BIRTH, PARENTAGE AND EARLY EDUCATION (1885-1910)
Muhammad Shahidullah was
born in a devoutly religious family with a long history and noble tradition.
The forefathers of Shahidullah were in charge of the Shrine (i.e., Khadim) of
Sayed Abbas Ali Makki who, according to tradition, came from Macca to
Shahidullah, the sixth
child of Munsi Mafijuddin Ahmed and Hurunnessa, was born on July 10.1885 at the
village Peyara near Basirhat in the district of North 24 Paraganas in
In 1904 Shahidullah passed
the University Entrance Examination from the
Throughout his two-year
stay there Shahidullah was afflicted with malaria. He could not qualify in the
B. A. Examination in 1908. He went to Jessore accepting the position of an
Assistant Teacher in the
UNIVERSITY EDUCATION
(1910-1912)
DEPARTMENT OF
SANSKRIT OF THE
When the New Regulations
were adopted under the Indian Universities Act of 1904, the University had felt
greatly the lack of any facilities whatsoever for higher teaching of Sanskrit
under its own auspices.5 First, the teaching of the Vedas had been sadly
neglected so far and some arrangement for the revival of Vedic studies was very
much necessary. Secondly, it was essential that the University should take the
lead in teaching several branches of Sanskrit according to modern scientific
methods. The Sanskrit department of the university was started with a view to
fostering the Study of the Vedas, for which little opportunity was available
elsewhere. In 1907 the University appointed Satyabrata Samasramy (1846-1911)
who had devoted a life-time to the Vedic studies, to deliver lectures to
advanced students on the Vedas and along with several other reputed scholars in
Sanskrit for teaching in different branches of Sanskrit learning.6
After the graduation.
Shahidullah duly enrolled himself in the Post-Graduate Department of Sanskrit.
There he received a rude shock. The teacher who was teaching the Vedic paper
refused to teach a Muslim student. Shahidullah prayed for permission from the
University teachers to admit him to their Vedic lectures. The teachers
concerned refused to listen and the Syndicate regretted its inability to take
any action in this matter.7 After the intervention of Asutosh Mookherjee,
Shahidullah changed his subject and joined the newly created Department of
Comparative Philology. His change of subject got the approval of Harinath De.
Shahidullah prosecuted his studies in Comparative Philology as a University
Student (1910).8
DEPARTMENT OF
COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY AND MUHAMMAD SHAHIDULLAH:
Under the New Regulations
of the Indian Universities Act of 1904 Linguistics was made an independent
subject under the name of Comparative Philology for the M.A. Examination.9 The
University could not make due arrangement for the teaching of different aspects
of the subject even then. The Senate could not come to an agreement with the
New Regulations during the two years tenure of Alexander Pedlar — a
distinguished scholar and Vice-Chancellor of the University. After his
retirement in March 1906, Asutosh Mookherjee succeeded him as Vice-Chancellor.
It was during his tenure as Vice-Chancellor for four consecutive terms (1906 -
1914), commenced a new era in the history of higher education in
Asutosh Mookherjee
established a teaching University after his assumption of office within a year.
The Post-Graduate Departments of Arts and Science were inaugurated. The
Post-Graduate study and research were centralised under the University. He
introduced University Lecturers to guide M.A. students under the Universities
Act of 1904. Regular whole-time University Professors, Readers and Lecturers
were appointed.
