Gooroodas Banerjee - University of Calcutta

University of Calcutta

He had served as a professor at the Scottish Church College. He was the first Indian to be appointed as the vice-chancellor of the University of Calcutta. He was nominated to the post on 1 January 1890 and remained in office till 31 December 1892. He studied at Oriental Seminary which was also attended by the world famous poet, Rabindranath Tagore. He also studied at the General Assembly's Institution (now Scottish Church College), the Presidency College, Kolkata and at the University of Calcutta. He became the chief justice of Calcutta High Court. He also became one of the teachers of Bengal National College of which the great freedom fighter, Aurobindo Ghosh, was the principal. He made great contribution to the spread of education by making sure that Narkeldanga High School got raised to secondary standard. There is a prestigious post at the University of Calcutta named after Sir Gooroodas Banerjee. The professor who holds this post comes to be known as Sir Gurudas Banerjee Professor. There are two undergraduate colleges in Kolkata that commemorate his name, the Gurudas College and the Sir Gurudas Mahavidyalaya.

Sir Gurudas Banerjee was quite well known for his devotion to his mother who was very orthodox in her ways of life. Every day, he would bring the sacred Ganges water for her mother. She, on her deathbed, ordered her son Sir Gurudas to invite Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar to her obsequies. Vidyasagar had by this time become an object of attack by the orthodox Brahmins owing to his introduction of widow remarriage. Defying all social obstacles, Sir Gurudas invited Vidyasagar to her mother's funeral to fulfill her last wish.

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