Calcutta Madrasah: A historical journey from British to Independent India

The Calcutta Madrasah was established by Warren Hastings, the governor General of British India in 1780. It is regarded as the first educational institution established by  British Government in India.  Initially Calcutta Madrasah or Mohammedan College  was placed on the shoulder of  Maulana Majduddin, a great Islamic Scholar and disciple of Shah Waliullah Dehlavi. In 1850, Dr. A. Springer was appointed the first Principal of Calcutta Madarsdah and in 1854 the Anglo-Persian department was created. Initially the course curriculum of Madrasah was designed on the model of <em>‘Dars-e Nizamia’</em>, a leading Arabic-medium school existed at Lucknow. In the later date the subjects like Medicine, Mathematics, Philosophy and Logic were included as well as the Undergraduate programme  were introduced in 1863. An Anglo-Persian Department was also framed in 1854 and in Islamic Courses like <em>Kalim</em>, <em>Fakhrul</em> <em>Muhaddithin</em> and <em>Mumtazul Muhaddithin</em> have been introduced in Calcutta Madrasah. After 1947 a part of Calcutta Madrasah had been shifted to Dhaka and with which numerous valuable and rare books and manuscripts have been shifted and a numbers were lost forever. Finally the Aliah University Act was passed by the West Bengal Legislative Assembly in 2007 for up gradation of Calcutta Madrasah to Aliah University. The Act came into force on on 5^th April, 2008. This historic institution has produced eminent scholars and writers in the Indian subcontinent through its long journey for more than two hundred and fifty years.