Dharmathakur । ধর্মঠাকুর
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Academic Writings
HISTORY
Caught Between Myth and Reality: A Nation Called India
IIC Quarterly, Summer 2023, Volume 50, Number 1Looking Differently at Ancient Indian History — From a Scientific Angle
This article is an edited version of a talk delivered at the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Gol Park, Kolkata on 25 August, 2017.The Company’s Policy & the Consolidation of the Bhadralok Castes
Prof Amalesh Tripathi Memorial Lecture Bangiya Itihas Samiti, Kolkata, 25 th April, 2019Rammohun Roy: His Contribution to the Making of India
Studies in People’s History, Sage Publication, Volume 7, Issue 1, June 2020, Pages 53-64Alexander Duff: Visionary and Educationist.
Alexander Duff Memorial Lecture, Scottish Church College, Kolkata,
185th Foundation Day, 14th July 2014Revd. Dr. William Carey: An Enquiry into the Obligation of a Social Reformer
The Bible Society of India (Calcutta Auxiliary), 17 Aug 2014The Last Days of the First Rebel: Derozio
Bicentennial Publication of the Presidency College Alumni Association, 20th Jan 2017Ruling The District: Evolution of district administration in Bengal: A Brief Account India
International Centre Quarterly India International Centre Quarterly Vol 15, Summer 1988. (p 71-87)Reconsidering Local History: Some Facts, Some Observations
In Quest Of The Historian's Craft: Essays in Honour of Professor B. B. Chaudhuri; Part II: The Polity, Society And Culture
Edited by Arun Bandyopadhyay & Sanjukta Das GuptaHow Buddhism Was Re-discovered in Modern India
6th Kripasaran Memorial Lecture, Bengal Buddhist Association Kolkata, 22nd June 2015The Slow Silent Emergence of India’s National Identity
Maulana Azad Memorial Lecture
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute Of Asian Studies, Kolkata, 11 November 2016১৭৫৩ খ্রিষ্টাব্দঃ বাঙালি 'ভদ্রলোক'-এর উত্থান
ইতিকথা, বর্ষ ১০, সংখ্যা ২, জুলাই ২০২২ খ্রি। ( ISSN 2320-3447 Itikotha)POLITICS
Assembly Elections in West Bengal, 2021: How Socio-Political Traditions Defeated a Superior Electoral Machinery in Electoral Democracy
An Inquiry into the Fairness and Integrity of Elections in India, 2022. Edited by M.G. Devasahayam, Publ: Paranjoy, (p 73-192)
Major Issues Concerning Free and Fair Elections: The Case of West Bengal in Electoral Democracy
An Inquiry into the Fairness and Integrity of Elections in India, 2022. Edited by M.G. Devasahayam, Publ: Paranjoy. (p 193-212)Between Myth and Reality: A Nation Called India
[Epic in India]75 years of the Congress Family: Is a Reconciliation Possible?
Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav : India at 75
Ed: Amb.Surendra Kumar, Har Anand Publishers, Delhi, 2022, (p 62-75)Contending with Contentious Cows
The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy, Feb 9 2019
Subservience, Not Efficiency: Modi & Civil Service ‘Reforms’
The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy, 20 July 2018Secularism Under Threat in Bangladesh and India
International conference: 'After the Genocide: Fifty years of Bangladesh & Birth Centenary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman', Dhaka, 22-23 November 2019The Hegemonic Gene: Bureaucracy And Mindless Dominance.
Indian National Confederation and Academy of Anthropologists, (INCAA) Bhubaneswar, 21.02.2015
Round Table: 2015 on Society, State and GovernanceVividh Bharati's Role In Unifying The Indian Nation
RKMIC, Kolkata 29th January 2014SOCIOLOGY/ RELIGION
Krishna’s Long Journey: From Sacred Text to the Popular Arts
Published by the Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata, in March 2017 as Krishna: Iconographic Representations, edited by Jayanta Sengupta, 5 Feb, 2016Appropriation & Absorption: Examples from the Dharma Cult of Rarh-bangha
(Download PDF)
Folklore Summer School, April 12-14, 2017, Bangla Academy, DhakaFrom The Aniconic To The Iconic: The Folk Gods Transform, While Dharma Resists
Journal of the Indian Anthropological Society. Nov2004, Vol. 39 Issue 3, p209-226. 18p.The Bengalis: A Thousand Years
An English translation of the Bengali article in Ananda Bazar Patrika’s Special Supplement on the New Millennium, dated 1 Jan 2000. -
রাম, হনুমান নয়, এটা শিব, বাসন্তী, ধর্মঠাকুরের মাস
রামের নামে যে অভূতপূর্ব আগ্রাসনের প্রদর্শনী দেখলাম, তাতে মনে হল, আমরা চৈত্র মাসে বাঙালির পূজিত চিরকালীন দেবদেবীদের ভুলে গিয়েছি। এই মাসটা শিব, শীতলা, অন্নপূর্ণা বা বাসন্তী এবং ধর্মঠাকুরের। এবং বাঙালিরা খুব নিশ্চিত যে দুর্গা বাড়ি আসেন আশ্বিনে, তা সে বোধন অকাল হোক আর না হোক। এ মাসে সবচেয়ে বর্ণময় উৎসব গাজন, অনেকে বেশ কিছু দিন ধরে শিব আর পার্বতী সেজে বেড়ায়, শিবের নাম করতে করতে। আমরা ধর্মকে এ ভাবেই পথে পথে নিয়ে যেতাম, ভক্তি ও নাচ-গান-মূকাভিনয়ের মাধ্যমে। তরোয়াল আর হুমকির মাধ্যমে নয়। উনিশ শতকের জাতিতাত্ত্বিকরা উত্তর ভারতে রামনবমী পালনের কথা লিখেছেন, কিন্তু বাংলায় নয়। এবং এটা খুব পরিষ্কার ভাবে বুঝতে হবে, দুর্গার জয় উদযাপন আর রামের জন্ম উদযাপনের মধ্যে ফারাক আছে। দুটো ঐতিহ্য আলাদা, আশ্বিনের অকাল বোধনে তাদের দেখা হয় মাত্র। বাঙালিরা একে পালন করে দুর্গার নামে, অন্যরা আশ্বিনের নবরাত্রি ও দশেরাকে পালন করে রামের নামে।
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Appropriation & Absorption: Examples from the Dharma Cult of Rarh-Bangla
Popular cults and their relationship with organised religion has been studied for several decades, not only by curious social scientists, clinical anthropologists, sympathetic folklorists, scholars of language and literature, religious or ritual practitioners as well as several other categories of observers. The two way transactions are the main elements but in this short report,we will focus on one specific aspect in one site over a long period to understand the inexorable process of appropriation of the mainstream religion.
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From the Aniconic To The Iconic: The Folk God Transform, While Dharma Resists
The dichotomous relation between the two extremities of any religion, however rigid be its structure or dogma — between the formal, scriptural version on the one hand and the plethora of practices and rituals that pass off as the ‘little’ or popular tradition on the other — have never ceased to enchant the observer and entice the researcher.