Dr. Nares Chandra Sen-Gupta was an eminent legal scholar and a Bengali novelist in Calcutta, India.

Early life and career

Sen-Gupta was born in 1882 in Bogura (now in Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

). He received his Master's degree in philosophy in 1905 from Presidency College

Presidency College

Presidency College could refer to the following Indian institutions:* Presidency College, Chennai* Presidency College, Kolkata*Presidency College, Bangalore...

 and a Doctorate in Law from Calcutta University that examined the social and legal structures of the ancient Indian civilization. He started gaining fame as a legal scholar while teaching at Dacca University from 1917-24. He was the first provost of Jagannath Hall at the university.

Law career

Dr. Sen-Gupta returned to Calcutta in 1924 and began practising as a lawyer at Calcutta High Court and taught law at Calcutta University. In 1950, he became the Tagore Law Professor at the university and represented India at the UNESCO International Copyright Convention in the States in 1951. In 1956, he was appointed as a member of the Indian Law Commission. He was also a Senior Advocate at the Indian Supreme Court. Among his law books, the Evolution of Ancient Indian Law remains a classic that can still be found in libraries around the world.

Novelist

Beside his scholarship in jurisprudence, Dr. Sen-Gupta was a prolific novelist of his time and authored about sixty novels and dramas many of which proved controversial for their liberal philosophy and espousing of women's rights in then conservative climate of the Bengali society.