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6 CMR Univ. J. Contemp. Legal Aff. 1 (2024)

handle is hein.journals/cmrusyj6 and id is 1 raw text is: CMR University School of Legal Studies Sir Asutosh Mookerjee - The Renaissance Man: A Centennial Tribute V. Sudhish Pai* If greatness consists in the combination of character and intellect of the highest order and if it is to be judged by the enduring value of solid work done in the fields of thought and action and its lasting impact on people and events, Sir Asutosh Mukhopadhyay was undoubtedly one of the most outstanding men, one of India's greatest sons. Mathematician, lawyer, judge, jurist, educationist, he was all this and more- greatness personified, great in the truest and noblest sense of the term. 25 May, 2024 marked the centenary of his passing. It is appropriate that we remember him, draw inspiration from his life and work and light his memory. Prof. Upendra Baxi perceptively remarked: We live in an era of massacre of ancestors, indeed it is considered a public virtue and a sign of worldly progress. But collective amnesia of what happened in the past is not an estimable virtue. Without living in the past its recall is important, for its uncannily presaging a future.1 We cannot forget or overlook the enduring relevance of past and its torchbearers. It is for that reason and in that spirit that we pay homage to the revered memory of such an all time great as Sir Asutosh. The tender plant of Renaissance flowered in the alluvial soil of 19th-century Bengal. Renaissance is the revival of art and literature and all that is beautiful and refined under the influence of classical styles. It is the rekindling of interest in something, the resurgence of the finer things of life- civilization. It is a change in thinking - a kind of rebirth. A Renaissance man is a person with a wide range of talents and interests. Bengal was ripe for and witnessed such revival from the early 196 century with persons like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, and Maharishi Debendranath Tagore. In the field of law there were pioneers like Sumboo Nath Pundit, Dwarka Nath Mitter, and Gooroodas Banerjee. In the mid- 19th century, a triumvirate of extraordinary persons of the Bengal Renaissance was born. Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore (born 6.5.1861) who exemplified in his truly resplendent life extraordinary mastery of almost every form of art and literature; Narendranath Dutt, later Swami Vivekananda (born 12.1.1863) the great morning star of Indian spiritual Renaissance; * Senior Advocate, High Court of Karnataka. 1 Upendra Baxi, Towards Climate Change Justice 7 Journal of Human Rights and Environment, 7- 31 (2016). 1