Sanskrit College and University

Sanskrit College and University (erstwhile Sanskrit College) is a state university^[3] located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It focuses on liberal arts, offering both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Ancient Indian and world history, Bengali, English, Sanskrit, Linguistics, and traditional orientation learning (Advaitya Vedanta) and Pali.

Sanskrit College and University

Former name	Sanskrit College (1824-2015)
Motto in English	Keeping to the root, reaching for the future.
Type	Public university
Established	c. 1824; 201 years ago (1824)
Affiliation	UGC
Budget	₹0.6918 crore (US$82,000) (2021–22 est.)[1]
Chancellor	Governor of West Bengal
Vice-Chancellor	Rajkumar Kothari [2]
Location	Kolkata , West Bengal , India 22°34′33″N 88°21′51″E
Campus	Kolkata (College Street) and Nabadwip
Website	sanskritcollegeanduniversity.ac.in

Entrance to the main building

History

A 1999 stamp dedicated to the 175th anniversary of the Sanskrit College

Sanskrit College was founded on 1 January 1824, during the Governor-Generalship of Lord Amherst, based on a recommendation by James Prinsep and Thomas Babington Macaulay among others.

Secretaries
1824–1832: W. A. Price 1832: Horace Hayman Wilson (offg) 1832–1833: Leftt. Todd 1833: Horace Hayman Wilson (offg) 1832–1839: A. Troyer 1835–1839: Ramkamal Sen 1836–1837: Radhakanta Dev (interim) ?: J. C. C. Sutherland (3 months) 1840–1841: T. A. Wise 1841–1851: Rasamoy Dutt
Principals
1851–1858: Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar 1858–1864: Edward Byles Cowell 1864–1876: Prasanna Kumar Sarbadhikary 1876–1895: Mahesh Chandra Nyayratna Bhattacharyya 1895–1900: Nilmani Mukhopadhyaya 1900–1908: Haraprasad Shastri 1908–1910: Kaliprasanna Vidyaratna 1910–1920: Satish Chandra Vidyabhusan 1920–1923: Ashutosh Shastri 1924–1931: Aditya Nath Mukhopadhyay 1931–1942: Surendranath Dasgupta 1944–1946: Anantaprasad Banerjee Shastri 1947–1948: Jatindra Bimal Chaudhury 1948–1954: Sadananda Bhaduri 1954–1957: Prabodh Chandra Lahiri 1957–1967: Gaurinath Shastri 1967–1968: Kalicharan Shastri 1968–1969: Tarashankar Bhattacharya 1969–1983: Bishnupada Bhattacharya 1983: Munishwar Jha 1983–1985: Herambanath Chatterjee Shastri 1990–1994: Dilip Kumar Kanjilal 1997–1999: Sukomal Choudhury 1999–2000: Manjula Mitra 2000-2000: Pradip Kumar Majumdar 2007–2012: Anadi Kumar Kundu 2012–2016: Sanjukta Das
Vice Chancellors
2016–2017: Dilipkumar Mohanta[4] 2017-2019: Paula Banerjee 2019-: Soma Bandopadhyay

Mahesh Chandra Nyayratna Bhattacharyya, the scholar of Sanskrit, was the principal of the college for over 18 years. He was made a Companion of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire (C.I.E.), and a member of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire.

He played a crucial role in colonial Bengal's educational reformation. He revived the tol system in Sanskrit education, and introduced titles or "Upadhi".

The institution rose to prominence during the principalship of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar in 1851, who admitted students from other than the Brahmin and Baidya caste.^[5] In particular, the tol or traditional Indian training school model was incorporated as a department in the 1870s.^[6]

From 1824 until 1851 the college did not have the post of principal but was headed by a secretary. From 1851 the college was headed by a principal.^[7]

Transformation into a university

The Sanskrit College and University, West Bengal Bill 2015, aimed at transforming Sanskrit College into a university was passed in West Bengal Assembly on 17 December 2015. ^[8] The university was established vide The Sanskrit College and University, West Bengal Act 2015 on 19 February 2016^[9] and became functional on 15 June 2016 when the first vice-chancellor, Dilipkumar Mohanta, joined the institute.^[10]

Campus

The Sanskrit College and University is located on College Street in central Kolkata, India. Its centrality is heightened by its proximity to Hindu School, Presidency University, Kolkata, the University of Calcutta, and the Indian Coffee House.It has also an academic and research campus at Nabadwip.

Organization and Administration

Governance

The governor of West Bengal is the chancellor of the Sanskrit College and University. The Vice-chancellor of the Sanskrit College and University is the chief executive officer of the university. Raj Kumar Kothari is the current Vice-chancellor of the university.

Departments

Sanskrit College and University consist of the departments of Ancient Indian & World History, Bengali, English, Linguistics, Philosophy, Pali, Sanskrit, and Traditional Orientation Learning(Advaita Vedanta, Panini Vyakarana, and Sahitya). ^[11]

Academics

Courses

Sanskrit College and University offer different undergraduate and postgraduate courses: ^[12]

• Four year Undergraduate Degree (B.A. Honours/Resarch ) courses: Ancient Indian & World History, Bengali, English, Linguistics, Philosophy, Pali, Sanskrit, Advaita Vedanta, Panini Vyakarana, and Sahitya.
• Two-year Postgraduate Degree (M.A.) Courses: Ancient Indian & World History(AIWH ),Bengali, English, Philosophy, Sanskrit, Pali and Linguistics.
• Two-year Acharya degree(equivalent to M.A.) in Traditional Oriental Learning (Advaita Vedanta).(TOL ).
• PhD degrees are also offered.
• They have well-established English, Bengali, Sanskrit, Linguistics and Pali departments. Moreover, the English department is the renowned one which has many excellent faculties.

Central Library

The central library of the Sanskrit College and University is a veritable goldmine for researchers. It contains over 2,00,000 books and 25,000 manuscripts, including several very rare manuscripts. ^[12] The university has also started a massive digitization program such that it can place these 25,000 manuscripts in the cultural commons.

Sanskrit Charcha Kendra, Nabadwip

The Sanskrit College and University has established a Sanskrit Charcha Kendra, in Nabadwip, Nadia, West Bengal. This state-of-the-art research center provides an opportunity to research scholars, and academics to harvest the traditional Indic knowledge base already present in University's repository and to take Indological and Sanskrit studies to the future. ^[13]

• Sanskrit College and University offer Postgraduate Courses (like MA Bengali and Sanskrit ) at Nabadwip Campus.

Notable alumni

• Saradaranjan Ray
• Bijoy Krishna Goswami
• Surendranath Dasgupta
• Krishna Kanta Handique
• Mahanambrata Brahmachari
• Bimal Krishna Matilal
• Abanindranath Tagore
• Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

See also

• List of Sanskrit universities in India
• Sanskrit revival
• Education in India
• Education in West Bengal