https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Mahendralal_SarkarMahendralal Sarkar - Revision history2026-07-31T10:27:55ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Mahendralal_Sarkar&diff=145439&oldid=previmported>Billjones94 at 16:36, 18 August 20212021-08-18T16:36:06Z<p></p>
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{{Infobox person<br />
| name = Mahendralal Sarkar<br />
| image = Mahendralal Sarkar.jpg<br />
| image_size = <br />
| caption =<br />
| birth_date = 2 November 1833<br />
| birth_place = Paikpara village, [[Howrah district]], India<br />
| death_date = 23 February 1904 (aged 70)<br />
| death_place = [[Calcutta]], India<br />
| occupation = Physician, academic<br />
| spouse = Rajkumari<br />
}}<br />
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'''Mahendralal Sarkar''' [[Order of the Indian Empire|CIE]] (other spellings: মহেন্দ্রলাল সরকার, '''Mahendra Lal Sarkar''', '''Mahendralal Sircar''', '''Mahendralal Sircir'''; 2 November 1833 – 23 February 1904) was a Bengali medical doctor (MD), the second MD graduated from the [[Calcutta Medical College]], [[Social reformers of India|social reformer]], and propagator of scientific studies in nineteenth-century India. He was the founder of the [[Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science]].<ref name=bpedia>{{cite book |last=Palit |first=Chittabrata |year=2012 |chapter=Sircir, Mahendralal |chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Sircir,_Mahendralal |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]]}}</ref><ref>[[Arun Kumar Biswas]]. Gleanings of the past and the science movement : in the diaries of Drs. Mahendralal and Amritalal Sircar, Calcutta : The Asiatic Society, 2000; ''see also'' Collected works of Mahendralal Sircar, Eugene Lafont, and science movement, 1860–1910, Kolkata : Asiatic Society, 2003</ref><br />
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==Early life and education==<br />
Mahendralal Sarkar was born at Paikpara village in [[Howrah district]], near [[Calcutta]] (now known as Kolkata) in the [[Bengal Presidency|Bengal Province]] of [[British India]]. He lost his father when he was five years old and his mother when he was nine years old. He was brought up by his maternal uncles, Iswar Chandra Ghosh and Mahesh Chandra Ghosh in their house at Nebutala in Calcutta. First he was sent to a "gurumasai" or tutor to learn Bengali, and subsequently to another tutor named Thakurdas Dey, to learn English. On learning some English he secured admission in [[Hare School]] as a free student in 1840. In 1849, he passed the junior scholarship examination and joined [[Presidency University, Kolkata|Hindu College]], where he studied up to 1854. At that time, Hindu College did not have facilities for teaching science and as he was bent upon studying medicine, he transferred to [[Calcutta Medical College]].<br />
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At Calcutta Medical College he was so esteemed by his professors that in the second year of his course he was invited by them to deliver a series of lectures on [[optics]] to his fellow students, a task he performed honourably. He had a brilliant career at that college, where, besides winning several scholarships, he passed the final examination in 1860 with the highest honours in medicine, surgery and [[midwifery]]. In 1863, he took the degree of M.D. with special success.He has to son one is revolutionary of bengali in assam sri sunil sarkar and Dr. Gopal chandra sarkar. Dr. Gopal Sarkar has two children son prasanta Sarkar and Bharati Sarkar. Prasanta Sarkar has one child his name is Pradipta Sarkar.<ref[http://www.vivekananda.net/PDFBooks/BengalCelebs/DrSircar.html Dr. Mahendralal Sircar – Frank Parlato Jr]. Vivekananda.net. Retrieved on 12 November 2018.</ref> He and [[Jagabandhu Bose]] were the second MDs of the [[Calcutta University]] after Chandrakumar De (1862).<ref name=bpedia/><ref name = "Sastri">[[Sivanath Sastri|Sastri, Sivanath]], ''[[Ramtanu Lahiri O Tatkalin Banga Samaj]]'', 1903/2001, {{in lang|bn}}, pp. 170–176, New Age Publishers Pvt. Ltd.</ref><ref name = Sansad>Sengupta, Subodh Chandra and Bose, Anjali (editors), 1998 edition, ''Sansad Bangali Charitabhidhan'' (Biographical dictionary) Vol I, {{in lang|bn}}, p. 408, {{ISBN|81-85626-65-0}}</ref><br />
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== Career ==<br />
