Mahendralal Sarkar

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Mahendra Lal Sarkar
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Mahendralal Sarkar
Calcutta
, India
Occupation(s)Physician, academic
SpouseRajkumari

Mahendralal Sarkar

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.[1][2]

Early life and education

Mahendralal Sarkar was born at Paikpara village in

Calcutta Medical College
.

At Calcutta Medical College he was so esteemed by his professors that in the second year of his course he was invited by them to deliver a series of lectures on

Calcutta University after Chandrakumar De (1862).[1][4][5]

Career

Although educated in the traditional European system of medicine, Mahendralal Sarkar later turned to

homoeopathy due to inability of ordinary Indians to afford treatment with western medicines. He was influenced by reading William Morgan's The Philosophy of Homeopathy, and by interaction with Rajendralal Dutt, a leading homoeopathic practitioner of Calcutta. In a meeting of the Bengal branch of the British Medical Association, he proclaimed homoeopathy to be superior to the "Western medicine" of the time. Consequently, he was ostracised by the British doctors, and had to undergo loss in practice for some time.[6] However, soon he regained his practice and went on to become a leading homoeopathic practitioner in Calcutta, as well as India.[1]

In the course of his career, he treated several notable persons of those days, including the author

Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay, the ascetic Ramakrishna, the Maharaja of Tripura
and others.

Activism and reforms

Bust of ML Sircar at Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science in front of ML Sircar Hall.

Mahendralal Sarkar started a campaign with the motto of reconstructing colonial India in 1867 for a national science association. He planned for an association that would be funded, run, and managed by native Indians, with the aim of turning out a pool of scientists for national reconstruction.

Jesuit Father, Eugène Lafont, cofounder of the IACS were particularly popular.[9]

Sarkar supported women's education in nineteenth-century India, when higher education among women was rare. For example, he was a supporter of

Calcutta Medical College, where admission of females was not permitted. He also arranged for Sarala Devi Chaudhurani's attendance in the evening lectures at IACS, so that she could pursue higher studies in physics.[10]

Awards and honours

He was a fellow of Calcutta University and an honorary magistrate and Sheriff of Calcutta (1887). He was made a CIE in 1883 and honoured with an honorary doctorate degree by University of Calcutta in 1898.[5]

References

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Wikiquote has quotations related to Mahendralal Sarkar.
  1. ^ a b c d Palit, Chittabrata (2012). "Sircir, Mahendralal". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
  2. ^ Arun Kumar Biswas. Gleanings of the past and the science movement : in the diaries of Drs. Mahendralal and Amritalal Sircar, Calcutta : The Asiatic Society, 2000; see also Collected works of Mahendralal Sircar, Eugène Lafont, and science movement, 1860–1910, Kolkata : Asiatic Society, 2003
  3. ^ Dr. Mahendralal Sircar – Frank Parlato Jr. Vivekananda.net. Retrieved on 12 November 2018.
  4. Ramtanu Lahiri O Tatkalin Banga Samaj
    , 1903/2001, (in Bengali), pp. 170–176, New Age Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
  5. ^
    ISBN 81-85626-65-0
  6. ISBN 81-8056-573-4
    .
  7. ^ IACSCC. "Introduction(About) of IACS". www.iacs.res.in. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  8. ^ a b Palit, Chittabrata (2012). "Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
  9. ^ Arun K. Biswas, Father Eugene Lafont and the contemporary Science movement, Kolkata, The Asiatic Society, 2001, pp.45ff
  10. ISBN 81-250-0843-8
    .
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