Harinath De was a surprisingly talented person. I personally feel Shri De was one of the most talented persons of his time. We are very unfortunate for having lost him only at the age of thirty four years.He was born in 1877 in North 24Porganas. He studied in presidency college , Kolkata and Cambridge.
He was expert in thirty four languages such as Chinese,Tibetan,Pali,Sanskrit,Persian,Arabic,English,Greek, and Latin etc.He was M.A. in fourteen subjects . He was the first Indian Education Service officer among Indians . He was professor of English of Dhaka university and of presidency college, Kolkata.He was appointed as the first lecturer of the newly created department of linguistics of Calcutta university in 1907.He became the first Indian Librarian of National library from 1907 to 1911.
It was extremely unfortunate that Harinath was the victim of premature death. His death caused sever loss of Bengali literature and history.Another disappointing and surprising matter we have totally forgotten him . I personally feel only a few number of persons know his name. Whereas there is a doubt during last hundred years whether such talented Bengali was born.I pay my heartfelt regards to him.