Notable Alumni of Presidency University – Kolkata [Sorted List]

1. Gooroodas Banerjee

1844-1918 (aged 74)

university teacher scholar lawyer writer judge

Sir Gooroodas Banerjee was a judge of the Calcutta High Court in British India. In 1890, he also became the first Indian Vice-Chancellor of University of Calcutta.

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2. Atul Chandra Chatterjee

1874-1955 (aged 81)

writer botanical collector diplomat politician

Sir Atul Chandra Chatterjee GCIE KCSI was an Indian diplomat and government official who served as the Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 1925 to 1931 and was member of the governing body of the League of Nations Assembly in 1925 and 1946. He is known for proposing the India House in London in 1925, which was designed...

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3. Tapan Raychaudhuri

1926-2014 (aged 88)

historian autobiographer

Tapan Raychaudhuri was a British-Indian historian specializing in British Indian history, Indian economic history and the History of Bengal.

4. Bhupendra Nath Bose

1859-1924 (aged 65)

politician

Bhupendra Nath Bose was an Indian politician and President of the Indian National Congress in 1914.

5. Amiya Kumar Bagchi

1936-2024 (aged 88)

historian author economist university teacher

Amiya Kumar Bagchi was an Indian economic historian.

6. Anindya Sinha

primatologist zoologist

Anindya Sinha is an Indian primatologist. He is a professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), India.

7. Hemchandra Bandyopadhyay

1838-1903 (aged 65)

lawyer clerk translator school teacher poet

Hemchandra Bandyopadhyay, also known as Hemchandra Banerjee, was a Bengali poet and lawyer.

8. Pranab Bardhan

1939-. (aged 87)

university teacher economist

Pranab Bardhan is an Indian economist who has taught and worked in the United States since 1979. He is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley.

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9. Somak Raychaudhury

1962-. (aged 64)

astrophysicist academic astronomer

Somak Raychaudhury is an Indian astrophysicist. He is the Vice-Chancellor at Ashoka University and was the Director of the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune. He is on leave from Presidency University, Kolkata, India, where he is a Professor of Physics, and is also affiliated to the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom. He is known for his work...

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10. Bishnuram Medhi

1888-1981 (aged 93)

politician

Bishnuram Medhi was an Indian politician and freedom-fighter who served as the Chief Minister of Assam from 1950 to 1957 and Governor of Madras State from January 1958 till May 1964.

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11. Bikash Sinha

1945-2023 (aged 78)

physicist university teacher

Bikash Sinha was an Indian physicist who was active in the fields of nuclear physics and high energy physics. Sinha was the director of the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics and Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre and the chairman of the Board of Governors of the National Institute of Technology, Durgapur in June 2005. He was also a member of scientific...

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12. Benoy Kumar Sarkar

1887-1949 (aged 62)

university teacher editor writer sociologist economist

Benoy Kumar Sarkar was an Indian social scientist, professor, and nationalist. He founded several institutes in Calcutta, including the Bengali Institute of Sociology, Bengali Asia Academy, Bengali Dante Society, and Bengali Institute of American Culture.

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13. Sarat Chandra Das

1849-1917 (aged 68)

linguist explorer writer school teacher photographer

Sarat Chandra Dash was an Indian scholar of Tibetan language and culture most noted for his two journeys to Tibet in 1879 and in 1881–1882.

14. Ashok Lahiri

academic economist banker politician

Ashok Kumar Lahiri is an Indian economist and politician who is currently serving as the member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from Balurghat constituency. He is currently serving as a member of the Fifteenth Finance Commission. Lahiri previously served as 12th Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India, reader at the Delhi School of Economics, chairman of Bandhan...

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15. Jnan Chandra Ghosh

1894-1959 (aged 65)

chemist

Sir Jnan Chandra Ghosh or Jnanendra Chandra Ghosh was an Indian chemist best known for his contribution to the development of scientific research, industrial development and technology education in India. He served as the director of the newly formed Eastern Higher Technical Institute in 1950, which was renamed as IIT Kharagpur in 1951. He was also the director of the...

