Historian Sumit Sarkar, leading voice on modern India, dies at 87
Noted historian Sumit Sarkar died on Thursday at his Delhi residence from age-related ailments, historian and family friend G Arunima told PTI. He was 87.
"Professor Sarkar was unwell for a long time, but for some time now, he had been suffering with age-related issues. He was not publicly active, since he had a fall some years ago," Arunima said.
Sarkar is survived by his wife and historian Tanika Sarkar and son Aditya Sarkar, associate professor of South Asian History at the University of Warwick.
His last rites are likely to be performed on Saturday. A confirmed date and time will be informed later.
Born in 1939 to historian Sushobhan Sarkar, Sumit Sarkar studied History at Presidency College, Calcutta and the University of Calcutta.
Sarkar took up teaching jobs as a lecturer at the University of Calcutta and as a reader at the University of Burdwan. His longest stint as professor of history was at the University of Delhi.
Some of his most seminal works, including "The Swadeshi Movement in Bengal", "Modern India: 1885–1947", and "Writing Social History", established him as an authoritative voice in examining colonialism, nationalism and the freedom movement through the experiences of different social groups, classes and popular movements.
A Marxist historian, Sarkar is known for his studies of the Swadeshi movement and for challenging conventional, leader-centred accounts of Indian nationalism.
He was one of the founding members of the Subaltern Studies Collective, but later began to critique it.
Sarkar received the Sarit Chatterjee Memorial Award from the Indian History and Culture Society for his work on the Indian freedom movement in 2003. The next year, he was given the Rabindra Puraskar for his book "Writing Social History", which he returned in 2007 in protest against the treatment of farmers by the CPI(M) led Left Front government in West Bengal.
Tributes poured in on social media from readers and historians alike.
"Rest in power, Sumit. Professor Sumit Sarkar, doyen amongst historians and the kindest of human beings, passed away. His contribution to modern Indian history is immeasurable," Arunima posted on X.
Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Kumar Jha remembered Sarkar for his understanding of Gandhi.
"And how can one forget your understanding of Gandhi as someone who did not seek to make everyone think alike, but created an “umbrella” under which people who did not think alike could struggle together. That idea, like so much of your work, continues to speak to our present," Jha wrote on X.
Author Nilanjana Roy called Sarkar a "great believer in pluralism, staunchly anti-fascist" who explored history "as a democratic project".
"...where the small happenings, the little rebellions, the courage and struggles of ordinary Indians were as important as what the intellectuals and great leaders thought," she said.
Publisher Arpita Das shared on X how Sarkar would tell his students in MA to read Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose" as background reading for his class on the Reformation.
"I remember being transfixed by his articulation, the way he handled our questions, gently yet firmly steering us towards a reasoned understanding based on sources. And yet, he told us to not let our imagination die even as we studied history. I had the fortune of being taught by both him and Tanika di and today, all my thoughts are with her. What a partnership they had!" Das wrote on X.
