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The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous Indian Education in the Eighteenth Century c8.s1.t7: Cuttack: (p.54)

The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous Indian Education in the Eighteenth Century c8.s1.t7

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English

Cuttack: (p.54)

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Mr Stirling, in the elaborate account of this district, from which the preceding details are abridged, gives no information whatever on the state of education as conducted by natives, either in elementary schools or schools of learning. In the description of the town of *Puri Jugunnath*, it is stated that ‘the principal street is composed almost entirely of the religious establishments called maths’, a name applied in other parts of the country, both in the west and south, to convents of ascetics in which the various branches of Hindoo learning are taught. It may be inferred that they are applied to the same use in *Jugunnath Puri*.

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HUGLY: (pp.57-59)

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The number of Hindoo schools of learning in this district is considerable. Mr Ward in 1818 stated that at *Vansvariya*, a village not far from the town of Hugly, there were twelve or fourteen colleges, in all of which logic was almost exclusively studied. There were then also seven or eight in the town of *Triveni*, one of which had been lately taught by Jugannath Tarka Panchanan, supposed to be the most learned as well as the oldest man in Bengal, being 109 years old at the time of his death. He was acquainted in some measure with the *veda*, and is said to have studied the *vedanta*, the *sankhya*, the *patanjala*, the *nyaya*, the *smriti*, the *tantra*, the *kavya*, the *pooranas* and other *shastras*. Mr Ward also mentions that *Gundulpara* and *Bhudreshwuru* contained each about ten nyaya schools, and *Valee* two or three, all villages in this district. Hamilton states that in 1801 there were altogether about 150 private schools in which the principles of Hindoo law were taught by Pundits, each school containing from five to twenty scholars. There is no reason to suppose that the number of schools is now less, and the enquiries made in 1824 showed that there were some schools with thirty scholars. According to the reputation of the teacher is the number of the students, and in proportion to the number of the students is the number of invitations and the liberality of the gifts which the teacher receives on the occasion of the performance of important religious ceremonies in Hindoo families. The number of students has thus a double pecuniary operation. As they always derive a part of their subsistence from the teacher, they are a burden upon his means; and by the increased reputation which they confer upon him, they enable him to support that burden. Sometimes, however, students capable of living on their own means return home after school hours; and in other instances, the more wealthy inhabitants of the town or village are found to contribute towards the support of poor students whom the teacher cannot maintain. The first three or four years are occupied in the study of Sanscrit grammar and the next six or eight years in the study of law and logic, with which the generality of students finish their education, and are thenceforth classed among learned men, receiving from the teacher when they are leaving him an honorary title which they retain for life.

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There are few Mahomedan schools of learning in this district. Omitting reference to that at Hugly, supported by the endowment of Haji Mohammed Moshin, under the orders of the Board of Revenue, and about to be extended and improved under the superintendence of the General Committee of Public Instruction, I find mention made of only one other existing at *Seetapore*, a populous town, situated 22 miles in the interior of the district. It was originally supported by a grant of five rupees eight annas per diem, made by the English Government in consideration of the faithful services of Umsih-ood-din the founder. After his death, and in consequence of divisions among the surviving members of his family, who it seems had claim to a part of the grant for their maintenance, it was limited to rupees 50 per month, which, as far as my information extends, it continues to derive from government to the present day. According to Hamilton, in 1801, this college had 30 students who were instructed in Persian and Arabic, and according to the report made to the General Committee in 1824, it had 25 students who were taught only Persian. This institution does not appear ever to have come under the supervision of the Committee or of any public officer. The report of 1824 further alleges the existence of certain lands at *Pandua* in this district, which should be appropriated to the support of *madrasas*, but which have been diverted from that purpose. It is stated to be a well known fact that grants were made to the ancestors of the late Mola Mir Gholam Hyder Mutawali, attached to the shrine of Shah Suffud-din Khan Shuhid at Pandua, together with Mola Myn-ud-din or Mola Taj-ud-din and Mir Gholam Mustafa, private persons who had no share in the superintendence. The grants are said to have specified certain villages or tracts of land to be exclusively appropriated to the support of three *madrasas*, in addition to those granted for the personal benefit of the grantees. The *madrasas* were kept up for a generation or two, but through carelessness or avarice were afterwards discontinued. It is added that there were persons then living so well acquainted with the circumstances as to be able to point out the estates that were specified in the grants for the support of the *madrasas*. The Collector, in the letter enclosing the report, intimated his intention to investigate the matter, and in the event of the alleged misappropriation being substantiated, to pursue the course directed in Regulation XIX of 1810. The result of the enquiry I have not been able to learn.

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BURDWAN: (pp.70-72)

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Hamilton says that in this district there are no regular schools for instruction in the Hindoo or Mahomedan law, and that the most learned professors of the former are procured from the district of Nuddea on the opposite side of the Hugly. The same remark may be applied to this statement that has already been made with reference to the state of learning in Midnapore. All that can be fairly understood from it is not that there are no native schools of learning in the district, but that there were none known to the writer, or to the public officer on whose authority the author relied. It is exceedingly improbable, from the analogy of other districts, that there are not some of those domestic schools of Mahomedan learning already described, and still more improbable that in a population of which five-sixths are Hindoos, there should not be a still greater number of schools of Hindoo learning.

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The following references to institutions of learning in this district were extracted from the proceedings of the Board of Revenue at Calcutta, and first published in the memoir prepared at the India House which I have mentioned as one of my authorities:—

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In September, 1818, the Collector of Burdwan was required to report upon a pension of rupees 60 per annum, claimed by Rambullubh Bhattacharjya, for the support of a religious institution and seminary. The Collector deputed his ameen to the spot, to enquire whether the institution on which the pension was claimed was still maintained. The ameen reported that the institution appeared to be kept up, that the number of scholars generally entertained was about five or six, and that the allowance had been sanctioned by the government during the joint lives of Rambullubh Bhattacharjya and his deceased brother. Under these circumstances, the Revenue Board considered the claimant entitled to the full amount of the pension during his life, or as long as he should continue to appropriate it faithfully to the purposes for which it was originally granted. They accordingly authorised the future payment of this pension to Rambullubh Bhattacharjya, and the discharge of all arrears which had accrued subsequently to the decease of the claimant’s brother.

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In March, 1819, the Collector of Burdwan applied to the Revenue Board for instructions respecting certain payments to a musjid and *madrasa* in the district, respecting which a suit had been instituted in the Calcutta Court of Appeal, and the question ordered by that Court to be determined by the Collector under Regulation XIX, of 1810. The establishment in question was in the hands of Musil-ud-deen, who was called upon to produce his accounts, which he appears not to have done satisfactorily. The Collector, therefore, sent his ameen to the place to ascertain to what extent the establishment was kept up. That officer reported favourably of the establishment on the authority of the inhabitants of the village in which the *madrasa* was situated, but without any documents to corroborate his statements. Under these circumstances, the Revenue Board desired the Collector to take an opportunity of visiting the spot, in order that he might himself ascertain the grounds on which a decision might be come to. Nothing further appears relating to this *madrasa*.

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In July, 1823, the Revenue Board reported an endowment for a College in Burdwan of 254 sicca rupees per annum, which was communicated to the General Committee of Public Instruction.

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