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16. Sisir Kumar Ghosh

1840-1911 (aged 71)

writer composer journalist

Sisir Kumar Ghosh, also spelled Shishir Kumar Ghose, was an Indian journalist, founder of the Amrita Bazar Patrika, a Bengali language newspaper, in 1868, and an independence activist from Bengal.

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17. Chandranath Basu

1844-1910 (aged 66)

novelist lawyer writer

Chandranath Basu was an Indian litterateur. A staunch Hindu, Chandranath coined the term Hindutva and has been regarded as a doyen of economic and Indian nationalism in Bengal.

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18. Gurusaday Dutt

1882-1941 (aged 59)

civil servant barrister politician writer

Gurusaday Dutt was a civil servant, folklorist, and writer. He was the founder of the Bratachari Movement in the 1930s.

19. Rajnarayan Basu

1826-1899 (aged 73)

teacher writer

Rajnarayan Basu was an Indian writer and intellectual of the Bengal Renaissance. He was born in Boral in 24 Parganas and studied at the Hare School and Hindu College, in Kolkata, Bengal. A monotheist at heart, Basu converted to the Brahmoism sect at the age of twenty. After retiring, he was given the honorary title of Rishi or sage. He...

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20. Jatindra Mohan Sengupta

1885-1933 (aged 48)

jurist lawyer politician

Jatindra Mohan Sengupta was an Indian revolutionary against British rule. He was arrested several times by the British police. In 1933, he died in a prison located in Ranchi, India.

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21. Monomohun Ghose

1844-1896 (aged 52)

barrister

Manmohun Ghose was the first practicing barrister of Indian origin. He is notable for his contributions towards the fields of women's education, for arousing the patriotic feeling of his countrymen and for being one of the earliest persons in the country in organised national politics. At the same time his Anglicised habits often made him a target of ridicule in...

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22. Ullaskar Dutta

1885-1965 (aged 80)

revolutionary writer

Ullaskar Dutta was an Indian revolutionary associated with Anushilan Samiti and Jugantar of Bengal, and was a close associate of Barindra Ghosh. He was the principal bomb maker of the Jugantar group until Hemchandra Kanungo returned from Paris learning political theory and explosive chemistry.

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23. Nabin Chandra Sen

1847-1909 (aged 62)

poet translator

Nabinchandra Sen was a Bengali poet and writer, often considered one of the greatest poets prior to the arrival of Rabindranath Tagore. He commented on the battle of Plassey and the arrival of British Rule in India as "A night of Eternal Gloom".

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24. Ramendra Sundar Tribedi

1864-1919 (aged 55)

writer professor

Ramendra Sundar Tribedi was a Bengali writer. He is known for his works in Bengali poems, and stories. He is one of the most popular poets of India.

25. Mahendranath Gupta

1854-1932 (aged 78)

writer professor

Mahendranath Gupta, (also popularly known as Shri M and Master Mahashay), was a disciple of Ramakrishna and a mystic himself. He was the author of Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita (5 vols.), a Bengali classic; in English, it is known as The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. He was also an early teacher to Paramahansa Yogananda, a famous 20th-century yogi, guru and...

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26. K. S. Hegde

1909-1990 (aged 81)

politician judge

Kowdoor Sadananda Hegde was an Indian jurist and politician who served as a judge of the Supreme Court of India and later as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. Hegde founded the Nitte Education Trust. He is the father of Santhosh Hegde, who also served as a judge in the Supreme Court of India.

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27. Qazi Motahar Hossain

1897-1981 (aged 84)

writer author physicist journalist

Qazi Motahar Hossain was a Bangladeshi writer, scientist, statistician, chess player, and journalist.

28. Hemchandra Goswami

1872-1928 (aged 56)

poet writer

Hemchandra Goswami was an Indian writer, poet, historian, teacher and a linguist from Assam in the early part of modern Assamese literature. He was the fourth president of the Asom Sahitya Sabha in 1920 held at Tezpur. He retired as Extra Assistant Commissioner in the British Assam.