Harinath De received the
appointment as a University Lecturer in the Department of Comparative Philology
at the Senate meeting held on May 27. 1907.10 The meeting also approved the
appointment of twenty-three other educationists as Lecturers in different
subjects. The first Premchand Raychand Scholarship Examination in Comparative
Philology was held in this year. Harinath De was the paper setter and examiner
of the first, second and third papers while Haraprasad Sastri set questions and
examined the fourth paper. Renowned Professor, Prafulla Chandra Ghosh of
In 1910 Kabindranath Datta
was appointed as a Lecturer in the Department of Comparative Philology for two
years at an honorarium of Rs. 150/= per month.14 In an address to the Senate, the
Vice-Chancellor said :
'...Rabindranath Dutt,
M.A. who distinguished himself both in this University and in the University of
Cambridge, I need not specially refer to his linguistic attainments which
include a knowledge of Sanskrit and of some of the Classical and Modern
languages of Europe,..'15
'Comparative Philology' as
a subject included16 :
Section A : The General Principles of
the Science of language. The Section A included:
1. Phonetics
2. Sematology
3. Morphology of Language
4. Families of speech with
their sub-divisions, their geographical distribution and their inter-relations
5. Laws of change in Language
6. Evolution of Language in the Race and in the
individual
7. The contributions of
Anthropology. Comparative Mythology and Folklore to the Science of Language
8. History of philological
speculation, with the chief speculative problems of present-day Philology : the
origin of language, the prehistory of language or dialect, the course of
morphological development, the origin of inflection and the relations of race
and language.
Section B : The Comparative Grammar
of a particular branch of the Indo-European or the Semitic family of languages.
The Section B included :
1. Comparative Philology
and Comparative sematology and (2) Comparative Morphology (including
Comparative Syntax), of the branch of languages selected by the candidate.
Section C : The Historical
Grammar—either of the candidate's vernacular, or of one of the following
classical languages. T he Section C included : The history (1) of the sounds,
words and significations and (2) of the forms and constructions, of the
vernaculars of the candidadate or the classical language selected by him.
Section D : An Essay on a subject
connected with Philology.
The papers were
distributed as follows :
First Paper Section A (1)
and (2)
Second Paper Section A (3), (4) and (5)
Third Paper Section A (6), (7) and (8)
Fourth Paper Section B 1)
Fifth Paper Section B 2)
Sixth Paper Section C 1)
Seventh Paper Section C 2)
Eighth Paper The Essay on a subject connected
with philology
The delivery of lectures
was usually on the basis of text-books, which formed a part of the core
syllabus in the Post-Graduate course of the University. Rabindranath
Datta recommended a list
of books for the M. A. course in Comparative Philology for the years
1911-1912-1913 17. The list of books was referred to H.M. Percival, E. D. Ross
and G. Thibaut for opinion18. The recommendation was approved by Ross and
Thibaut in 191219.
In every subject for the M
A. degree the candidates had a certain number of papers (four or six) common to
all, while in the remaining papers (four or two) individual choice was
permitted among a group of alternative or mutually exclusive branches. In
Comparative Philology the first, the second, the third and the eighth papers
were the general papers. The text-books prescribed for the general papers
were.20
1. Principles of the History of Language 21 : Herbert A. Strong.
2. Introduction to the Study of the History of Language: Herbert A.
Strong (Professor of Latin in University College, Liverpool ; some-time
Professor of Classics at Melbourne University) ; W.S. Logemann (Head master of
Newton School, Rock Ferry, Chesire); and Benjamin Ide Wheeler (Professor of
Greek in Cornell University, U.S.A.)
3. Semantics22
: Mrs. Henry Cast.
4. Principles of Comparative Philology: Rev. Archibald Henry Sayce
(1845-1933)
5. History
of Language : Henry Sweet (1845 - 1912)
6. Race
and Language : Andre Paul Emile Lefevre (1834-1904)
7. Introduction to the Study of Language : Humboldt (Translated
from Delbruck).
8. Lectures
on the Study of Language : Oertcl.
There were two Groups : A
and B. Indo-Germanic Group was in A while Semitic Group was in B. The
candidates who opted for the Indo-Germanic group were offered one of the
following groups for papers IV and V :
(1) Indic Group,
consisting of Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit;
(2) Classical Group,
consisting of Greek and Latin.
(3) Germanic Group,
consisting of English and German.
For papers VI and VA,
candidates who selected the Indic Group were offered either Sanskrit or
Bengali. Candidates who selected the Classical Group were offered either Greek
or Latin. Candidates who selected the Germanic Group were offered English for
Papers VI and VA. Candidates for the Semitic Group were offered Hebrew and
Arabic for Papers IV and V. For Papers VI and VA, they were offered either
Hebrew or Arabic.
The number of students
attending the lectures on Comparative Philology was limited. There were four
hours lectures on Comparative Philology in a week. The two out of the four
lectures were shared in common with the students of the Sanskrit Department.
