Kalyan Kumar Chakravarty


Kalyan Kumar Chakravarty is an Indian historian, art historian, writer, action anthropologist, academician and administrator, known for his intercultural and cross-disciplinary research and activism. A retired officer of the Indian Administrative Service of the 1970 batch, he was appointed Chairman of the Lalit Kala Akademi, India’s federal fine arts academy, in 2013.
He has written books covering archaeology, rock art, art history, tribal issues, musicology, public policy, and the philosophy of religion and art

Early life

Chakravarty was born to an Indian Bengali family in West Bengal in 1947. His father was Hiralal Chakravarti, a historian, academician and civil servant. The family originally hailed from Bikrampur in Dhaka district, now in Bangladesh, and his father’s home was in Sunamganj District in Sylhet, now in Bangladesh. However, the family had lived in India, mostly Kolkata since the times of Presidencies and Provinces of British India.
Chakravarty lived in various towns of West Bengal during his childhood and in various cities and towns of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh during his professional life, including Bhopal and Raipur. He has also lived in New Delhi, India in the later years of his administrative career. He has also lived in Boston, MA. He currently lives in Kolkata.

Education

Chakravarty had a liberal art education in Ballygunge Government High School, Calcutta. He graduated with Honours in History from Presidency University, Kolkata in 1966 and obtained his Post Graduate degree in Modern History from University of Calcutta in 1968. He joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1970.
While in service, he went on to acquire a Graduate degree in Public Administration from John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University & an A.M., and a Ph.D. in Fine Arts from the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Career

The major milestones in his career are:

Books

  • Gwalior Fort: Art, Culture & History by Kalyan Kumar Chakravarty, Arnold-Heinemann on behalf of the Director, Archaeology and Museums, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh, 1984, 107p.
  • Walking With Siva: Cognitive Roots of Indian Art, Archaeology and Religion
  • Art of India: Orchha
  • Early Buddhist Art of Bodh-Gaya
  • Traditional Water Management Systems of India, co-ed. with G.L. Badam.
  • Text and Variations of The Mahabharata: Contextual, Regional and Performative Traditions ed. by Kalyan Kumar Chakravarty, National Mission for Manuscripts, IGNCA and Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 2009.
  • The Art of India Khajuraho
  • Bhojapura Mandira: Samanvaya Kī Kalpanā
  • Restoring Human Culture and Biospheric Environment: A New Museum Movement
  • Indian Rock Art and Its Global Context
  • भारतीय परिवार: मनुष्य के अस्तित्व के लिए वैकल्पिक सोच
  • Bounteous Tree: Treasure of Indian Art and Culture
  • Indigeneity: Culture and Representation by K.K. Chakravarty, G.N. Devy & Geoffrey V. Davis
  • Voice and Memory: Indigenous Imagination and Expression by K.K. Chakravarty, G.N. Devy, Geoffery V. Davis
  • Narrating Nomadism: Tales of Recovery and Resistance ed. by G.N. Devy, Geoffery V. Davis & K.K. Chakravarty
  • Knowing Differently: The Challenge of the Indigenous ed. by G.N. Devy, Geoffery V. Davis & K.K. Chakravarty
  • The Language Loss of the Indigenous ed. by G.N. Devy, Geoffery V. Davis & K.K. Chakravarty.
  • Performing Identities: Celebrating Indigeneity in The Arts, ed. by G.N. Devy, Geoffery V. Davis & K.K. Chakravarty.
  • Tattvabodha: Essays from the Lecture Series of the National Mission for Manuscripts Volume II ed. by Kalyan Kumar Chakravarty, National Mission for Manuscripts, IGNCA and Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 2008.

    Honours/Awards

  • Ford Foundation and Asian Cultural Council Fellowship, Harvard University
  • Kahn Fellowship of the Asian Cultural Council, at Harvard University
  • Mason Fellowship at J.F.K. School of Government, Harvard University
  • Robbins prize in Indian Art Studies, Harvard University