100-5
Mahabharater Chhoy Prabin2002BengaliAnanda PublishersISBN 978-81-7756-228-6
Mahabharater Pratinayak2009BengaliAnanda PublishersISBN 978-8-17756-820-2
Mahabharater Loghu Guru2012BengaliPatralekha
Bhitor Bahir2012BengaliDeep Prakasan
Kaliyug2007 and 2013BengaliGangchil and Deep Publishers
Chaitanyadeb2011 and 2013BengaliDeep Publishers and Patralekha
Ramani2013BengaliKarigar
Mahabharater Ostadasi2013BengaliAnanda Publishers
Achar Bichar Sanskar2013BengaliAbhijan Publishers
Mystery Plays in Sanskrit2013EnglishProgressive Publishers
Katha Amritosoman2014BengaliDeys PublishersISBN 978-81-295-1915-3
Mahabharat: Neeti, Aneeti, Durniti2014BengaliPatralekha
Nana Charcha2014BengaliAbhijan Publishers
Asadukti Halahal2014BengaliThe See Book Agency
Bromha Janen2017BengaliAbhijan Publishers

Translated books

TitleYearLanguagePublishersTranslator
Krishna, Kunti O Kaunteya 2001OriyaVidyapati Publishers, CuttackSashibhusan Mishra
Krishnadvaipayan Vyas 2006HindiRemadhav Publications, GaziabadAmar Goswami
Gandhari2007AssameseSaraighat Publishers, GuwahatiLaxmi Bor Thakur
Dronacharya2008HindiRemadhav Publications, GaziabadUtpal Banerjee
Vyas Dvaipayan2010EnglishOxford University PressKalpana Bardhan
Dhritarashtra2010HindiRemadhav Publications, GaziabadRam Sankar Dwibedi
Kripacharya2010HindiRemadhav Publications, GaziabadRam Sankar Dwibedi

References

  1. ↑ WB Government honours eminent citizens with Bangabibhushan and Bangabhushan awards. aitcofficial.org. 20 May 2014. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Epic-pedia on a grand scale". The Times of India. 7 August 2012. Archived from the original on 15 February 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2012.
  3. ↑ "Love in the time of epics". India Today. 24 November 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2012.
  4. 1 2 Kartik Chandra Dutt (1999). Who's who of Indian Writers: 1999 : In 2 Vol. Vol. 1 A-M. Sahitya Akademi. p. 131. ISBN 978-81-260-0873-5. Retrieved 17 December 2012.
  5. 1 2 "Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri Biography". veethi.com. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  6. ↑ Partha Chatterjee (30 September 2011). Lineages of Political Society: Studies in Postcolonial Democracy. Columbia University Press. pp. 71–. ISBN 978-0-231-15813-8. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
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