Date: 23 February 1913
Location: Bombay
Speaker: Aga Khan III
Source: Speeches of Aga Khan III – K K Aziz
Full Text
University Bombay: 23 February 1913 Welcome to the deputation – reminder of his own suggestion for two Hindu universities twelve years ago – room for a movement for intellectual variety – the higher side of life – lack of men of letters in India – these universities will produce more tolerant and loving Indians.
His Highness the Aga Khan, who on rising to speak received an ovation from the audience, said he had been asked to propose the resolution which heartily welcomed the deputation of the Hindu University and congratulated them on the important work they had done and accorded their hearty support to the same.
He said these were days of short memory, but he reminded them that twelve years ago, when he had the honour of presiding at the Mahomedan Educational Conference at Delhi, he had the temerity to suggest that there should be not one but two, Hindu Universities and one Mahomedan University. They would, there fore, see that he was one of the early pioneers of the University movement which was a very difficult problem to solve but which had now emerged triumphantly from the region of doubt and difficulty and advanced to a practical stage. These were days of mourning for the Mahomedan race, but they could not withhold themselves from a movement which presaged happiness and peace to Indian minds.
Sir Bhalchandra had said that there had been misgivings as to the possible narrowing influence of this movement. But he was sure that in a vast country like India every movement that gave greater intellectual variety to the country made the country richer and greater in colour and variety. The very fact that ancient Hindu learning and Hindu social life and sacred Hindu literature would be brought out to move and guide the young minds must surely be for the greater good of the country. With the intellectual development of youth it would bring out the higher side of life.
Not only the intellectual but the spiritual and religious life, for which India was renowned in the past, would be cultivated in these Universities and develop the boys in perfect men. India had produced a remarkable captain of industries like late Mr.
Tata, and mathematicians and scientists like Pranjpe and Bose, but he asked how was it that they were wanting in men who stood high on the literary planes? He hoped the new Universities would enable them to produce eminent literary men. It would enable them to develop every side of men, intellectual, spiritual and religious and turn out more tolerant and loving Indians anxious to sacrifice their lives for the good of their fellow-citizens.
Source: The Times of India, Bombay, 24 February 1913.
The full report of the meeting as published in the newspaper is reproduced below: “A mass meeting of the Hindus of Bombay was held at Madhav Baugh, Girgaum, Bombay on Sunday evening to accord a cordial welcome to the members of the Hindu University Deputation which arrived in Bombay on Friday last. .. Great enthusiasm prevailed throughout the proceedings which lasted for three hours and a half. There were several admirable speeches made welcoming the new spirit that has come over India and which aims at elevating Indians in social and moral planes. “Among those present were His Highness The Aga Khan, the Hon. Mr. P. D.
Pattani, Sir Narayen Chandavarker, Sir Vithaldas Thakersey, the Hon. Mr. Gok uldas K Parekh, the Hon. Mr. Lalubhoy Samaldas, Mr. Narotum Morarji Gokuldas, Mr. Tribhovandas Varjivandas, Sir Jugrnohandas Varjivandas, Rao Bahadur Keshmji Nathu, Mr. Delvi, the Hon. Mr. Rafiuddin Ahmed, Mr. Kazi Kabiruddin, Mr. J. J. Vimadalal, Mr. V. J. Dani, Mr. Tribhovandas Mungaldas. “Sir Bhalchandra Krishna was voted in the Chair. In the course of his address he said:- ‘When the idea of the Hindu University was broached for the first time, it met with ridicule from some and unmitigated condemnation from others. But every good cause has to pass through such stages and now it must be a matter of pleasure to you to find that those that come forward to curse it have stayed only to bless it and pray for its success. ” ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, I do not wish to come between you and the different speakers, and anticipate what they have to say. I shall only refer to an objection raised against the movement. Some of our friends are opposed, and conscientiously opposed, to the movement on the ground of its being in conflict with our national ideal. They conscientiously believe that it will be a reactionary and sectarian University. If the combination of religious with secular instruc tion and the renaissance of Hindu Culture and Hindu Ideals which are to form the characteristic features of the new University, bring it within the pale of reactionary movements I must admit that the Hindu University is reactionary in that score. But in this connection I cannot resist the temptation of quoting the memorable words of wisdom of a great Bengalee. “Though, education,” says the venerable Dr. Rash Behari Ghosh while speaking on this movement, “though education must in a large measure involve moral discipline it cannot be efficient unless it is conducted in a religious spirit. It must rest on truth, on morality, and on reverence. Above all it must have its roots deep down in national sentiments and national traditions.” Even Government which initiated the present educational system on secular lines has now come to realise its mistake. The Government Resolution on Education issued only two days ago says “The Government of India while bound to maintain a position of complete neutrality in matter of religion, observe that the most thoughtful minds in India lament the tendency of existing systems of education to develop the intellectual at the expense of the moral and religious faculties,” it is just this tendency that the Hindu University seeks to correct among other things. It seeks to preserve all that is best and noblest in Hindu learning and disseminate it along with a knowledge of the Western Science. The association of such men as Dr. Rash Behari Ghosh and the Hon. Mr. Bhupendra Nath Basu, known for the progressive and catholic views, is a sufficient guarantee that the University would not run on reactionary lines. Further the movement is objected to on the ground that it is sectarian. The University though denominational is cer tainly not sectarian in spirit. Its portals will be open as much to Hindus as to Mahomedans, Parsees or Christians. It will admit students irrespective of caste or creed. The presence of H. H. the Aga Khan, the leader of the Mahomedan Community in India, on the station to receive the Deputation, his participation in to-day’s proceedings, and the substantial help he has given to the University Fund are sufficient evidence that our Mahomedan brothers at least do not regard the movement as a rival one. The two Universities are but the two phases of the same national movement. Both the Universities seek to make a National consciousness and quicken the aspirations towards a higher life. One is but the hand-maid to the other. Let me take this opportunity, Ladies and Gentlemen, to offer our sincere thanks to H. H. the Aga Khan and our Mahomedan brothers for the sympathetic interest they have been evincing in the movement and the great help they have been giving us.’ “The Hon. Sir Narayan Chandavarkar said that in the slang language the deputation was called a begging deputation. But it had a higher and nobler purpose behind it, and he would call it a Divine Mission. Sir Bhalchandra had in his speech referred to some people who were at one time given to cursing this movement which had brought the distinguished visitors to Bombay. Sir Bhalchandra had told them that the same gentlemen had learnt to bless it.
That was the history of every great movement. His Highness the Aga Khan had asked why in spite of all the progress made during the last 50 or 60 years of English education in India they had not produced one first rate man in litera ture giving expression to the higher emotion of the people of this land. The answer was obvious. He was not one of those who would join the ranks of those who thought that the educational policy began on wrong lines. All national progress, all political progress and all educational progress rested on definite lines which were marked out by what they would call the Age and Law of Evolution. When the British came into this country and initiated the policy, they had to lay down the lines of their education system. They distinctly aimed at one definite thing, viz., to make them less of dreamers, and more men of action. To make them more practical was the aim which Lord Macaulay had in view. Lord William Bentinck and Lord Hardinge, the great grand-father of the present popular, sympathetic and cool-headed Viceroy, held a similar view.
Education in India therefore began on literary lines in order to turn them into practical men. He was one of those who did not at first favour the University :movement because he had misgivings as to the direction in which the activities of its promoters would be spent. He was glad that it would not confine itself to the humdrum work of producing men who were only anxious to be successful in commercial and mercantile pursuits, and amass large fortunes from them.
He was glad to find that the University would devote itself to research work.
What the country required was the spirit of the soul brought out … The Hon.
Mr. Rafiudin Ahmed, Mr. J. J. Vimadalal and Bai Nanibai Gujjar then addressed the assembly. “H. H. the Maharajah Bahadur of Darbhanga, in the course of a lengthy speech, said: ‘The reasons urged for the establishment of a great Hindu University at Benares have been so often placed before the public that you are now almost quite familiar with them and it will require but little recapitulation on my part to-day to accentuate the statements already made in order to enlist your hearty appreciation and co-operation in the movement. The spirit of education is abroad. There has been a great awakening in our National life. The tide of feeling has been, and is still, rising with great power in favour of the advance ment of our youths in the matter of their educational training, rooted and grounded in deep religious principle all the way from the Primary School right up to the University. ‘I know that objections have been raised to our Hindu University scheme on the ground that its religious character will make it a sectarian Institution, and that its sectarianism· will warp and narrow its functions and belittle its usefulness as an educational force. It is alleged, moreover, that a University such as we propose will tend to breed strife and discord and an antagonistic spirit towards all other religious faiths. You will agree with me gentlemen, that such apprehen sions are groundless. I need merely refer you to the cordial co-operation and kindly sympathy which our movement has invariably received from my friend His Highness Sir Aga Khan and his co-religionists, and for which we cannot be too grateful, and I need hardly assure our Mahomedan brethren, that we Hindus on our part entertain the same feelings towards the sister University scheme for Aligarh. Religion is always, and must be, a