Some students of the Department of Comparative Philology complained of the
existing arrangement as inadequate to cover the course and prayed for two hours
more that could entirely be devoted to them.23 Additional lectures for two
hours' a week exclusively for the students of Comparative Philology were
granted by the Syndicate.24 Rabindranath Datta received an enhanced amount as
honorarium for his extra labour.2'1 In an address to the Senate, the
Vice-Chancellor said :
‘The University has
arranged for lectures for M.A. and M.Sc. students in eleven different branches
of study, namely, Pure Mathematics, Sanskrit, Pali. Persian, Arabic, English,
Comparative Philology, Mental and Moral Philosophy, Political Economy and
Political Philosophy, History and Botany... In Comparative Philology the
arrangements hitherto made have been of a tentative character; Mr Rabindranath
Dutt, M.A. Lecturer in English also undertook to deliver lectures to those
students who wished to read comparative philology as a separate branch of study
for the M.A. degree of Examination and also to those who had to study
Comparative Philology as part of the courses in Sanskrit and Pali....'26
There was no provision for
a systematic teaching of the subject covering the detailed syllabus as laid
down in the University Regulations. In the Convocation address of the year
1912, the Vice-Chancellor said :
‘We should, in the first
place, have not less than three professors at any rate to represent, not kidded
with full adequacy but not quite unworthily, a group of subjects hitherto
neglected by our Universities in a somewhat unaccountable way - I mean the
ancient history, antiquaries, philology, literature, philosophy of our own
country.... There further should be Professors for ... Comparative
Philology...'27
In order to provide for
the leaching of Comparative Philology, the Senate at their meeting held on
'There is a steadily
growing demand for regular instruction in this subject, consequently, the
provisional arrangement will be immediately discontinued... '29
A post of professorship in
Comparative Philology was established and the first appointment was made for a
term of three years on a salary of Rs. 600/= a month. In accordance with
Sections 1 and 10, Chapter IX of the University Regulations, the proposal which
was submitted to the Governor-General in Council, received the sanction of the
Government of India on
'...the subject
(Comparative Philology] will be placed in the hands of Dr Otto Strauss, Ph.D.,
a scholar of considerable reputation, who was recently appointed University
Professor of Comparative Philology and will commence his lectures from November
next. The importance of this subject will be fully appreciated when it is borne
in mind that there is no provision for instruction in Comparative Philology up
to the standard of the M.A. Examination in any college affiliated to the
University.'30
Otto Strauss was
recommended by some of the most eminent authorities among whom Professor Oldenberg
was one. The appointment of Professor Strauss was much appreciated and G.
Thibaut, the member of the Faculty of Arts, congratulated the
'The appointment if made
would fill a most important gap in the scheme of higher teaching recently
undertaken by the University.. .Many years ago when the speaker first came to
India, he was astonished to find that no provision was made for teaching a
subject so specially Indian in any of the Indian Universities...That they
[students] were fortunate in securing the services of so competent a Professor
at a comparatively low salary due to the fact that Dr Otto Strauss was anxious
to come to India not as a teacher only but also as a student...31
Otto Strauss applied for
immediate leave after joining for a short while in 1914. He was under order to
join the German army.32 While on parole in
The Chair remained vacant
for sometime. In 1915 the Governing Body for Post-Graduate Teaching was
requested to put forward proposals for the teaching of Comparative Philology.34
In 1916 in a letter to the Secretary of the Department of Education, Government
of India, the Registrar of the University wrote :
'...the chair [of
Comparative Philology] is now in abeyance, as the Professor, who is a German
subject, has been interned...'35
The teaching work was
continued by other members of the staff including Rabindranath Datta.36 In 1917
the Post-Graduate studies were placed on a new position. The Comparative
Philology developed into a separate department under the control of the
post-Graduate teaching in Arts.37 The
vacant professorship was filled in by the appointment of I. J. S. Taraporewala.
