From a Hired House in Bahu Bazar to the Foundation-Stone at Pataldanga to the First Statutes, Stipends, and Vaidya Class—How Samachar Darpan and Samachar Chandrika Recorded the Making of the College
At this distance in time, we do not associate West Bengal and specifically Calcutta, with Sanskrit. In the heydays of Hindu rule, the Gauda and Vanga Deshas rubbed shoulders with great centres of Sanskrit learning in Bharatavarsha. Even under the dark and prolonged spell of Muslim rule, Sanskrit flourished to an extent in the region thanks largely to the patronage of Hindu chieftains and zamindars.
Indeed, more than six decades after the decisive Battle of Palashi, British administrators found abundant numbers of Sanskrit Pāṭhaśālās throughout the Bengal Presidency. These proved to be the biggest obstacles to Macaulay’s project of spreading English education. The resistance they offered to English methods is an independent chapter of history. It is this resistance that led him to physically uproot traditional centres of learning; a slice of this story has already been narrated in the episode of how the Golisri Sanskrit College was destroyed by Macaulay.
There is an ironical side to this story. Around 1822, Macaulay and James Prinsep made a recommendation to Governor General Amherst to establish a dedicated Sanskrit College in Calcutta “to impart knowledge of ancient literature, philosophy, Hindu Law, grammar, Indian Culture and to promote the learning of Sanskrit among British officials as well as the Indians.” Amherst laid its foundation stone in 1824.
When the proposal to establish this college was made public, it received a mixed but substantial response. Among others, notable Bengali papers such as Samachar Chandrika and Samachar Darpan kept a keen watch on the developments and communicated them to the public. These are the two primary sources that supply the information presented here about this colonial British project.
The following are translated extracts from reports published in Samachar Chandrika and Sambad Kaumudi on the founding and evolution of the Sanskrit College, Calcutta. The reports cover a period of 1822–30. No editorial commentary has been added except for helpful headings and dates in the Gregorian Calendar.
1822–1830 · Foundation and First Statutes
13 April 1822 / 2 Baisakh 1229
A New College, or House of Learning
By the care of the Honourable Company there is to be in Calcutta a school of a kind not seen before, where grammar and the several shastras shall be read and taught.
On the twenty-first of August 1821, the Company’s officers named a principal gentleman of the Board of Revenue, and another gentleman learned in the manners and learning of this country, to be governors of the future college, and asked of them a draft: what sciences shall be taught; how many professors appointed; by what rule the scholars’ maintenance shall be paid; how much for the purchase of books and how much for the publishing of new books; how long the scholars shall remain, and how they shall be examined; and in what place the college shall be built, and at what cost. All this was to be written down and determined.
The gentlemen so named, having received that paper of questions, considered and sent up a draft, which is here made known.
Only Brahmin boys are to be admitted into this college; and of them, only such boys as have completed twelve years of age. Those who already know a little of the Kaumudi, Śabdakalpadruma, Sarasvata and Mugdhabodha grammars may enter. Those who have read those grammars and the books that go with them shall first take up the Manorama and the Shabdendushekhara.
The proposed course included:
- Smriti current in Kashi, Mithila and those countries;
- Smriti current in Gauda;
- Logic or Tarka;
- Poetics and astronomy;
- The Puranas;
- Samkhya;
- Vedanta.
The proposed staff included one poet and rhetorician, one mathematician, one eminent grammarian, two smartas, one logician, one astronomer, one Pauranika, one Samkhya scholar, one Vedantin and one scholar learned in medicine.
Each was to receive sixty rupees a month. The keeper of books was also to receive sixty rupees. Two correctors of written texts were allotted eighty rupees, while a muharir and copyist were allotted forty rupees. A doorkeeper, farash and other servants were also provided for.
One hundred rupees a month was proposed for the purchase of books, together with a lump sum of five thousand rupees for the initial purchase of books. An appropriate site had been fixed near the new road in Bahu Bazar, and the house there was expected to cost sixty thousand rupees.
Boys from twelve to eighteen years might be taken for the ordinary course, while scholars aged eighteen to twenty-four could pursue the study of the Darshanas.
6 December 1823 / 22 Agrahayan 1230
The Sanskrit College
It was rumoured that the Most Honourable Company meant to found a Sanskrit Pāṭhaśālā. That building had been begun near the round tank at Pataldanga.
Until it was ready, No. 66 on the left of the crossing in Bahu Bazar had been rented, and there the studies would take place.
