DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68024#0386
378
iistom; and with this view the Government of India is very willing that the entire body of Muhammadan
(as of Hindu) classic literature shall be admitted and take rank among the higher subjects of secular study ;
and that the languages shall form an important part of the examinations for University degrees. In short, His
Excellency in Council is prepared to listen favourably to any well-considered proposal for modifying or extending
in these directions the existing educational system. One measure to which the Resolution of 1871 particularly
adverted was the development of a vernacular literature for Muhammadans. His Excellency in Council would be
■slow to believe that such a literature still needed creation. To this suggestion Local Governments attach differ-
ing degrees of importance or practicability ; and, on the whole, His Excellency in Council sees reason to believe
that we must be cautious in attempting to proceed in this direction much beyond the point we have reached
already. It is most desirable to frame a series of high class text-books, to encourage the printing and publica-
tion of valuable Muhammadan works, and to offer prizes either for good translations of foreign works or for
original studies. But in regard to the patronage of what may be properly called literature, the exercise of it
must necessarily be restricted by the pressing demands of general education upon our finance, and by the diffi-
culty of making a fair selection, or of distributing any money available with due discrimination and indubitable
advantage.
The Resolution concluded as follows
His Excellency in Council has now reviewed rapidly the general measures which have been taken, or are
being taKen, for the encouragement of education among Muhammadans. The papers before him, received from
all parts of British India, show that the Earl of Mayo’s Resolution has succeeded in its main purpose of drawing
the attention of all Administrations to needs and obligations which before had perhaps not every where been ade-
quately realised. These needs and obligations may now be intrusted with confidence to the care of Local Govern-
ments. The Supreme Government has satisfied itself that the principles upon which Muhammadan education
should be supported or subsidised are clearly understood; while the conditions and rate of progress in this as
in all branches of public instruction, the range of its operations, and all other practical details, depend chiefly in
each province upon local circumstances, administrative skill, and financial resources.
7. About this time a separate correspondence was being carried on with the Government
of Bengal on the subject of the management of the Calcutta Madrissa, established by Warren
Hastings in 1780, and with reference to the status and condition of the Madrissaand College at
Hooghly supported out of an endowment bequeathed in 1806 by Mahommed Mohsin in trust
for “ pious uses?"’ In connection with these Mohsin funds, not only had large accumula-
tions to the credit of the trust been permitted to accrue, but the funds had been in part appro-
priated to the benefit of a wholly different class from that for which the endowment was
destined. The Government of India accordingly desired that the whole subject of the appli-
cation of the funds in promotion of Muhammadan education should be fully reconsidered and
plans matured for their disbursement more in consonance with the intentions of Mahommed
Mohsin. The Government of Bengal, in its letter dated the 17th August 1872, in submitting
to the Government of India the views of the Lieutenant-Governor in regard to the general
measures to be taken for the promotion of Muhammadan education in Bengal, put forward
certain suggestions as to the utilisation of these funds. It proposed to reform the Calcutta
and the Hooghly Madrissas, and to take upon itself the cost of the non-Musalman side of
the Hooghly College, hitherto entirely supported from the Mohsin funds, but at the same time
to accept from the funds a fair contribution for the Madrissa attached to the College and for
special benefits to Muhammadan students studying in the College. As, in the opinion of the
Lieutenant-Governor (Sir George Campbell), it would be difficult to justify the devotion of
provincial funds to special Muhammadan education in the province generally, while the Moh-
sin endowment supplied a legitimate means of effecting the purpose in view, the Government
of Bengal further expressed its intention to devote the money thus saved from the Hooghly
College to aid and extend Muhammadan education elsewhere. Proposals for the establishment
of new Madrissas at Dacca and other local centres in Eastern and Northern Bengal were then
explained in detail; but as the Mohsin funds would not be adequate to enable the Government
to equip efficiently these new madrissas, the Lieutenant-Governor trusted that the Government
of India would contribute to make up the difference. The main questions left for the decision
of the Government of India were (1) whether the Government of India approved of the pro-
posed distribution of the Mohsin Funds and of the establishment of madrissas; and (2) whether
the Government of India would give some special aid towards the establishment of madrissas
in Eastern and Northern Bengal.
8. In reply the Government of India, on 13th June 1873, wrote to the Government of
Bengal as follows :—
The general principles upon which the Lieutenant-Governor desires to see these* institutions administered
* „ . ,, , „ ,. ,, , . and directed for the better promotion of high Muhammadan education
appear to the Government of India to be sound, and the obstacles to
working upon them are not practically insurmountable. * * • It is agreed, by common consent, that the
intention of the British Government in supporting these institutions is to give to Muhammadans their full share
of high-class intellectual training and of sound knowledge useful to them in life, combined but not clashing with
that Oriental erudition which belongs to their race and country. And it is also agreed that, in shaping our
methods towards these ends, we are bound to avoid, so far as may be possible, any unwelcome abandonment of
the old ways of Muhammadan study, or any slight upon the classic learning of Muhammadan Asia. On the
contrary, the importance to Muhammadans of such studies is admitted, and their intrinsic value as instruments
of literary training in this country is not under-rated.
