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Guhathakurta, Jyotirmoy (1920-1971) Dhaka University
teacher, killed by the Pakistani Army on the night of 25 March 1971, was
born in Mymensingh town on 10 July 1920. His father, Kumudchandra Guhathakurta,
of Banaripara, Barisal, and his mother, Srimati Sumati, were school teachers.
Guhathakurta matriculated from Mymensingh Zila School In 1936.
He then studied Intermediate Science at Presidency College in
Kolkata for a year, but an attack of typhoid prevented him from
taking the final examination. Later he took admission in anandamohan
college, Mymensingh, and, in 1939, passed Intermediate
Arts. He took admission in Dhaka University and graduated with
honours in English in 1942, standing first in the first class.
His academic success earned him the Pope Memorial Gold Medal.
The following year he completed the MA.
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Jyotirmoy Guhathakurta |
Guhathakurta taught in a number of colleges from 1944
to 1949, such as, Ananda Mohan College, Mymensingh, Gurudayal College,
Kishoreganj, and Jagannath College, Dhaka. In 1949 he joined Dhaka University
as lecturer in English. In 1963 he went to King's College, London University,
on a British Council scholarship to do doctoral work on 'Classical Myths
in the Plays of Swinburne, Bridges, Sturges, Moore and Eliot'. The dissertation
was published by Dhaka University Press in 1973.
After completing his doctoral studies in 1967, Guhathakurta
returned to Dhaka University and was promoted to reader, a position he
held till his death. In addition to teaching, he served as house tutor
of Jagannath Hall from 1958 to 1963, and then, from 20 April 1970, as
provost.
He was also a member of the International Radical Humanist
Association, the Dhaka Centre of the International Quakers Services, and
the Bulbul Academy of Fine Arts. In 1951, he participated in the annual
meeting of the All-India Humanist Association in Dehra Dun, and in 1964
in a conference of the International Humanist and Ethical Union in the
Hague. Besides his doctoral thesis, his other publications include a number
of essays in English and Bangla.
A highly successful teacher, Guhathakurta instilled in
his students a love for good literature and the humanist ideals that he
cherished all his life. When the Pakistan Army raided the Dhaka University
campus on 25 March 1971, Guhathakurta's flat was broken into and he was
shot in cold blood. He succumbed to his wounds at the dhaka
medical college and hospital on 30 March 1971.
[Kaiser Haq]
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