# Radhakanta Deb
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{{Short description|Indian scholar and leader of the Calcutta conservative Hindu society}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix= ''[Maharaja Bahadur](/source/Maharaja_Bahadur)''
| name = Radhakanta Deb
{{no bold|রাধাকান্ত দেব}}
| honorific_suffix= [KCSI](/source/Order_of_the_Star_of_India)
| image = Radhakanta Deb-রাধাকান্ত দেব Academic Oil Portrait.png
| image_size =
| caption = Radhakanta Deb, c. 1860
| birth_date = 10 March 1784
| birth_place = [Calcutta](/source/Calcutta), [Bengal Presidency](/source/Bengal_Presidency), [British India](/source/British_India) (now [Kolkata](/source/Kolkata), India)
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1867|04|19|1784|03|10|df=y}}
| death_place = [Calcutta](/source/Calcutta), [Bengal Presidency](/source/Bengal_Presidency), [British India](/source/British_Raj)
| occupation =
| successor = [Narendra Krishna Deb](/source/Narendra_Krishna_Deb)
| predecessor = [Gopimohan Deb](/source/Gopi_Mohun_Deb)
| spouse =
| notable_works = ''Shabda Kalpadruma (1803)''
}}
[Raja](/source/Raja_(title)) [Sir](/source/Sir) '''Radhakanta Deb''' [Bahadur](/source/Bahadur_(title)) {{small|[KCSI](/source/Order_of_the_Star_of_India)}} (10 March 1784 – 19 April 1867) was a scholar and a leader of the Calcutta conservative Hindu society, son of [Gopimohan Deb](/source/Gopimohan_Deb) of [Shovabazar Raj](/source/Shovabazar_Raj) who was the adopted son and heir of [Maharaja Nabakrishna Deb](/source/Nabakrishna_Deb) of [Shovabazar Raj](/source/Shovabazar_Raj).[{{cite book|author1=Kunal Chakrabarti|author2=Shubhra Chakrabarti|title=Historical Dictionary of the Bengalis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QVOFAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA155|accessdate=5 April 2017|date=22 August 2013|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-8024-5|pages=154–155}}][{{cite book
|author=AF Salahuddin Ahmed
|chapter=Dev, Radhakanta
|chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Deb,_Radhakanta
|title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |editor=Sirajul Islam and Ahmed A. Jamal |publisher=[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh](/source/Asiatic_Society_of_Bangladesh) |year=2012 |edition=Second}}]
==Life==
An accomplished scholar, Radhakanta was proficient in [Sanskrit](/source/Sanskrit), [Persian](/source/Persian_language) and [Arabic](/source/Arabic_language). He published ''Shabda Kalpadruma'', a Sanskrit language dictionary. [Hara Kumar Tagore](/source/Hara_Kumar_Tagore) another contemporary Sanskrit scholar and scion of [Tagore family](/source/Tagore_family) had assisted him in compiling ''Shabda Kalpadruma''.[Sengupta, Subodh Chandra and Bose, Anjali, p. 611] He also wrote articles that were published in [Ishwar Chandra Gupta](/source/Ishwar_Chandra_Gupta)'s newspaper [Sambad Prabhakar](/source/Sambad_Prabhakar).[{{cite book
|author=Indrajit Chaudhuri
|chapter=Sangbad Prabhakar
|chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Sangbad_Prabhakar
|title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |editor=Sirajul Islam and Ahmed A. Jamal |publisher=[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh](/source/Asiatic_Society_of_Bangladesh) |year=2012 |edition=Second}}]
Radhakanta Deb always showed a marked interest in promoting [education](/source/education), particularly English education among the Hindus; he also advocated [female education](/source/female_education).[ Radhakanta Deb was actively involved in the establishment and activities of the [Calcutta School Book Society](/source/Calcutta_School_Book_Society) in 1817 and the Calcutta School Society in 1818.][ Radhakanta was an active member of the [Agricultural and Horticultural Society of India](/source/Agricultural_and_Horticultural_Society_of_India) since its establishment in 1818. He was founder-president [British Indian Association](/source/British_Indian_Association) in 1851, a position he held till his death.][ He helped [David Hare](/source/David_Hare_(philanthropist)) and funded founding of the [Hindu College](/source/Hindu_School%2C_Kolkata) in Calcutta.][{{London Gazette|issue=23119 |supp=|page=3128|date=25 May 1866}}] and died barely 11 months later.
Despite his contribution to the cause of [education](/source/education), he was a strong upholder of [social conservatism](/source/social_conservatism). Although ''[sati](/source/Sati_(practice))'' was not practised in his own family, he came forward to defend the custom when the Government contemplated its abolition. When [Lord William Bentinck](/source/Lord_William_Bentinck)'s government had finally abolished ''sati'' by regulation in December 1829, Radhakanta Deb, along with his conservative Hindu friends, was the leader a society called [Dharma Sabha](/source/Dharma_Sabha) (founded by his father [Gopi Mohun Deb](/source/Gopi_Mohun_Deb)), protested against this measure by presenting a petition to the Governor-General on behalf of the orthodox section of the Hindu community.
==References==
{{reflist}}
== External links ==
*''Shabda Kalpadruma'' by Radhakanta Deb Bahadur
**in [Bengali script](/source/Bengali_script): [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.316233 Volume 1] • [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.340120 Volume 2] • [https://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.2703 Volume 3] • [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.316234 Volume 4] • [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.340121 Volume 5] • [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.340122 Volume 6] • [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.340123 Volume 7]
**''[https://archive.org/details/shabdakalpadrumam Śabdakalpadrumaḥ]'' in [Devanagari script](/source/Devanagari_script)
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deb, Radhakanta}}
Category:1784 births
Category:1867 deaths
Category:Indian Sanskrit scholars
Category:19th-century Indian scholars
Category:Bengali Hindus
Category:Founders of Indian schools and colleges
Category:Bengali zamindars
Category:Bengali-language writers
Category:19th-century Indian linguists
Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Star of India
Category:Indian knights
Category:19th-century Indian philanthropists
Category:Linguists from Bengal
Category:Educators from West Bengal
Category:Bengali knights
---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Radhakanta Deb](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radhakanta_Deb) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radhakanta_Deb?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.