Sibnarayan Ray
Encyclopedia
Bengali people
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
thinker, educationist, philosopher and literary critic of twentieth century India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. A radical humanist, he is widely reputed for his works on Marxist-revolutionary Manabendra Nath Roy
Manabendra Nath Roy
Manabendra Nath Roy , born Narendra Nath Bhattacharya and popularly known as M. N. Roy, was an Indian nationalist revolutionary and an internationally known radical activist and political theorist. Roy was a founder of the Communist Parties in both Mexico and India and was a delegate to...
, and famous polymath Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things...
, commenting on Ray, once said that "... Sibnarayan Ray stands for a point of view which I consider important in every part of the world. ... His writings ably represents a more reasonable point of view than that of most writers of our time."
Life and career
On 20 January 1921, Sibnarayan Ray was born to Professor Upendranath Bidyabhushan Shastri (1867-1959) and poetess Rajkumari Roy (1882-1973). in Calcutta, IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. His father was a thinker-writer who had published more than 50 books in Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. His mother too was a literary person who regularly contributed to magazines like Bamabodhini, Shibam
Shibam
Shibam is a town in Yemen with about 7,000 inhabitants. The first known inscription about the city dates from the 3rd century AD...
, Antapur and Mahila. No wonder that Sibnarayan started writing in his teens. He graduated from the University of Calcutta
University of Calcutta
The University of Calcutta is a public university located in the city of Kolkata , India, founded on 24 January 1857...
in English language and literature. He was married to Gita Ray.
He joined the City College, Kolkata
City College, Kolkata
City College is a constituent undergraduate college of the University of Calcutta. Established in 1881, it is one of the heritage institutions of Calcutta which played a prominent social role in the wake of the Bengal Renaissance of the nineteenth century. The college is located at 102/1, Raja...
, a constituent undergraduate college of the University of Calcutta in 1945 at the age of twenty four as a lecturer of English literature and taught there for long fifteen years. He was reader and head of the Department of Indian Studies at the University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
from 1963 until late-1980.
Ray went to many universities around the world as visiting professor including School of Oriental and African Studies
School of Oriental and African Studies
The School of Oriental and African Studies is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the University of London...
(SOAS) under the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
and department of Social Science in the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
. He was invited to deliver lectures in many universities in France, Germany, Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland and Hungary. As a visitng professor he taught courses in Clare College of the Cambridge University, Goethe University in Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
and at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
.
After returning to Calcutta from Melbourne, he worked as Director of the Rabindra Bhavan at Visva-Bharati University
Visva-Bharati University
Visva Bharati University is a Central University for research and teaching in India, located in the twin towns of Santiniketan and Sriniketan in the Indian state of West Bengal. It was founded by Rabindranath Tagore who called it Visva Bharati, which means the communion of the world with India...
, from 1981 to 1983. He was an Emeritus Fellow on Literature of the Department of Culture, Government of India
Government of India
The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
. Also he worked as the Chairman of the Raja Rammohan Roy and as Senior research Fellow at the Indian Council of Historical Research
Indian Council of Historical Research
The Indian Council of Historical Research is a Society . The ICHR is registered under Societies registration Act 1860 with the Department of Industries of Delhi Government, Delhi.Role...
. Notably he worked as the Executive Secretary of the Indian Renaissance Institute (IRI) from 1960 to 1969.
He died in Shantiniketan on 26 February 2008. Following his wishes, his mortal remains were donated to the SSKM Hospital in Calcutta.
A Radical Humanist
Ray was imbued with the spirit of communism in early life. However Stalinist anti-human rule in Soviet RussiaRussian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....
frustrated him. That led him to believe in the sublimity of humankind and made aware of the constraints of human freedom that are inherent in man's own cognition. For his philosophical thinking he came to be known as a radical humanist. However, Sibnarayan Ray was profoundly influenced by the concept styled Beyond Communism, propounded by M. N. Roy. The concept of radical humanism was conceived by M. N. Roy in his Basic principles of Radical Democracy which he shared with a few comrades including Sibnarayan Ray. One of the assumptions was that party-politics was inconsistent with his ideal of organized democracy. It was 'radical' because it rejected many of the traditional political and philosophical assumptions underlying the society of early twentieth century India; and it was 'humanism' because it focused entirely on the needs and situation of human beings. Young Sibnarayan took part in Radical Humanist Movement launched by M. N. Roy in 1948 Notably, unlike humanists, radical humanists aim to overthrow or transcend existing social arrangements. Radical humanists seek transformation, emancipation, and critical analysis of modes of domination. They want people to reconstruct their view of reality and take appropriate action."
Ray said that it was not just religion, but politics which could stifle free-thinking and the spirit of inquiry. The human mind has a conflict in itself. It will either give in to an authority or ask questions. In order for a society to thrive it should follow the latter path. However, today, both rationality and the questioning spirit are on the wane. This is the reason we find so many people flocking to astrologers or buying precious stones and charms for good luck.
Literary criticism
Sibnarayan Ray was highly respected for very high quality literary criticism. He was the only critic with an international mindset.Publication of Jijnasa
He published and edited Jijnasa which became the most important BengaliBengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
journal or literature, history, culture and philosophy. Writers from home and abroad contributed to this Bengali Language
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
journal published from Calcutta. Professor Ray undertook to edit and publish Jijnasa in 1980 while he was still residing in Melbourne.