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29. Dwijendra Narayan Jha

1940-2021 (aged 81)

historian author

Dwijendra Narayan Jha was an Indian historian who studied and wrote on ancient and medieval India. He was a professor of history at Delhi University and a member of the Indian Council of Historical Research. Some of his books include Ancient India: In Historical Outline (1997), The Myth of the Holy Cow (2001), and Early India: A Concise History (2004)....

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30. Ashoke Kumar Sen

1913-1996 (aged 83)

politician barrister

Ashoke Kumar Sen was an Indian barrister, a former Cabinet minister of India, and an Indian parliamentarian.

31. Krishna Mohan Banerjee

1813-1885 (aged 72)

teacher writer

Krishna Mohan Banerjee was a 19th-century Indian thinker who attempted to rethink Hindu philosophy, religion and ethics in response to the stimulus of Christian ideas. He himself became a Christian, and was the first president of the Bengal Christian Association, which was administered and financed by Indians. He was a prominent member of Henry Louis Vivian Derozio's (1808–1831) Young Bengal...

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32. Ajit Nath Ray

1912-2010 (aged 98)

judge

Ajit Nath Ray was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India from 25 April 1973 till his retirement on 28 January 1977.

33. Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan

1889-1963 (aged 74)

politician

Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan was the Speaker of Pakistan's Constituent Assembly from 1948 to 1954 and National Assembly of Pakistan between 1962 and 1963.

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34. Mahendralal Sarkar

1833-1904 (aged 71)

homeopath

Mahendralal Sarkar CIE was a Bengali medical doctor (MD), the second MD to graduate from the Calcutta Medical College, social reformer, and propagator of scientific studies in nineteenth-century India. He was the founder of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science.

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35. Pramathesh Barua

1903-1951 (aged 48)

screenwriter film director film producer actor film actor

Pramathesh Chandra Barua was an Indian actor, director, and screenwriter of Indian films in the pre-independence era, born in Gauripur, Dhubri, Assam.

36. Peary Chand Mitra

1814-1883 (aged 69)

writer librarian

Peary Chand Mitra was an Indian writer, journalist, cultural activist and entrepreneur. His pseudonym was Tek Chand Thakur. He was a member of Henry Derozio's Young Bengal group, who played a leading role in the Bengal Renaissance with the introduction of simple Bengali prose. His Alaler Gharer Dulal pioneered the novel in the Bengali language, leading to a tradition taken...

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37. Dwijendranath Tagore

1840-1926 (aged 86)

philosopher mathematician vocal composer translator poet

Dwijendranath Tagore was an Indian poet, song composer, philosopher, mathematician and painter. He was one of the pioneers of shorthand and notation in Bengali script. He was the eldest son of Debendranath Tagore and the eldest brother of Rabindranath Tagore.

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38. Satyendra Prasanna Sinha, 1st Baron Sinha

1863-1928 (aged 65)

barrister judge politician

Satyendra Prasanna Sinha, 1st Baron Sinha, KCSI, PC, KC, was a prominent British Indian lawyer and statesman. He was the first Governor of Bihar and Orissa, first Indian Advocate-General of Bengal, first Indian to become a member of the Viceroy's Executive Council and the first Indian to become a member of the British ministry. He is sometimes also referred to...

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39. Abu Sayeed Chowdhury

1921-1987 (aged 66)

diplomat politician

Abu Sayeed Chowdhury was a jurist and the second president of Bangladesh. Besides that, he held the positions of the chairman of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, the vice-chancellor of the University of Dhaka, the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, and the first Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK.

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40. Indira Banerjee

1957-. (aged 69)

judge

Indira Banerjee is a retired Indian jurist who served as a judge of the Supreme Court of India and the eighth female judge in history of the Indian Supreme Court. Previously, she served as chief justice of the Madras High Court, the second woman to hold the position.

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41. Isher Judge Ahluwalia

1945-2020 (aged 75)

economist

Isher Judge Ahluwalia was an Indian economist, public policy researcher, and professor. She was Chairperson Emeritus, Board of Governors, at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER). She had also served as the chairperson of the board of the International Food Policy Research Institute, and the chairperson of the Government of India's High-Powered Committee on Urban Infrastructure...

