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{{Short description|Indian Hindu monk, writer and philosopher}}
{{About|the Hindu scholar|other people with this name|Anirban}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}

{{Infobox writer 
| name = Sri Anirvan
| image =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1896|7|8}}
| birth_place = [[Mymensingh]], [[Bengal Presidency]], British India
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1978|5|31|1896|7|8}}
| death_place = [[Calcutta]], [[West Bengal]], India
| occupation = Monk, philosopher, scholar, writer
| language = [[Bengali language|Bengali]], [[Sanskrit]]
| awards = [[Rabindra Puraskar]]
| nationality = Indian
| notableworks = ''Veda Mimamsa'', ''Gayatri Mandala of the Rig Veda''
| period = [[Bengal Renaissance]]
| website = {{URL|www.haimavati-anirvan.org}}
}}

[[Sri]] ''' Anirvan''' (8 July 1896 – 31 May 1978), born ''' Narendra Chandra Dhar''', was an Indian [[Hindu]] [[sannyasa|monk]], writer and philosopher.<ref name="Buddhiyoga">''Buddhiyoga of the Gita and other Essays''. by Anirvan. Samata Books, 1984 (paperback 1991). {{ISBN|978-0-8364-1120-1}}. [http://www.bagchee.com/books.php?id=41833 at Bagchee.com, accessed 1 June 2008] and {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110209050942/http://www.exoticindiaart.com/book/details/IDH620/ |date=9 February 2011 |title=''Buddhiyoga'' jacket copy, accessed June 1, 2008 }}</ref> Widely known as a scholar,<ref name="Buddhiyoga"/><ref name="Reymond">''To Live Within: A Woman's Spiritual Pilgrimage in a Himalayan Hermitage''. By Lizelle Reymond. (Translated from the French original ''La Vie dans la vie'' by Nancy Pearson and Stanley Spiegelberg.) Morning Light Press, 2007. {{ISBN|1-59675-016-2}}. [http://www.gurdjieff-internet.com/book_details.php?BID=101&authID=21&lang=English Gurdjieff-internet.com, accessed 1 June 2008]</ref> his principal works were a Bengali translation of [[Sri Aurobindo]]'s [[Collected Works of Sri Aurobindo|''The Life Divine'']]<ref name="Buddhiyoga"/> and the three-volume treatise ''Veda Mimamsa''.<ref name="Buddhiyoga"/>

==Early life and sannyas==

Sri Anirvan was born on 8 July 1896 in the town of [[Mymensingh]], then a part of [[British Raj|British India]] and now in [[Bangladesh]].<ref name="Buddhiyoga"/> His birth name was Narendrachandra Dhar. He was the son of Rajchandra Dhar, a doctor, and Sushila Devi.<ref name="Antaryoga">''Antaryoga'' ({{langx|bn| অন্তর্যোগ}}). Kolkata: Sri Goutam Dharmapal, Haimavati Prakashani, 1997 (Bengali year 1404), 3rd edition.</ref> He was a spiritually and intellectually inclined child, who by age 11 had memorised the ''Astadhyayi'' of [[Pāṇini]] and the [[Bhagavad Gita]].<ref name="Buddhiyoga"/> He was named '''Baroda Brahmachari''' after going through the [[sacred thread]] ceremony. He also won a state scholarship as a teen and completed university IA and BA degrees at the [[University of Dhaka]] and an [[Master of Arts|MA]] from the [[Sanskrit College]] of the [[University of Calcutta]].<ref name="Buddhiyoga"/>

At 16, he joined the [[Shanti Ashram|Assam Bangiya Saraswata Math]] (the ''[[ashram]]''), located in the village of Kokilamukh near [[Jorhat]] in Assam.<ref name="Buddhiyoga"/> He was a disciple of the ashram's founder, [[Swami Nigamananda|Paramahansa Srimat Swami Nigamananda Saraswati Dev]], who initiated him into [[Sannyasa|sannyas]]. Anirvan's new monastic name was '''Nirvanananda Saraswati'''.<ref name="Buddhiyoga"/> He taught at the ashram school and edited its monthly magazine ''Aryyadarpan''.

