Ndizzy4glo at 02:32, 23 February 2026

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{{Short description|Indian academic}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=December 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Benoy Kumar Sarkar
| image = Benoy Kumar Sarkar.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Photo of Sarkar from the March–April 1917 issue of ''The Hindusthanee Student''.
| birth_date = 26 December 1887
| birth_place = [[Malda City|Malda]], [[British India]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1949|11|24|1887|12|26|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Washington D.C.]], [[United States]]
| occupation = Social scientist
| spouse = Ida Sarkar
| father = Sudhyanya Kumar Sarkar
}}

'''Benoy Kumar Sarkar''' (sometimes '''Binoy Kumar Sarkar''') (December 26, 1887, [[Malda district|Malda, British India]] – November 23, 1949, [[Washington, D.C.|Washington D.C., United States]]) was an Indian social scientist, professor, and nationalist.<ref>{{Citation |last=Sinha |first=Vineeta |title=Benoy Kumar Sarkar (1887–1949) |date=2017 |work=Sociological Theory Beyond the Canon |pages=303–335 |editor-last=Alatas |editor-first=Syed Farid |url=https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-41134-1_11 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |language=en |doi=10.1057/978-1-137-41134-1_11 |isbn=978-1-137-41134-1 |editor2-last=Sinha |editor2-first=Vineeta|url-access=subscription }}</ref> He founded several institutes in [[Calcutta]], including the Bengali Institute of Sociology, Bengali Asia Academy, Bengali Dante Society, and Bengali Institute of American Culture.

== Early life and education ==
Binoy Kumar Sarkar was born in Malda Town of [[Malda, West Bengal]], in [[Bengal Presidency]]. He started his early education in [[Malda Zilla School]]. Sarkar entered the [[University of Calcutta]] at the age of 13 after standing first at the entrance examination from Malda Zilla School,<ref>Suhrita Saha, "Benoy Kumar Sarkar (1887-1949): A Tryst with Destiny" in ''Sociological Bulletin'', 62 (1), January–April 2013, p. 5</ref> while he graduated in 1905, at 18, with dual degrees in English and history. The following year he received his master's degree.

== Career ==
In 1925 Sarkar started as a lecturer at the Department of Economics of [[University of Calcutta]]. He praised [[Nazism]] as "form of benevolent dictatorship", and advocated the establishment of a fascist dictatorship in India.<ref>{{Citation|title=Age of Entanglement|first=Kris|last=Manjapra|year=2014|page=209|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]}}</ref> In 1947, he became a professor and head of the department. In 1949, Sarkar went on a lecture tour in America, visiting 25 universities.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Bayly |first=Martin J. |date=2023 |title=Global intellectual history in International Relations: Hierarchy, empire, and the case of late colonial Indian international thought |journal=Review of International Studies |volume=49 |issue=3 |pages=428–447 |language=en |doi=10.1017/S0260210522000419 |s2cid=252861083 |issn=0260-2105|doi-access=free }}</ref> During his trip to America, he interacted with scholars such as [[John Dewey]], [[Talcott Parsons]], [[Carle C. Zimmerman|Carle Zimmerman]], and [[Raymond Leslie Buell]].<ref name=":1" />

Closely involved with the national education movement of [[India]], Professor Sarkar was highly influenced by the Nationalist action of [[Sister Nivedita]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/magazine/voices/2017/oct/28/need-to-end-the-national-culture-of-selective-forgetfulness-1684056.html|title=Need to end the national culture of selective forgetfulness |publisher=[[The New Indian Express]]}}</ref>

Sugata Bose writes of Sarkar's cosmopolitan visions for Asia, and his celebration of many Asian polities, "Far from harboring Hindu nationalist sentiments of the sort later propagated by [[Vinayak Damodar Savarkar|V. D. Savarkar]] ... Sarkar was an eloquent and passionate proponent of Hindu-Muslim equality and unity.<ref>Bose, Sugata. 2024. “In Search of Young Asia.” In ''Asia after Europe.'' United States: Harvard University Press,. p. 75</ref> Sarkar warned Asians not to trust Western powers.<ref>Bose, p. 85</ref> Sarkar challenged the West's racial privileging of democracy:

{{Blockquote
|text=The New Asia wants the New Europe and the New America to admit, as principle, that their peoples must not by any means command greater privileges in the Orient than the oriental peoples can possibly possess within the bounds of the Occident. ... The doctrine of international reciprocity is the first article of faith in the gospel of Young Asia. ... Young Asia wants Eur-America to realize that democratic emotions and ideals are not the monopoly of occidental race- psychology.}} <ref>As cited in Bose, p. 86</ref>

==Selected publications==
Sarkar wrote in five languages, his native [[Bengali language|Bengali]], [[English language|English]], [[German language|German]], [[French language|French]] and [[Italian language|Italian]],<ref>Andrew Sartori, "Beyond Culture-Contact and Colonial Discourse: "Germanism" in Colonial Bengal" in Shruti Kapila (ed.), ''An Intellectual History for India'', Cambridge University Press (2010), p. 82</ref> publishing a large volume of work on a variety of topics, including 53 books and booklets in English alone, his written production amounting in all to some 30 000 pages.<ref>Suhrita Saha, "Benoy Kumar Sarkar (1887-1949): A Tryst with Destiny" in ''Sociological Bulletin'', 62 (1), January–April 2013, p. 4</ref> A complete list of his publications is contained in Bandyopadhyay's book ''The Political Ideas of Benoy Kumar Sarkar''.<ref>Bandyopadhyay, B. (1984) ''The Political Ideas of Benoy Kumar Sarkar'' K. P. Bagchi, Calcutta, {{ISBN|0-8364-1336-9}}, {{OCLC|12419520}}</ref>
* 1914/1921 ''The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology''<ref>published in two parts, the first in 1914 and the later in 1921: Sarkar, Benoy Kumar (1914) ''The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology'' (Part 1) Pânini Office, Allahabad, {{OCLC|2005865}}; and Sarkar, Benoy Kumar (1914) ''The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology'' (Part 2, with appendices by Brajendranáth Seal) Sudhindra Natha Vasu, Allahabad, {{OCLC|48121776}}</ref>
* 1916 ''The Beginning of Hindu Culture as World-Power (A.D. 300-600)''<ref>Sarkar, Benoy Kumar (1916) ''The beginning of Hindu culture as world-power (A.D. 300-600)'' Commercial Press, Shanghai, {{OCLC|5732399}}</ref>
* 1916 ''Chinese Religion Through Hindu Eyes''<ref>Sarkar, Benoy Kumar (1916) ''Chinese Religion Through Hindu Eyes: a study in the tendencies of Asiatic mentality'' Commercial Press, Shanghai, {{OCLC|82020}}</ref>
* 1918 ''Hindu Achievements in Exact Science: A Study in the History of Scientific Development''<ref>Sarkar, Benoy Kumar (1918) ''Hindu achievements in exact science a study in the history of scientific development'' Longmans, Green and Co., New York, {{OCLC|1193853}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |date=1919 |title=Review of Hindu Achievements in Exact Science. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2763856 |journal=American Journal of Sociology |volume=24 |issue=4 |pages=467 |doi=10.1086/212946 |jstor=2763856 |issn=0002-9602|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
* 1918 "The Influence of India on Western Civilization in Modern Times" (in [[Journal of Race Development|The Journal of Race Development]])<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sarkar |first=Benoy Kumar |date=1918 |title=The Influence of India on Western Civilization in Modern Times |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/29738272 |journal=The Journal of Race Development |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=91–104 |doi=10.2307/29738272 |jstor=29738272 |issn=1068-3380|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
* 1943 ''The Equations of World-Economy in Their Bearing on Post-War Reconstruction''<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tintner |first=Gerhard |date=1945 |title=Review of The Equations of World-Economy in Their Bearing on Post-War Reconstruction |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1811465 |journal=The American Economic Review |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=452–452 |issn=0002-8282}}</ref>
In 1919, he authored a study in the ''American Political Science Review'' presenting a "Hindu [[International relations theory|theory of international relations]]" which drew on thinkers such as [[Kautilya]], [[Manu (Hinduism)|Manu]] and [[Shukra|Shookra]], and the text of the [[Mahabharata]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sarkar|first=Benoy Kumar|date=1919|title=Hindu Theory of International Relations|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0003055400015926/type/journal_article|journal=American Political Science Review|language=en|volume=13|issue=3|pages=400–414|doi=10.2307/1945958|jstor=1945958 |s2cid=146956993 |issn=0003-0554|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last1=Acharya|first1=Amitav|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/making-of-global-international-relations/FB7779C9914127CBDBE200481494BA7E|title=The Making of Global International Relations: Origins and Evolution of IR at its Centenary|last2=Buzan|first2=Barry|date=2019|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-108-48017-8|pages=100–101|doi=10.1017/9781108647670|s2cid=159147042 }}</ref> In 1921, he authored a ''Political Science Quarterly'' study presenting a "Hindu Theory of the State."<ref name=":0"/> According to Barry Buzan and Amitav Acharya, Sarkar's works "may be the first major IR contributions by an Indian, and one of the first modern efforts to develop an indigenous Non-Western theory of IR."<ref name=":0"/>

