<b>December 10, 1870</b>:
Born, Sir Jadunath Sarkar, at Karchamaria village in Natore (now in Bangladesh).
He began his career with teaching English literature, but later found his true talent with his alternative career - writing History. He came to limelight with his very celebrated 'India of Aurangzib', which he published in 1901. Throughout the rest of his career he specialized in writing the historical narrative of India during Muslim period especially Mughals. He wrote dozens of books and hundreds of research papers bringing to light such aspects which were until then hidden from the scholarship.
While he is best known for "A History of Aurangzib", which he published in 5 volumes (1912-24), he reached the peak of his fame during his stint at Banaras Hindu University when he published his magnum opus "Shivaji and his Times" (1919-22).
His greatness was his original research, coupled with his captivating style of narration and command on English language. If he was fascinated by any historical person, it was Shivaji, whom he declared 'the Last Great Genius that Hindu Has So Far Produced'. In fact his fascination with Shivaji can be gauged from that fact that the only work he chose to write in his mother tongue Bengali, is "Shivaji", which was to be his last work. He also wrote on the history of Bengal, as well as on thehistory of Nath and Naga Sannyasins.
An anecdote I have heard from his descendants and releatives is that when his father died, Jadunath was neck deep in his project on Shivaji's life. During the last rites of his father, he suddenly remembered something, excused himself and began taking notes on his notebook.
Born, Sir Jadunath Sarkar, at Karchamaria village in Natore (now in Bangladesh).
He began his career with teaching English literature, but later found his true talent with his alternative career - writing History. He came to limelight with his very celebrated 'India of Aurangzib', which he published in 1901. Throughout the rest of his career he specialized in writing the historical narrative of India during Muslim period especially Mughals. He wrote dozens of books and hundreds of research papers bringing to light such aspects which were until then hidden from the scholarship.
While he is best known for "A History of Aurangzib", which he published in 5 volumes (1912-24), he reached the peak of his fame during his stint at Banaras Hindu University when he published his magnum opus "Shivaji and his Times" (1919-22).
His greatness was his original research, coupled with his captivating style of narration and command on English language. If he was fascinated by any historical person, it was Shivaji, whom he declared 'the Last Great Genius that Hindu Has So Far Produced'. In fact his fascination with Shivaji can be gauged from that fact that the only work he chose to write in his mother tongue Bengali, is "Shivaji", which was to be his last work. He also wrote on the history of Bengal, as well as on thehistory of Nath and Naga Sannyasins.
An anecdote I have heard from his descendants and releatives is that when his father died, Jadunath was neck deep in his project on Shivaji's life. During the last rites of his father, he suddenly remembered something, excused himself and began taking notes on his notebook.