Raja Rajendralal Mitter | |
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Raja Rajendralal Mitter
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Native name | রাজা রাজেন্দ্রলাল মিত্র |
Born |
Kolkata, Bengal, British India |
15 February 1824
Died | 26 July 1891 Kolkata, Bengal, British India |
(aged 67)
Nationality | Indian |
Occupation | Orientalist |
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.
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: