https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Amiya_ChakravartyAmiya Chakravarty - Revision history2026-07-30T00:11:22ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Amiya_Chakravarty&diff=111142&oldid=prev>Monkbot at 14:15, 15 January 20212021-01-15T14:15:52Z<p></p>
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{{Infobox person<br />
| name = Amiya Chakravarty<br />
| image = Amiya Chakravarty (1901–1986).jpg<br />
| caption = <br />
| birth_name = Amiya Chandra Chakravarty<br />
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1901|4|10}}<br />
| birth_place = [[Serampore]], [[British Raj]] (now [[India]])<br />
| death_date = 12 June 1986<br />
| death_place = [[Santiniketan]], [[West Bengal]], India<br />
}}<br />
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'''Amiya Chandra Chakravarty''' (1901–1986) was an Indian literary critic, academic, and Bengali poet. He was a close associate of [[Rabindranath Tagore]], and edited several books of his poetry. He was also an associate of Gandhi, and an expert on the American catholic writer and monk, [[Thomas Merton]]. Chakravarty was honoured for his own poetry with the [[Sahitya Akademi Award]] in 1963. He taught literature and [[comparative religion]] in India for nearly a decade and then for more than two decades at universities in England and the U.S. In 1970, he was honoured by the Government of India with the [[Padma Bhushan]] award.<ref name="Padma Awards">{{cite web |url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |title=Padma Awards |publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India |date=2015 |access-date=21 July 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015193758/http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |archive-date=15 October 2015 }}</ref><br />
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==Education and career==<br />
He studied in [[Hare School]], [[Calcutta]] and graduated from [[St. Columba's College, Hazaribagh]], which was then under [[Patna University]].<ref name=rfwc>p247, Religious Faith and World Culture, Amandus William Loos, {{ISBN|0-8369-1976-9}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=5MldgZEyiNwC&pg=PA247&dq=amiya&as_brr=3&sig=ACfU3U3muWyhX-Osg9F2KOuAzoHI9aJBUg from Google books result]</ref> He joined [[Visva-Bharati University]] in 1921 as a student. Later, he became a teacher there.{{citation needed|date=August 2018}}<br />
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He was literary secretary to Rabindranath Tagore from 1924 to 1933. During this time, he was a close associate of the poet. He was Tagore's travel companion during his tours to [[Europe]] and [[Americas|America]] in 1930 and to [[Iran]] and [[Iraq]] in 1932.<ref name=peace>[http://www.peacecouncil.net/history/PNLs1941-50/PNL128-1948.pdf A document from peacecouncil.net] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090106020420/http://www.peacecouncil.net/history/PNLs1941-50/PNL128-1948.pdf |date=6 January 2009 }}</ref><br />
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He was also a close associate of [[Mahatma Gandhi]], walking with Gandhi in the [[Salt March]] of 1930.<ref>[http://srv2.lycoming.edu/~hughes/speechJan06.htm A speech by Richard Hughes] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090103060539/http://srv2.lycoming.edu/~hughes/speechJan06.htm |date=3 January 2009 }}</ref><br />
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Following his 1933 journey with Tagore, he left India to study at [[Oxford University]], and in 1937 earned a [[Doctor of Philosophy|D.Phil]]. He worked at Oxford as a senior research fellow from 1937 to 1940. During this time, he also taught in [[Selly Oak College]] in [[Birmingham]] as a lecturer. He moved back to India in 1940 to become a Professor of English at the [[University of Calcutta]].<ref name=peace/><br />
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In 1948, Chakravarty moved to the US to join the Department of English in [[Howard University]]. He was a visiting fellow in English at [[Yale University]], and a fellow of the [[Institute for Advanced Study]] in [[Princeton, New Jersey|Princeton]] during 1950-51.<ref>[http://www.ias.edu/people/cos/users/7053 entry from Institute for Advanced Study's Community of Scholars database]</ref> In 1953, he became a Professor of Comparative Oriental Religions and Literature, [[Boston University]].<ref>[http://www.bu.edu/sth/focus/winter01/reflections.htm Boston University Article on Theological Education] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050321092208/http://www.bu.edu/sth/focus/winter01/reflections.htm |date=21 March 2005 }}</ref><ref>[http://gospelink.com/next/doc?book_doc_id=224861 An introduction from a page in gospelink.com]{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> He also held professorships at [[Smith College]] and later the [[State University of New York]] at New Paltz.{{citation needed|date=August 2018}}<br />
