Osmania University

Osmania University is the university of Hyderabad. The seventh Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan, founded it in 1917–18.¹² The census of 1931 calls it the first attempt in India to give university teaching through an Indian language, Urdu.² English was a compulsory second language.²

Founding

The census of 1931 prints an account of the university by its Registrar.² He says that before 1917 the state had only two places of higher learning.² They were the Dar-ul-Uloom, a school of Islamic studies, and the Nizam College, whose examinations were set by the University of Madras.² Early in 1917 Mr. A. Hydari, Secretary in the Education Department, sent the Nizam a memorandum proposing a new university.² The census adds that he had since become Nawab Sir Hydar Nawaz Jung.² The administration report for 1932–33 gives that title to Sir Akbar Hydari, the Finance Member.³ See Akbar Hydari.

Hydari wanted teaching in Urdu instead of a foreign language.² Critics replied that most people of the state spoke other languages.⁴ The answer given was that Urdu was “the cultural and official language of the State”.⁴ To the second objection, the lack of Urdu textbooks, Hydari proposed a bureau of translation.⁴

The Nizam approved the plan by a farman (royal order) dated 26 April 1917.¹ K. Krishnaswamy Mudiraj’s Pictorial Hyderabad (1929) prints the order.¹ It made Urdu the medium of higher education but made English compulsory for all students.⁵ The university was named the Osmania University of Hyderabad “in commemoration of my accession to the throne”.⁵ The census says it was established by a charter in 1918.²

The translation bureau

The university’s first task was a Bureau of Translation, with eight translators under Maulvi Abdul Haq, a noted Urdu writer.⁴ Committees of scholars coined new scientific words in Urdu.⁴ Within five years the bureau had translated nearly all the books needed up to the B.A. examination.⁴ Mudiraj says the bureau had published books on history, chemistry, economics and other subjects.⁵

The new campus

The administration report for 1342 Fasli (1932–33) records an allotment of Rs 20 lakhs for the first works at the new site.⁶ These included land, roads, water pipes and a power line.⁶ Of this, Rs 6.97 lakhs was spent that year.⁶

The report for 1344 Fasli (1934–35) mentions the move of the university to its new site at Adikmet.⁷ Before the move, its students lived in six separate hostels scattered over the city.⁷ In 1936–37 the chief building work on the campus was the Arts College.⁸ Its sanctioned cost was Rs 27,13,000.⁹ By 1936–37, Rs 16,46,804 had been spent, and the ground and first floors were going up.⁸ By the end of 1937–38 the outlay was Rs 20,93,845, and the work was still in progress.¹⁰

In 1937–38 the university’s convocation was held in the Town Hall.¹¹ Sir Akbar Hydari, as Chancellor, presided.¹¹ Among those given honorary doctorates were Maharaja Kishen Pershad and Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru.¹¹

The Vande Mataram protest of 1938

Sarojini Regani’s history of the freedom movement, written from the Congress side, describes a students’ protest in 1938.¹² Hindu students in a university hostel sang the song “Vande Mataram” at their prayers before Dasara.¹² The authorities closed the prayer hall and banned songs they called political.¹² The students kept singing.¹² On 29 November 1938, Regani writes, they were told to leave their rooms, and a strike followed.¹³ On 12 December the names of 350 students of the Osmania colleges were struck off the rolls.¹³ She says Nagpur University later admitted them.¹³ The university’s own view of these events is not given in the sources used here. See the Movements page.

Footnotes

1. K. Krishnaswamy Mudiraj, Pictorial Hyderabad, Vol. I (1929), p. 97 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. Census of India 1931, Vol. XXIII: H.E.H. the Nizam’s Dominions, Part I: Report (1933), p. 216, “The Osmania University” by H. A. Ansari, Registrar (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

3. Report on the Administration of H.E.H. the Nizam’s Dominions for 1342 Fasli (1932–33) (1935), p. 118 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

4. Census of India 1931, Vol. XXIII, Part I (1933), p. 217 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

5. Mudiraj, Pictorial Hyderabad (1929), p. 99 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

6. Administration Report, 1342 Fasli (1932–33) (1935), p. x (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

7. Report on the Administration of H.E.H. the Nizam’s Dominions, 1344 Fasli (1934–35) (1938), p. 118 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

8. Administration Report, 1346 Fasli (1936–37) (1939), p. 87 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

9. Report on the Administration of H.E.H. the Nizam’s Dominions, 1346 Fasli (1936–37) (1939), p. 86 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

10. Report on the Administration of H.E.H. the Nizam’s Dominions, 1347 Fasli (1937–38) (1940), p. 99 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

11. Administration Report, 1347 Fasli (1937–38) (1940), p. 177 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

12. Sarojini Regani, Highlights of the Freedom Movement in Andhra Pradesh, p. 185 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

13. Regani, Highlights of the Freedom Movement, p. 186 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³