Works on M. N. Roy
Indian revolutionary communist M. N. Roy was one of the pioneering leaders of the revolutionary movements in IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. He took leading role in founding Communist Party
Communist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
of Mexico (1919) and of India (1920). During the 1920s he rose to the highest echelon of the Communist hierarchy by becoming a member of the Executive Committee, the Presidium and the Political Secretariat. More importantly he was an unparallel theorist with incisive and analytical writings. Sibnarayan Ray met M. N. Roy first in 1946. He was greatly influenced by the thinking of this revolutionary. Before death he was writing a biography of Manabendra Nath Roy
Manabendra Nath Roy
Manabendra Nath Roy , born Narendra Nath Bhattacharya and popularly known as M. N. Roy, was an Indian nationalist revolutionary and an internationally known radical activist and political theorist. Roy was a founder of the Communist Parties in both Mexico and India and was a delegate to...
. He edited works of Roy in four volumes which have been published by the Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
.
A fling at poetry
Sibnarayan Ray composed some poems in his early years of writing. Most of them were collected in an anthology under the title Kothara Tomar Mon published in 1951. A second edition of the anthology was published in late 1990s. One of these poems rendered into EnglishEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
from Bengali
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
by Evelyn Panofsky is quoted below :
This Rare Afternoon
This rare afternoon in the valley of autumn.
Behind the trembling curtain of pine needles
sad sun’s gold. On chestnut branches
scant whorls of mauve-tinted flowers.
Drowsy peace falling,
pine needles falling,
touch of elderly sadness in the valley of autumn.
No dark monsoon flashes of passion’s anguish
are in this autumn’s serene and elderly sadness.
Afternoon of falling needles. Look, there falls
a dew drop and glides down the curved belly of time.
Quotations
- In the whole world, it is only Goethe who compares with Rabindranath TagoreRabindranath TagoreRabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
in terms of literary diversity. - If Bengali as a language has any chance to flourish, that will be in BangladeshBangladeshBangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
and not in West BengalWest BengalWest Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
.
Publications
- Prekshita (tr. Perspectives)(Its focus was decadance of modern English literature.)
- Moumachi-tantra
- Sahitya Chinta (tr. Thoughts on Literature), 1956.
- Kothara Tomar Mon (poetry)
- M. N. Roy Philosopher-Revolutionary, edited by Sibnarayan Ray, Calcutta, 1959.
- Nayoker Mrityu (tr. Death of the Hero), 1960.
- Probasher Journal (tr. Journal written while abroad)
- Radicalism
- I have seen Bengal's Face (ed.) 1973.
- Gandhi, India and the World (edited)
- Kobir Nirbashon O Onanyana Bhawna (tr. Expulsion of the Poet and Other Issues), 1973.
- In quest of freedom-A study of the life and works of M. N. Roy
- Between Renaissance and Revolution: Selected Essays
- From the Broken Nest to Visva-Bharati
- Khraiyer dike (tr. Uphill route), 1988.
- A New Renaissance.
- Swadesh, Swakal, Swajan (tr. Own land, Own time, Own people), 1996.
- Selected Works of M.N.Roy: Vol:4. 1932-1936, by Sibnarayan Ray
- Bengal Renaissance: The First Phase
- The University of Man: The Message of Romain Rolland
- Vietnam Seen from East and West
- In Man's Own Image (co-author Ellen Roy)
Essays
- “Ideologies and the Alienated Writer” in Society and the Writer: Essays on Literature in Modern Asia, edited by Wang GungwuWang GungwuWang Gungwu, CBE is an academic who has studied and written about the Chinese diaspora, although he has objected to the use of the word diaspora to describe the migration of Chinese from China, because it is inaccurate and has been used to perpetuate fears of a "Chinese threat". He was born in...
, M. Guerrero, and D. Marr, pp. 221-37. Canberra: Research School of Pacific Studies, The Australian National UniversityAustralian National UniversityThe Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
, 1981. - "A literary revolution in India", Times Literaray Supplement, August, 1957.
- "Decline of the Indian Intellectuals", Quest, Octo-Dec, 1958.
- "Eastwinf Westwind", Soviet Survey, April-June, 1959.
- "Saratchandra Chottopadhya", The Radical Humanist, 22 June, 1952.
- "Ezra Pound and the Artists's Dilemma", The Radical Humanist, September, 1952.
- "Ezra Pound", The Calcutta Review, May, 1943.
- "Albert Camus", Quest, April-June, 1960.
- The Sikh Movement, in A New Renaissance.
- "Shakespearian Variations on the Theme of Apartheid" by Sibnarayan Ray, in Calcutta Essays on Shakespeare, Ed. Amalendu Bose.
Awards and recognition
- 1942 Regina Guha Gold Medal, Calcutta University.
- Bertrand Russel commented that "... Sibnarayan Ray stands for a point of view which I consider important in every part of the world. ... His writings ably represents a more reasonable point of view than that of most writers of our time."
- Poet Edith SitwellEdith SitwellDame Edith Louisa Sitwell DBE was a British poet and critic.-Background:Edith Sitwell was born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, the oldest child and only daughter of Sir George Sitwell, 4th Baronet, of Renishaw Hall; he was an expert on genealogy and landscaping...
said, "It is my convinced opinion that Sibnarayan Ray is one of the few really important critics of our time. ... In this most remarkable book Explorations, doors are opened upon long vistas of beauty and of meaning. There is a nourishment for the mind and for the power of living upon every page...."