Page:Ramtanu Lahiri, Brahman and Reformer - A History of the Renaissance in Bengal.djvu/107

 originated the movement; and, acting in accordance with their wishes, Lord Minto took this step. These illustrious scholars had come to know the shallowness of the pandits’ knowledge of Sanskrit, and, in their anxiety for the revival of its ancient literature, they moved the Governor-General to make the appeal to the home authorities. And his appeal was partially listened to by them, for the next despatch of the Court of Directors contained the instruction, “That a sum, of not less than a lakh of rupees in each year, shall be set apart and applied to the revival and improvement of literature, and to the encouragement of the learned natives of India, and for the introduction and promotion of a knowledge of the sciences in the British territories of India.”

The Court of Directors did not of their own accord undertake to spend so large a sum of money for the education of their subjects in India, but they did so under Parliamentary pressure, at the renewal of the Company’s charter in 1813. Nothing material was done to carry out the instruction of the directors till the 17th of July 1823, when the Committee of Public Instruction was formed. The annual grant of a lakh of rupees made by the directors was utilised by the Committee in having ancient Arabic and Sanskrit works printed, and in awarding scholarships to distinguished pandits and students desirous of studying those works. We will deal more particularly with this afterwards.

We have already said how, at the commencement of the past century, some of the people of Calcutta felt the necessity of giving an English education to the rising generation of their time. And we have indicated the imperfect attempts that were made to supply the need. We now propose to follow the chain of events that led to the establishment of the Hindu College in Calcutta,