From 13–14 January, the University of Calcutta in India honored the 125th anniversary of the birth of Benimadhab Barua (1888–1948), the great Indologist and internationally recognized scholar of Buddhism. To mark the occasion, the Department of Pali of the University of Calcutta also organized an international seminar, “Revival of Theravada Buddhism in Bengal,” which was held at the Centre for Research in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology in Kolkata.
Professor B. M. Barua. From Wikimedia
“The international seminar was organized as a part of the concluding ceremony of Professor B. M. Barua’s 125th birth anniversary celebration. Professor B. M. Barua . . . was the first professor at the Department of Pali, University of Calcutta,” said Assistant Professor Arindam Bhattacharyya of the Department of Pali of the state-government-run Sanskrit College, in Kolkata.
He added, “[Barua’s] academic contributions in the field of the study of Pali and Buddhism have given a new dimension to the revival of these subjects among ‘Oriental’ as well as ‘Occidental’ academia. In view of his achievements, and also the contributions of some other great personalities who were based in the-then Bengal, namely Reverend Anagarika Dharmapal, Venerable Kripasaran Mahasthavir, and so on, the theme of the seminar was chosen as ‘Revival of Theravada Buddhism in Bengal’.”
Among the distinguished panelists were Professor Nareshman Bajracharya, vice chancellor of Lumbini Buddhist University, Nepal; Professor D. K. Barua, former director of Nava Nalanda Mahavihara, India; Professor K. T. S. Sarao, University of Delhi, India; Dr. Dhammika Jayasinghe, Rohana University, Sri Lanka; Reverend Keuin Ito, Japan; and Dr. Gyanaratna Thero, University of Chittagong, Bangladesh. The current issue of The Journal of the Department of Pali, University of Calcutta was published to coincide with the occasion.
Professor Benimadhab Barua was born on 31 December 1888 in the village of Mahamuni Pahartali, in the Chittagong district of undivided Bengal (now in Bangladesh), and passed away on 23 March 1948. After completing a brilliant academic career in India, in 1914 he traveled to England with the assistance of the late Venerable Kripasaran, the founder of the Bengal Buddhist Association, and the late Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee, then vice chancellor of the University of Calcutta. In 1917, Professor Barua was the first Asian to receive the degree of Doctor of Literature (DLitt) from the University of London; his thesis was entitled “Indian Philosophy—its origin and growth from the Vedas to the Buddha.”
Having received his degree, Professor Barua returned to India, and in December 1917 was appointed to the University of Calcutta, where he served as first professor at the Department of Pali. He was also attached to the departments of Sanskrit and Ancient Indian History and Culture at the same university.
Dr. B. M. Barua is most popularly known for his writings, which include: A Prolegomena to the History of Buddhist Philosophy, A History of Pre-Buddhistic Indian Philosophy, The Ajivikas, Old Brahmi Inscriptions in the Udayagiri and Khandgiri, Asoka and His Inscriptions, and Philosophy of Progress.
Secretary General Hemendu Bikash Chowdhury of the Bengal Buddhist Association, a special guest of the event, paid homage to Dr. Barua: “On the sacred occasion, we pay our respectful homage to this distinguished scholar and educationalist, who made an inestimable contribution to the field of Indology in general and to Buddhist studies in particular.”
References
Chowdhury, Hemendu Bikash. 2012. “Professor Dr. Benimadhab Barua.” Karuna, Organ of the International Brotherhood Mission, 19 February, 66–67.