He was appointed professor of Comparative Philology for a term of three years
from the 1st of July, 1917 on a salary of Rs. 500/= per month.38
M.A. Examination and
the publication of results :
The M.A. Examination was
held in June 1912.39 Shahidullah was the only examinee of the Department. The
result was declared on
Shahidullah got 445 out of
800 mid was placed in the second class. G. Thibaut and Rabindranath Datta were
the paper setters and examiners.41 The Vice-Chancellor addressed to the Senate
as follows :
'...for the first time in
the history of the University, one of our graduates, a Mohamedon, I am glad to
say, took the M.A. degree in Comparative Philology in 1912 and he has been
followed by other successful candidates this year...'42
IN SEARCH OF A
CAREER (1913-1920)
In 1913 the Government of
India offered a scholarship for the scientific study of Sanskrit in
Shahidullah joined the Law
classes following the general trend of the young graduates of his time. He
passed the B. L. Examination in the second division in 1914.43 The number of
candidates registered for the Examination was 201, of whom 137 passed, 30
failed and 34 were absent. Of the successful candidates 25 were placed in the
first class and 112 in the second.44
Some of his illustrious class-fellows of his Law classes were Ramesh
Chandra Majumdar, Sushil Kumar De, Sahed Sohrawardi, Muhammad Akram, etc.45
Shahidullah started legal
practice in the
I that the appointment was made in the first instance for a
term of two years from
A that the remuneration was paid out of the 'Lahiri Fund1 and
the Assistant was designated 'Sarat Kumar Lahiri Research Assistant in Bengali
Philology.1 The mover said:
'Bengali Philology now
occupies a very prominent position in the higher studies of this University. It
occupies a place in the Department of Comparative Philology as also in the newly
established Department of Indian Vernaculars. Shahidullah was the first amongst
our graduates to take the Degree of Master of Arts in Comparative Philology.
Since then he has been engaged in original research in Bengali Philology and
has published a number of very important papers. To me personally it is very
gratifying that for a work of this description we have been able to secure the
services of a competent Mohamedan gentleman. Maulavi Muhammad Shahidullah took
Honours in Sanskrit at the B.A. Examination and he was most anxious to proceed
to the Degree of Master of Arts in Sanskrit but our orthodox Pundits did not
agree to deliver lectures to him on the Vedas. He, therefore, took Comparative
Philology. He is acquainted with a number of languages, among which are Pali,
Sanskrit and Persian. ! recommend that the appointment be sanctioned.'48
In 1920 Shahidullah
published an article entitled 'Outlines of the Historical Grammar of the
Bengali Language' in the Journal of the Department of Letters of the
AS A UNIVERSITY
PROFESSOR (1921-1958)
The
The Department of Sanskrit
and Bengali developed and enriched after the induction of distinguished
scholars. Haraprasad Sastri was appointed Professor and acting Head, Srisha
Chandra Chakrabarty was appointed as Reader and Radha Gobinda Basak and
Muhammad Shahidullah as Lecturers in the Department.51 Officially Shahidullah
assumed responsibility from July 1,1921 but unofficially at the
request of Haraprasad
Sastri he had assumed his duties in the Department on the 2nd of June.52
In 1921 when the
University opened there were eight Muslim teachers.53 The two Muslim teachers
outside the Department of Islamic Studies were the
Sastri had entrusted
Shahidullah with the drafting of the syllabus for the M.A. course in Bengali.
This gave Shahidullah the opportunity to show the range and depth of his
scholarship. Shahidullah understood that if Bengali studies had to mature as an
academic discipline in the European sense of the term proper, an adequate
weightage should be given to both the linguistic and the literary aspects.54
Thus the study of Bengali literature must begin from the oldest period of the
Bengali language, i.e.. the Carya songs. The language of these songs
structurally differs significantly from that of Modern Bengali. Hence
philological study should form an important component as literary criticisms or
aesthetics. The clarity of the academic vision as reflected in the syllabus was
approved by Sastri and it was adopted without any appreciable change.15 The
syllabus continued unchanged for many years.56
Sastri had been the Head
of the Department from 1921 to 1924. Shahidullah worked for four years as the
only Lecturer in the Bengali language. In 1924 Charu Chandra Banerjee joined as
the second lecturer in Bengali. Srisha Chandra Chakraborty succeeded Sastri as
the Head of the Department, though temporary, for a year or so (from 1924 to
1925). Then came Sushil Kumar De who joined as the Head of the Department. He
had been in the Department for long twelve years (from 1925 10 1937).