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42. Upendranath Brahmachari

1873-1946 (aged 73)

physician scientist

Rai Bahadur Sir Upendranath Brahmachari FRSM FRS; 19 December 1873 – 6 February 1946) was a prominent Indian physician and scientist. In 1922, he synthesised urea-stibamine and demonstrated its effectiveness in treating kala-azar (visceral leishmaniasis).

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43. Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay

1885-1930 (aged 45)

archaeologist writer historian

Rakhal Das Banerji, also Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay, was an Indian archaeologist and an officer of the Archeological Survey of India (ASI). In 1919, he became the second ASI officer deputed to survey the site of Mohenjo-daro and returned there in the 1922-23 season. He was the first person to propose the remote antiquity of the site—which he did in a letter...

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44. Radhanath Sikdar

1813-1870 (aged 57)

mathematician

Radhanath Sikdar, was an Indian mathematician and social reformer. He is best known for being the first person to calculate the height of Mount Everest, in 1852. He was a member of Henry Derozio's Young Bengal group. In 1854, along with fellow Derozian Peary Chand Mitra, Sikdar founded Masik Patrika, a Bengali journal for the education of the Indian women.

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45. Subroto Mukerjee

1911-1960 (aged 49)

flying ace

Subroto Mukerjee was an Indian military officer who was the first Indian Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the Indian Air Force. He was awarded several honours during the course of a three-decade-long career, ended by his untimely demise in 1960. Mukerjee has been called the "Father of the Indian Air Force."

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46. Atulprasad Sen

1871-1934 (aged 63)

writer lyricist poet barrister

Atul Prasad Sen was a Bengali composer, lyricist, singer, writer, lawyer, philanthropist and educationist.

47. Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikari

1869-1940 (aged 71)

association football player

Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikary was an Indian educationist, sports administrator and football pioneer. He is widely regarded as the "Father of Indian Football" for his role in founding the first Indian football organisations after introducing the sport to his classmates at Hare School.

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48. Pramatha Chaudhuri

1868-1946 (aged 78)

writer barrister editor university teacher

Pramathanath Chaudhuri, known as Pramatha Chaudhuri, alias Birbal, was a Bengali essayist, poet, and writer. He was the nephew of Rabindranath Tagore as his mother was Sukumari Debi, the second sister of Tagore. He married musician and writer Indira Devi Chaudhurani, daughter of Satyendranath Tagore, the first Indian to have joined the Indian Civil Services and an author, composer and...

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49. Altamas Kabir

1948-2017 (aged 69)

jurist judge

Altamas Kabir was an Indian lawyer and judge who served as the 39th Chief Justice of India.

50. Anugrah Narayan Sinha

1887-1957 (aged 70)

politician

Anugrah Narayan Sinha, known as Bihar Vibhuti, was an Indian nationalist politician, participant in Champaran Satyagraha, Gandhian, and one of the architects of modern Bihar. He served as the first Deputy Chief Minister and the Finance Minister of the Indian state of Bihar from 1946 to 1957. He was also a member of the Constituent Assembly of India, which was...

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51. Pritish Nandy

1951-2025 (aged 74)

poet politician journalist

Pritish Nandy was an Indian poet, painter, journalist, politician, media and television personality, animal activist and maker of films, television and streaming content. He was a parliamentarian in the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra, elected on a ticket from the Shiv Sena. He authored forty books of poetry in English and translated poems by other writers from Bengali, Urdu and Punjabi...

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52. Bratya Basu

1969-. (aged 57)

politician film director writer actor film actor

Bratyabrata Basu Roy Chowdhury also known as Bratya Basu, is an Indian actor, stage director, playwright, film director, professor, educationist and politician who has been the Education Minister of West Bengal since 2021. He held the same office in the First Mamata Banerjee ministry. In May 2016, Basu was assigned the portfolios of Tourism, Science Technology and Bio-Technology, and Information...