reconciling force and is, as far as possible, from tending towards the divisions or animosities, and it is one of the charms of University life and this spirit which it breathes, that its training engenders and fosters amongst its cultured students a broad and wide and friendly feeling towards all people of different faiths along with the willingness to work in co-operation with them in any measures for promoting the common good. A cultured, religious University student is one of the most valuable assets a nation can possess. His whole influence is one of the side of peace on earth and good will towards men. The last message which our Gracious King Emperor gave us before leaving our shores and saying farewell to India was this:”We fervently trust that our visit may be [sic] God’s grace conduce to the general good of the people of this great Continent. Their interests and well being will always be as near and as dear to me as those of the millions of my subjects in other quarters of the Globe. It is a matter of intense satisfaction to me to realise how all classes and creeds have joined together in the true hearted welcome which has been so universally accorded to us. Is it not possible that the same unity and concord may for the future govern the daily relations of their private and public life? The attainment of this would indeed be a happy outcome of our visit to India.” Believe me, gentlemen, that amongst the many factors which will work with potent force for the realisation of our Monarch’s desire, not the least will be the sweetening influences which will radiate far and wide from the sister Universities at Benares and Aligarh. ‘The Hindu University is to be primarily a residential and teaching University, providing for religious and moral as well as secular education. Its constitution will be drafted on the lines of the Universities like those of Sheffield, Manchester and Birmingham, in which the supreme administrative body is known as the “Court.” ‘Our University will be equipped with the best Professors and Teachers in the various departments of Theology, Literature, Pure Science, Applied Science, Agriculture, Commerce, Medicine (including Ayurvedic), Surgery, Law, and all other branches of knowledge, and will also provide theoretical, practical and technical instruction for artistic pursuits. It will also provide facilities for original research in all the applications of science. In fact our aim is to make the Hindu University in all respects (adopted to India) similar in educational equipment to the best of those Universities in other countries which have so largely moulded national life and character wherever they have been established. I may mention also that the University shall be open to women, subject to such conditio.ns as the Regulations may prescribe. ‘In time, our great ideal in connection with University life and work will be to turn out students who will be men indeed, cultured gentlemen, well fitted through their University training for taking each his part in the position of life to which he has been called. Men who will be god-fearing, full of reverence for the faith of their fathers and the noblest traditions of their race, devoted to our Gracious Sovereign, loyal to the Law and to the social order as all Hindus by virtue of their religion are, and full of sympathy with all good men irrespective of caste or creed. With men like these turned out of our Universities year by year having open minds to receive and assimilate truth from whatever quarter it comes, and ever ready under influence of increasing life to give up all false notions hitherto firmly held. India will be on the high road to take her place amongst the foremost nations of the earth, and her sons will become a tower of strength to the Government of the land, in their stability of character and their example in the political and social life of the country. With these remarks, gentlemen, I heartily commend the scheme for our Hindu University, which I yet hope to live to see as a burning and shining light in our holy City, casting a beneficent radiance over all the land.’ “Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya then addressed the assembly in Urdu at great length. “Donations were then announced which included one lakh of rupees already subscribed and paid by Mr. Narotam Morarji Goculdas and his late lamented brother, Mr. Dharamsey. Other donations included Rs. 5,000 from Mr. Trib howandas Varjiwandas and a like sum from Sir Bhalchandra Krishna. A joint donation of Rs. 5,000 from Sir Vithaldas Thakersey and Mr. Hanaraj Pragji was then announced. A Hindu gentleman, Pandit Mahadev Prashad, a landlord in Mysore, gave 25 acres of land yielding an annual revenue of Rs. 2,500. Several other smaller donations were acknowledged. The proceedings then ter minated.”
The Hindus of India started a movement for the establishment of a university of their own in 1905. The Benaras Hindu University Act was passed by the Imperial Legislative Council on 1 October 1915. The foundation stone of the university’s main building was laid on 4 February 1916 by the Viceroy, Lord Bardinge. The Senate and other bodies met for the first time on 6 and 7 November 1916. The university began to function in 1917 (actually, the Central Hindu College of Benares became a university), and held its first convocation in January 1919. The first Chancellor was the Maharaja of Mysore; the first Vice-Chancellor was Dr. Sir Sundar Lall (knighted in 1917) who died in Feb ruary 1918 and was succeeded by Sir P. S. Sivaswami Aiyar. For full details see s.
L. L. Dar and S. Somaskandan, History of the Benaras Hindu University, Ben ares, 1966.