Sisir kumar das

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The history of the deshi Indian literatures (often called Bhasha literatures), on the other hand, remained limited as they avoided pointing out the exchanges that one Indian language-literary culture made with the neighbouring ones. Earlier histories of Indian literatures, written mainly by Indologists, concentrated almost exclusively on the Sanskrit and occasionally Pali and Prakrit literary cultures.

A rare scholar of classical Greek, he translated Aristotle’s Poetics and several Greek plays into Bangla. Though some of his major scholarly works are in English, he wrote extensively in Bangla. His creative works, including books for children, are many. He is considered by many as the “doyen of Indianliterary historiographers”. I offer my homage to their hallowed memory…I earnestly hope my critics will not be merely engaged in finding faults and fallacies in this work- they must be too many- but will produce a much better history of Indian literatures replacing it."

Das died on 7 May 2003 in Delhi at the age of sixty seven.

The Sisir Kumar Das Memorial Lecture is delivered by a distinguished scholar as a part of each biennial conference of Comparative Literature Association of India (CLAI)

Madhusudaner Kobimanas (1959), Bangla Chhotogolpo (1961), Chaturdashee (1966), Gadya o Padyer Dwanda (1985), Bitarkita Atithi (1985), Shashwata Mouchak (1987), Kobitar Mil o Aumil (1987), Pathyakram o Sahitya (1992), Bhasha Jijnasa (1992), Phooler Phasal (Samkalaner Rajneeti) (1998), Moder Gorob, Moder Asha (1999), Bharat Sahitya Katha (1999), Shaswata Mouchak: Rabindranath o Spain,

Ahuti, Euripides’ Iphigeneia at Aulis’; Byatikram o Niyam, Brecht’s “The Exception and the Rule”; Antigone, Sophocles’ Antigone; Bandini, Euripides’ Trojan Women; Raja Oidipous, Sophocles’ Oedipus the King;

Bahujuger Opar Hote, Nirbachita Kobita: Selected Poems of the Chinese poet Ai Ching, Nirbachita Kobita: Selected Poems of the Greek Poet George Seferis, Kalo Meyer Panchali, a long ballad by the Chinese poet Ai Ching, Prachin Nabiker Panchali (translation of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner), Thammar Wool Bona (translated from the English version of Uri Orlev’s Hebrew poem: Grenny Krits).

Bidyutgati Adhiyan (D.

In 1957 he completed his Masters' in Bengali from the University of Calcutta with a first class first degree. His father was Mukunda Chandra Das and mother Sarala Das. Das graduated from Presidency College, Calcutta with Bengali Honours in 1955. He also remained the president of Comparative Literature Association of India (CLAI) from 1999 until his untimely death in 2003.

Das used to say that writing in English was not his choice but compulsion.

These dialogues between two literary cultures distant in time and space found its best expression in Aloukik Sanglap, which consisted of imaginary conversations between Kalidasa and Aristotle or Parashuram and Orestes etc. “I," Das once remarked, “have been trying to say this [that “compartmentalized literary-education” should be immediately done away with] for a long time.

The amount of labour that went into their making can be somewhat vouched from this statement of Das:

"This [A History of Indian Literature 1800–1910 ;Western Impact: Indian Response] is not a product of a man of leisure. Apart from this, anothermonumental work in Das’ scholarlyoeuvre is the multi-volume EnglishWritings of Rabindranath Tagore, edited by him.

Despite his formaltraining in Banglalanguage and literature, Das was amongst the few who were instrumental in shaping the discipline of ComparativeLiterature in India.

He held the distinguished post of Tagore Professor from 1980 to 2001. Whetherstudy of literature or reading of literature, call it whatever, wouldremainincomplete if not approached comparatively.