THE SASKRIT COLLEGE REORGANIZATION COMMITTEE, 10™ AUGUST,1938 CHAIRMAN PANDIT YAJANA NARAIN UPADHYAYA 'XaO-Z] 3 7 upp,. s.. MiQ THE SASKRIT COLLEGE REORGAxNIZATION COMMITTEE, 1 0 ^ AUGUST,1938 CHAIRMAN-----PANDIT YAJANA NARAIN UPADHYAYA QDo) T h e s e c r e t a r y t o GOVERNMENT, U n it e d Pr o v in c e s, E d u c a t io n D e p a r t m e n t . L u c k n o w . Bmi, W it h reference to Government communique no. 1705-G/XV—* 506^, dated the 10th August, 1933. we beg to submit the following repoort of the Sanskrit College Reorganization OominitteQ, 'T h e communique the terms of reference are reproduced below : ' “ There has been a public demand in the past that the Governmenb Samskrit) College, Benares, which is really the nucleus of a Sanskrit Uniiversity and which has a valuable library (Saraswati Bhawan) as its appoeadage, should be overhauled. The matter was also recently dia- cusssed in the Legislative Assembly. In view of this, Government has deciided to appoint the following small committee to look in to the mafcttex ; P e e r s o n n e l (1) Pandit Yaina Nftrain TTpadhvava. M.A., LL.B., M.L.A,, Bha- daini, ±5enares (Utiairman), (2) Pandit Kamalapati Tripathi Shastri, M.L.A,, Aurangabad, JBenares. (3) Dr. Mangal Deva Shastri, M.A., Registrar, Sanskrit College Examinations, Benares. (4) Pandit Shri Krishna Joshi, B.A., LL.B,, Hindu University, Benares. Dr. Shastri will also act as Secretary of the Committee. The terms of reference of the above Committee will be to look intO' the system of administration of the College, its connexion with the Educcattion Department, its relation with the library, the methods of recruuibment of its staff, its hours of work and similar allied questions, 33. The Committee shall hold its meetings in Benares. TTh© Director of Public Instruction, United Provinces, subsequently by hhis letter no. 2311-B/XV, dated the 28th October, 1938, to the Secreetary of the Committee intimated that the Government had been pleassed to add the name of Pandit Kashi Rima, M.A., retired Inspector 3f Saanakrit Pathashalas, United Provinces, to the personnel of the Com- aiiiteee., TChe Committee met thrice in the year 1938, viz. on the 9fch ind 14th September and the 8th November on which days they aspescted the library and the College, and the sites for hostels iiu'd Mo d -31 10037720 iin 378.119909542 EDU-J-S, 1938 other baildings, and carefully noted their methods of work. They tfcthea iustrnoted the Secretary to draw up all those points in detail ^hvhich could require consideration of the Committee. The Secretary, accocord- ingly, prepared a memorandum giving in detail various points oomneQect- ed with the different activities of the College and circulated it a-mcnoDg the members of the Committee. The terms of reference next invited the attention of the Commiittttee, which decided that the methods of inspection of Sanskrit pathashalasis in the province as well as the management of the examinations cond ucicted by the College should be included within the terms of reference. After the three preliminary sittings of the Committee noted aTbo^ove, the Committee had to postpone further ,meetings on account of' p pre­ occupation of its Secretary with the work of the Sanskrit Colldlege Syllabus Hevision Committee which was appointed at about the sa?ame time under the distinguished chairmanship of Dr. Bhagwan Das, mm.a., D. LITT. The latter Committee started its work in the later part o f tf the year 1938 and finished it in the last week of August, 1939. Our CcJom- mittee had therefore to postpone its sittings in order to ;alillow Dr, Shastri to go on with his duties as Secretary of the other Co^om- mittee, unhampered with too much work and also because we felt t' that the final deaisions of that Committee were materially bound to aS.ffect our decisions, As soon as we were informed that Dr. Bhagwan Das's Commitittee had completed its work, we resumed our sittings on 4th of Augigust, 1939- We then issued a questionnaire to the pathashalas in the pnrov- ince by publishing it in Hindi papers, local and otherwise, over i the signature of the Chairman, inviting the teachers and managers o f 1 the Sanskrit pathashalas to send in their replies to the Secretary by 2(20th August, 1939. An English translatioja of the questionnaire appeiears in Appendix V II and the replies aie considered in the body o f 1 the report. Our Committee then resumed its sittings on the 28th August, 19939, and met 11 times in all between that date and the 26th o f Septemhber, 1939, on which date the present report was finally read and signed by the Chairman and members for submission to Government. The method adopted by the Committee was to interview all ofiScicers and teachers connected with the institution and thus ascertain thheir opinion on all points related to their official positions. The Chairmman was also careful to consult Pandit Gopi Nath Kaviraj, M.A., the Mate Principal of the Sanskrit College, than whom perhaps no one is moore familiar with the history of the College, and its noble traditions. 