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{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=September 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = B. N. Mukherjee
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| birth_date = 1 January 1932
| birth_place = India
| death_date = 4 April 2013 (aged 81)
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| othername =
| occupation = Historian<br/>Writer<br/>[[numismatist]]<br/>[[epigraphist]]
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| spouse =
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| children = One son
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| awards = [[Padma Shri]]<br/>[[H. C. Raychaudhuri]] Centenary Medal
}}
'''Bratindra Nath Mukherjee''' (1 January 1932 – 4 April 2013) was an Indian historian, [[numismatist]], [[epigraphist]] and [[Iconography|iconographist]], known for his scholarship in central Asian languages such as [[Sogdian language|Sogdian]].<ref name="Bratindra Nath Mukherjee passes away">{{cite web | url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/bratindra-nath-mukherjee-passes-away/article4582063.ece | title=Bratindra Nath Mukherjee passes away | newspaper=The Hindu | date=5 April 2013 | access-date=18 October 2015}}</ref> He was a [[Carmichael Professor of Ancient Indian History and Culture]] at [[Calcutta University]] and is reported to have deciphered many ancient scripts.<ref name="Padmashri winner historian Bratindra Nath Mukherjee passes away at 79">{{cite web | url=http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/padmashri-winner-historian-bratindra-nath-mukherjee-passes-away-at-79/1097729/ | title=Padmashri winner historian Bratindra Nath Mukherjee passes away at 79 | newspaper=Indian Express | date=4 April 2013 | access-date=18 October 2015}}</ref> He was the author of 50 books and over 700 articles on ancient history, numismatics and epigraphy.<ref name="Bratindra Nath Mukherjee passes away" /> The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the [[Padma Shri]] in 1992.<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 |df= }}</ref>

== Early life and education ==
[[File:Brahmi script on Ashoka Pillar, Sarnath.jpg|thumb|240px|[[Brahmi script]] on [[Ashoka Pillar]], [[Sarnath]].]]
B. N. Mukherjee was born on the New Year's Day of 1932.<ref name="Remembering an Extra Large Scholar">{{cite journal | url=https://www.academia.edu/7852916 | title=Remembering an Extra Large Scholar | author=Ranabir Chakravarti | journal=Indian Historical Review | year=2014 | volume=41 | issue=1 | pages=151–154 | doi=10.1177/0376983614521722| s2cid=143132679 }}</ref> He obtained his master's degree in Ancient Indian History and Culture from [[Calcutta University]], learning under [[Sarasi Kumar Saraswati]], J. N. Banerjee and R. G. Basak and did research under the guidance of [[Arthur Llewellyn Basham]], renowned scholar and historian, to secure a doctoral degree from the [[School of Oriental and African Studies]], London. He continued in UK at [[Cambridge University]] to research under [[Harold Walter Bailey]] on historical linguistics of West and Central Asia, focusing on Iranian, [[Saka language|Saka]], Saka–Khotanese and [[Aramaic]] studies.<ref name="Remembering an Extra Large Scholar" />