Brahmin boys were to be taught grammar, Sahitya, Alamkara, Smriti, Purana, Vedanta, Jyotisha, Nyaya, Samkhya, Mimamsa and other branches of learning, and pandits of those shastras were being appointed.
For lodging, Brahmin scholars would receive five rupees a month and could live where they chose while they studied.
Whoever desired a professor’s post, and whoever desired to read, was to submit a petition to the learned Dr Wilson and Mr Price. If those gentlemen found them fit, their wishes might be granted. It was said that the reading of books and the hours of study would follow the custom of the country.
10 January 1824 / 27 Poush 1230
The First Reading at Bahu Bazar
On Thursday the eighteenth of Poush, the first day of the European year—that is, the first of January 1824—reading began at the Sanskrit College in House No. 66, Bahu Bazar.
The professors and the shastras then taught included:
- Nyaya — Sri Nimacharan Shiromani
- Smriti — Sri Ramchandra Vidyalankar
- Alamkara — Sri Kamalakanta Vidyalankar
- Kavya — Sri Jayagopal Tarkalankar
- Vyakarana — Sri Haranath Tarkabhushan, Sri Ramdas Siddhanta Panchanan and Sri Govindaram Upadhyay
Fifty Brahmin scholars on stipend were named for these shastras. Many others would also come and study under the prescribed rules. These students would not yet receive a monthly stipend, but if they passed the fixed examination they could receive a prize.
The hours of study were to be settled according to the muhurtas of teachers and pupils. Some would sit from the fourth daṇḍa of morning until the second prahar; some would come at the second prahar and remain until evening; others would teach from forenoon to afternoon.
21 February 1824 / 10 Phalgun 1230
Sri Lakshminarayan Nyayalankar was named keeper of books, and Sri Rudramani Dikshit became professor of Vedanta.
Fifty stipend-holders were receiving pay, while about thirty additional students had come to read the shastras. They had no monthly wage, but if they demonstrated mastery at the fixed examination they could receive a prize. If any stipend-holder failed, his place could pass to one of these students.
Books of many shastras were being purchased, and it was said that a press would be established within the school to print Sanskrit books.
The hours of reading were from eleven o’clock English time until four. On Ashtami, Trayodashi, Pratipad, Amavasya and Purnima there was no reading, as well as on Manvantara days and festival days. Much of the arrangement was to follow the will of the teachers and scholars.
Rules of the Company’s Pāṭhaśālā
28 February 1824 / 17 Phalgun 1230
The early rules of the institution laid down a structured progression of study.
1. Whoever wished to read had to be between twelve and eighteen years of age and pass an examination in grammar before being allowed to study another shastra.
2. After three years of grammar, a student who passed and wished to study another shastra would be placed with that professor. If he could not pass, he would be removed from the school.
3. Company scholars and outside scholars were to be examined every year.
4. New and old scholars were to receive five rupees a month from the first day of reading until the twelfth year.
5. A Company scholar who studied well and performed successfully at examination would retain his monthly pay and receive a prize besides; lesser scholars would receive the prize only.
6. After three years of grammar, a successful student wishing to study another shastra would receive a letter of praise from his professor and another signed letter from the Secretary.
7. Whoever failed to attend at the appointed hour or showed disrespect to the pandits could be expelled at once.
8. A student was to read only what the pandit, judging his qualification for the shastra, prescribed for him.
9. A student with a petition was to make it known to the pandit.
10. After twelve years, a departing scholar would receive a letter of praise in Sanskrit under the pandit’s name and another in English signed by the Secretary.
11. Each scholar was to study only with his own professor and not go to another.
12. The teacher of Yavana shastra, the writer of Yavana letters, the correctors of books and other servants were to work according to the Secretary’s orders.
13. Scholars were to read grammar for three years, then Kavya and Alamkara and other shastras for two years, followed by Jyotisha for one year, and in the seventh year be placed with the professor of the shastra they desired.
The Foundation Stone at Pataldanga
25 February 1824
On Wednesday the twenty-fifth of February, in the afternoon, the foundation stone of the Sanskrit College was laid at the place being prepared at Pataldanga.
The contemporary report records that the Freemasons, described in the report as a fellowship among Christians, came in their proper dress, accompanied by English musicians, to complete the ceremony.
1825 · Growth of the College
22 January 1825 / 11 Magh 1231
The report observed that the kind of reading then carried on at the institution had scarcely been seen or heard of elsewhere.
It stated that what took two years in other places was accomplished there in one, because, apart from days of Anadhyaya and festivals, there was little interruption to study and the professors’ care was evident.
If this method continued, the scholars might become accomplished in many shastras within twelve years.
