Government Sanskrit College, Varanasi

Government Sanskrit College was the among the earliest educational institutions built by the British East India company in India. It was established in Benaras in 1791, and was during its time a landmark college in India from where several notable teachers emerged. In 1958 it merged with Sampurnanand Sanskrit University. It was a contemporary of the Madras madrassa and the Mahomedan college in Delhi for Arabic studies.[1]

History

In order to make company officials familiar with the laws and customs of India, the officers of the East India Company thought it necessary to open educational institutes. These were opened in the UK, where a large training college was built in Hertfordshire to teach Sanskrit, Arabic and other oriental languages. Subsequently, a need was felt to open similar colleges in India due to the ease with which research in Sanskrit could be done in the country. Benares (also known as Varanasi or Kashi) was chosen as the best site due to three reasons. It had been a traditional seats of learning for science and literature in Northern India for over ten centuries, it had a ready availability of Brahmins well versed in Sanskrit and literature, and it was close to the main seats of power of the British East India company, in Bengal, Behar, Oudh and Delhi.[2]

In 1750, the East India company passed a resolution for this purpose. To preserve Urdu, they established a madrasa at Calcutta, whereas for protection and development of Sanskrit, they chose Benaras. In 1791, during the period of British rule in India, Jonathan Duncan, the representative of the East India Company proposed the establishment of a Sanskrit college for development and preservation of the Sanskrit vangmaya [Sanskrit, "literature"] and to show that the English people were in favour of the development of the Indian culture. This was sanctioned by Governor General Lord Cornwallis. Kashi Naresh Mahip Narayan Singh donated a huge tract of land in the southern part of Benares for construction of the college. The first teacher of this Institution was Pandit Kashinath. The Governor General initially sanctioned a budget of Rs. 20,000 per annum.[3]

Education

Initially the college offered courses up to graduation. From 1857, the college started postgraduate teaching. The examination system was adopted in 1880. In 1894 the famous building of Saraswati Bhavan Granthalaya, where thousands of manuscripts are preserved, was constructed. These manuscripts are edited by the Principal of the College and published in book form. The series of books was launched in 1920 as the Princess of Wales Sarasvati Bhavana Texts.[4] It is now known as the Sarasvati Bhavana Granthamala. More than 400 books have been published in the series.[5]

Principals

From 1791 to 1844 the college was governed by the Administrative officers of the city. Later British officers decided that Indians should also acquire a knowledge of European literature and philosophy. Therefore they ordered the appointment of a Principal for the college. The qualification laid down was the Principal must be a scholar of Sanskrit with knowledge of European literature and philosophy.[6] The Principals from 1844 were:

  1. John Muir (1844–1846)
  2. James R. Ballantyne (1846–1861)
  3. Ralph T. H. Griffith (1861–1876)
  4. George Thibaut (1876–1888)
  5. Arthur Venis (1888–1918)
  6. Sir Ganganath Jha (1918–1923)
  7. Gopinath Kaviraj (1923–1937)
  8. Mangal Dev Shastri (1937–1958)

References

  1. ↑ "Minute by the Hon'ble T. B. Macaulay, dated the 2nd February 1835". www.columbia.edu. Columbia Univeristy. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  2. ↑ Dalmia, Vasudha (1 August 1996). "Sanskrit scholars and pandits of the old school: The Benares Sanskrit College and the constitution of authority in the late nineteenth century". Journal of Indian Philosophy. 24 (4). |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  3. ↑ University Circular, Vol.1 No.1, Sampurnanand Sanskrit University
  4. ↑ Princess of Wales Sarasvati Bhavana Texts (Vidya Vilas Press) - Book Series List, publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
  5. ↑ Acharya Baldev Upadhyaya, Kashi ki Panditya Parampara, Vishwavidyalaya Prakashan, Varanasi, 1983.
  6. ↑ University Circular, Vol.3 No.1, Sampurnanand Sanskrit University

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.