The
In the year 1926
Shahidullah was granted a sabbatical by the
In 1928 Shahidullah
submitted his thesis entitled 'Les Chants Mystiques de Kanha et de Saraha'. The
thesis was accepted by the
After successfully
completing his study in
In 1937 when the
Department of Bengali had been separated from the Sanskrit Department. Sushil
Kumar De was assigned the responsibility of the newly created Sanskrit
Department. Shahidullah was asked to chair the Bengali Department. The year
1937 saw the introduction of Bengali as a subject in the Honours course as well
as in the M.A. Course.64 The introduction of Bengali in the Honours Course had
been started at the
Shahidullah retired as
Reader and Head of the Department of Bengali in 1944 and joined the
In 1945 he applied for the
post of Professor of Veda and Avesta in the
'I have the honour to
offer myself a candidate for the post of Professor of Veda and Avesta in the
In 1948 Shahidullah was
appointed a Professor in the Bengali Department of the
During this long period he
received academic honours from every quarter of the Indo-Pak sub-continent. In
1952 the title Vidya Vacaspati was conferred on him by the Dhaka Sallitya
Parishad, The President of
On his eightieth birthday
in 1965. a special number of the Sahitya Patrika - a bulletin of the Bengali
Department of the
‘This special volume of dissertations
is published from the Asiatic Society of Pakistan, Dacca, to felicitate Dr.
Muhammad Shahidullah......a founder-member and an eminent Ex-president of the
society, on completion of the eightieth year of his life on the 10 th July
1965. Perhaps no other occasion would have been more suitable for this purpose.
Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah
is well known in the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent, nay, much beyond its limit,
as an eminent oriental scholar, whose intellectual activities spreading over
three successive generations of our people, have been a constant source of
inspiration to us. In fact, we regard him as a living symbol of scholarship and
research. By honouring him, the Asiatic Society of Pakistan, Dacca, desires to
honour scholarship in general and oriental lore in particular....'66
The Linguistic Research
Group of
When Pakistan Renaissance
Society was established in
His work is both
voluminous and great. It is a testimony to his patience and devotion, for
intelligence alone cannot go a long way without their accompaniments.
FOOT NOTES
1. Muhammad
Shahidullah : Subhadni Kumar Sen; Sahitya Akademi,
2. Ibid.
p.
3. Ibid,
p. 9.
4. Ibid.
p. 10.
5. Hundred
years of the
6. Ibid.
7.
8. C.U.
Minutes of the Syndicate 1911, p. 1516.
9.
10. C.U.
Minutes of the Syndicate 1907, p. 1575-1576.
11. C.U.
Calendar 1908, Part AI, pp. 227-233.
12. C.U.
Minutes of the Syndicate, 1908.
13. C.U.
Minutes of the Syndicate, 1910, p. 528.
14. C.U.
Minutes of the Syndicate, 1911, pp.
490-491.
15. C.U. Minutes of the Syndicate, 1913, p. 2360.
16. C.U. Calendar 1911 pp. 192-193.
17. C.U. Minutes of the Syndicate, 1911, p. 845.
18. Ibid
19. C.U. Minutes of the Syndicate, 1912, p. 1062.
20. C.U. Calendar 1912, p. 1119.
21. Hermann Paul {1846-1921) is best known for his Prinzipien der
spraehgeschichte first published in 1880. The book, in its successive editions,
became the standard work on the methods of historical linguistics. It had five
editions, two English translations and one English adaptation during his
life-time. Pauf s book illustrates, with a wealth of examples, the process of
linguistic change which had been revealed by Indo-European studies. Though 'not
so well written as Whitney's’.
22. The Science of Meaning or Semantics was formally introduced
and expounded by the French scholar. Michel Breal (1832-1915), Professor of
Comparative Grammar at the College de France, in his Essai tie semantique (1
897). The English translation was published by Mrs. Henry Cast in 1900.
