The History of Bengal (Vol. I: Hindu Period; Vol. II: Muslim Period 1200–1757) v1.c3.2

v1.c3.2

Shortly after the work was taken up we were denied the co-operation of Dr. N. K. Bhattasali, M.A., PH.D., who was the Secretary of the Publication Committee and had agreed to write the chapter on Art. It is unnecessary to discuss here the reasons which led Dr. Bhattasali to come to this decision, but the change of Secretary and the loss of a valuable contributor naturally caused dislocation of work and involved considerable delay in completing the preliminary steps. The chapter on Art was entrusted to the late Mr. N. G. Majumdar, who naturally desired to collect photos of select specimens of architecture and sculpture before commencing to write. This took up a long time as the specimens to be photographed were spread over a wide area. At last the photos were prepared and he took them with him in his ill-fated journey to the Indus Valley, as he hoped to be able to write the chapter in his leisure hours while on tour. The tragic circumstances under which he met his end in Sind are known to all. His death dealt a severe blow to our scheme, as most of the photos together with the notes prepared by him were irretrievably lost. In this predicament the editor invited two young scholars—Dr. Niharranjan Ray and Mr. Sarasi Kumar Saraswati—to write the chapter on Art, and they readily agreed to take up the work. But the preparation of a new set of photographs took up much time and caused considerable delay. We take this opportunity to pay our tribute of respect to the gifted archaeologist who had readily volunteered his valuable co-operation which, alas, was denied us by his sudden and tragic death.