Benares Hindu College Central Hindu College : “Warren Hastings encouraged the revival of Indian learning & to him we owe,” says Dr. R.C. Majumdar, “the foundation of the Calcutta Madrāsā. Inspired by the same spirit, Sir William Jones founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal in Calcutta in 1784, & a Sanskrit College was established at Benares by the Resident Jonathan Duncan, in 1791…. In her autobiography (1893), Annie Besant writes: ‘The Indian work is, first of all, the revival, strengthening, & uplifting of the ancient religions. This has brought with it new self-respect, a pride in the past, a belief in the future, &, as an inevitable result, a great wave of patriotic life, the beginning of the rebuilding of a nation.’ She started the Central Hindu School in Benares as a chief means of achieving her object. She lavished her resources & energy on this institution, which gradually developed into a College, & was ultimately merged into the Hindu University.” [An Advanced History of India, 1973-74, pp.810, 881-82] Mrs Annie Besant, who had been a member of the London School Board (1887-90), was eager to establish learning institutions in India based on Hindu philosophy. In 1898 she founded the Central Indian College in the Kāmāchha area of Vārānasi; because, “she wanted to bring men of all religions together under the ideal of brotherhood in order to promote Indian cultural values & to remove ill-will among different sections of the Indian population.” [S. Bhattacharya] In 1903 Malaviya, who had supported Besant’s cause, raised Rs 250,000 to finance the construction of the school’s hostel. In 1907 Besant had applied for a royal charter to establish a university. However, there was no response from the British government. In April 1911, the two agreed to join forced to build a university in the same city, & in November, Mālaviya registered the Hindu University Society to gather support & raise funds for building the university. He spent the next 4 years gathering support & raising funds for the university. He sought & received early support from the Kāshi Naresh Prabhu Narayan Singh & Maharaja Sir Rameshwar Singh Bahadur of Raja Darbhanga. In November 1915, Besant, Bhagawan Das (q.v.), & other trustees of the Central Hindu School agreed to the government’s condition that the school become a part of the new university. Thus the Banaras Hindu University (BHU), formerly Central Hindu College, was established in 1916 by Pandit Madan Mohan Mālaviya, with over 12,000 students residing in campus.
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... and work for a common Hindu University at Varanasi. Annie and fellow trustees of the Central Hindu College also agreed to Government of India's precondition that the college should become a part of the new University. The Banaras Hindu University started functioning from 1 October 1917 with the Central Hindu College as its first constituent college. Besant received many tributes during her... Page 90 Annie Besant with Henry Olcott (left) and Charles Leadbeater (right) in Adyar in December 1905 Annie set up a new school for boys at Varanasi: the Central Hindu College. Its aim was to build a new leadership for India. The boys lived like monks. They spent 90 minutes a day in prayer and studied the Hindu scriptures, but they also studied modern science. It ...
... the direct result of the purely mental instruction given to them under the English system of education. The adoption of the English system under an Indian disguise in institutions like the Central Hindu College is likely to lead to the European result. That it is better than nothing, is all that can be said for it. As in the education of the mind, so in the education of the heart, the best ...
... were in Benares, invited him. They lived and looked after a Saiva Math, where Sivan had installed Nataraj. The couple also cared for the visiting pilgrims. At Benares Bharati joined the Central Hindu College, affiliated to the Allahabad University. Here the young man learned both Sanskrit and Hindi, apart from fine-tuning his English. And this time there was no restraining him. Triumphantly he passed ...
... as an exceptional leader of his time for his deeper political vision. Chakravarti Rajagopalachari was born in a village in Madras Presidency in December 1878 and graduated from the Central Hindu College of Bangalore. He then took a law degree from the Madras Law College. He joined the Congress party soon after that and in 1921 was chosen general secretary of the Indian National Congress ...
... the direct result of the purely mental instruction given to them under the English system of education. The adoption of the English system under an Indian disguise in institutions like the Central Hindu College is likely to lead to the European result. That it is better than nothing, is all that can be said for it. As in the education of the mind, so in the education of the heart, the best way is ...
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