Birinchi Prasad Samanta was born on 23 February 1924, the son of Chander Mahal Samanta, a lawyer. He was educated at the Calcutta School where he won the first prize for the highest aggregate marks in the sciences. At Calcutta University in 1941 he was awarded highest marks in the BSc. He passed MB BS from Calcutta Medical School in 1946 and won gold medals in surgery, ophthalmic and ENT surgery. In 1948 he was a member of the Indian Army Medical Corps and became surgical specialist to the Indian Armed Forces in 1962 after a two year stay in England training for the Fellowship under Professor Charles Webb. He was appointed Associate Professor of Surgery to the Armed Forces Medical College in Pune in 1969 and in 1973 became their advisor in surgery and Honorary Professor of Surgery. In 1976 he progressed to senior consultant in surgery to the Armed Forces of India in Calcutta. From 1969 to 1978 he was examiner in surgery to the Universities of Bombay, Calcutta and Pune. Birinchi Samanta took an active interest in the various professional bodies for genito-urinary, plastic and reconstructive surgery, and participated in numerous meetings. He published several papers on war surgery and battle injuries and contributed towards the development of an organised postgraduate training scheme in surgery for trainee surgeons in the armed forces of India. He was a keen amateur gardener and took a regular interest in cricket, football and tennis. Widely read on the history of India and the development of the Indian philosophical systems he had a great appreciation for Indian classical music, both vocal and instrumental. He was an artist with a special talent for charcoal sketches. In 1952 he married Rita Fernandez and they had three sons (one of whom is a doctor) and two daughters. The oldest daughter practices medicine in Calcutta and the youngest is in the Indian Armed Forces Medical Corps (Naval branch). He died on 4 September 1978, of ischaemic heart disease.