Brajendranath De, who joined the ICS in 1873, followed the footsteps of both RC Dutt and Anundoram Barooah in the tradition of scholarship and learning: like them, he was a polyglot as well as an avid translator.
While still at Oxford he won the Boden fellowship to study Sanskrit under Monier Williams and also attend lectures of Max Mueller. This was perhaps the inspiration for him to start work on the translation of one of the major drams of Kalidasa Vikramorvaśīyam (‘Urvashi Won by Valour’) in the early years of his service He also started work on Mālavikāgnimitram (‘Malavika and Agnimitra’), but then he was drawn to another project – the English to Bangla dictionary which he felt was certainly the need of the hour , especially for the British administrators , tea planters and the large numbers engaged in trade , commerce, railways , shipping and auxiliary businesses. One must remember that working on dictionaries was regarded as a mark of great scholarship as indeed it was, for dictionaries were crucial to the task of translation- not just for the administrative lexicon, but also for historical,
ecclesiastical and philosophical treatises. In his middle years, he was devoted to his administrative duties, but post-superannuation from the ICS, he got involved in various academic social and cultural organisations, including the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal. He was prevailed upon by the Asiatic society to commence work on the Persian manuscript of Tabaquati-Akbari by Khwajah Nizamuddin Ahmad.
We learn from the records of the Asiatic Society that they had been trying for a translation of this text from 1862, but it was after six decades, that they found a person of learning and scholarship, with felicity in both Persian and English, and a fine appreciation of Indian history.
This was probably a commissioned work, and though he could see the publication of two volumes, the third was printed posthumously. This fills the requisite gaps in looking at the history of India – from the eyes of a ‘Bakshi’ – a senior official entrusted with the accounts and logistics of the state- the position occupied by Khwaja Nizamuddin Ahmad. Like all historical accounts as per the fashion of the day, it tends to be hagiographic, but is a very useful supplement to Ain-i-Akbari to understand the functioning of the Mughal court, the organisation of the Army, the financial management of the state as well.
However, what is missing from this account is any reference to Din-eElahi – the new faith founded by Akbar. It is a significant omission for it shows ambivalence on the part of his contemporary observers – they probably knew and felt that the Ulema was only biding its time, and that the faith would die with its founder.
In addition to the translations from Sanskrit and Persian, and the English to Bangla dictionary, he also wrote a series of autobiographical essays which described his boyhood, youth, education and short sketches about his immediate and extended family. These give a very clear idea about the life of a middle-class Kayastha family in Bengal in the second half of the nineteenth century. These were probably written close to the time of his death, for these were serialised posthumously by the Calcutta Review in three issues in 1953. With the exception of his Sanskrit translation, the remaining corpus of his work, including the three volume Persian translation is easily accessible on the Internet archives.