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Although educated in the traditional European system of medicine, Mahendralal Sarkar later turned to [[homoeopathy]] due to inability of ordinary Indians to afford treatment with western medicines. He was influenced by reading William Morgan's ''The Philosophy of Homeopathy'', and by interaction with Rajendralal Dutt, a leading homoeopathic practitioner of Calcutta. In a meeting of the Bengal branch of the [[British Medical Association]], he proclaimed homoeopathy to be superior to the "[[medicine|Western medicine]]" of the time. Consequently, he was ostracised by the British doctors, and had to undergo loss in practice for some time.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Das|first=Eswara|title=History & Status of Homoeopathy Around the World|publisher=B. Jain Publishers|year=2005|pages=103–107|chapter=India|isbn=81-8056-573-4}}</ref> However, soon he regained his practice and went on to become a leading homoeopathic practitioner in Calcutta, as well as India.<ref name=bpedia/><br />
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In the course of his career, he treated several notable persons of those days, including the author [[Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay]], the ascetic [[Ramakrishna]], the [[Maharaja]] of [[Tripura]] and others.<br />
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== Campaigning scientific knowledge and higher education ==<br />
[[File:MLSircar.jpg|thumb|Bust of ML Sircar at {{W|Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science}} in front of ML Sircar Hall.]]<br />
Mahendralal Sarkar started a campaign in 1867 for a national science association. He planned for an association that would be funded, run, and managed by native Indians, with the aim of turning out a pool of scientists for national reconstruction.<ref name=bpedia/> The [[Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science]] (IACS) was established in 1876, and Sarkar was its first secretary.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iacs.res.in/iacs_introduction.html|title=Introduction(About) of IACS|last=IACSCC|website=www.iacs.res.in|access-date=18 September 2016}}</ref> IACS was the first national science association of India.<ref name="iacsbpedia">{{cite book|title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh|last=Palit|first=Chittabrata|publisher=[[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]]|year=2012|edition=Second|chapter=Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science|chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Indian_Association_for_the_Cultivation_of_Science|editor1-last=Islam|editor1-first=Sirajul|editor1-link=Sirajul Islam|editor2-last=Jamal|editor2-first=Ahmed A.}}</ref> Basic science departments such as Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physiology, Geology, Botany, etc. were established, and notable Indian scientists participated in the association. Regular lectures and demonstrations were arranged for the public to popularise science.<ref name=iacsbpedia/><br />
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Sarkar supported women's education in nineteenth-century India, when higher education among women was rare. For example, he was a supporter of [[Abala Bose]]'s decision to pursue the study of medicine at [[Madras Medical College]] instead of [[Calcutta Medical College]], where admission of females was not permitted. He also arranged for [[Sarala Devi Chaudhurani]]'s attendance in the evening lectures at IACS, so that she could pursue higher studies in physics.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Thorner |first=Alice |author2=Raj, Maithreyi Krishna |others=Sameeksha Trust |title=Ideals, Images, and Real Lives: Women in Literature and History|publisher=Orient Longman |year=2000 |pages=51–52 |isbn=81-250-0843-8}}</ref><br />
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== Awards and honours ==<br />
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He was a fellow of Calcutta University and an honorary magistrate and [[Sheriff]] of Calcutta (1887). He was made a [[Order of the Indian Empire|CIE]] in 1883 and honoured with an [[List of University of Calcutta honorary degree recipients|honorary doctorate degree]] by [[University of Calcutta]] in 1898.<ref name = Sansad/><br />
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== References==<br />
{{Commons category|Mahendralal Sarkar}}<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
{{Bengal Renaissance}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarkar, Mahendralal}}<br />
[[Category:1833 births]]<br />
[[Category:1904 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:Presidency University, Kolkata alumni]]<br />
[[Category:Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata]]<br />
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]<br />
[[Category:Indian institute directors]]<br />
[[Category:Medical doctors from Kolkata]]<br />
[[Category:People from Howrah district]]<br />
[[Category:Founders of Indian schools and colleges]]<br />
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire]]<br />
[[Category:Sheriffs of Kolkata]]<br />
[[Category:Indian homeopaths]]<br />
[[Category:Indian social reformers]]<br />
[[Category:Hare School alumni]]<br />
[[Category:Scientists from West Bengal]]<br />
[[Category:19th-century Indian medical doctors]]</div>imported>Billjones94