Jadunath Sinha was born in Kurumgram in Birbhum, West Bengal in 1892. Later he lived in Murshidabad and Kolkata. Jadunath Sinha came from a Shakta family. So, Sinha had spiritual experiences throughout his life. He followed both classical tantra and emotional Shakta bhakti, with a philosophical position of Shakta universalism.
Academic career
Jadunath Sinha had passed B.A., Honours in Philosophy in 1915 from the Calcutta University and simultaneously bagging the Philip Samuel Smith Prize and the Clint Memorial Prize. Subsequently, he passed the M.A. on Philosophy from the Calcutta University in 1917. He did his PhD from the Calcutta University in 1934. He went on to become a versatile writer of Philosophy, Psychology etc. which were published by famous publishers. Two of his books were published by M/s. Kegan Paul of London. Dr. Sinha being the most original philosopher of Hinduism and Indian philosophy, psychology, etc. is still revered by the students of philosophy. He went into religion in the latter part of his life. Sinha has been cited as one of the early contributors to the field of Indian psychology that began to emerge more strongly in the 21st century.
Controversy with Radhakrishnan
In the January 1929 issue of Modern Review, the Bengali philosopher Jadunath Sinha made the sensational claim that parts of his doctoral thesis, Indian Psychology of Perception, published in 1925, were copied by his teacher Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan into his book Indian Philosophy II, published in 1927. The controversy continued into the February, March and April issues of the magazine. In August 1929, Sinha filed a case in the Calcutta High Court, against Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan for infringement of his copyrights. Sinha claimed damages for Rs 20,000. Radhakrishnan denied these claims and pointed out that manuscript of his book had been sent to publisher in 1924, but it was published after 3 years as the General Editor Muirhead was in the US. Radhakrishnan counter-sued for defamation of character, demanding Rs 100,000 from Sinha and the editor of Modern Review, Ramananda Chattopadhyay. Sinha's case was strong as many of his articles were already published. However, the parties found the cost of litigation very high. Henceforth the member of Bengal Legislative Council from Calcutta University, Syama Prasad Mookerjee mediated between them to settle the issue out of court. The suits were settled in May 1933, the terms of the settlement were not disclosed and the allegations made in the pleadings were withdrawn.
