https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Harinath_DeHarinath De - Revision history2026-07-31T04:37:38ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Harinath_De&diff=457611&oldid=prevAyurtreatservices at 19:36, 7 February 20262026-02-07T19:36:59Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{short description|Indian linguist, polyglot and Indologist}}<br />
{{Hatnote|Not to be confused with [[Harinath Dey]], University of Dhaka biochemist}}<br />
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}<br />
{{Infobox person<br />
| name = Harinath De<br />
| image = File:Harinath De, Indian linguist, polyglot, Indologist and an academician.jpg<br />
| alt = <br />
| caption = Harinath De: Indian linguist, polyglot, Indologist and an academician<br />
| birth_name = <br />
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1877|08|12}}<br />
| birth_place = [[Ariadaha]], [[Calcutta]] [[North 24 Parganas]], [[West Bengal]], India<ref name = "Bose590">Sengupta, Subodh Chandra and Bose, Anjali (editors), (1976), ''Samsad Bangali Charitabhidhan'' (Biographical dictionary), {{in lang|bn}}, p 590</ref><br />
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1911|08|30|1877|08|12}}<br />
| death_place = [[Calcutta]], India<br />
| other_names = <br />
| occupation = Academician, librarian, polyglot<br />
| known_for = ability to speak in 34 languages<br />
}}<br />
'''Harinath De''' (12 August 1877— 30 August 1911) was an Indian linguist, polyglot, Indologist and an academician, who later became the first Indian librarian of the [[National Library of India]] (then Imperial Library) from 1907 to 1911.<ref>{{cite book |title=Indian librarianship: perspectives and prospects |editor=Ravindra N. Sharma |publisher=Kalyani Publishers |year= 1981|page= 221}}</ref> In a life span of thirty-four years, he learned 34 languages.<ref name="Capitol">{{cite book|title=Capital|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ucsxAAAAMAAJ|access-date=4 June 2013|year=1977|page=267}}</ref><br />
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==Early life and education==<br />
He was born in [[Ariadaha]] of [[Kamarhati]] (in present [[North 24 Parganas district]]) near [[Kolkata]], West Bengal. His father Roy Bahadur Bhutnath De was a government official in [[Raipur]], [[Central Provinces]] (now [[Chhattisgarh]]), where the family of young [[Narendranath Dutta]] (future [[Swami Vivekananda]]) also stayed in the same building, briefly from 1877 to 1879.<ref>{{cite book |title=Swami Vivekananda in India: A Corrective Biography|author= Chattopadhyay Rajagopal |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|year=1999|isbn=8120815866 |page=23 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EtcoeaQIQdAC&q=Harinath+De&pg=PA23}}</ref><ref name=gr169/><br />
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He attended Raipur High School, and went to study at [[Presidency College, Kolkata]] (then in the [[University of Calcutta]]), followed by [[Christ's College, Cambridge]]<ref name=gr169>[[#Gr|Greenspan, p. 169]]</ref> A [[polyglot]] and linguistic prodigy, he was expert in 34 languages, including many eastern and western languages such as Chinese, Tibetan, Pali, Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, English, Greek, Latin,<ref>{{cite book |title=A history of Calcutta's streets (Vol. 2)|author= P. Thankappan Nair|publisher=Firma KLM|year=1987|page=396 }}</ref><ref>[[#Gr|Greenspan, p. 140]]</ref> out of which he was M.A in 14.<br />
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==Career==<br />
De was the first [[Indian Education Service]] officer among Indians. He was Professor of [[English studies|English]] of [[Dhaka University]] and of [[Presidency College, Kolkata]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Biography of Harinath Dey|date=4 May 2011 |url=http://www.instablogs.com/national-library-its-heritage-in-distress.html}}</ref> He was appointed the first lecturer of the newly created department of [[Linguistics]] of [[Calcutta University]] in 1907.