Nishikanta Chattopadhyay (1852-1910)

Research scholar and the first Bengali to obtain a PhD degree (1882) from a European university, was born in July 1852 in the village of Pashchimpara in Vikrampur, dhaka. Nishikanta passed the FA from Presidency College. He then went to Germany to study German, Sanskrit, linguistics, history and philosophy at Leipgiz University. But he was expelled from there for being an atheist. He proceeded to Switzerland and completed his doctoral studies at the University of Zurich. He returned to India in 1883 and subsequently taught at different colleges in Hyderabad, Mysore and Muzaffarpur. Towards the end of his life, he embraced Islam.

Nishikanta was concerned about the plight of women in society and, before going abroad, had set up Balya Bibaha Nibarani Sabha (Association for the Prevention of Child Marriage) at Dhaka. He wrote a number of articles about the problems of women and child marriage in Abala Bandhab. He also wrote two songs that were widely sung at one time in East Bengal on the conditions of women and the evil of child marriage.

Nishikanta wrote a number of books in German and English including The Jatras or the Popular Dramas of Bengal (1882), Some Reminiscences of Old England (1902), The Study of History (1902). He died on 25 February 1910.

:: Added 28-07-2005 @ 1426 GMT