== Scholarship ==
Mukherjee wrote several books on the epigraphy and iconography of the central Asia, such as the [[Kushans]] and [[Yuezhi]]s. His 1989 book, ''The Rise and Fall of the Kushanas'', ''India in Early Central Asia'' (1996)<ref name="India in Early Central Asia">{{cite book | title=India in Early Central Asia | publisher=Harman Publishing House | author=B. N. Mukherjee | year=1996 | pages=124 | isbn=978-8185151984}}</ref> and the last of his works, ''Kushana Studies, New Perspectives'', released in 2004, account his observations on these topics.<ref name="Kushana Studies; New Perspectives">{{cite book | title=Kushana Studies; New Perspectives | publisher=Firma KLM Private Limited | author=B. N. Mukherjee | year=2004 | isbn=978-8171021093}}</ref> His exploration of Ancient India led him to [[numismatic]] studies and he wrote two books on the subject, namely '' Numismatic Art of India'' and ''Coins of Bengal''.<ref name="Bratindra Nath Mukherjee passes away" /> Three of his books, ''The Kushana Genealogy and Chronology'' (1967), ''An Agrippan Source: Studies in Indo-Parthian History'' (1969) and ''Kushana Coins in the Land of Five Rivers'' (1978), employ the study of coins as a means of reconstructing the political and dynastic histories of Saka-Kushana eras.<ref name="Remembering an Extra Large Scholar" /> Known to be a scholar of [[Aramaic]] and [[Greek language|Greek]] edicts, he elucidated the edicts of [[Asoka]] which assisted in the study of the [[Maurya empire]]. He asserted that these edicts were translations and transliterations of [[Prakrit]] inscriptions and revealed the political intonations of [[Ashoka's policy of Dhamma]].<ref name="Remembering an Extra Large Scholar" /> His findings were published in a book, ''Studies in the Aramaic Edicts of Asoka'' (1984).<ref name="Studies in the Aramaic Edicts of Asoka">{{cite book | url=http://www.manoharbooks.com/BookDetails.asp?bookid=100145&Page=1&subjec=%20%20Others%20%20%20%20%20(Studies%20in%20the%20Aramaic%20Edicts%20of%20Asoka) | title=Studies in the Aramaic Edicts of Asoka | publisher=India Museum | author=B. N. Mukherjee | year=1984 }}{{Dead link|date=May 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Mukherjee wrote a 300-page commentary on the treatise, ''Political History of Ancient India: From the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty'',<ref name="Political History of Ancient India: From the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty">{{cite book | url=https://www.amazon.com/Political-History-Ancient-India-Extinction-ebook/dp/B009ECELV4 | title=Political History of Ancient India: From the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty | publisher=Balefire Publishing | author=Hemant Raychaudhary | year=2012 | asin=B009ECELV4}}</ref> considered to be a classic text on ancient India, written by [[Hem Chandra Raychaudhuri]].<ref name="Remembering an Extra Large Scholar" /> His studies helped in the understanding of [[Brahmic scripts|Brahmi]] and [[Kharoshti]] scripts and their etymologies.<ref name="Origin of Brāhmī and Kharoshṭī scripts">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b1djAAAAMAAJ | title=Origin of Brāhmī and Kharoshṭī scripts | publisher=Progressive Publishers | author=Bratindra Nath Mukherjee | year=2005 | pages=69| isbn=9788180640681 }}</ref> His style of writing was heavily leaned on to footnotes and his findings have, at times, attracted criticisms.<ref name="Studies in Kushana Genealogy and Chronology">{{cite journal | url=http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=4025416 | title=Studies in Kushana Genealogy and Chronology | author=R. E. Emmertck | journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies | date=February 1970 | volume=33 | issue=1 | pages=241 | doi=10.1017/S0041977X0014563X}}</ref><ref name="Reviewed Work: The Kushana Genealogy by B. N. Mukherjee">{{cite journal | jstor=600117| title=Reviewed Work: The Kushana Genealogy by B. N. Mukherjee | author=R. Morton Smith | journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society | year=1971 | volume=91 | issue=2 | pages=318–320 | doi=10.2307/600117}}</ref> Besides 50 books,{{citation needed|date=March 2016}} he also published over 700 articles in various national and international journals.<ref name="Worldcat profile">{{cite web | url=http://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n50-4660/ | title=Worldcat profile | publisher=Worldcat | date=2015 | access-date=18 October 2015}}</ref><ref name="Renowned Historian Professor Bratindra Nath Mukherjee Died">{{cite web | url=http://www.jagranjosh.com/current-affairs/renowned-historian-professor-bratindra-nath-mukherjee-died-1365161853-1 | title=Renowned Historian Professor Bratindra Nath Mukherjee Died | publisher=Jagaran Josh | date=5 April 2013 | access-date=18 October 2015}}</ref>

== Honours ==
Mukherjee was a professor at [[Calcutta University]] and held the Carmichael chair of the Ancient Indian History and Culture from 1975 to 1998.<ref name="Historian Bratindra Nath Mukherjee Dead">{{cite web | url=http://www.outlookindia.com/news/article/historian-bratindra-nath-mukherjee-dead/794498 | title=Historian Bratindra Nath Mukherjee Dead | publisher=Outlook | date=4 April 2013 | access-date=18 October 2015}}</ref> He was a fellow of the [[Royal Asiatic Society]], UK.<ref name="Historian Bratindra Nath Mukherjee Dead" /> The Government of India awarded him the civilian honour of the [[Padma Shri]] in 1992.<ref name="Padma Awards" /> He was the president of the [[Indian History Congress]] and was a recipient of the [[H. C. Raychaudhuri]] Centenary Medal of the Asiatic Society, Kolkata.<ref name="Remembering an Extra Large Scholar" />

Mukherjee died on 4 April 2013, at the age of 79, survived by his wife and son.<ref name="Bratindra Nath Mukherjee passes away" />

== Selected works ==
* {{cite book |author=B. N. Mukherjee |title=Mathurā and Its Society: The ʼSakæ-Pahlava Phase |date=1981 |publisher=Firma K.L.M. |isbn=9780836415896 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=udAcAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}
* {{cite book | title=Studies in the Aramaic Edicts of Asoka | publisher=India Museum | author=B. N. Mukherjee | year=1984}}
* {{cite book | title=India in Early Central Asia | publisher=Harman Publishing House | author=B. N. Mukherjee | year=1996 | pages=124 | isbn=978-8185151984}}
* {{cite book | title=Kushana Studies; New Perspectives | publisher=Firma KLM Private Limited | author=B. N. Mukherjee | year=2004 | isbn=978-8171021093}}
* {{cite book | title=Origin of Brāhmī and Kharoshṭī scripts | publisher=Progressive Publishers | author=Bratindra Nath Mukherjee | year=2005 | pages=69}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{cite web | url=http://www.indologica.com/volumes/vol23-24/vol23-24_art06_MUKHERJEE.pdf | title=The Unsolved Aryan Problem (Full text) | publisher=Indologica | date=1994 | access-date=18 October 2015 | author=B. N. Mukherjee | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160427220703/http://www.indologica.com/volumes/vol23-24/vol23-24_art06_MUKHERJEE.pdf | archive-date=27 April 2016 | url-status=dead }}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mukherjee, B. N.}}
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in other fields]]
[[Category:1932 births]]
[[Category:2013 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian linguists]]
[[Category:Indian numismatists]]
[[Category:Indian epigraphers]]
[[Category:Historians of Indian art]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta faculty]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Asiatic Society]]

B. N. Mukherjee - Revision history

CleanupBot II at 11:38, 14 August 2023