Bipan Chandra - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Page 1 of 3

Bipan Chandra
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bipan Chandra (born 1928) is an Indian historian, specialising in economic and political history of
modern India.

Chandra has been associated with the "Marxist school" of Indian historiography.[1]

Contents
■ 1 Biography
■ 2 Education
■ 3 Career
■ 3.1 Academic
■ 3.2 Administration
■ 4 Ideology and Criticisms
■ 5 Publications
■ 6 See also
■ 7 References
■ 8 External links

Biography
Chandra was born in Kangra Valley, Himachal Pradesh. His original surname is Sud, but he decided to
exclude it from his said name, in order to uphold his ideologies based on egalitarianism. Incidentally,
Chandra married into a prominent Sud family.

Education
He was educated at Forman Christian College, Lahore, Stanford University, USA and the University of
Delhi, where he completed his Ph.D. under the supervision of Professor Bishweshwar Prasad.

Career
Academic
He taught for many years as Lecturer at Hindu College, Delhi. He was the UGC National Lecturer in
1973-74. He was a Reader in the History Department of Delhi University, before becoming the
Professor of History at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, soon after the university was founded.
He was one the earliest members of the Centre for Historical Studies (CHS), JNU and helped in setting
it up. He is presently an Emeritus Professor at the CHS. He was also a Visiting Professor at the Colegio
de Mexico.

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He was the General President of the Indian History Congress in 1985. He set up the journal Enquiry and
was a member of its editorial board for a long time.

He has delivered several chaired lectures, such as Kosambi Memorial Lecture, K.P.Jayswant Memorial
Lecture, V.D.Mahajan Memorial Lecture, Heras Memorial Lecture, and the inaugural lecture of the first
E.M.S. Namboodiripad Memorial Seminar.

Administration

Presently, he is the Chairman of the National Book Trust, New Delhi [2] He was a member of the
University Grants Commission, New Delhi. He was also a Chairperson of CHS, JNU.

Ideology and Criticisms

He has been at the forefront of the pro-communist struggle in India since independence.[3]

The historians with impeccable academic credentials and international renown like R.S. Sharma, Romila
Thapar, Bipan Chandra, Satish Chandra and Arjun Dev whose text books had been prescribed in schools
for a long time were under virulent attack from communalists.[4]

Arun Shourie, a prominent journalist, author and Magsaysay awardee, who is known for his extensive
research in the fields of Politics, Economics and History, points out that Bipan Chandra disapproved of
hailing historical characters like Rana Pratap Singh and Shivaji as 'national' heroes. Chandra feels that
projecting them as National Heroes was not only bad history, but also a blow to National Unity.[5]

Publications
■ Communalism: A Primer, (New Delhi, 2004)
■ In the Name of Democracy: The JP Movement and the Emergency, (New Delhi, 2003)
■ Essays on Colonialism, (New Delhi, 1999)
■ India After Independence, (jointly with Mridula Mukherjee and Aditya Mukherjee), (New Delhi,
1999)
■ Ideology and Politics in Modern India, (New Delhi, 1994)
■ Essays on Indian Nationalism, (New Delhi, 1993)
■ Essays on Contemporary India, (New Delhi, 1993)
■ The Epic Struggle, (New Delhi, 1992)
■ India's Struggle for Independence, 1857-1947, (New Delhi, 1989)
■ Indian National Movement: The Long Term Dynamics, (New Delhi, 1988)
■ Communalism in Modern India, (New Delhi, 1984)
■ The Indian Left: Critical Appraisal, (New Delhi, 1983)
■ Nationalism and Colonialism in Modern India, (New Delhi, 1979)
■ Freedom Struggle, (jointly with Amalesh Tripathi and Barun De), (New Delhi, 1972))
■ The Rise and Growth of Economic Nationalism in India: Economic Policies of Indian National
Leadership, 1880-1905, (New Delhi, 1966)

See also
■ Marxist historiography

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References
1. ^ Sreedharan, E. (2004). A Textbook of Historiography: 500 BC to AD 2000. Orient Blackswan.
p. 482. ISBN 9788125026570.
2. ^ Bipan Chandra's speech at Frankfurt (http://www.nbtindia.org.in/download/speech%20Prof%
20Chandra_engl_final.pdf)
3. ^ T.K.Rajalakshmi, Targeting History, in Frontline, Vol. 18, Issue 09, April 28-May 11, 2001
(http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1809/18090880.htm)
4. ^ D.R. Chaudhry (2002-04-28). "Critiques
galore!" (http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020428/spectrum/book6.htm) . The Tribune.
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020428/spectrum/book6.htm. Retrieved 2009-03-06.
5. ^ Arun Shourie. "Eminent Historians; Their Technology, Their Line and Their Fraud". Rupa &
Co.

External links
■ Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi (http://www.jnu.ac.in/)
■ National Book Trust, New Delhi (http://www.nbtindia.org.in/)
■ http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1815/18150930.htm
■ http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1809/18090880.htm
■ "Delhi Historians Group's Publication "Communalization of Education: The History Textbooks
Controversy", A report in 2002, New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru University, India
(http://www.friendsofsouthasia.org/textbook/NCERT_Delhi_Historians__Group.pdf)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipan_Chandra"
Categories: 1928 births | Emeritus Professors in India | Historians of South Asia | Historians of India |
Living people | Stanford University alumni | University of Delhi alumni | University of Delhi faculty |
Jawaharlal Nehru University faculty | Recipients of the Padma Bhushan

■ This page was last modified on 13 October 2010 at 19:31.

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