Professor, Martyred Intellectual
February 1, 1908 - March 26, 1971
Dhaka University Professor of Philosophy. Govinda Chandra Dev was born on 1 February 1906 in the village of Lauta in the Panchkhand Parganas (now Beanibazar of Sylhet) in the British Indian state of Assam. He is better known as GC Dev. It is also known for its philosophical views. He was killed in the early hours of March 26, 1971.
The ancestor of GC Dev was a high caste Brahmin. They came to Sylhet from Gujarat. After his father's death, he grew up in the care of local missionaries. He was known as a meritorious student since childhood. He successfully passed the entrance examination in the first class from Beanibazar High English School in 1925 and the Higher Secondary Examination in 1926 from Ripon College, Calcutta. He completed his Bachelor of Arts from Sanskrit College in 1929 and his Masters in Philosophy from Calcutta University in 1931. GC Dev obtained his PhD degree from Calcutta University in 1944.
GC Dev started his career as a teacher at Ripon College, Calcutta. When Ripon College was shifted to Dinajpur during the Second World War, he also left. After the war he did not return to Calcutta but joined the account of the founding principal of Surendranath College (Dinajpur). In July 1953, he joined the philosophy department of Dhaka University as a teacher. He was the house tutor of Dhaka Hall (now Shahidullah Hall) till 1956, the same year he became the provost of Jagannath Hall. In 1983, he became the Chairman of the Department of Philosophy, Dhaka University and in 1986, he was promoted to the post of Professor.
In the late sixties. Dev taught at Wilkes-Barre College in Pennsylvania. In a short time he gained popularity, where his admirers founded The Govinda Dev Foundation for World Brotherhood to promote his humanitarian philosophy.
Dr. Dev has been the elected editor of the Pakistan Philosophy Association since 1980. Besides, he has donated all his property to Dhaka University. By which the Center of Philosophy (DCPS) of Dhaka University was established in 1970.
Govinda Chandra Dev has a total of nine books, two in Bengali and seven in English Idealism and Progress (1952), Idealism: A New Defense and a New Application (1958), My Life Philosophy (1980), Aspirations of the Common Man (1963), The Philosophy of Vivekananda and the Future of Man, Theory-Sar (197), and Buddha: the Humanist (1969). After his death, Parables of the East (1984) and My American Experience (1993) were published.
GC Dev passed the MA examination and won the University Gold Medal and Hemchandra Mukherjee Silver Medal from Calcutta University. He also received the title of 'Darshan Sagar' (1971), Ekushey Padak (1965, posthumous) and Swadhinata Puraskar (2006, posthumous) of the East Pakistan Educated Society.
The adopted daughter Rokeya Begum and her husband lived in the house of GC Dev. On the night of March 25, 1971, his house was shot at. Early in the morning, the Pakistani soldiers broke down the door and entered the house, opened fire and killed Govinda Chandra Dev and Rokeya Begum's husband.
Source: Wikipedia.
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