3The final opinion arrived at by us as well as the recommendations are t the results of very careful thought and we believe that if the Goveramnenfc is pleased to carry them into effect, the College will be set on a si5ure path of progress and usefulness and much of the criticism direct3ted towards its system of administration will disappear, *If this happens, aand herreio lies the utility of this Committee, we shall consider cur labours amiply rewarded. Ifc will nob be out of place to mention here that we were given an opppoFtunity by the Secretary of seeing the final recommendations of the Sylllabas Committee on many of the points entrusted to ua for conisideration towards the close of our own work. We are in general agrreement with the recommendations of that Committee except in one or ;two particulars in which we differ from them. Our concludouS, along with the reasons that guided us, are given in the body of the rep)ort. As regards the courses, we are glad to say that we are in gene^ ral agreement) with the proposals of the Syllabus Committee, Ira this connexioa we would like to invite the attention of the Qov- ernim<ent to Caapter V III of the report of the Primary and Secondary Ed\.ue«^t,\Ott iieoTgauuatioii Cotamiltee, page 79, dealing with denomina- tioinall institattions, in which they have stated* as their opinion, that thei paiiliashalas and maktabs should also be converted into Basic [schools andi that the Syllabus prescribed for the latter schools should be intro- duoied in them also. It appears that the attention of the Sanskrit Colllege Courses Revision Committee was not invited to these recom- metnd.ations and therefore they could not submit their suggestions about the) sttage at which the boys of the Basic schools would be allowed to be (directed to the pathashalas teaching for Sanskrit examinations. We leawe the question for decision by Government and would be satisfied by . recording our opinion that this diversion should take place after fouir years of Basic training at the age of ten. Tlie Committee, in conclusion, would like to thank all those officials or inon-oflBcials who placed their views and diflBoulties frankly before the) Oommittee and helped us to arrive at the final conclusions. We have the honour to be, SiB, Your most obedient servants, YAJNA NARAYANA UPADHYAYA. KAMALAPATI TEWARI. KASHI RAMA. SRI KRISHNA JOSHI, s . n . d . MANGAL DEVA SHASTRI.* Dated the 2Qth September, 1939. * (Signed subject to the Minute of Dissent on pageg 65 to 96.) REPOET OF THE GOVERNMENT SANSKRIT COLLSGB REORGANIZATION COMmiTTi:£. UNITED PROVINCES CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION T he Qoverument! Sanskrit College is the oldest, the biggest) and uodoubtedly the most inaportaiiD caatca of Sanskrit learrviag in ladiit. It waa foQuded in 1791 by Jonathan Diiacan— the resident o f Baaares— the officer to whom the five eastern districts of the United Provinces, viz., Benares, Mirzapur, Azimgarh, Gbazipur and Ballia owe thoir permaoeat settlement— out of the surplus revenue of the zamiadari of Rajab Mahip Narayan Siogh, the permanent leaae of which was guaranteed to the liajah by the Ea%t India Company in 1781. To those who are not familiar with the history of the origin of the College and of its siibsequeat development m the earlier ye'ire it might appear that the iastituftion owed its iuception and maioteuanca to the practical philanthropy of the East India Company or to its educational policy. Tho fact, however, was quite otherwise and we propose to show in the foliowinij pages, as briefly as possible and only in a general mauner, that this notion has no baais in laot. Tho East India Com­ pany, in those days, was engaged in making freah territorial acqnisi- lioiia and had not yet developed an educational policy of its own in relation to the countries brought under its control. Even in Ea:jland the id«ntifying of the State with an eduGational policy wa.s a task which was contemplated at the time by » few radical minds only and the first treasury graut of £2,000 for education was allotted to elemen* tary schools in 1832, nineteen years after the unreformed Commons had insisted upon tho East India Company making an annual grant for the education of the conquered people of India.