Abdul Karim Sahitya Bisharad

Abdul Karim (1871 – 1953), known as Abdul Karim Sahitya Bisharad, was a Bengali littérateur, historian of Bangla literature and collector and interpreter of old Bangla manuscripts. Karim was born in Suchakradandi village, Bengal Presidency, British India (now in Patiya Upazila, Chittagong District, Bangladesh). 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. Karim had a 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.