Prabodh Chandra Bagchi () (18 November 1898 – 19 January 1956) or P. C. Bagchi was one of the most notable Sino -Indologists of the 20th century. He was the third Upacharya (Vice-Chancellor) of Visva-Bharati University.
Early life and education
He was born on 18 November 1898, the eldest son of Shri Harinath Bagchi and Smt Tarangini Devi in present-day Bangladesh in Magura District. He was to lose his mother in his early childhood. He did his schooling in Srikole, Magura District in present Bangladesh. Bagchi was a brilliant student and a favorite of his teachers and Head Master who expected great things of him. In 1914, he appeared for the Matriculation examination. He graduated from Krishnagar Government College in 1918 with honors in Sanskrit. He stood first in his college and received the prestigious Mohini Mohan Roy award. Although he showed promise in Mathematics, he took Sanskrit, the classical language of India, because of his desire to study ancient Indian history. He joined Calcutta University for his post-graduation studies in Ancient History and Culture, obtaining a First Class M.A. in 1920. He was awarded a gold medal in the Religion Section and overall had stood first in the university.
Academic career and contributions
After his post-graduation from Calcutta University, he immediately joined the university as a lecturer after being called by Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee who told him to "Join from tomorrow" (In Bengali, as noted in his personal diary). The period from 1921 onwards was highly significant for Prabodh Chandra Bagchi in fulfilling his dream to become a true Orientalist. He realised the need for reconstructing ancient history and the multifaceted Indian cultural history more scientifically on a broader Asiatic perspective. With this lofty dream in mind, he started learning Chinese and Japanese from Professor Kimura and Professor Masuda of Calcutta University and German from Professor Taraporewala. Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee, the Vice-Chancellor deputed Prabodh Chandra to learn Chinese and Tibetan from Sylvain Lévi, the Professor of Sanskrit and Indian Civilization in the Sorbonne University, Paris who was in Santiniketan on an invitation from Rabindranath Tagore. It was also from Sylvain Lévi and the great poet Rabindranath that Prabodh Chandra imbibed a new approach to research on the Indian cultural history which renewed his endeavour to learn various foreign languages to have access to the original source materials. Instead of fragmented specialised studies he realised that ancient Indian history and culture should be viewed in its entirety so that many obscure areas would be brought into light.
In 1922, young Prabodh reached the first milestone of his career, when he accompanied Sylvain Lévi and Madame Lévi to Nepal. His painstaking work in exploring original manuscripts and the Tibetan and Chinese manuscripts of old Sanskrit texts which were lost in their originals but preserved in their translations at the Royal Durbar Library of Nepal resulted in his invaluable findings in the domain of Indological research. Among his findings the palm leaf manuscripts of Kaula-Jnana- Nirnaya and Sammoho Tantra need special mention as they throw light on mysticism, influence of Sakti-ism on later Buddhism and emergence of new religious creeds. In 1922, Prabodh reached another milestone when he was awarded Rashbehari Ghosh Travelling Fellowship for one year. He travelled to Indo-China, Cambodia, Cochin-China and Japan. He got the opportunity to work with Sylvain Lévi, Louis Finot, the founder of Ecole de Pali in Phnom Penh, George Groslier who established a renowned museum in Phnom Penh, National Museum of Cambodia, Henry Marshal, the head of Ecole Francaise d' extreme orient in Hanoi and Henri Permentier exponent of Khmer art and culture. Prabodh Chandra was enriched with their exploratory survey of the archaeological remains of Angkor Vat. He stayed in Hanoi and was fortunate to attend Chinese classes conducted by Prof. Auroussean. He visited Japan and benefited extensively from his stay at the Monastery of Koyasen. During the period between 1923 and 1926 Prabodh Chandra was in France on a government scholarship for higher studies. He worked on Sanskrit Buddhist literature with Sylvain Lévi, on the ancient remains of Indian civilisation in Central Asia with Paul Pelliot, on Buddhist literature in China with Henri Maspero, on the ancient Pali texts with Jules Bloch and on Avestan gathas with Antoine Meillet. He was awarded the highest degree of Docteur es Letters (State Doctorate) by the Paris University.