Hundred Years of the University of Calcutta (Supplement 1857-1956)

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In the introduction to this the second volume of the History of the University of Calcutta, the Chief Editor, Dr. P. N. Banerjee, gives an account of the field covered by this volume. This account of the Colleges and Departments of the University, of the teachers and their contributions to learning, is a necessary complement to that given in the first volume of the development of the activities of the University during 100 years. The account of the Centenary Celebrations bears evidence to the enthusiasm which was evoked on the occasion of the celebrations and it deserves permanent record as a tribute to the efforts on this memorable occasion on the part of those who love the University.

From all these details we confirm the impression of the vast expansion of the activities of the University during these 100 years. The greater part of these activities has been through the affiliated Colleges and the full discussion of the institutions which we are able to give should be our main recognition of the work carried on in the midst of great difficulties and under tremendous handicaps. We hope that the conclusion of the first 100 years is not only a land-mark in the history of the University, but will be a turning point in that of the Colleges, that from a period of stress and strain they will be able to emerge into a healthier growth under more favourable conditions. How and when this will be achieved we are not yet certain, but we look forward to the future with a confidence generated in the faith which we have in the value of strenuous human effort: we believe that sincere work by devoted missionaries in the cause of education cannot go un-rewarded and that the product of this work will ultimately bear evidence not only to the indomitable nature of the human spirit but also to the capacity of the spirit to get the better of all material obstacles.

In the previous volume, a comprehensive history of the University of Calcutta has been given. That history has been a story of its birth, growth and development. After the first fifty years of existence, the transformation of the University from a purely examining and affiliating body to an institution both teaching and affiliating began. Its achievements as a teaching and research institution during the last fifty years have been amply acknowledged in the greetings and messages of goodwill that it received on attainment of a life of a hundred years. The University however remains essentially still an affiliating institution, and its structure and scheme of teaching are to a great extent influenced by the character of its being basically an affiliating body. To judge, therefore, properly the working of the University and for a fuller study of its history it is necessary to know the part these affiliated institutions played in the shaping and advancement of the University. With this object in view the present volume begins with an account of the colleges that came to be affiliated with it during the last hundred years.

Jurisdiction of the University

In the study of these affiliated colleges the first thing which attracts attention is the enormous territorial jurisdiction of the University of Calcutta during a considerable period of its existence. References to this have been made in several places in the previous volume. This jurisdiction practically continued till the Indian Universities Act of 1904 came into operation, wherein provision was made for the first time for defining the territorial limits of the five Universities then existing in India (including Burma and Ceylon), viz. the Universities of Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, the Punjab and Allahabad. In fact, there was no territorial limit fixed for the University of Calcutta in the Act of Incorporation in 1857, and when in 1882 the Punjab University and in 1887 the University of Allahabad came into existence, no provision was made in the Acts for these Universities, curtailing the jurisdiction of the University of Calcutta. From the list given in the present volume, of schools and colleges enjoying recognition and affiliation of the University of Calcutta in 1903, i.e. immediately before the Indian Universities Act of 1904 was passed, it will appear that two institutions in the Punjab, viz. Bishop Cotton School, Simla and Baring High School, Batala (Gurdaspur) were then enjoying affiliation to the University of Calcutta; St. John's College, Agra, Mahomedan Anglo-Oriental College, Aligarh, Thomason Engineering College, Rurkee, Joynarayan's College, Benares, and other colleges belonging to the then United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, were also affiliated to this University. Schools from the districts of Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Dera-Ismail Khan, Multan, Jullundher, Ludhiana in the Punjab, Bhopal, Bundelkhand, Indore, Ujjain, Jaypur of Central India, Cawnpur, Lucknow, Mirzapur, Musoori, Nainital, Allahabad of the then United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, used to send up students for the Entrance examination of the University of Calcutta.

From the accounts of affiliated colleges which appear in the following pages, it will appear that Lahore Government College which was first affiliated to the University of Calcutta in 1864 prepared students chiefly for the examinations of the Punjab University after that University was established but some of its students were also sent out for the examinations of the Calcutta University; such was also the position of Government College, Delhi, Jaypur Maharaja's College, Jaypur, which was first affiliated to the University of Calcutta in 1873 trained students for the Oriental Examinations of the Punjab University and on the establishment of the University of Allahabad, it was affiliated to that University also although it continued enjoying affiliation of the Calcutta University long thereafter.

Under the Indian Universities Act of 1904, the Governor-General in Council was empowered to define the territorial limits of the five Universities mentioned above, and according to the notification' of the Government of India, in the Home Department, dated 20th August, 1904, the limits of the University of Calcutta were confined to Bengal (including Behar and Orissa), Assam and Burma. Out of the areas over which the University formerly exercised its jurisdiction, Ceylon went under the University of Madras; the States and provinces included in the Rajputana and Central India Agencies, the United Provinces ofAgra and Oudh, the Central Provinces, and Ajmere and Marwara fell within the orbit of the University of Allahabad; and the Punjab, the North Western Province and the State of Kashmir were placed under the Punjab University. After the Indian Universities Act of 1904 came into operation, the Syndicate of the Calcutta University decided, on 18th August 1906, to withdraw recognition of the schools outside the territorial limits of the University with effect from 30th April 1907. At that time 2 schools in Kashmir, 17 in Central India, 15 in Central Provinces, 21 in Ceylon, 45 in the Punjab, and 21 in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh were enjoying the privileges of such recognition. Steps were also taken for the withdrawal of affiliation of the colleges which fell within the areas outside the newly defined territorial limits of the University, according to the procedure laid down for disaffiliation of colleges under the New Regulations.

Two colleges in the Punjab, five in the States of Rajputana Agency, three in the Central Province, six in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh and seven in Ceylon were thus disaffiliated in 1907. In 1917 the University of Patna was established and the colleges and schools belonging to the provinces of Bihar and Orissa went over to that University. In 1920 the University of Rangoon was established and the territory of Burma went out of the jurisdiction of the University of Calcutta in 1921, and in that year on the establishment of the University of Dacca, the Dacca College (Arts and Law), Dacca Training College and Jagannath College, Dacca, went into the fold of that University. Thus the jurisdiction of the University, which in 1904 extended practically over the whole of north India, Burma and Ceylon came to be limited in 1921 to the provinces of Bengal (undivided) and Assam. From 1921 till the date of lndia's partition on 14th August 1947, this shrunken jurisdiction of the University remained, however, undisturbed. But on that day all the colleges which fell within the territory of the newly created state of Eastern Pakistan had to sever their ties with the University of Calcutta. The following year the jurisdiction of the University was further set back; the University of Gauhati having been established on the 1st of January 1948, all the colleges and schools belonging to the province of Assam left the University of Calcutta. Illustrating all the different stages of shrinkage of the University's jurisdiction, a map of India prepared by the Asutosh Museum of Indian Art of this University has been appended to this volume.

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