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53. Muhammad Shahidullah

1885-1969 (aged 84)

researcher lawyer teacher linguist

Muhammad Shahidullah was a Bengali linguist, philologist, educationist, and writer. He played a vital role in Bangladesh's Language movement of 1952. He is primarily credited for being the one to justify why Bengali should be the state language of Pakistan over Urdu.

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54. Jyotirindranath Tagore

1849-1925 (aged 76)

musician painter writer playwright translator

Jyotirindranath Tagore was a Bengali playwright, musician, editor, and painter. He played a major role in the flowering of the talents of his younger brother, the first non-European Nobel Prize winner, Rabindranath Tagore.

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55. Saugata Roy

1947-. (aged 79)

university teacher politician

Saugata Roy is an Indian politician of Trinamool Congress and a Member of the Indian Parliament representing the Dum Dum constituency in the 16th Lok Sabha. He has also served as Union Minister of State for Urban Development in the Manmohan Singh government.

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56. Siddhartha Shankar Ray

1920-2010 (aged 90)

diplomat barrister politician

Siddhartha Shankar Ray was an Indian lawyer, diplomat and Indian National Congress politician from West Bengal. In his political career he held a number of offices, including Chief Minister of West Bengal (1972–77), Union Minister of Education (1971–72), Governor of Punjab (1986–89) and Indian Ambassador to the United States (1992–96). He was, at one point, the main troubleshooter for the...

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57. Dinabandhu Mitra

1830-1873 (aged 43)

writer playwright poet postmaster

Dinabandhu Mitra, also known as Denobhandhoo Mithra, was a Bengali-language writer and dramatist. He is notable for his play Nil Darpan (1860).

58. Sugata Bose

1956-. (aged 70)

historian author university teacher politician

Sugata Bose is an Indian historian and politician who has taught and worked in the United States since the mid-1980s. His fields of study are South Asian and Indian Ocean history. Bose is the Gardiner Chair of Oceanic History and Affairs at Harvard University. He has served as Director of Graduate Studies in History at Harvard and as the Founding...

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59. Romesh Chunder Dutt

1848-1909 (aged 61)

economist writer Dewan barrister magistrate

Romesh Chunder Dutt CIE was an Indian civil servant, economic historian, translator of Ramayana and Mahabharata. He was one of the prominent proponents of Indian economic nationalism.

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60. Jadunath Sarkar

1870-1958 (aged 88)

historian writer university teacher

Sir Jadunath Sarkar, CIE, FRAS was a prominent Indian historian and a specialist on the Mughal dynasty.

61. Ramesh Chandra Majumdar

1888-1980 (aged 92)

historian writer university teacher

Ramesh Chandra Majumdar was an Indian historian and professor known for promoting Hindu nationalist views. He principally studied the history of India.

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62. Bimal Jalan

1941-. (aged 85)

politician economist

Bimal Jalan is an Indian economist and bureaucrat who served as 20th Governor of Reserve Bank of India. He also served as member of the Upper House of India's Parliament, the Rajya Sabha from 2003 to 2009.

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63. Ashoke Sen

1956-. (aged 70)

physicist university teacher

Ashoke Sen FRS is an Indian theoretical physicist and ICTS-Infosys Madhava Chair Professor at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS), Bangalore. A former Distinguished Professor at the Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Prayagraj, He is also an honorary fellow in National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) India. He is also a Morningstar Visiting Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of...

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64. Bibek Debroy

1955-2024 (aged 69)

translator economist university teacher writer

Bibek Debroy was an Indian economist who chaired both the Indian Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council and a Finance Ministry expert committee on infrastructure, contributing significantly to game theory, economic theory, and the study of income and social inequalities, law reforms and railway reforms. From 2015 until 2019, Debroy was a member of an Indian government think tank known as...

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65. Ashutosh Mukherjee

1864-1924 (aged 60)

academic administrator barrister university teacher official educator

Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee was an Indian mathematician, lawyer, jurist, judge, educator, and institution builder. A unique figure in Indian history, he made major contributions in the fields of mathematics, law, and higher education.