iistom; and with this view the Government of India is very willing that the entire body of Muhammadan
(as of Hindu) classic literature shall be admitted and take rank among the higher subjects of secular study ;
and that the languages shall form an important part of the examinations for University degrees. In short, His
Excellency in Council is prepared to listen favourably to any well-considered proposal for modifying or extending
in these directions the existing educational system. One measure to which the Resolution of 1871 particularly
adverted was the development of a vernacular literature for Muhammadans. His Excellency in Council would be
■slow to believe that such a literature still needed creation. To this suggestion Local Governments attach differ-
ing degrees of importance or practicability ; and, on the whole, His Excellency in Council sees reason to believe
that we must be cautious in attempting to proceed in this direction much beyond the point we have reached
already. It is most desirable to frame a series of high class text-books, to encourage the printing and publica-
tion of valuable Muhammadan works, and to offer prizes either for good translations of foreign works or for
original studies. But in regard to the patronage of what may be properly called literature, the exercise of it
must necessarily be restricted by the pressing demands of general education upon our finance, and by the diffi-
culty of making a fair selection, or of distributing any money available with due discrimination and indubitable
advantage.
The Resolution concluded as follows
His Excellency in Council has now reviewed rapidly the general measures which have been taken, or are
being taKen, for the encouragement of education among Muhammadans. The papers before him, received from
all parts of British India, show that the Earl of Mayo’s Resolution has succeeded in its main purpose of drawing
the attention of all Administrations to needs and obligations which before had perhaps not every where been ade-
quately realised. These needs and obligations may now be intrusted with confidence to the care of Local Govern-
ments. The Supreme Government has satisfied itself that the principles upon which Muhammadan education
should be supported or subsidised are clearly understood; while the conditions and rate of progress in this as
in all branches of public instruction, the range of its operations, and all other practical details, depend chiefly in
each province upon local circumstances, administrative skill, and financial resources.
7. About this time a separate correspondence was being carried on with the Government
of Bengal on the subject of the management of the Calcutta Madrissa, established by Warren
Hastings in 1780, and with reference to the status and condition of the Madrissaand College at
Hooghly supported out of an endowment bequeathed in 1806 by Mahommed Mohsin in trust
for “ pious uses?"’ In connection with these Mohsin funds, not only had large accumula-
tions to the credit of the trust been permitted to accrue, but the funds had been in part appro-
priated to the benefit of a wholly different class from that for which the endowment was
destined. The Government of India accordingly desired that the whole subject of the appli-
cation of the funds in promotion of Muhammadan education should be fully reconsidered and
plans matured for their disbursement more in consonance with the intentions of Mahommed
Mohsin. The Government of Bengal, in its letter dated the 17th August 1872, in submitting
to the Government of India the views of the Lieutenant-Governor in regard to the general
measures to be taken for the promotion of Muhammadan education in Bengal, put forward
certain suggestions as to the utilisation of these funds. It proposed to reform the Calcutta
and the Hooghly Madrissas, and to take upon itself the cost of the non-Musalman side of
the Hooghly College, hitherto entirely supported from the Mohsin funds, but at the same time
to accept from the funds a fair contribution for the Madrissa attached to the College and for
special benefits to Muhammadan students studying in the College. As, in the opinion of the
Lieutenant-Governor (Sir George Campbell), it would be difficult to justify the devotion of
provincial funds to special Muhammadan education in the province generally, while the Moh-
sin endowment supplied a legitimate means of effecting the purpose in view, the Government
of Bengal further expressed its intention to devote the money thus saved from the Hooghly
College to aid and extend Muhammadan education elsewhere. Proposals for the establishment
of new Madrissas at Dacca and other local centres in Eastern and Northern Bengal were then
explained in detail; but as the Mohsin funds would not be adequate to enable the Government
to equip efficiently these new madrissas, the Lieutenant-Governor trusted that the Government
of India would contribute to make up the difference. The main questions left for the decision
of the Government of India were (1) whether the Government of India approved of the pro-
posed distribution of the Mohsin Funds and of the establishment of madrissas; and (2) whether
the Government of India would give some special aid towards the establishment of madrissas
in Eastern and Northern Bengal.
8. In reply the Government of India, on 13th June 1873, wrote to the Government of
Bengal as follows :—
The general principles upon which the Lieutenant-Governor desires to see these* institutions administered
* „ . ,, , „ ,. ,, , . and directed for the better promotion of high Muhammadan education
appear to the Government of India to be sound, and the obstacles to
working upon them are not practically insurmountable. * * • It is agreed, by common consent, that the
intention of the British Government in supporting these institutions is to give to Muhammadans their full share
of high-class intellectual training and of sound knowledge useful to them in life, combined but not clashing with
that Oriental erudition which belongs to their race and country. And it is also agreed that, in shaping our
methods towards these ends, we are bound to avoid, so far as may be possible, any unwelcome abandonment of
the old ways of Muhammadan study, or any slight upon the classic learning of Muhammadan Asia. On the
contrary, the importance to Muhammadans of such studies is admitted, and their intrinsic value as instruments
of literary training in this country is not under-rated.