Renowned Historian Sabyasachi Bhattacharya Dead

Kolkata, Jan 7: Renowned historian Dr Sabyasachi Bhattacharya died here today. He was 80 and suffering from cancer.
The former Vice-Chancellor of Visva-Bharati, was also formerly professor of history at the Jawaharlal Nehru University and Chairman, Indian Council of Historical Research, he was the General Editor of Towards Freedom series of volumes documenting the last decade of the struggle for independence in India.
In 2011 he was decorated with the Rabindra Puraskar and D.Litt from Jadavpur University (2016). He had been serving as the chief advisor, Rabindra Rachanabali Committee, Bangla Academy and President of Sarat Samity.
Despite his illness, he completed a three-volume set of Comprehensive History of Modern Bengal, 1700-1950 in collaboration with sixty-five renowned historians under the aegis of the Asiatic Society Kolkata, his family sources told TNN.
Dr Bhattacharya was the VC of Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, during 1991-1995 and Professor of History at Jawaharlal Nehru University during 1976-2003.
His recent publications include Talking Back: the Idea of Civilization in the Indian Nationalist Discourse, Vande Mataram: A Biography of a Song (2013), The Defining Moments in Bengal 1920-1947, The Colonial State: Theory and Practice and The Mahatma and the Poet: letters and debates between Gandhi and Tagore.