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66. Keshub Chunder Sen

1838-1884 (aged 46)

theologian philosopher thinker public figure Indologist

Keshub Chandra Sen was an Indian philosopher and social reformer who attempted to incorporate Christian theology within the framework of Hindu thought. Born a Hindu in the Bengal Presidency of British India, he became a member of the Brahmo Samaj in 1857 but established his own breakaway "Bharatvarshiya Brahmo Samaj" in 1866 while the Brahmo Samaj remained under the leadership...

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67. Sarat Chandra Bose

1889-1950 (aged 61)

barrister writer politician

Sarat Chandra Bose was an Indian barrister and independence activist.

68. Satyendranath Tagore

1842-1923 (aged 81)

translator editor writer magistrate

Satyendranath Tagore was an Indian civil servant, poet, composer, writer, social reformer and linguist from Calcutta, Bengal. He was the first Indian who became an Indian Civil Service officer in 1863. He was a member of Bramho Samaj.

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69. R. P. Goenka

1930-2013 (aged 83)

industrialist

Rama Prasad Goenka was the founder and chairman Emeritus of the RPG Group, a multi-sector Indian industrial conglomerate. Born in 1930, he was the eldest son of Keshav Prasad Goenka and grandson of Badridas Goenka, the first Indian to be appointed Chairman of the Imperial Bank of India (now the State Bank of India). His two younger brothers were Jagdish...

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70. Shankha Ghosh

1932-2021 (aged 89)

poet literary critic

Sankha Ghosh was an Indian poet and literary critic. He was born in Chandpur District of the then Bengal Presidency, present day Bangladesh. His ancestral home was at Banaripara Upazila in Barisal District. He spent his childhood and adolescence in Ishwardi Upazila of Pabna District, which was his father's workplace.

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71. Somnath Chatterjee

1929-2018 (aged 89)

politician barrister

Somnath Chatterjee was an Indian politician who was associated with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for most of his life, though he had been a non affiliated independent during his last decade. He was the Speaker of the Lok Sabha (House of the People) from 2004 to 2009.

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72. Surendranath Banerjee

1848-1925 (aged 77)

freedom fighter politician

Sir Surendranath Banerjee, often known as Rashtraguru (lit. 'Teacher of the Nation') was an Indian nationalist leader during the British Raj. He founded the Indian National Association to bring Hindus and Muslims together for political action. He was also one of the founding members of the Indian National Congress. Unlike Congress, however, Surendranath supported Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms, and with many liberal leaders...

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73. Radhabinod Pal

1886-1967 (aged 81)

university teacher judge

Radhabinod Pal was an Indian jurist who was a member of the United Nations' International Law Commission from 1952 to 1966. Pal was one of three Asian judges appointed to the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, the "Tokyo Trials" of Japanese war crimes committed during the Second World War. Among all the judges of the tribunal, he was...

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74. M. J. Akbar

1951-. (aged 75)

blogger journalist politician writer

Mobasher Jawed Akbar is an Indian journalist and politician, who served as the Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs until 17 October 2018. Akbar is a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha, and was inducted into the Union Council of Ministers by PM Narendra Modi on 5 July 2016. He is also a veteran Indian journalist and author...

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75. Henry Louis Vivian Derozio

1809-1831 (aged 22)

teacher poet

Henry Louis Vivian Derozio was an Indian poet and assistant headmaster of Hindu College, Kolkata. He was a radical thinker of his time and one of the first Indian educators to disseminate Western learning and science among the young men of Bengal.

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76. Syama Prasad Mukherjee

1901-1953 (aged 52)

barrister freedom fighter university teacher politician

Shyama Prasad Mukherjee was an Indian barrister, educationalist, politician, Hindutva activist, and a minister in the state and national governments, appointed by Nehru even after opposing Congress. Noted for his opposition to Quit India Movement within the independence movement in India, he later served as India's Minister for Industry and Supply (currently known as Minister of Commerce and Industries) in...

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77. Prabodh Kumar Bandyopadhyay

1908-1956 (aged 48)

writer screenwriter

Manik Bandyopadhyay [alias Banerjee] is an Indian author regarded as one of the major figures of 20th century Bengali literature. During a lifespan of 48 years and 28 years of literary career, battling with epilepsy from the age of around 28 and financial strains all along, he produced some masterpieces of novels and short stories, besides some poems, essays etc....

