Ex-Presi history prof passes away

Kolkata: Known as Uttara-di to generations of students, one of the city’s most endeared historians, Uttara Chakraborty, is no more. She was 76 and breathed her last on Sunday. Chakraborty had been suffering from kidney-related ailments for some time and died of cardiac arrest at her Salt Lake residence. She is survived by her husband, historian Subhas Ranjan Chakraborty and two sons. Uttara got cured of Covid and had returned home after testing negative.

She was an alumnus of St John’s Diocesan School, Presidency College and Calcutta University. She taught in Loreto College, Darjeeling Maulana Azad College, Bethune College and Presidency College.

Her forte remained medieval history — both Indian and European, 19th century Bengal Derozians and Renaissance. She shot to fame when the state archeology department started digging underneath Bethune College in an effort to date back the history of Kolkata beyond the accepted period. Uttara insisted that the findings could lead one to a never-known side of the city. Her papers on the pre-colonial history of Kolkata that she presented at the Itihaas Samsad and Indian History Congress, are part of the historians’ rhetoric in the city. The Ashin Dasgupta Memorial Lecture collection published by the Itihas Samsad, was also co-edited by her.

She is remembered fondly by fellow historians Ramkrishna Chatterjee and Arun Bandyopadhyay.


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