== Death ==
Sarkar died on a trip to the United States in Washington, DC, in November 1949.

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*Behn, Wolfgang (2004) "Benoy Kumar Sarkar: 1887-1949" ''Concise Biographical Companion to Index Islamicus, 1665-1980: An international who's who in Islamic studies from its beginnings down to the twentieth century'' (Volume Three (N-Z)) Koninklijke Brill: Leiden, Netherlands. {{ISBN|90-04-14189-8}}
* Bose, Sugata. 2024. “In Search of Young Asia.” In Asia after Europe. United States: Harvard University Press.
*Sen, Satadru (2015) "Benoy Kumar Sarkar. Restoring the nation to the world", Taylor and Francis: London. {{ISBN|9781317410676}}
*Sinha, Vineeta (2007) "Sarkar, Benoy Kumar (1887–1949)" ''in'' Ritzer, George (ed.) (2007) ''Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology'' Blackwell Publishing: Malden, MA. {{ISBN|978-1-4051-2433-1}}
*Sarkar, Ida (1977) "My life with Prof. Benoy Kumar Sarkar", compiled and translated from the German text by Indira Palit. Prabhat: Calcutta. (BEPI, 1994. The Natl. bibliogr. of Indian literature / gen. ed. B.S. Kesavan; V.Y. Kulkarni, 1962, vol. I, p. 246. NUC pre-1956)

==External links==
*[http://www.saadigitalarchive.org/entity/benoy-kumar-sarkar Benoy Kumar Sarkar materials in the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA)]
*[https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Sarkar%2C%20Benoy%20Kumar%2C%201887%2D1949 Online books by Benoy Kumar Sarkar in the University of Pennsylvania]
* [https://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n50026207 Benoy Kumar Sarkar, WorldCat catalogue]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarkar, Benoy Kumar}}
[[Category:Indian sociologists]]
[[Category:Indian political scientists]]
[[Category:Indian international relations scholars]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Calcutta]]
[[Category:1887 births]]
[[Category:1949 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Malda district]]
[[Category:Scholars from British India]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian male writers]]
[[Category:Bengali Hindus]]
[[Category:People from the Bengal Presidency]]
[[Category:Bengali writers]]
[[Category:Indian fascists]]

Benoy Kumar Sarkar - Revision history

Ndizzy4glo at 02:32, 23 February 2026