Abdul Karim Sahitya Bisharad

Abdul Karim (1871 – 1953), known as Abdul Karim Sahitya Bisharad, was a Bengali litterateur, historian of Bangla literature and collector and interpreter of old Bangla manuscripts.

Karim was born in Suchakradandi village, Patiya Upazila, Chittagong District. He passed his Entrance Examination in 1893 from Patiya High School. He served as a teacher in few schools. He later joined the office of the Divisional Commissioner of Chittagong and became Divisional Inspector of schools. He retired from the position in 1934.

Abdul Karim Sahitya Bisharad Reference Library at Chittagong University Museum

Karim had an special research interest in Muslim contribution to Bengali Literature in the medieval period. He collected puthis (old Bangla manuscripts). The Bangiya Sahitya Parisad published his catalog of Bengali manuscripts titled Bangala Prachin Puthir Bivaran in two volumes in 1920-21. The Department of Bengali of the University of Dhaka published a catalog of the manuscripts preserved in the University Library under the title Puthi Parichiti.

Karim edited and published eleven old Bengali texts and a book on the history and culture of Chittagong, titled Islamabad. Daulat Qazi, Alaol, Syed Sultan and Muhamad Khan were notable Bengali poets. Karim discovered about a hundred Muslim poets whose names and works were not known before.

Literary Association of Nadia honored him with the title of Sahitya Sagar and Chattal Dharmamandali Sabha gave him the title of Sahitya Visharad.

The Government of Bangladesh conferred Independence Day Award to Karim posthumously in 1995.