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78. Nabaneeta Dev Sen

1938-2019 (aged 81)

poet academic writer

Nabaneeta Dev Sen was an Indian writer and academic. After studying arts and comparative literature, she moved to the United States where she studied further. She returned to India and taught at several universities and institutes as well as serving in various positions in literary institutes. She published more than 80 books in Bengali: poetry, novels, short stories, plays, literary...

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79. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee

1944-2024 (aged 80)

writer translator politician

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was an Indian communist politician, statesman and a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), who served as the 7th Chief Minister of West Bengal from 2000 to 2011. In a political career over five decades, he became one of the senior leaders of Communist Party of India (Marxist) during his regime.

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80. Jibanananda Das

1899-1954 (aged 55)

university teacher poet writer

Jibanananda Das was an Indian poet, writer, novelist and essayist who wrote in the Bengali language. Often referred to as the Rupashi Banglar Kabi (lit. ''Poet of Beautiful Bengal''), he is regarded as one of the most prominent Bengali poets after Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam, although he received limited recognition during his lifetime.

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81. Bipin Chandra Pal

1858-1932 (aged 74)

writer head teacher freedom fighter politician

Bipin Chandra Pal was an Indian nationalist, writer, orator, social reformer and freedom fighter. He was one third of the "Lal Bal Pal" triumvirate. He was one of the main architects of the Swadeshi movement. He is known as the Father of Revolutionary Thoughts in India. He also opposed the partition of Bengal by the British colonial government.

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82. Sukumar Ray

1887-1923 (aged 36)

playwright poet writer children's writer illustrator

Sukumar Ray FRPS was a Bengali writer and poet from British India. He is remembered mainly for his writings for children. He was the son of children's story writer Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury and the father of Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray.

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83. Meghnad Saha

1893-1956 (aged 63)

politician university teacher physicist astrophysicist astronomer

Meghnad Saha was an Indian astrophysicist and politician who helped devise the theory of thermal ionisation. His Saha ionisation equation allowed astronomers to accurately relate the spectral classes of stars to their actual temperatures.

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84. Chittaranjan Das

1923-2011 (aged 88)

writer author

Chittaranjan Das, popularly called Deshbandhu (friend of the country), was a Bengali freedom fighter, political activist and lawyer during the Indian Independence Movement and mentor of Subhas Chandra Bose. He was the founder-leader of the Swaraj Party in undivided Bengal during the period of British Colonial rule in India. His name is abbreviated as C. R. Das. He was closely...

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85. Ashok Kumar

1963-. (aged 63)

police officer

Ashok Kumar was an Indian actor who worked in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of the greatest actors of Indian cinema. He is considered to be the first superstar of Indian cinema as well as the first lead actor to play an anti-hero. He also became the first star to reinvent himself, enjoying a long and hugely successful...

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86. Satyendra Nath Bose

1894-1974 (aged 80)

mathematician physicist university teacher politician

Satyendra Nath Bose FRS, MP was an Indian theoretical physicist and mathematician. He is best known for his work on quantum mechanics in the early 1920s, in developing the foundation for Bose–Einstein statistics, and the theory of the Bose–Einstein condensate. A Fellow of the Royal Society, he was awarded India's second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan, in 1954 by...

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87. Abhijit Banerjee

1961-. (aged 65)

university teacher economist

Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee is an Indian American economist who is currently the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is co-founder and co-director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), an MIT based global research center promoting the use of scientific evidence to inform poverty alleviation strategies. In 2019, Banerjee shared the...

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88. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee

1838-1894 (aged 56)

poet writer essayist novelist civil servant

Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay CIE was an Indian Bengali novelist, poet, essayist and journalist.

89. Michael Madhusudan Dutt

1824-1873 (aged 49)

playwright poet writer translator barrister

Michael Madhusudan Dutt was a Bengali poet and playwright. He is considered one of the pioneers of Bengali literature.