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He wrote both poetry and prose and a number of articles in journals of India, [[England]] and the United States. He wrote many verse collections in Bengali, most notable among these are ''Chalo Jai'' and ''Ghare Pherar Din''.<ref name="kmgeorge">p 510, Modern Indian Literature, an Anthology: Volume I, K. M. George, Sahitya Akademi, {{ISBN|81-7201-324-8}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=m1R2Pa3f7r0C&pg=PA510&dq=amiya&as_brr=3&sig=ACfU3U3g5Ak8pGmKMzI608DNW5qX0DiF4w#PPA510,M1 from Google books result]</ref> His poetry reflects idealism, humanism and a great love of nature and beauty.<ref name="kmgeorge"/> He was awarded the [[Unesco Prize]] for his book, ''Chalo Jai''. In 1963, he received the [[Sahitya Akademi Award]] for ''Ghare Pherar Din''. He authored the book ''Dynasts and the Post-war Age in Poetry'', which is a critical work on [[Thomas Hardy]]'s poetry.<ref name=rfwc/><ref>[http://www.yale.edu/hardysoc/Welcome/COLLECTION.htm List of Early Criticism on Thomas Hardy's works] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080515223940/http://www.yale.edu/hardysoc/Welcome/COLLECTION.htm |date=15 May 2008 }}</ref><br />
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Chakravarty met with many of the notable figures of his time, including Jawaharlal Nehru, [[Albert Schweitzer]], [[Boris Pasternak]], Albert Einstein and Thomas Merton.{{citation needed|date=August 2018}}<br />
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He visited Merton in November 1966 at the [[Abbey of Gethsemani]] in [[Kentucky]]. Merton later dedicated his book, ''Zen and the Birds of Appetite'' (1968), to Chakravarty.{{citation needed|date=August 2018}}<br />
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He served as a delegate to the United Nations for India <ref>[[Thomas Merton]](1985). [[The Hidden Ground of Love]]</ref><br />
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Chakaravarty edited a number of English translations of Tagore's works. Most well known among these are: ''A Tagore Reader'' (1961) and ''The Housewarming and other Selected Writings'' (1965). He was also a consulting editor for ''The Asian journal of Thomas Merton'' by [[Thomas Merton]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://isbndb.com/d/person/merton_thomas/books.html |title=ISBNDB page for Thomas Merton's books |access-date=21 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604123507/http://isbndb.com/d/person/merton_thomas/books.html |archive-date=4 June 2011 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref><br />
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==Recognition==<br />
* [[Padma Bhushan]] from the Govt. of India (1970)<ref>{{cite web|title=Padma Awards Directory (1954–2009) |publisher=[[Ministry of Home Affairs (India)|Ministry of Home Affairs]] |url=http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/LST-PDAWD.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510095705/http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/LST-PDAWD.pdf |archive-date=2013-05-10 }}</ref><br />
* The [[Deshikottama]] from Visva-Bharati<br />
* [[Sahitya Akademi Award]] (1963)<ref>[http://www.sahitya-akademi.org/sahitya-akademi/awa10302.htm#bengali List of Sahitya Akademi Award recIpients (Bengali)] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080410060109/http://www.sahitya-akademi.org/sahitya-akademi/awa10302.htm#bengali |date=10 April 2008 }}</ref><br />
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==References==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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==External links==<br />
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20091110021720/http://www.visva-bharati.ac.in/GreatMasters/Contents/amiyachakraborty.htm Visva-bharati page on Amiya Chakravarty]<br />
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090227215408/http://www.cscsarchive.org:8081/MediaArchive/Library.nsf/%28docid%29/4C58CA028E0ACE3D65257138002FB4B0?OpenDocument&StartKey=Amiya&Count=100 Excerpts from a 1993 book on Amiya Chakravarty]<br />
* [http://baudelaireetbengale.blogspot.com/ Influence of Baudelaire on Bengali Poetry]<br />
* [http://pamphlets.quaker.org/wpl1950p.html William Penn Lecture by Amiya Chakravarty on Gandhi's work and message (1950)]<br />
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{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 1970–79}}<br />
{{Authority control}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chakravarty, Amiya}}<br />
[[Category:1901 births]]<br />
[[Category:1986 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:Bengali male poets]]<br />
[[Category:Bengali-language poets]]<br />
[[Category:Visva-Bharati University alumni]]<br />
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford]]<br />
[[Category:University of Calcutta faculty]]<br />
[[Category:Howard University faculty]]<br />
[[Category:Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars]]<br />
[[Category:Boston University faculty]]<br />
[[Category:Rabindranath Tagore]]<br />
[[Category:Indian literary critics]]<br />
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in literature & education]]<br />
[[Category:Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Bengali]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian poets]]<br />
[[Category:Poets from West Bengal]]</div>>Monkbot