Hindu College, Machilipatnam

The Hindu College at Machilipatnam grew from the Hindu Anglo-Vernacular School, which the Andhra University register dates to 1856.¹ It was meant for Hindu families who wanted a good education for their children without interference with their religion from missionaries.¹ It stayed a high school for more than sixty years before it became a college in 1928.¹

A Hindu school beside the mission

The missionary Robert Noble had opened his school at Machilipatnam in 1843.² The Kistna manual of 1883 says that Noble openly aimed to make his pupils Christians.² So the Brahmin officials of the town supported a private Hindu school, so that the mission would not have all the higher education.² Under the patronage of Amaravati Seshayya Sastri and Mungamuri Lakshminarasimha Pantulu, the school did well.² In 1883 it still flourished as the Hindu Proprietary School.² See Noble College.

The Andhra University’s register for 1939–40 gives the history of the Hindu College.¹ It says the school was founded on 1 January 1856 by “Sir Seshaiah Sastriar”, a scholar and statesman, as the Hindu Anglo-Vernacular School.¹ Its aim was a good general education for Hindu children, free from interference with their religion.¹ Neither source says in so many words that the Hindu Proprietary School of 1883 and the Hindu Anglo-Vernacular School are the same.²¹

The Hindu High School

In 1863 the school became a high school, says the register.¹ It gained its central block of buildings and a compound of 33 acres.¹ The register credits this to the president of its committee, Mungamuri Narasimham Pantulu.¹ For more than sixty years after this, the Hindu High School was run by its managers and headmasters.¹

Becoming a college

In July 1928 the school was raised to a second-grade college.¹ The managing committee, old pupils and generous members of the public worked together for this.¹ As the college grew, the committee made it a first-grade college, teaching up to the B.A., in July 1934.¹

In 1939–40 the same committee ran the college and its schools.¹ The college had an endowment of Rs. 46,000.³ It gave thirty-two scholarships every year, chosen by poverty and merit.³ Its library had over 6,000 books, and students could take Sanskrit, Telugu or Urdu.³ It was one of the six first-grade colleges of the Andhra University.⁴

Where the sources disagree

The two sources tell the school’s beginning differently:

The Kistna manual (1883) says the Brahmin officials of the town supported “an existing private Hindu school”.²
The Andhra University register says Seshaiah Sastri founded the school on 1 January 1856.¹

The manual names Mungamuri Lakshminarasimha Pantulu as a patron.² The register names the committee’s president in 1863 as Mungamuri Narasimham Pantulu.¹

Andhra University: The Annual Register 1939–40, p. 349 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷
Gordon Mackenzie, A Manual of the Kistna District (1883), p. 370 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸
Andhra University: The Annual Register 1939–40, p. 350 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩² ↩³
Andhra University: The Annual Register 1939–40 (1939), p. 302, list of colleges (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