Byomkes Chakrabarti

Dr. Byomkes Chakrabarti (also spelled Byomkesh Chakraborty or Byomkesh Chakrabarty) (1923–1981) was a Bengali research worker on ethnic languages. He was also a renowned educationist and a poet. His major contribution to linguistics was in finding out some basic relationship between Santali and the Bengali language. He showed how the Bengali language has unique characteristics, which are absent in other Indian languages, under the influence of Santali. His contribution was fundamental to research on the origin and development of the Bengali language and provided scopes of research in newer horizons in linguistics.

Byomkes Chakrabarti, son of Sarat Chandra Chakrabarti and Sitala Sundari Chakrabarti, was born in Kharar-Gopinathpur village in the Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal, India, in 1923.

He took his M.A. degrees in English and Bengali from Calcutta University. He was the first Ph.D. on the Santali language from this university. Dr. Chakrabarti came in close contact with Dr. Suniti Kumar Chatterji and Dr. Sukumar Sen as their student and imbibed aptitude for linguistic studies from these teachers in the field. His acquaintance with the tribal bases of the Midnapur district induced him to study their culture. He concentrated on the Santali culture in particular and acquired sound knowledge of Santali language. He carried on systematic research on the comparative study of Santali and Bengali languages.

Dr. Chakrabarti started his career as a head master and subsequently held the position of the Principal in Raja Birendra Chandra College in Kandi, Murshidabad district of West Bengal.

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