==Scholar and writer==

Some time after 1930, Nirvanananda changed his name to '''Anirvan''' and ceased to wear the ochre [[swami]]'s robes.<ref name="Buddhiyoga"/> He travelled widely in North India,<ref name="Buddhiyoga"/> eventually returning to Assam and establishing an ashram in [[Kamakhya Temple|Kamakhya]] near [[Guwahati]].<ref name="Buddhiyoga"/> However, he continued to travel. In the 1940s, he lived in [[Lohaghat]] and [[Almora]]. Madame Lizelle Reymond documented some of this period in ''My Life with a Brahmin Family'' (1958) and ''To Live Within'' (1971).<ref name="Buddhiyoga"/><ref name="Reymond"/> During this time, Sri Anirvan translated [[Sri Aurobindo]]'s [[Collected Works of Sri Aurobindo|''The Life Divine'']] into [[Bengali language|Bengali]] (as ''Divya Jeevan Prasanga''); this book, his first, was published in two volumes between 1948 and 1951.<ref name="Buddhiyoga"/>

In 1953, Sri Anirvan moved to [[Shillong]] in Assam.<ref name="Buddhiyoga"/> His reputation as a [[Vedas|Vedic]] scholar grew;<ref name="Buddhiyoga"/><ref name="Reymond"/> and he wrote both in Bengali (chiefly) and in English (he was also fluent in French) on various aspects of [[Hindu philosophy]] (particularly [[Samkhya]], the [[Upanishad]]s, the [[Bhagavad Gita|Gita]] and [[Vedanta]]) and the parallels between [[Rigveda|Rigvedic]], [[Puranas|Puranic]], [[Tantra|Tantric]] and [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] thought.<ref name="Buddhiyoga"/><ref name="Reymond"/> His [[Masterpiece|magnum opus]], ''Veda Mimamsa'', was published in three volumes in 1961, 1965 and 1970.<ref name="Buddhiyoga"/> This work won him the [[Rabindra Puraskar|Rabindra award]].

Though Sri Anirvan was initiated as a monk, he studied subjects such as [[Marxism]] {{Citation needed|date=November 2017}} and gardening; yet he called himself a simple [[baul]] {{Citation needed | reason=citation known to exist, but not in English | date=November 2017}}.

Sri Anirvan made his final move, to [[Kolkata|Calcutta]], in 1965.<ref name="Buddhiyoga"/> He died on 31 May 1978, after a six-year illness.<ref name="Buddhiyoga"/><ref name="Reymond"/>

