Sibnarayan Ray

Sibnarayan Ray (1921–2008) was an Indian thinker, educationist, philosopher and literary critic who wrote in the Bengali language.

A radical humanist, he is widely reputed for his works on Marxist-revolutionary Manabendra Nath Roy, and famous polymath Bertrand Russell, commenting on Ray, once said that "... Sibnarayan Ray stands for a point of view which I consider important in every part of the world. ... His writings ably represents a more reasonable point of view than that of most writers of our time."

On 20 January 1921, Sibnarayan Ray was born to Professor Upendranath Bidyabhushan Shastri (1867–1959) and poet Rajkumari Roy (1882–1973) in Calcutta, India.

His father was a thinker-writer who had published more than 50 books in Sanskrit and English.

His mother too was a literary person who regularly contributed to magazines like Bamabodhini, Shibam, Antapur and Mahila.

Sibnarayan started writing in his teens.

He graduated from the University of Calcutta with a degree in English language and literature.

He was married to Gita Ray.

He joined the City College, Calcutta, a constituent undergraduate college of the University of Calcutta, in 1945 at the age of twenty four as a lecturer in English literature.

He taught there for long fifteen years.

Young Sibnarayan took part in the Radical Humanist Movement launched by M. N. Roy in 1948.

Notably, unlike some humanists, radical humanists aim to overthrow or transcend existing social arrangements.

Radical humanists seek transformation, emancipation, and critical analysis of modes of domination.

They want people to reconstruct their view of reality and take appropriate action.

Ray said that it was not just religion, but politics which could stifle free-thinking and the spirit of inquiry.

The human mind has a conflict in itself.

It will either give in to an authority or ask questions.

He believed that in order for a society to thrive it should follow the latter path.

However, Ray believed that today, both rationality and the questioning spirit are on the wane.

Sibnarayan Ray was highly respected for his literary criticism.

He published and edited Jijnasa (pronounced jiggāsā in Bengali জিজ্ঞাসা) which became the most important Bengali journal of literature, history, culture and philosophy.

Writers from home and abroad contributed to this Bengali language journal published from Calcutta.

Notably, he worked as the Executive Secretary of the Indian Renaissance Institute (IRI) from 1960 to 1969.

He was head of the Department of Indian Studies at the University of Melbourne from 1962 until late 1980.

Ray taught at many universities around the world as visiting professor, including the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) under the University of London and the department of Social Science at the University of Chicago.

He was invited to deliver lectures at many universities in France, Germany, Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland and Hungary.

As a visiting professor he taught courses at Clare College of Cambridge University, Goethe University in Frankfurt and at Stanford University.

After returning to Calcutta from Melbourne, he worked as Director of the Rabindra Bhavan at Visva-Bharati University, from 1981 to 1983.

He was an Emeritus Fellow on Literature of the Department of Culture, Government of India.

Also he worked as the Chairman of the Raja Rammohan Roy and as Senior research Fellow at the Indian Council of Historical Research.

He died in Shantiniketan on 26 February 2008.

Following his wishes, his mortal remains were donated to the SSKM Hospital in Calcutta.

Ray was imbued with the spirit of communism in early life.

However the realities of Stalinist rule in the USSR frustrated him.

That led him to believe in the sublimity of humankind and made him aware of the constraints of human freedom that are inherent in man's own cognition.

For his philosophical thinking he came to be known as a radical humanist.

However, Sibnarayan Ray was profoundly influenced by the concept styled "Beyond Communism", propounded by M. N. Roy.

The concept of radical humanism was conceived by M. N. Roy in his Basic principles of Radical Democracy, which he shared with a few comrades, including Sibnarayan Ray.

One of the assumptions was that party-politics was inconsistent with his ideal of organised democracy.

It was 'radical' because it rejected many of the traditional political and philosophical assumptions underlying the society of early twentieth century India; and it was 'humanism' because it focused entirely on the needs and situation of human beings.