Mohammadi News Agency News – Features – Photo
MNA Feature Desk: Born on July 10, 1885 Dr Muhammad Shahidullah passed his Entrance examination in 1904 from Howrah Zila School. In 1906 he passed the FA examination from Presidency College, Calcutta (now Kolkata).
He received the Bachelor of Arts degree with Honours in Sanskrit in 1910 from City College, Calcutta, and Master of Arts in 1912 in Comparative Philology from the same institution.
Shahidullah’s teaching career started in Jessore District School where he taught between 1908 and 1909. He also worked as the headmaster of Sitakunda High School, Chittagong between 1914 and 1915. He practised law for some time and was elected vice-chairman of the Bashirhat municipality.
He joined the University of Dhaka as a lecturer of Sanskrit and Bangla in 1921. During his teaching and research career there, he explored the origins of the Bangla language. In 1925, he was able to show that Bangla originated from Gaudi or Magadhi Prakrit.
To pursue his doctoral studies, Shahidullah went to France and Germany in 1926. He received his doctorate from the Sorbonne in Paris in 1928 for his research on the distiches of the “Charyapada”, the earliest extant specimens of Bangla language.
Dr. Shahidullah was a devout Muslim, and his books on religion reflect his deep faith. He addressed public gatherings to uphold the importance of Islam. He was liberal and progressive.
Dr. Shahidullah delved deep into the history of Old and Middle Age Bangla literature, wrote books on these subjects, and gave pointers to solve many issues concerned with specificity of Bangla language and literature. He also took active interest in folk literature of Bengal. Noteworthy among his books are “Sindabad Saodagarer Galpo,” “Bhasha O Shahitya,” “Bangala Byakaran,” “Diwan-i-Hafiz,” “Padmabati” (Volume I), “Bangla Shahityer Kotha” (Volumes I and II) and more. His “Buddhist Mystic Songs” (1960) is a translation and an edited version of the “Charyapada”.
Dr Muhammad Shahidullah was made Professor Emeritus by the University of Dhaka (1967) and awarded ‘Knight of the Orders of Art and Letters’ by the French government (1967) for his lifetime achievements in research on language and literature. Dr. Shahidullah passed away in Dhaka on July 13, 1969.