90. Aparna Sen

1945-. (aged 81)

film actor screenwriter film director

Aparna Sen is an Indian film director, screenwriter and actress who is known for her work in Bengali cinema. She has received several accolades as an actress and filmmaker, including nine National Film Awards, six Filmfare Awards East and thirteen Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards. For her contribution in the field of arts, the Government of India honoured her with...

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91. Swami Vivekananda

1863-1902 (aged 39)

philosopher spiritual leader orator writer poet

Swami Vivekananda, born Narendranath Datta, was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. Vivekananda was a major figure in the introduction of Vedanta and Yoga to the Western world, and is credited with raising interfaith awareness and elevating Hinduism to the status of a major world religion.

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92. Satyajit Ray

1921-1992 (aged 71)

film producer lyricist film critic painter film editor

Satyajit Ray was an Indian film director, screenwriter, author, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and composer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influential film directors in the history of cinema. He is celebrated for works including The Apu Trilogy (1955–1959), The Music Room (1958), The Big City (1963), Charulata (1964), and the Goopy–Bagha trilogy...

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93. Rajendra Prasad

1956-. (aged 70)

actor film director politician

Rajendra Prasad was an Indian politician, lawyer, journalist and scholar who served as the first president of India from 1950 to 1962 for two terms. He joined the Indian National Congress during the Indian independence movement and became a major leader from the region of Bihar. A supporter of Mahatma Gandhi, Prasad was imprisoned by British authorities during the Salt...

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94. Bhudev Mukhopadhyay

1827-1894 (aged 67)

civil servant teacher editor writer

Bhudev Mukhopadhyay was a writer and intellectual in 19th century Bengal. His works were considered ardent displays of nationalism and philosophy in the period of the Bengal renaissance. His novel Anguriya Binimoy (1857) was the first historical novel written in Bengal.

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95. Madan Mohan Tarkalankar

1817-1858 (aged 41)

poet professor editor judge

Madanmohan Tarkalankar is one of the Sanskrit scholars of the Indian subcontinent in the nineteenth century who has made a special contribution to the development of the written Bengali language. He is also considered one of the pioneers of the Bengali renaissance. He was a professor at Fort William College and authored several textbooks on early childhood education.

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96. Haraprasad Shastri

1853-1931 (aged 78)

teacher scholar writer

Hara Prasad Shastri, also known as Hara Prasad Bhattacharya, was an Indian academic, Sanskrit scholar, archivist, and historian of Bengali literature. He is most known for discovering the Charyapada, the earliest known examples of Bengali literature.

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97. Prafulla Chandra Ray

1861-1944 (aged 83)

chemist professor

Sir Prafulla Chandra Ray CIE FNI FRASB FIAS FCS was a Bengali chemist, educationist, historian, industrialist and philanthropist. He established the first modern Indian research school in chemistry (post classical age) and is regarded as the Father of Indian Chemistry.

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98. Subhas Chandra Bose

1897-1945 (aged 48)

writer freedom fighter revolutionary politician

Subhas Chandra Bose was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist whose defiance of British authority in India made him a hero among many Indians, but his wartime alliances with Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan left a legacy vexed by authoritarianism, antisemitism, and military failure. The honorific 'Netājī' (Hindustani for "Respected Leader") was first applied to Bose in Germany in early...

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99. Dwijendralal Ray

1864-1913 (aged 49)

teacher civil servant writer composer poet

Dwijendralal Ray, also known as D. L. Ray, was a Bengali poet, playwright, and musician. He was known for his Hindu mythological and nationalist historical plays and songs known as Dwijendrageeti or the Songs of Dwijendralal, which number over 500, create a separate subgenre of Bengali music.

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100. Parvez Sharma

writer film director cinematographer journalist

Parvez Sharma is a New York-based Indian filmmaker, author, and journalist. He is a recipient of the 2018 Guggenheim Fellowship in the film/video category. He was amongst the 173 fellows selected from 3000 applicants in the 94th year of the fellowship, which originally started in 1925. In an official press release by the foundation, president Edward Hirsch said, "The winners...

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