23. C.U. Minutes of the Syndicate 1911, p. 1355 .
24. Ibid.
25. Ibid. p. 1462.
26. C.U. Minutes of the Syndicate, 1913 p. 2360.
27. C.U. Minutes of the Syndicate 1912, p. 494.
28. C.U. Calendar, 1913. p. 117.
29. C.U. Minutes of the Syndicate 1913, p. 2360.
30. Ibid, p. 2611.
31. Ibid, p. 1667.
32. C.U. Minutes of the Syndicate 1914, p. 1862.
33. Ibid. p. 2382.
34. C.U. Minutes of the Syndicate 1915, p. 2199.
35. C.U. Minutes of the Syndicate, 1916, p. 525.
36. Hundred Years of the
37. Ibid.
38. C.U. Minutes of the Syndicate 1917, p. 887.
39. C.U. Minutes of the Syndicate 1912.
40. Ibid.
41. Ibid.
42. C.U. Minutes of the Syndicate 1913, p. 2360.
43. C.U. Minutes of the Syndicate 1914.
44. Ibid.
45. Bānglā Sāhitye Muhammad Shahidultuh (in
Bengali): Azharuddin Khan,
46. C.U. Minutes of the Syndicate 1919, p. 246.
47. Ibid.
48. Ibid pp. 246-247.
49. Sarat Kumar Lahiri, one of the most enterprising publishers
of his time in
Dinesh Chandra Sen had
been the Ramtanu Lahiri Research Fellow from 1913 to 1932. He was the first and
the last fellow of this endowment. Immediately after his retirement, the
fellowship was converted into the post of a professor. The proceedings of the
'In accordance with the
recommendation of the University Organisation Committee as adopted by the
Senate in 1930, the Ramtanu Lahiri Fellowship was raised to professorship, the
cost of the new chair being met from the Ramtanu Lahiri Research Fund'.
The post of Ramtanu Lahiri
Professor was created in 1932. There were several aspirants to this post. The
persons applied for the post were: I) Sushil Kumar De, 2) Hemendra Prasad
Ghosh, 3) Muhammad Shahidullah, 4) Khagendranath Mitra, 5) Lalit Kumar Pal Ray
and 6) Priyaranjan Sen. There was a screening committee comprised of 1) Hasan
Sohrawardi, the Vice-Chancellor of the University, 2) Pramathanath Banerjee, 3)
Charuchandra Biswas, 4) Shyamaprasad Mookherjee, 5) Hirendranath Datta. 6)
Pramathanath Tarkabhushan, 7) Debaprasad Sarvadhikari and 8) Dinesh Chandra
Sen. The Committee unanimously made the following recommendation:
'We beg to recommend that
Rai Bahadur Khagendranath Mitra, M.A., be appointed Ramtanu Lahiri Professor of
Bengali for a period of five years with effect from the 1st November 1932 or
any later date in course of the present session on which he may join.'
50. The History of the
51. Ibid, p. 68.
52. Muhammad Shahidullah : Subhadra Kumar Sen; Op. cit,p. 24.
53. History of
54. Muhammad Shahidullah : Subhadra Kumar Sen, Op. cit, p. 24.
55. Ibid.
56. Bānglādeśe Caryāpada Carcā (in
Bengali): Sipra Dastidar: Sahitya Parishad Patrika, Vol;103, Nos.1-4, July
1998, p. 136.
57. History of
58. Bānglā Sāhitya Muhammad Shahidullah:
Azharuddin Khan; Op.cit, p. 37
59. Ibid, p. 38.
62. 'Batakrishna Ghosh was in charge of Vedic Sanskrit and
Comparative Philology and also took classes on grammar (Siddhanta Kaumudi),
history of literature and advanced Sanskrit' A Survey of Indo-European
Languages: Batakrishna Ghosh. Compiled and Edited by Sunil Bandyapadhyay,
63. Annual Report of the University of Dacca, 1934-1935, p. 8.
66. Muhammad Shahidullah Felicitation Volume : Muhammad Enakul
Haq (ed): Asiatic Society of Pakistan,
