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Dev, Govinda Chandra (1907-1971)
philosopher and educationist. Govinda Chandra Dev Purakayastha was born
on 1 February 1907 in the village of Lauta in Biyani Bazar, sylhet.
Dev's forefathers were high caste Brahmins who had fled the political,
economic, social and religious turmoil in their native Gujrat and settled
down in Sylhet in the 5th century. Following the family tradition, they
engaged themselves in the study of the vedas,
the vedanta
and the upanisads.
Dev obtained
his BA (Hons) in Philosophy from Sanskrit College, Kolkata in 1929
and an MA in philosophy from Calcutta University in 1931. He took
up teaching and also worked on a doctoral thesis on "Reason, Intuition
and Reality," which earned him a PhD in philosophy from Calcutta
University in 1944. He taught for some time at Surendranath College
at Dinajpur and in 1953 joined the Philosophy Department of the
university
of dhaka. |
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Govinda Chandra Dev |
Inspired by Socrates, Dev accorded equal importance to
the fundamental questions of philosophy on the one hand, and on the other
to society, life, literature, arts, culture, economy and religion. He
was a secular and humanistic philosopher who looked at all religions from
a broad and universal perspective.
He strongly criticised fanaticism and extreme materialism,
believing that both were one-sided and unable to further the cause of
human welfare and progress. In his view only a synthesis of the two could
lead to human freedom. He believed that a worthwhile philosophy of life
would transform materialism into spiritualism and spiritualism into materialism.
All his books advocate this philosophy, which is a synthesis of the philosophies
of Hinduism, buddhism,
Christianity and Islam. He was influenced by the Vedas, the Vedanta and
the Upanishads, by the philosophy of ramakrishna
Paramhansa, by Swami vivekananda's
modern concept of hinduism,
by Lord Buddha's concept of love and humanism, by islam's
message of equality and goodwill and by christianity's
message of love.
Govinda Chandra Dev successfully introduced the idea of a synthetic philosophy in this subcontinent. What distinguishes his philosophy from others is his idea of progress. Instead of confining himself to discoursing on the fundamentals of philosophy, he emphasised its practical application. It was his conviction that philosophical thoughts, even if conceptually perfect, might not contribute to human welfare. This is why his philosophy was a synthesis of fundamentals and application. Apart from publishing over a hundred articles in English and Bangla in national and international journals, Dev published nine books, among them Idealism and Progress (1952), Idealism: A New Defence and A New Application (1958), Amar Jibandarshan (1960), Aspiration of the Common Man (1963), The Philosophy of Vivekananda and the Future of Man (1963), Tattvavidyasar (1966), and Buddha: the Humanist (1969). Two other books- Parables of the East (1984) and My American Experience (1993)- were published posthumously. Dev was awarded the honorary title of 'Darshan Sagar' by the East Pakistan Saraswat Samaj in 1967 for his contribution to philosophy. The same year, 'The Govinda Dev Foundation for World Brotherhood' was established in USA for propagating his humanistic philosophy. In 1980, the dev centre for philosophical studies was instituted in the Philosophy Department of Dhaka University. In 1986 the Bangladesh government awarded him the Ekushe Padak posthumously.
Dev donated all his property and money to Dhaka University
to further the cause of human welfare, to establish truth, justice, and
human liberty, to realise the hopes and aspirations of the common man
and to propagate his philosophy of secularism and humanism. He was imprisoned
during the 1965 Indo-Pak war. He was brutally killed in the army crackdown
on 26 March 1971. His mortal remains lie buried in the mass grave at Jagannath
Hall. [Pradip Kumar Roy]
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