Akshay Kumar Maitreya

For other uses, see Akshay Kumar (disambiguation).

Akshay Kumar Maitreya
অক্ষয় কুমার মৈত্রেয়
Akshay Kumar Maitreya in Rajshahi
Born	(1861-03-01)1 March 1861 Shimulia, Mirpur Upazila, Kushtia District, Bengal Presidency, British India (present day Bangladesh)
Died	10 February 1930(1930-02-10) (aged 68) Rajshahi, Bengal, British India (present day Bangladesh)
Citizenship	British Indian
Alma mater	Rajshahi Collegiate School Presidency College Rajshahi College
Occupation(s)	Former Commissioner of Rajshahi Municipal Corporation, Historian, Lawyer
Organization(s)	Varendra Research Society and Diamond Jubilee Industrial School
Known for	Creation of Varendra Research Museum
Title	The best historian of Bengal
Father	Mathura Mohan Maitreya

Akshay Kumar Maitreya (Bengali: অক্ষয় কুমার মৈত্রেয়; 1 March 1861 – 10 February 1930) was an Bengali historian and social worker. He served as a commissioner of Rajshahi Municipal Corporation and director of Varendra Research Society. He was also a member of the Rajshahi Bar Association.

Life

Maitreya was born in Shimulia under Nawapara Police Station of Mirpur, Kushtia District (now in Bangladesh). Maitreya started his education at Kumarkhali under the Kangal Harinath Majumdar. At the age of 10 he came to his father Mathura Mohan who was practising at Rajshahi. He passed the entrance in 1878 from Rajshahi Collegiate School, FA in 1880 from Rajshahi College, and BA in 1883 from Presidency College, and BL in 1885 from Rajshahi College. He joined the Rajshahi bar in the same year. Much of his education was in Kolkata and Rajshahi. He was a friend of Rabindranath Tagore, but engaged with him in an argument about whether history based fiction should necessarily represent historical facts correctly. Tagore, in various writings, recognized Maitreya as the best historian and writer of Bengal and said, "Akshay Kumar is a leading writer of our country" (Bharati, Kolkata, Srabon 1305). "He will be blessed in Bengali literature for the era of independence he ushered in in Bengali history" (Bharati, Srabon 1305). Maitreya, being a historian, called for historical correctitude, while Tagore declared that an artist has freedom to bend historical facts.

Maitreya's historical pursuit and his philanthropic spirit impressed many scholars and institutions in the country and abroad. He was admired by Mahatma Gandhi, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Congress President Sarojini Naidu, Mahamahopadhyay Hara Prasad Shastri, V. V. Smith, Kangal Harinath Majumdar, Sir John Marshall, Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee, Rabindranath Tagore, Maharani Hemanta Kumari Debi, MaharajaJagadindra Nath Roy of Natore, Raja Pramdanath Roy of Dighapatia Raj, Natore, poet Rajanikanta Sen, poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, historians R. C. Majumdar and Nalini Kanta Bhattasali, and many others. was instrumental in creating the Varendra Research Museum, Rajshahi. He was also credited for disproving the Black Hole of Calcutta theory used by the colonial British to discredit Siraj Ud Daulah in a seminar organized by the Calcutta Historical Society on 24 March 1916. His most significant work was Gaudalekhamala. It consists the Sanskrit texts (along with their translations in Bengali) of a number of stone and copper-plate inscriptions issued by the Pala emperors.

Works

Maitreya's works include:

• Samarsimha (1883)
• Sitaram Ray (1898)
• Sirajuddaulah (1898)
• Mir Qasim (1906)
• Aitihasik Chitra (Snapshots of History)
• Gaudalekhamala (The epigraphs of Gaud), Rajshahi (1912)
• Phiringi Banik (European Traders) (1922)
• " Sagarika"
• " Rani Bhabani"

External links

• "Akshay Kumar Maitreya". Banglapedia.