<ref>{{cite web|title=Department of Linguistics: About the Department|url=http://www.caluniv.ac.in/academic/arts_linguistic.htm|publisher=[[Calcutta University]]|access-date=7 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130506183141/http://www.caluniv.ac.in/academic/arts_linguistic.htm|archive-date=6 May 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> He was appointed the second librarian and first Indian librarian of the Imperial Library, after the death of John Macfarlane, who was previously Assistant Librarian of the [[British Museum]], London, who was the first librarian of the newly merged Imperial Library.<ref>{{cite web |title=Historical Background |url=http://www.nationallibrary.gov.in/nat_lib_stat/history.html |publisher=[[National Library of India]] |access-date=9 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160617023911/http://www.nationallibrary.gov.in/nat_lib_stat/history.html |archive-date=17 June 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref><br />
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== Literary career ==<br />
In 1902 He published a new edition of ''Macaulay's Essay on Milton''. In 1903 he edited and published a new version of ''[[Palgrave's Golden Treasury]]''. Then he translated ''[[Rihla]]'', the travelogue written by [[Ibn Battuta]] and Jalaluddin Abu Zafar Muhammad's book Al-fakhri to English. He also worked on [[Arabic grammar]].<ref name="Bishwa Bhashapathik Harindranath De">{{cite news|title=Bishwa Bhashapathik Harindranath De|newspaper=Ittefaq|date=26 December 2011}} {{in lang|bn}}</ref><br />
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The most important works of him included an English–[[Persian language|Persian]] lexicon, translation of a part of [[Rig Veda]] with original ''[[Śloka|slokas]]'', editing of ''Lankabatar Sutra'', ''Nirbanbyakhya Shastram'', etc. He also translated a few Sanskrit plays to English like ''Vasavdatta'' of Subandhu and ''Abhigyan Shakuntalam'' of [[Kalidasa]].<ref name="Bishwa Bhashapathik Harindranath De" /><br />
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His works, 88 volumes on literature, [[linguistics]] and [[Hinduism]], are now part of the [[National Library of India]], known as the ''Harinath Dey Collection''.<ref>{{cite book |title=Global Trends in Library And Information Science |author=Subhas Chandra Biswas |publisher=Gyan Books |year=1995|isbn=8121204941 |page=205|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JZEd8gpISicC&q=Hari+Nath+Dey&pg=PA205 }}</ref><br />
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== Death ==<br />
He died of [[typhoid]] on 30 August 1911 at the age of 34.<ref name=Capitol /><br />
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==Works==<br />
* ''Select Papers, Mainly Indological'', compiled and edited by Sunil Bandyopadhyay. Sanskrit Pustak Bhandar, 1972.<br />
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==References==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
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==Further reading==<br />
* {{cite book |title=Harinath De: centenary volume |author=M. N. Nagaraj|publisher=National Library|year=1977}}<br />
* {{cite book |title=Harinath De, philanthropist and linguist (National biography) |author=Sunil Bandyopadhyay |publisher= National Book Trust|year=1988 }}<br />
* {{cite book |title=Book History-Vol. 4 |author=Ezra Greenspan |author2=Jonathan Rose |publisher=Penn State Press |year=2001|isbn=0271021519 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1i-J_XAjJL0C&q=Harinath+De&pg=PA169 |ref=Gr }}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dey, Hari Nath}}<br />
[[Category:1877 births]]<br />
[[Category:1911 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:Presidency University, Kolkata alumni]]<br />
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]<br />
[[Category:Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge]]<br />
[[Category:People from North 24 Parganas district]]<br />
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Calcutta]]<br />
[[Category:Indian librarians]]<br />
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Dhaka]]<br />
[[Category:Academic staff of Presidency University, Kolkata]]<br />
[[Category:Indian Education Service officers]]<br />
[[Category:Linguists from Bengal]]<br />
[[Category:Indian Indologists]]<br />
[[Category:People from Kamarhati]]<br />
[[Category:Bengali scientists]]<br />
[[Category:Scholars from British India]]<br />
[[Category:Scholars from Kolkata]]<br />
[[Category:Historians from British India]]</div>Ayurtreatservices