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[[File:Baman Das Basu.jpg|thumb|Toward the end of his life]]
Major '''Baman Das Basu''' (24 March 1867 – 23 September 1930) was an Indian army physician, botanist, nationalist, historian, and writer. He resigned from the [[Indian Medical Service]] after serving in Chitral and Sudan due to the conflict with his nationalism and joined his brother [[Sris_Chandra_Basu]] in editing and publishing books on Hinduism from the Panini Office, Allahabad. A promoter of Indian medical traditions, he completed the botanical work begun by [[Kanhoba Ranchoddas Kirtikar|K.R. Kirtikar]] on Indian medicinal plants.

== Biography ==
[[File:BD_Basu_on_commission.jpg|thumb|left|When joining the Indian Medical Service in 1891]]
Baman Das Basu was born in [[Lahore]], the youngest son of Bhubaneshwari Devi and Shyama Charan Basu (who came from Tangra Bhabanipur, [[Khulna Division|Khulna]] and studied at Calcutta under [[Alexander Duff (missionary)|Alexander Duff]]). His father moved to Lahore and initially served as a headmaster of an American Mission school. He was later involved in organizing the department of education in Punjab including Punjab University but died when Basu was just five months old.<ref>{{cite book|author=Bose, Phanindranath|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.102725|title=Life of Sris Chandra Basu|year=1932}}</ref> An older brother [[Srisa Chandra Vasu|Srisha Chandra Basu]] and his mother took care of him. Although entitled to pension, the family was cheated and pushed into poverty. His mother had to sell her jewellery to raise the children. Srisha was six years older and advised Baman to study Indian medicine systems. Basu entered the [[King Edward Medical University|Lahore Medical College]] in 1882 but failed his midwifery exam in 1887. He however went on to study medicine in England, encouraged by his brother. He passed the LSA, MRCS and the IMS examinations and was commissioned in April 1891 and posted to the Bombay Presidency where he served until 1907. He saw wartime action in Sudan and in Chitral, and suffered scurvy, but his longest spell was as a civil surgeon in Ahmednagar. He took early retirement when he no longer could bear the conflict of supporting imperialists and his nationalist vision.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal|author=Chatterjee, Ramananda|year=1930|title=Baman Das Basu|journal=Modern Review|volume=48|issue=6|pages=667–675}}</ref>

After retirement, Basu worked at the Panini Office in Allahabad started by Srisha. He wrote biographies of Indian medical celebrities, a book "''My Sojourn in England''<nowiki>''</nowiki> and numerous short contributions to the ''[[Modern Review (Calcutta)|Modern Review]]''. Even while in England he wrote to the Congress paper ''India'' on a ''Serious indictment of the examinations for the Indian Medical Service''. (1890). He put together a large collection of books and set up a library in Allahabad named after his mother, the Bhubaneswari library. Colonel K. R. Kirtikar was so impressed by the library that he bequeathed his own collection to it. In 1920 Basu gifted Kirtikar's herbaria, books and journals relating to botany to the Calcutta University and suggested that they set up a Kirtikar Herbarium. He founded the Jagat-Taran Girls' High School in Allahabad (named after his sisters).<ref name=":0" />

Basu married Srimati Sukumari Devi, daughter of Babu Hari Mohan De of Allahabad in 1887. Shortly after the birth of their son his wife suffered from tuberculosis and died in 1902. His son was then raised by his sister Jagat Mohini Das.<ref name=":0" /> Basu was opposed to the caste system and said that it would lead to the downfall of Hinduism and also publicly condemned child marriage and the purdah system. He was strongly against Islam and Anglicization. He admired [[Swami Bhaskarananda Saraswati]]. He served as president of the 9th all-India Ayurvedic conference held in Lahore.

==Diabetes==

Basu believed that [[diabetes]] could be treated by a vegetarian diet and authored the book ''The Dietetic Treatment of Diabetes'', in 1909. In the book he stated that "diabetic patients who are vegetarians live longer than those who are meat eaters".<ref name="Review 1909">{{cite journal|year=1909|title=Reviewed Work: The Dietetic Treatment Of Diabetes by B. D. Basu|journal=[[The BMJ|The British Medical Journal]]|volume=2|issue=2545|pages=1073|jstor=25283846}}</ref> This statement was disputed by a reviewer in ''[[The BMJ|The British Medical Journal]]''.<ref name="Review 1909"/>

His recommended diet for diabetic patients excluded meat, while allowing milk, butter, and vegetable oils.<ref>{{cite journal|author=O. L. R.|year=1914|title=The Dietetic Treatment of Diabetes. By B. D. Basu, Major, LM.S. (Retired). Fourth Edition. (Revised and enlarged)|journal=Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps|url=https://militaryhealth.bmj.com/content/jramc/22/5/608.full.pdf|volume=22|issue=5|pages=613}}</ref> Basu condemned European doctors who were prescribing meat to diabetic patients.<ref name="Review 1909"/> Basu's book sold well to the public, between 1909–1925 it went through thirteen editions.<ref>{{cite journal|year=1926|title=Notes On Books|journal=The British Medical Journal|volume=1|issue=3411|pages=871|jstor=25448604}}</ref>

Basu died from diabetes in 1930.<ref name=":0"/>

<gallery>
File:B_D_Basu_1.jpg
File:B_D_Basu_2.jpg
File:B_D_Basu_3.jpg
</gallery>

== Publications ==
The major books he wrote and edited include:

* [https://archive.org/details/Sacred_Books_of_the_Hindus ''The Sacred Books Of The Hindus (compilation)'']
** [https://archive.org/details/isakenakathapran00basu Volume 1]
** [https://archive.org/details/dli.csl.3631 Volume 8. The Nyaya Sutras of Gotama]
** [https://archive.org/details/pli.kerala.rare.24012 Volume 13]
** [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.45856 Volume 17. Part 1. The Matsya Puranam]
** [https://archive.org/details/bhaktisastraedit00basu ''The Bhaktiratnavali'']
** [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.211162 ''The Aitareya Brahmanam of The Rigveda'']
* [https://archive.org/details/b28060672 ''The Dietetic Treatment of Diabetes''] (1909)
* [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/60985#/summary ''Indian Medicinal Plants''] (1918, with K.R. Kirtikar)
* [https://archive.org/details/historyofeducati00basurich ''History of Education in India, Under the Rule of the East India Company''] (1922, 1934)
* ''Diabetes Mellitus and its Dietetic Treatment'' (1930)

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1867 births]]
[[Category:1930 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian botanists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian botanists]]
[[Category:Indian diabetologists]]
[[Category:Indian Medical Service officers]]
[[Category:Indian medical writers]]
[[Category:Indian vegetarianism activists]]

Baman Das Basu - Revision history

Bot at 15:17, 17 April 2022