There were then one hundred and twenty-five scholars. Sri Hariprasad Tarkapanchanan had been appointed third professor of the Mugdhabodha.
22 October 1825 / 7 Kartik 1232
The report records the death of Kirtichandra Nyayaratna, described as a good pandit and a former professor at the Company’s Sanskrit College. He died of cholera at approximately thirty-five or thirty-six years of age.
3 December 1825 / 19 Agrahayan 1232
Sri Kashinath Tarkapanchanan Bhattacharya of Simulia was appointed professor of Smriti in place of Ramchandra Vidyalankar.
Sri Gangadhar Tarkavagish of Kumarhatta was appointed professor of grammar in place of Kirtichandra Nyayaratna.
When Vidyalankar died, many Smarta professors petitioned for the position. The officers collected their petitions and gave each candidate questions, saying that whoever provided correct answers should receive the post. Almost all answered, and Tarkapanchanan was appointed after the officers were pleased with his replies.
— Samachar Chandrika
1826 · The Move to Pataldanga
4 February 1826 / 23 Magh 1232
On Wednesday the first of February, annual prizes were given to the scholars in the Sanskrit house of learning at Bahu Bazar.
After the prizes, Mr Wilson praised the pandits and scholars in Sanskrit.
It was reported that the college would shortly leave Bahu Bazar for the new house beside the round tank at Pataldanga.
1 April 1826 / 20 Chaitra 1232
The palace building for the Company’s school at Pataldanga was reported to be finished. In Baisakh, the Sanskrit Pāṭhaśālā and the Hindu College were expected to move there.
— Sambad Kaumudi
13 May 1826 / 1 Jyeshtha 1233
The Sanskrit Pāṭhaśālā entered the new building at Pataldanga.
Krishnadev Upadhyay, Vedanta pandit of the Pāṭhaśālā, had died, and Sri Shambhuchandra Vachaspati was named in his place. One Yugadhyan Mishra was appointed professor of astronomy.
The report also stated that medical shastra might be studied. Grammar, Sahitya, Alamkara, Smriti, Nyaya and Vedanta were then being taught.
— Samachar Chandrika
1827 · Further Appointments
28 July 1827 / 13 Sravan 1234
Sri Kamalakanta Vidyalankar, professor of Alamkara, was appointed pandit to the court of Midnapur district.
He left the college on the seventh of July, and Sri Nathuram Shastri of Gujarat was appointed in his place.
— Samachar Chandrika
1830 · Sanskrit and English Education
27 March 1830 / 15 Chaitra 1236
The Samachar Chandrika published a letter concerning the Sanskrit College.
The writer expressed concern about the consequences of Brahmin pandits’ sons studying English. According to the letter, if they mastered English alongside their traditional learning, they might lose respect for the six traditional functions of a Brahmin—Yajna, officiating at sacred occasions, study, teaching, giving gifts and receiving gifts—and develop a preference for worldly office.
The letter also referred to the Hindu College and other schools, where the sons of men connected with worldly occupations were increasingly becoming masters of English.
The writer argued that Sanskrit scholars who entered English education might find themselves caught between the two systems and disadvantaged in employment.
The proposed solution was not simply to reject English education. The writer suggested that if the objective was for people to master both languages, students of the Hindu College could be taught both English and Sanskrit, while the Vaidya scholars at the Sanskrit College could be made thoroughly proficient in English.
The writer believed that this combination would serve the country because students possessing both English and the relevant shastric knowledge would be better equipped to practise medicine.
Conclusion
The history of the Calcutta Sanskrit College can be reconstructed through these contemporary reports from 1822 to 1830.
The institution began with proposals concerning curriculum, professors, books, student maintenance and examinations. It then opened in a rented house at Bahu Bazar, where students studied grammar and numerous shastras under appointed pandits. A permanent building was subsequently established at Pataldanga, following the laying of its foundation stone in 1824.
The reports record not only the physical development of the institution but also its educational structure: student stipends, examinations, stages of study, teacher appointments, books, discipline and the transmission of Sanskrit learning.
By 1830, the reports were also recording the tensions and questions surrounding Sanskrit and English education in a changing colonial educational environment.
Taken together, these records provide a valuable window into the institutional history of Sanskrit education in early nineteenth-century Bengal and the changing circumstances in which traditional learning was being taught, organized and debated.
Sources
Contemporary newspaper reports translated and compiled in the supplied article, principally from:
- Samachar Chandrika
- Samachar Darpan
- Sambad Kaumudi
The reports cover the period 1822–1830.