Person · educationist & politician
Madan Mohan Malaviya
Also known as Malaviya, Mahamana, Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya
Lawyer, four-times Congress president and founder of Banaras Hindu University in 1916, which he financed largely by personal solicitation from princes and small subscribers over a decade. He argued for a university that taught Sanskrit and engineering in the same institution rather than choosing between them.
- Date
- 1861 – 1946
- Function
- Authority & administration
- Tradition
- BHU founding records; Congress proceedings
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
Worth knowing
He is credited with popularising Satyameva Jayate, from the Mundaka Upanishad, as a national motto; it was adopted on the state emblem in 1950. He also practised law rarely, and returned to it once in 1924 to defend those condemned in the Chauri Chaura case.
Connections (2)
- Monastic foundationBanaras Hindu University, Varanasi
Malaviya raised Banaras Hindu University by personal subscription over a decade, going to princes and to ordinary donors alike, and it opened in 1916. The insistence that Sanskrit learning and engineering belong in one institution is the argument the place was built to make. He is also credited with putting Satyameva Jayate, from the Mundaka Upanishad, into national use; it was adopted on the state emblem in 1950, four years after he died.
- Institutional successionAnnie Besant
Annie Besant's educational work in Varanasi intersected with Madan Mohan Malaviya's efforts to establish a national Hindu university. Besant's Central Hindu College (founded 1898 at Varanasi) became the institutional foundation of Banaras Hindu University when Malaviya absorbed it in 1916 under the BHU Act. The merger reflected the convergence of Besant's Theosophical educational initiatives with Malaviya's larger project for a modern Indian university combining Hindu learning with Western science. The two had worked closely from 1911 onwards on the BHU planning; Besant served on the BHU founding committee and donated the Central Hindu College's buildings, library and endowments to the new university.
Sources
Wikipedia, “Madan Mohan Malaviya”. The subject’s own writings where they survive, and the standard biographical literature.
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