Susobhan Sarkar

Susobhan Chandra Sarkar (1900–1982) was an Indian historian.

Sarkar, son of Suresh Chandra Sarkar, was born into a Brahmo family of Dhaka.

Through the 1920s he was involved in the administration of Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, still under the active tutelage of its founder, Rabindranath Tagore.

He attended Dhaka Collegiate School, studied history at Presidency College, Calcutta and continued his higher education at Jesus College, Oxford, from 1923 to 1925.

His daughter Sipra Sarkar was a professor of history at Jadavpur University, Calcutta and Sumit Sarkar was professor of history at Delhi University.

He returned to India as a Lecturer in History at Calcutta University before being appointed Reader in History at Dhaka University in 1927.

He also wrote from the 1930s about the Bengal Renaissance.

His Notes on Bengal Renaissance sparked an interest in nationalist Indian historiography.

He also wrote the manifesto of the CPI.

In 1932, he was appointed Professor of History at Presidency College, Calcutta.

He will be remembered as a long serving professor of the college who inspired generations of students from both science and arts streams.

He moved to Jadavpur University as Professor in 1956.

He returned to Calcutta University for his final academic post from 1961 to 1967.

Sarkar, whose work was influenced by his Marxist and Gramscian ideas, taught the history of modern Europe, particularly the development of constitutional history in Britain and political thought in Western Europe.

The Paschimbanga Itihas Samsad, in collaboration with Presidency University, Kolkata (erstwhile Presidency College), has been organizing a lecture series in Sarkar's memory since 1994.