The History, Design and Present State of the Religious, Benevolent and Charitable Institutions, Founded by the British in Calcutta and Its Vicinity/Madrissa
MADRISSA;
OR,GOVERNMENT
MOHOMEDAN COLLEGE.
The Madrissa or old Mohomedan College, for the study of the Arabic and Persian languages, and of Mohomedan Law, owes it’s origin to Mr. Hastings, who in the year 1780, provided a building for it at his own expense, and at whose recommendation the Government assigned lands of the estimated value of 29,000 Rupees per annum, for the support of the Institution.
The object of the founder to produce from this seminary well qualified officers for the Courts of Justice has never been attained to the extent of his expectations. Owing to the apathy and neglect of the natives at the head of the College, and the want of efficient European supervision and judicious incitement to exertion, the exercises of the College soon became little more than nominal, and its ample resources were dissipated among the superior and subordinate drones belonging to the Establishment. This state of things was represented to Government in 1812, and a partial remedy was applied, but up to the year 1820, the Institution was wholly useless as to purposes of general education. The more prominent defects in it’s system of tuition and discipline were about that time corrected. Among other essential improvements, a balance of nearly 7,000 Rupees from the allowance granted by the Government, unexpended at the end of the year 1819-20, was appropriated to the formation of a library, and a Secretary was appointed to the Institution, whose duty it was to conduct it's internal arrangement, under the controul of a Committee of the Company’s Servants. The revenue of the College was also then fixed at 50,000 Rupees per annum.
Since the above period, salutary and judicious reforms having been introduced into the Institution, obedience to it’s regulations enforced by the active and punctual attendance of the gentleman performing the duty of Secretary, the energies of the preceptors and students excited by the establishment of public examinations and rewards, and by the personal attention manifested by gentlemen of eminence, interested in the promotion of native education, a remarkable improvement has taken place, and the College is already rising, from it’s former discreditable inertness, into vigor, reputation, and usefulness.
According to the practice of the Institution, students may enter the College at any age not exceeding twenty two years, provided they can exhibit the requisite previous qualifications, and are permitted to continue on the Establishment for a period of seven years, (unless before the expiration of that time they shall have attained the age of twenty eight), receiving a stipend for their maintenance, according to the class to which they belong, viz.
| 1st | Class | 15 | Rupees per mensem |
| 2nd | Ditto | 10 | Ditto |
| 3rd | Ditto | 8 | Ditto |
There are eighty five students on the Foundation, and besides these, out students are allowed to attend to an unlimited number. In order to give still further encouragement and support to Mohomedan education, the Government has recently determined to found a School for the tuition of Mohomedan youth, of an earlier age than that in which they are eligible for the Madrissa, and for their instruction on improved principles, in Arabic and Persian Literature.
The course of education in the College comprizes the Arabic language, including General Literature, Law, Philosophy of Law, the Traditions of Mohomed, Rhetoric, Logic, Geometry and Arithmetic. Astronomy according to the English system, and English grammar may hereafter probably be taught,[1] to which may be added the Regulations of the British Government in the Persian language. The existing courses of instruction are accomplished by the agency of four professors, assisted as occasion may require, by four of the more advanced students who receive proportionate remuneration.
As a temporary and experimental arrangement, the object of which is to prepare the way for the study of the English language, and European sciences in the Madrissa, an allowance of 8 Rs. per mensem is granted to any number of the students not exceeding 25, who may be desirous of acquiring a knowledge of the English language. With the view also of introducing European science, a learned native of India has been entertained on the establishment of the College, as translator of English works of science into Persian and Arabic. This individual has already rendered the article Geometry from the Encyclopædia Britannica into Persian, and that on Arithmetic from the same source, and Hutton’s course of Mathematics into Arabic. He is now employed on Brydge’s Algebra.
Dr. Lumsden, whose eminent oriental attainments arc universally known, fills the office of Secretary to the Madrissa, to which appointment, including the duty of superintending the translations made from English works into the Persian language, is annexed a Salary of 500 Rupees per mensem.
The building, hitherto occupied by the Madrissa, being very much out of repair, and being also extremely confined, and placed not only in an unhealthy spot, but in a part of the city which afforded to the Students great facilities and temptations to dissipation, immorality and idleness, the Government, in consequence, resolved to construct a new College in a more suitable situation. A plan of a building nearly similar to that of the Hindoo College has been adopted, and the sum of Rupees 1,40,537 appropriated for the erection of the edifice and the purchase of the ground on which it is to stand, a portion of the expense being defrayed by the sale of the old premises. The site chosen is in a quarter of the town denominated Kalunga, which is tenanted by that class of people to whom the professors and students of the Madrissa belong, and in the proximity of the great body of Mussulman population. Besides accommodation, for the College, the new buildings will provide for the Mussulman School about to be founded.
The foundation stone of the new structure was laid on the 15th of July, with the usual ceremonies of Free Masonry.[2]