Tapan Raychaudhuri

Tapan Raychaudhuri (8 May 1926^[1] – 26 November 2014) was an Indian historian specialising in British Indian history, Indian economic history and the History of Bengal. He was a Reader in Modern South Asian History at University of Oxford from 1973 to 1992; one year before retirement in 1993, he was given an ad hominem promotion to Professor of Indian History and Civilization. He was also Fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford from 1973–93 where he remained as an Emeritus Fellow until his death in 2014.^[2]

Tapan Raychudhuri in 2009

Education and career

He was a student of Jagabandhu Institution, Calcutta, Ballygunge Government High School, Calcutta, Barisal Zilla School, Scottish Church College, Calcutta and finally Presidency College, Calcutta. He was a Deputy Director of the National Archives of India and taught at the Delhi School of Economics under Delhi University where he was the Director for a few years.^[3]

Awards and honours

• Watumull Prize awarded by the American Historical Association, 1982. (jointly with Irfan Habib) for the Cambridge Economic History of India.^[4]
• Doctor of Letters 1993, University of Oxford
• Doctor of Letters honoris causa by the University of Calcutta
• Doctor of Letters honoris causa by the University of Burdwan^[5]
• Padma Bhushan in 2007 in recognition to his contributions to history.^[6]
• National Research Professor 2010

Personal life

He was a nephew of Hem Chandra Raychaudhuri. He is the cousin of historian Kalyan Kumar Sengupta, known for his work on Pabna Disturbances.

Death

Raychaudhuri died at home in Oxford (England) on 26 November 2014, after suffering a stroke. He was 88.^[1] He was cremated in Oxford on 8 December 2014.

Publications

Books

• —— (1953). Bengal Under Akbar and Jahangir: An Introductory Study in Social History. Calcutta: A. Mukherjee & Co. OCLC 906328391. 
• —— (1962). Jan Company in Coromandel, 1605-1690. 's-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff. OCLC 450671. ^[7]
• Raychaudhuri, Tapan; Habib, Irfan, eds. (1982). The Cambridge Economic History of India. I, c. 1200-c. 1750. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-22802-2. 
• —— (1988). Europe Reconsidered: Perceptions of the West in Nineteenth Century Bengal. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-562066-5. ^[8]
• —— (1993). Romanthan Athoba Bhimrotiprapter Paracharitcharcha রমান্থানা অথবা : ভীমরতিপ্রাপ্তর পরচরিতচচা (in Bangla). Kolkata: Ananda. ISBN 978-8177563481. 
• —— (2005). Perceptions, Emotions, Sensibilities: Essays on India's Colonial and Post-colonial Experiences. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-567894-9. 
• —— (2007). Bangalanama. Kolkata: Ananda. ISBN 978-8177566697. 
• —— (2011). The world in our time: a memoir. Noida: Harper Collins Publishers India. ISBN 978-9350291320. 

References