Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray- A Collection of Writings Volume II A (Literature, Education and Science)

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Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy was the first Palit Professor in Chemistry Department of our University. We are not only proud of this fact, but we remain committed to preserve the sacred memories of the connections that this illustrious son of India had with our University to provide us with strength and encouragement in our endless search for knowledge and truth.

Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy was a many-faceted personality: an educationist, an entrepreneur and a visionary. His contributions to the realms of Chemistry and Indian science are too well-known, and need not be recounted. A legendary teacher, his commitment to his students acquired a proverbial status. He led an austere life-style, and provided financial help from his own income to both enrich the University's research facilities, and support the needy students. At the same time, he identified himself with the maturing mainstream nationalist politics of the day, developing a personal link with Mahatma Gandhi. He surely should be a model for the present teaching community.

Today we emphasize the need to convert inventions into innovations. But long time back the Acharya realized this. He did not want the students to knock on the doors of higher education to merely receive degrees for becoming a clerk or a lawyer. The Acharya was strongly opposed to the idea of hereditary profession. Instead, he urged the students to become self-reliant, search for self-employment, and pursue newer means of livelihood through constructive enterprise. He himself set an example by initiating such industrial ventures as Bengal Chemical and Pharmaceutical Works, Bengal Pottery Works, and Calcutta Soap Works. He even sought to popularize the spinning wheel. Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy also had the rare ability to combine in himself the acumen of a scientist and the expertise of a littérateur. His knowledge of Bengali, Sanskrit and English literatures, and his proficiency in such foreign languages as German, French and Greek received wide acclaim. He could readily recite passages from Tagore, Madhusudan Dutt and Shakespeare.

In this globalised age it is imperative for the developing world to assert the principles of national integrity, selfsustained growth, equity and justice. In this context we can certainly fall back on the ideals for which Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy stood and fought. The present project of publishing selections from the Acharya's vast reservoir of writings has been undertaken to remind us of the relevance of the Acharya's life and thought in creating a better India to live in. Already two parts of the first volume (one in Bengali and the other in English) containing the Acharya's works on science, commerce and business have been published. This compilation brings together Prafulla Chandra Roy's contributions to literature and education.

**Contents and Sample Pages**