University of Calcutta : Department of Bengali Language and Literature

The department of Bengali Language and Literature has a long prestigious heritage and it has been working continuously to explore and expand human resource in its multiforus potentiality and manifestation by various ways of learning and intellectual activities. This department was known as the department of Modern Indian Languages and it was initiated by then respected Vice Chancellor Sir Nilratan Sirkar in 1919. Since its inception, the department has been growing day by day and it is one of the oldest and largest department of Bengali Language and Literature, not only in India, but also in the world. The department has a great history. Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore was associated with this department as Ramtanu Lahiri Professor in the year 1932. Under the leadership of Acharya Dineshchandra Sen an enormous numbers of Eastern Bengali ballads were collected since 1921 and that was published by the University of Calcutta in 4 volumes.