Ashutosh Mukherjee, an institution builder in education

For most Indians, his name may sound unfamiliar. Yet, his legacy as one of modern India's most determined institution builders remains profound and relevant today.

- SANTISHREE DHULIPUDI PANDIT

Civilizations endure not through battles won or lost, but through the institutions they build to preserve and extend knowledge. Bharat's story has always rested on this foundation, from the ancient universities of Nalanda and Vikra-mashila to the scholarly networks of Banaras, Kashmir and Bengal. The colonial rule and foreign invasion fractured this continuity, reducing universities in India to examination boards modelled on London, designed to produce clerks rather than thinkers.

Here, figures like Ashutosh Mukherjee (1864-1924) assume their true significance. Known as Banglar Bagh (the Bengal Tiger), Mukherjee was a jurist of formidable reputation and a noted mathematician of rare talent. For most Indians, his name may sound unfamiliar. Yet, his legacy as one of modern India's most determined institution builders remains profound and relevant today. His leadership as Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta University transformed the university, which was a degree-granting office to serve the colonial master, into a global research university, allowing platforms for Indians to display their intellectual capital. In such a sense, he embodied the essence of what we now describe as the Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) approach, which conceptualises knowledge in Bhartiya civilizational traditions, yet open to global currents, while being unafraid of intellectual ambition.