Girish Chandra Sen
Born	1835/36 Panchdona, Narayanganj
Died	15 August 1910 Kolkata
Occupation	Scholar, Missionary

Girish Chandra Sen (Bengali: গিরিশ চন্দ্র সেন) (1836-1910), a Brahmo missionary, was the first person to translate the holy Qur’an into Bengali language in 1886. It was his finest contribution to Bengali literature. Narayanganj is a district in central Bangladesh. ...   (IPA: [] Bengali: কলকাতা) (formerly  ) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. ... Bengali or Bangla (বাংলা, IPA: ) is an Indo-Aryan language of East South Asia, evolved from Prakrit, Pāli and Sanskrit. ... The Quran (Arabic: al-qurān literally the recitation; also called Al Qurān Al KarÄ«m or The Noble Quran; or transliterated Quran, Koran, and less commonly Alcoran) is the holy book of Islam. ... Bengali or Bangla (বাংলা, IPA: ) is an Indo-Aryan language of East South Asia, evolved from Prakrit, Pāli and Sanskrit. ... It has been suggested that History of Bengali literature be merged into this article or section. ...

Early life

Son of Madhabram Sen of Panchdona, Dhaka in Bengal (now part of Narayanganj District in Bangladesh), he learnt Persian and Sanskrit in early life and started working as a copywriter in the court of the deputy magistrate in Mymensingh. He was attracted to the Brahmo Samaj under the influence of Keshub Chunder Sen and Bijay Krishna Goswami and joined it as a missionary in 1871. Dhaka District is a district located in central Bangladesh. ... Bengal, known as Bôngo (Bengali: বঙ্গ), Bangla (বাংলা), Bôngodesh (বঙ্গদেশ), or Bangladesh (বাংলাদেশ) in the Bengali language, is a region in the northeast of South Asia. ... Narayanganj is a district in central Bangladesh. ... Mymensingh (Bengali: ) is one of the districts of Dhaka division, Bangladesh, and is bordered on the north by Meghalaya state of India and Garo Hills, on the south by Gazipur district, on the east by districts of Netrokona and Kishoreganj, and on the west by districts of Sherpur, Jamalpur and... Brahmo Samaj is a social and religious movement founded in Kolkata, India in 1828 by Raja Ram Mohan Roy. ... Keshub Chunder Sen (Keshava Chandra Sena, 1838-1884) was an Indian religious reformer born of a high-caste family at Calcutta in 1838. ...

In 1869, Keshub Chunder Sen chose from amongst his missionaries, four persons and ordained them as adhyapaks or professors of four old religions of the world. He was selected to study Islam. Others selected to study different religions were Gour Govinda Ray for Hinduism, Protap Chandra Mozoomdar for Christianity, and Aghore Nath Gupta for Buddhism. A firm believer in the basic unity of all religions, he immersed himself in his studies and later went to Lucknow to study Arabic and the Islamic religious texts. He was involved in intense studies for about five years. Islam (Arabic:  ) is a monotheistic religion based upon the Quran, its principal scripture, whose followers, known as Muslims (مسلم), believe God (Arabic: الله ) sent through revelations to Muhammad. ... Aghore Nath Gupta (1841-1881) was a great scholar of Buddhism and a preacher of the Brahmo Samaj. ...

Erudition on Islam

On completion of his studies, he returned to Kolkata and engaged in translation of Islamic scriptures. After hard labour of six years from 1881-1886, he produced an annotated Bengali version of the holy Qur’an. Apart from this, he translated from original Persian religious books such as the teachings of Golestan and Bostan (see Saadi), Hadis [1] and the life of Prophet Muhammad, Khalifas and 96 pious souls. In all he wrote and published 42 such books in Bengali. Muslim society, in his days, respected him enormously and called him a Maulavi. Bostan (The Rose Garden) consists of stories aptly illustrating the standard virtues recommended to Muslims, as well as reflections on the behaviour of dervishes and their ecstatic practices. Golestan (The Orchard) contains stories and personal anecdotes. These were used as textbooks and were frequently reprinted.   (IPA: [] Bengali: কলকাতা) (formerly  ) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. ... The Quran (Arabic: al-qurān literally the recitation; also called Al Qurān Al KarÄ«m or The Noble Quran; or transliterated Quran, Koran, and less commonly Alcoran) is the holy book of Islam. ... Tomb of Sadi, Shiraz, Iran. ... This article is becoming very long. ... Omdurman, Sudan. ...

Other activities

He translated Raja Rammohun Roy’s Tuhfat-ul-Muwahhidin, a book in Persian on Islam, into Bengali and published it in Dharmatattwa. He wrote Ramkrishna Paramhamser Ukti O Jiboni. His Atmajibon was published in 1906. He was associated with the publication of Sulava Samachar and Bangabandhu and was editor and publisher of the monthly Mahila. An oil-painting of Raja Ram Mohan Roy by Atul Bose Ram Mohan Roy, also written as Rammohun Roy, or Raja Ram Mohun Roy (Bangla: রাজা রামমোহন রায়, Raja Ram Mohon Ray), (May 22, 1772 – September 27, 1833) was the founder of the Brahmo Samaj, one of the first Indian socio-religious reform... Sulava Samachar (Bengali: , Sulov Somachar, meaning Cheap News), (can also be spelt as Sulabh Samachara), a Bengali weekly, published from Kolkata, was a pioneering journalistic venture, published by the Indian Reform Association in the 19th century. ...

As a Brahmo missionary, he was involved in lecture tours to East Bengal and western India. His devotional prayers were deeply moving. He spoke fluently in Bengali, Urdu and Persian. A simple soft-spoken person he endeared himself to all those who came in contact with him. East Bengal was the name used during two periods in the 20th century for a territory that roughly included the modern state of Bangladesh. ...

Reference

1. Sansad Bangali Charitabhidhan (Biographical dictionary) in Bengali edited by Subodh Chandra Sengupta and Anjali Bose

2. History of Brahmo Samaj by Pandit Sivanath Sastri

External links

• Biography, from Banglapedia