[1] Barua was born on 31 December 1888 in a Bengali Buddhist family of Chittagong district of Bengal Province.

He earned an MA in Greek and Modern European Philosophy from the University of London.

[citation needed] After returning to India in 1918, Barua rejoined Calcutta University and was promoted to a professorship.

He developed the syllabus of the MA course in Pali along with his work in the departments of Ancient Indian History and Culture (1919–48) and Sanskrit (1927–48) in the same university.

Some of his works include: Barua also wrote over a hundred essays and speeches which were published in different journals.