==Works==
# Aditi (Bengali: অন্তর্যোগ). Kolkata: Sri Gautam Dharmapal, Haimavati Prakashani Trust.
# Anirvan Aloya Patanjala Yoga-Prasanga; Edited & Translated by Sudipta Munsi; Calcutta: Prachi Publications. (Bengali). Published 2006.
# Antaryoga (Bengali: অন্তর্যোগ). Kolkata: Haimavati Prakashani Trust, 1997 (Bengali year 1404), 3rd edition.
# Aranyak (Bengali: অারণ্যক). Writings as Editor of Nagamananda Ashram magazine. Halishar: Assam Bangyiya Saraswat Math.
# Bichitra (Bengali: বিচিত্রা). Kolkata: Smt Ramaa Choudhury, Haimavati-Anirban Trust, 1993.
# Buddhi Yoga Of The Gita And Other essays.(Original in English.) Biblia Impex Pvt. Ltd. 1991, Madras, Samata Books.
# Dakshinamurti (Bengali: দক্ষিণামূর্তি). 1969. Sreerampore, Hooghly: Sri Rabindranath Bandyopadhyay,.
# Divya Jeevan (Translation Into Bengali Of "The Life Divine" by Sri Aurobindo. দিব্য জীবন প্রসঙ্গ).Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram (Originally published 1948–51).
# Divya Jeevan Prasanga (Bengali: দিব্য জীবন প্রসঙ্গ). Kolkata: Sri Aurobindo Pathamandir, 2000 (fourth edition). (Originally published 1958).
# Gayatri Mandala Volumes 1–6. (Bengali). Undated.
# Gitanuvachan (Bengali: গীতানুবচন). Vol I – 1968, Vol II – 1969, Vol III – 1970. Sreerampore, Hooghly: Sri Rabindranath Bandyopadhyay.
# Inner Yoga (English) Translated by Simanta Narayan Chatterjee from "Antar Yoga." New Delhi: Voice of India.
# Kaveri (Collection Of Poems) (Bengali: কাবেরী).1976. Kolkata: Sri Aurobindo Pathamandir
# Lecture On the Immortality Of the Body in Sri Aurobindo's Yoga (Bengali:).1970. Kolkata: Sri Aurobindo Pathamandir
# Letters From A Baul, Life Within Life. (original in English). 1983. Kolkata: Sri Aurobindo Pathamandir.
# Pather Katha (Bengali). Published 2008.
# Pather Sathi (Bengali: পথের সাথী). Halishar: Srimat Swami Jnananada Saraswati, Assam Bangyiya Saraswat Math, 1980. (Three volumes). Kolkata: Haimavati Anirvan Trust.
# Patralekha (Bengali: পত্রলেখা). Vol I – 1968, Vol II – 1969, Sreerampore, Hooghly: Ritambhara. Vol III – 1980, Kolkata: Haimavati Anirvan Trust.
# Patram Pushpam. 1982. Kolkata: Haimavati Prakashani Trust.
# Prashnottari (Bengali: প্রশ্নোত্তরী). 1973. Sreerampore, Hooghly: Sri Rabindranath Bandyopadhyay. Halishar: Srimat Swami Jnananada Saraswati, Assam Bangyiya Saraswat Math, 2001 (Bengali year 1408), 2nd edition.
# Pravachan (Bengali: প্রবচন). Vol I – 1962, Vol II – 1963, Vol III – 1966, Vol I – 1961, Vol IV – 1973. Sreerampore, Hooghly: Sri Rabindranath Bandyopadhyay. Later – Halishar: Srimat Swami Jnananada Saraswati, Assam Bangyiya Saraswat Math, 2002 (Bengali year 1409).
# Pururava (Bengali). Published 1989.
# Sahitya Prasanga (Bengali: সাহিত্য প্রসঙ্গ). 1980. Kolkata: Haimavati Prakashani Trust
# Shiksha (Bengali: শিক্ষা). Vol I – 1962, Vol II – 1974. Assam Bangyiya Saraswat Math.
# Snehashish (Bengali: স্নেহাশীষ). Vol I – 1971, Vol II – 1971, Vol III – 1972. Sreerampore, Hooghly: Ritambhara.
# Upanishad Prasanga – Commentary on Aitareya Upanishad (Bengali: উপনিষৎ প্রসঙ্গ : ঐতরেয় উপনিষদ্). 1969. Burdwan University.
# Upanishad Prasanga – Commentary on Ishopanishad (Bengali: উপনিষৎ প্রসঙ্গ : ঈশোপনিষদ্). 1967. Burdwan University.
# Upanishad Prasanga – Commentary on Katha Upanishad — (Bengali: উপনিষৎ প্রসঙ্গ : কেনোপনিষদ্). 2009. Kolkata:
# Upanishad Prasanga – Commentary on Kaushitaki Upanishad — (Bengali: উপনিষৎ প্রসঙ্গ : কেনোপনিষদ্). 2009. Kolkata:
# Upanishad Prasanga – Commentary on Kenopanishad — (Bengali: উপনিষৎ প্রসঙ্গ : কেনোপনিষদ্). 1969. Kolkata: Haimavati Prakashani Trust
# Upanishad Prasanga – Commentary on Mandukya Upanishad — (Bengali: উপনিষৎ প্রসঙ্গ : কেনোপনিষদ্). 2009. Kolkata:
# Upanishad Prasanga – Commentary on Taittireya Upanishad — (Bengali: উপনিষৎ প্রসঙ্গ : কেনোপনিষদ্). 2009. Kolkata:
# Uttarayan (Bengali: উত্তরায়ন). Kolkata: Smt Ramaa Choudhury, Haimavati-Anirban Trust, 1995.
# Vedamimamsa (Bengali: বেদ মীমাংসা). Vol I – 1961, Vol II – 1965, Vol III – 1970. Winner of Rabindra Puraskar award. Kolkata: Government Sanskrit College.
# Vedanta Jijnasa (Bengali: বেদান্ত জিজ্ঞাসা). Sreerampore, Hooghly: Sri Rabindranath Bandyopadhyay, 1965 (Bengali year 1372).
# Yogasamanvaya Prasanga (Bengali: যোগসমন্বয় প্রসঙ্গ). 1967. Kolkata: Sri Aurobindo Pathamandir.

