Professor Dr. Samaresh Bandyopadhyay Born in 1942 in an illustrious family famous for scholarship, patriotism and philanthropic activities...

Professor Dr. Samaresh Bandyopadhyay

Professor Dr. Samaresh Bandyopadhyay

Born in 1942 in an illustrious family famous for scholarship, patriotism and philanthropic activities, Professor Dr. Bandyopadhyay, a brilliant student of the University of Calcutta, is the recipient of several scholarships, Research Fellowships and a Gold Medal for ranking First Class First in B.A. (Hons.) in Ancient Indian History and Culture. He served his alma mater for over four decades in different capacities and retired in 2007 as a Professor. He has to his credit 10 books, 25 edited works and nearly 300 Research Articles published in Indian and foreign journals. Well-worthy of mention here are

  • Āchārya-Vandanā (D.R. Bhandarkar Birth Centenary Volume), edited by him, released in 1985 by the then Prime Minister of India, Smt. Indira Gandhi, and commended as "one of the best Indological publications of the century and the best of the type" by Sir Harold Bailey of Cambridge University, U. K.
  • Thoughts on Synthesis of Science and Re1igion, also edited by him with Dr. T. D. Singh of Berkeley University (U.S.A.), incorporates contributions from as many as five Nobel Laureates.
  • Bhārara Saṁskriti (Presentations at the Three Day International Seminar on “Importance of Early Indian Culture in Making a Better World”), published from the U.S.A., 2015.

His outstanding contribution to different aspects of Indology like Literature, Numismatics, Epigraphy, Architecture, Iconography and Sculpture led him to be the General President of the Numismatic Society of India in 2002, the General President of the Epigraphical Society of India in 2003 and the General President of the Indian Art History Congress in 2012. His invaluable contributions to the study of the History of Science has earned him Nelson Wright Medal of the Numismatic Society of India (Varanasi), the Honorary Fellowship of the Ancient Sciences and Archaeological Society of India, Mysore, Karnataka, and the Highest Award, Jñānanidhi, of the Government sponsored Academy of Sanskrit Research, Melkote, Karnataka.

He was honoured with the ‘Sir Achārya J. C. Bose Memorial Award’ for 2015 in January 2016 at the Bose Institute Main Campus (Kolkata) for his outstanding contribution to the history of science and archaeology. Associated in different capacities (Honorary Fellow, President, Vice-president, Advisor, Editor and Member) with different learned institutions of different parts of India and foreign countries, Professor Dr. Bandyopadhyay is now a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, a Member of the Advisory Board of Sthāpatyam (Journal of the Indian Science of Architecture and Allied Sciences) published from Delhi, and the Principal Advisor of the North American Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies, USA, which promotes worldwide the study of the History of Science.

In honour of Professor Dr. Bandyopadhyay have already come out two felicitation volumes both edited by a great Indologist of present times, Professor Dr. Ian W. Mabbett of Australia, the first one entitled Abhivādana (A Volume on Aspects of Early Indian History and Culture in Honour of Professor Dr. Samaresh Bandyopadhyay), published in 2008 from Kolkata and the second, entitled Prācyaprajñapradīpa (Professor Dr Samaresh Bandyopadhyay Felicitation Volume on Early Indian History and Culture), which is commended as, “a precious gift in the new millennium to the scholars of Early Indian History and Culture”, in 2012 from the U.S.A.

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