In my last blog, I mainly covered the primary hustle for the
establishment of Calcutta University. Today I am going to tell you
the glorious history of this iconic University.
After successfully
passing down the act, the British Government appointed Indians who
were well aware and educated in Western Education and by forming a
committee they excepted the need to build universities in India. They
permitted to build universities in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras in
1854, in July. To ordain rules and regulations for the newly formed
university a committee was founded. As Indian members Iswar
Chandra Vidyasagar, Ramgopal Ghosh, Ramapada Roy
were there in that committee. The process finished in 1856. In 1857,
24th of January Governor-General Lord Canning gave his
signatures to enact the " Act of Incorporation"
or popularly known as "University Act, 1857".
To ensure that this act should be enforced properly senet of 40
well-known persons were formed fairly quickly. The 1st meeting of this
senet was held at the Calcutta Medical College in 1857, 3rd of
January. Just to tease you ( because history does that quite often to
us) mark the year. So, you might say to your friends --- ' Hey, do
you know Calcutta University and Sipahi Mutiny are both
contemporary'? Now pay attention to the next few lines or so. These
were the preamble of the Act of University at that point time---- "
the basic objective of the university to encourage Her majesty's
subjects of all classes and denominations, in the pursuit of a
regular and liberal course of education".
Interesting, isn't it? People who invaded almost 90% of the human
race talking about "Liberty". Whatever, I don't want to
diverse. The committee appointed Governor-General Lord Canning
as the 1st Chancellor and as a Vice-Chancellor they appointed Sir
James William Colevile --- Chief Justice of Calcutta Supreme
Court of Judiciary at that time. From 24th of January 1857 to 24th of
January 1858 he was appointed for that post. Alexander Duff,
Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar, William Gordon Pratt, Henry
Udro, Dr Fredrik J. Mouat, Mohmad Woaji( Chief of
Calcutta Madrasa) were the members of the senet. In 1890, 1st of
January, for the first time a tradition was broken to appoint a
European Vice-Chancellor. As a 1st Asian Vice-Chancellor, Sir
Gurudas Bandhapadhay took over the responsibilities of Calcutta
University.
So, everything was
set. The act has been passed down, Committee has been formed. But
wait for a minute, Where will we teach? Believe it or not, there was
no permanent house for Calcutta University. As the first register,
Professor William Granel of Presidency College categorized
four faculties--- Engineering, Medical, Law,
Literature and rented some rooms( yes, some rooms) in Camac
street to start Calcutta University. The senet held their meetings in
the Writer's Building. The first-ever examination taken under
Calcutta University was L.M.S in 1857, 2nd of March. In
that month the university started taking Entrance exams, which was
given by 244 students. After eleven years in 1866, that number raised
to 1114. At that time, only college students were allowed to give the
exam. However, the rules changed in 1859. In 1862, University
introduced the F.A exam for the very first time. Apart from
English, there were other subjects like – Sanskrit, Bengali,
Urdu, Hindi, Greek, Latin, Arabic, Farsi and many more. After
five years of hustle, finally in 1862, 14th of June the senet raised
the issue that Calcutta University needs its residence which will
include at least two Hall room, Library, register's office, reading
room, meeting hall, room for Vice-Chancellor, record room etc. This
house was named the " Senet House".
Bengal's Lt. Governor chose a spot near Hindu college which is the
residential address of Calcutta University up till today. Though at
that time, there was no existence of Dwarbangha Building and Asutosh
Building. The place where these two buildings are situated now was a
market called " Madhab Babur Bazar". There
was also a slum area there. After 1912-13 this market was moved to
the junction of College St and Mahatma Gandhi Road. Which we today
know as " Barnaporichoy".
- University act( 1904), Lord Curzon and Sir Asutosh Mukherjee:
After the
university act of 1904, for the first time truly Calcutta University
became an institution, just like Oxford and Cambridge. This act was
approved by our " favourite" Lord Curzon. What, not
a big fan of him? Doesn't matter though. In 1901, an educational
conference was held in Shimla, where Lord Curzon proposed this act
and also formed 'University commission'. Under this act, Calcutta
University can now include research in almost all subjects, it can
build its library, research labs, museum etc. Under this act, the
senet can't elect their men. These men now will be chosen by a proper
election and have their time limits of work. With this act, Lord
Curzon introduced a very democratic way to run the university. What?
Now you think he is not that bad huh! Ok, if you are having this
thought right now just remember that he tried to tear apart
Bengal(1905). With this act though, Indian Government( I mean Indian-
British Government) had to pay Calcutta University for the smooth
conduct of it. Before this only Punjab University had this privilege.
Although, enforcing the law wasn't easy. Who wanted to hide behind
the skirt of old methods were against it. They started to interrupt
and the enforcement delayed because of this. Finally after two years,
in 1906 it was officially granted. After the enforcement of the act,
Sir Asutosh Mukherjee became the Chancellor of Calcutta
University. He was elected for this post five times between 1906
to 1923. By using this law he significantly increased the
exposure of Arts and Science studies. He also increased the scope for
researchers. He collected money from Dwarbhanga's king Rameswar
Singh and built " Dwarbhanga Building". With the
help of Sir Taraknath Palit and Rashbihari Ghosh, he
built a science college in Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy Road.
This was the beginning of the expansion of Calcutta University. In
1916, to give honour to this legendary personality "Asutosh
Building" was established. In 1937, 'Asutosh Museum of
Art' was built. Before 1947, there were 216 colleges under
Calcutta University[ Undivided Bengal].
I hope you enjoyed
this. But hey I am not finished yet. In my next blog, we will talk
about the role of this university in Bengal Legislative and some more
about it's as they say " Eternal Glory".
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