Dr Ashraf Siddiqui CourtesyHis Namaz e Janaza will be held at Dhanmondi Shahi Eidgah Mosque after Zohr prayers on ThursdayInternationally acclaimed folklorist and poet Dr Ashraf Siddiqui passed away after being critically ill for the past one month. Dr Siddiqui, born in Nagbari village of Tangail on March 1927, breathed his last at Apollo Hospital in Dhaka on Thursday. Dr Siddiqui went on to serve as the director of Kendrio Bangla Unnoyon Board, chief editor of District Gazetteer and Director General of Bangla Academy, a position that he served for seven years. His books Lok Shahitttya, Bengali Folklore, Our Folklore Our Heritage, Folkloric Bangladesh and Kingbodontir Bangla are primary text books of folklore researchers of South Asia. Dr Siddiqui is greatly admired for his contribution preserving the oral Bengali folk culture by cataloguing the tales and riddles in the written form.

Source: Dhaka Tribune March 19, 2020 05:18 UTC