H.B. Sarkar

Himansu Bhusan (H.B.) Sarkar (1905? — 1990?) was an Indian historian and epigraphist specializing in South India, Southeast Asian and Indonesian studies, a disciple of Rabindranath Tagore and R.C. Majumdar, an epigraphist and history researcher with Dacca University — modern times Dhaka University ঢাকা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়, Bangladesh, established in 1921 and the oldest active university -, and with University of Calcutta, whom the late EFEO director Denys Lombard called ​“the last survivor of the ​‘Greater India Society’, so to speak” [“Review of H.B. Sarkar, Cultural Relations between India and Southeast Asian Countries, Archipel 45, 1993, p. 198 (in French)].

Even if George Coedès found ​“useful yet a tad superficial” his first published book, Indian influences on the Literature of Java and Bali, H.B. Sarkar’s contribution to Southeast Asian studies from an Indan perspective remains important. Along with B.R. Chatterjee, he became an authority in that field, in particular Javanese ancient inscriptions — see Yorim Spoelder ed., Visions of Greater: India Transimperial Knowledge and Anti-Colonial Nationalism c.1800 – 1960, Cambridge University Press, 2025, 346 p., ISBN ‎ 978 – 1009403191 -, and was recognized as such by his international colleagues, especially when he acted as Secretary the XXVIth International Congress of Orientalists, New Delhi 1964, South East Asia Studies section.

H.B. Sarkar co-organized the 1964 International Congress of Orientalists in Delhi, India. 

At that time, he had retired from his position of Principal and Professor of History of Kharagpur College, West Bengal, where students with highest marks at finals are nowadays awarded  the ​“Principal H.B. Sarkar Merit Medal”. The felicitation volume he edited in tribute to his professor, R.C. Majumdar Felicitation Volume (1970) attracted many outstanding contributions. His paper on ​“Kaundinya I of Funan” (1986), often referred to by scholars yet difficult to access, is now available on Angkor Database.

Selected Publications

• Indian Influences on the Literature of Java and Bali, Delhi: Greater India Society, 1934, 415 p.
• “The Cultural and Political Background of Indo-Javanese History (The First Phase: Contact in the Twilight),” Journal of Indian History (JIH) XLII/2, 1964, 395 – 423.
• “The Cultural and Political Background of Indo-Javanese History (The Second Phase: The First Fruits of the Impact of Indian and Austronesian Civilizations in Indonesia),” Journal of Indian History, XLIII/1, 1965, 87 – 109.
• [communication] ​“Some problems concerning the Mataram kings of Central Java,” Proceedings of the 25th International Congress of Orientalists (1964), Organizing Committee, New Delhi, 1966.
• “South-India in Sanskrit and Old Javanese inscriptions,” Bijdragen tot de Taal‑, Land- en Volkenkunde (Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia), Leiden, Brill, 1969 : 193 – 206. ISSN 0006 – 2294.
• [editor] R. C. Majumdar Felicitation Volume, Calcutta: Firma K. L. Mukhopadhyay, 1970, 282 p.
• Some Contribution of India to the Ancient Civilisation of Indonesia and Malaysia, Punthi Pustak, 1970, 243 p.
• Corpus of the Inscriptions of Java (Corpus Inscriptionum Javanicarum), Delhi, 2 vol.,1971 & 1972. (1st vol. ed. 1958).
• “Bengal and Her Traffic Routes in the Bay of Bengal and South-East Asia (c. B.C. 300 to A.D. 300),” Journal of the Asiatic Society (JAS) XIV/1, 1972, 74 – 90.
• “The Philosophical Matrix and Content of the Vajrayana System as Practised by the Sailendra Rulers of Central Java (c. A.D. 755 – 856): A search for its Origin (A Literary and Inscriptional Approach),” Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Diamond Jubilee Volume, Pune, 1977 – 78, 921 – 938.
• “The Influence of the Indian Dharmasastras in the Evolution of the Judicial Literature of South-East Asia.” JAS 21(1 – 2), 1979.
• Literary Heritage of South-East Asia, Calcutta: Firma KLM Ltd.,1980.
• “A geographical introduction to South-East Asia: The Indian perspective”, Bijdragen tot de Taal‑, Land- en Volkenkunde 137 (1981), no: 2/3, Leiden: 293 – 323.
• The Rāmāyana in South East Asia, South East Asian Review, 1980, 102 p. | [partly tr. into Indonesian] Ramayana dan Mahaharata di Asia Tenggara, tr. Tjokorda Rai Sudharta, Djakarta, Upada Sastra, 1992, 30 p.
• “The Cultural Contact between Java and Bengal,” The Indian Historical Quarterly XIII, 1985: 589 – 599.
• Cultural Relations Between India and Southeast Asian Countries, Delhi: Indian Council for Cultural Relations and Motilal Banarsidass, 1985, 355 p. ISBN 9788120800540.
• “The Kings of Sri Sailam and the foundation of the Sailendra Dynasty of Indonesia,” Bijdragen tot de Taal‑, Land- en Volkenkunde 141, 1985, no: 2/3, Leiden, 323 – 338.
• Trade and commercial activities of southern India in the Malayo-Indonesian world, up to A.D. 1511, 1986.
• “The Homeland of Kaundinya I of Funan and Traditions About His Marriage.” Journal of the Institute of Asian Studies 4 – 1, 1986: 21 – 31.
• Glimpses of Early Indo-Indonesian Culture: Collected Papers of Himansu Bhusan Sarkar, Bachchan Kumar ed., Delhi: Aryan Books International, 2001, 350 p. ISBN-13 978−81−7305−182−8.

Photo: H.B. Sarkar at the 25th International Congress of Orientalists, 1964, New Delhi (via ExoticIndianArt)