Papiya Ghosh, RIP

by Cliopatria

Papiya Ghosh, a historian of South Asia, at Patna University, died during a robbery attempt at her house in Patna. The tragedy has shocked the community in Bihar - and elsewhere.

Her book is forthcoming from Routledge:

/Title: Partition and the South Asian diaspora :
extending the subcontinent /
Author(s): Ghosh, Papiya.
Publication: Delhi : Routledge India ; London : Taylor & Francis [distributor],
Year: 2007
ISBN: 9780415424 097 (hbk.); 0415424097 (hbk.);

- via Frank Conlon [at H-ASIA]

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Manu Pradhan - 12/4/2006

Unfortunately I am not familiar with her work, but Papiya was a close family friend and it is really really sad to hear that this happened. Here is an excerpt from a recent Times of India article:

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Papiya was vigorously working to rebuild Brand Bihar with her research work on Bihari diaspora," a visibly shaken Shaibal Gupta, member-secretary of the Patna-based Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI), told TOI just when news of the scholar's killing rocked the Patna intelligentsia on Sunday morning.

A professor of history in Patna University, Papiya was more famous as an academic in Delhi and overseas, noted Bihar historian Vijay Kumar Thakur said, adding that with Papiya's murder, fear has homed in on the heart of Bihar academics.

A quiet and unassuming teacher, Papiya was a silent but stupendous researcher who had to her credit several pioneering academic researches, Gupta recalled while mentioning ADRI's documentation of the state of Muslims in Bihar, in particular.

It may be noted that the ADRI work on Bihar Muslims had cleared a lot of misconceptions on the status of minorities in Bihar.

"This pioneering work was an enabling factor in bringing Muslims into the movement for change in Bihar," Ali Anwar, JD(U) Rajya Sabha member and president of the All India Pasmanda Muslim Mahaj, told TOI over phone from Alwar (Rajasthan), adding that Papiya was presently in the midst of another pioneering research on the status of Dalit Muslims. "Her death is a personal loss to me and the Pasmanda Mahaj," he said.