==Biographies==

# Section on Sri Anirvan in "Adhyatmavada Samskritite Acarya Satyananda" by Prof. Gita Haldar in Bengali. Undated.
# Kathaprasange Sri Anirvan by Ayacaka in Bengali. Undated.
# Mahajana Samvada by Prof. Govindagopal Mukherjee in Bengali. Undated.
# Rishi Anirvan, biography of Sri Anirvan by Prof. Gita Haldar in Bengali. Published 2008.
5. Smriticarane Mahayogi Anirvan by Dilip Kumar Roy in Bengali. Undated.

==Books on Sri Anirvan and his philosophy==

# Akasabrahma by Ayacaka in Bengali. Undated.
# My Life In A Brahmin Family by Lizelle Reymond. Translated from the French by Lucy Norton. Rider and Co. London. 1958.
# To Live Within by Sri Anirvan and Lizelle Reymond, introduction by Jacob Needleman. Morninglight Press. 2007.

== See also ==
* [[Hindu idealism]]
* [[Hindu philosophy]]

== References ==
<references />

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{cite book |last=Banik |first=Nandadulal |year=2012 |chapter=Anirvan |chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Anirvan |editor1-last=Islam |editor1-first=Sirajul |editor1-link=Sirajul Islam |editor2-last=Jamal |editor2-first=Ahmed A. |title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |edition=Second |publisher=[[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]]}}
* [http://absmath.org Assam Bangiya Saraswat Matha]
* ''J.L. Mehta on Heidegger, Hermeneutics, and Indian Tradition''. By Jarava Lal Mehta, William J. Jackson (editor). Brill Academic Publishers, 1992. {{ISBN|978-90-04-09488-8}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=967eWDvaKRIC&dq=%22Translated+The+Life+Divine+into+Bengali%22&pg=PA166 Google books version, accessed 1 June 2008]
* Sri Anirvan Rachanavali ( Complete Works ) : http://www.haimavati-anirvan.org. Online e-library (Bengali) including most important works : Veda Mimamsa, Rig-Veda Samhita, Upanishad Prasanga
* Sri Anirvan Rachanavali ( Internet Archive Community texts ) : https://archive.org/details/@shri_anirvan_rachanavali

{{Indian Philosophy}}
{{Bengal Renaissance}}
{{Modern Hindu writers}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Anirvan, Sri}}
[[Category:1896 births]]
[[Category:1978 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian philosophers]]
[[Category:20th-century Bengali people]]
[[Category:20th-century Hindu philosophers and theologians]]
[[Category:Indian male essayists]]
[[Category:Indian Hindu yogis]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Rabindra Puraskar]]
[[Category:University of Dhaka alumni]]
[[Category:The Sanskrit College and University alumni]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:People from Mymensingh District]]
[[Category:Bengali Hindus]]
[[Category:20th-century Hindu religious leaders]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian essayists]]
[[Category:Scholars from Kolkata]]

Anirvan - Revision history

CleanupBot at 05:45, 22 March 2026