Life and Times of an Indian Anthropologist: A Collection of Seminar Papers (An Old and Rare Book)

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The Asiatic Society organized a two-day seminar on 15 and 16 December 1998, in honour of Professor Kshitish Prasad Chattopadhyay on the occasion of his birth centenary K.P. Chattopadhyay (henceforth KPC) was born in Calcutta on 15 December 1897. His mother Motimala Devi was the grand daughter of Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar and his father Jamini Mohan Chattopadhyay was the great grandson of Chandrajyoti Devi, a grand daughter of Raja Rammohan Roy. This family background helped KPC during his formative years. A brilliant student, he stood first in ISC examination in 1915 and first class first in Physics in 1917.

In 1919, he went to Cambridge to carry on higher research work in Physics, but later on changed his sphere of study to Anthropol ogy. A student of the eminent British Anthropologist W. H. R. Rivers, KPC obtained M. Sc. degree from Cambridge and won the Anthony Wilkins Fellowship to carry on work among the Newars of Nepal. But Colonial government refused him permission to go to Nepal, suspecting him of having Communist leanings. So KPC returned to India in June 1922, without a formal Ph. D. degree.