RKM to observe birth centenary of AK Mazumdar

The birth centenary celebration of noted philosopher and scholar Amiya Kumar Mazumdar will be held at the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture (RKIMC) on Tuesday.

Professor Amita Chatterjee will deliver the memorial lecture to mark the inauguration of centenary celebration. Swami Suparnananda, secretary, RKIMC, will preside over the function. Mazumdar was born in Faridpur – now in Bangladesh – on November 29, 1917.

His grandfather Amvika Charan was elected the president at the 31st session of the Indian National Congress at Lucknow in 1915. Mazumdar’s cousin Phani Bhusan was a member of Sheikh Mujibur Rahaman’s cabinet.

In 1937 Amiya Kumar, graduated with honours in Philosophy with first class and secured the first position. In 1940, he again stood first in the MA examination in the Philosophy department of Calcutta University.

As a student, he came in contact with scholars like Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Surendranath Dasgupta and Humayun Kabir. Mazumdar will be famously remembered as an outstanding teacher, an orator and above all a simple person. His humility was remarkable. He had profound knowledge of both Indian and Western philosophy.

He was connected with the Ramakrishna Movement and had delivered lectures in many youth conferences. He was also associated with the Indian Philosophical Congress, Bangiya Darshan Samaj and International Society for Intellectual Studies and Research.

Mazumdar’s baritone voice and clarity of thought had always attracted several students. Whether it was some intricate problem of Vedanta or some difficult chapter in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, he was always there to help his students. He had great command over the history of Western Philosophy. 

Some of his important publications are ‘Rediscovering Swami Vivekananda’, ‘Understanding Vivekananda’ and ‘Swami Vivekananda as a Vedantist’.