Aniruddha Ray was born at Calcutta in 1936. He passed his M.A. in 1958. After teaching in Charu Chandra College for several years, he went to the University of Paris, Sorbonne (France) in 1964 for research and returned at the end of 1967 with a Ph.D. degree. He joined the Department of Islamic History & Culture, Calcutta University in 1968 and retired from there in November 2001.
After occupying several posts at the Indian History Congress, he was elected General President of the Indian History Congress in 2011. He was also the President of Paschim Banga Itihas Sansad for six years. He has published more than 36 books and a large number of articles in English and Bengali. He was awarded a Gold Medal with citation by The Asiatic Society, Calcutta for his lifelong achievement.