Ravenshaw College - Description

Description

Ravenshaw College is an alma mater of different colleges. Its Assembly hall was the venue of the Legislative Assembly of the newly carved state of Odisha. It witnessed the debates of the legislators framing laws to govern the state. It remained so until the capital was shifted to Bhubaneswar. All the significant cultural, intellectual and political movements of the state have sprung from its portals. It has nourished such great and kindered souls as Utkal Gourab Madhusudan Das, Utkalmani Gopabandhu Das, Acharya Harihar Das, Pandit Nilakanth Das, Pandit Godabarish Mishra, Bhubaneswar Behera and Bhubanananda Das. It had on its staff such great scholars as Artaballav Mohanty, Sir Jadunath Sarkar, Sir Ross Masood, Prana Krushna Parija, Balabhadra Prasad, Acharya Jogeschandra Vidyanidhi, Mahendra Kumar Rout, Baba Kartar Singh, Parasuram Mishra, P.A.Sunderam and A.K.Dasgupata etc., to name a few. Most of the prominent political leaders of the state such as Biswanath Das, H.K.Mahatab, Nityananda Kanungo, S.N.Dwibedi, Biju Patnaik, Nilamani Routray, Smt. Nandini Satpathy, Janaki Ballav Patnaik and Rabi Ray etc., were Ravenshavians. The College produced such creative writers of yester years as Kalindi Charan Panigrahi, Ananda Shankar Ray, Gopinath Mohanty, Sachidananda Routray and Surendranath Mohanty. In short, the College has been the major source of preparing manpower to lead every sphere of the society. In the Dimond Jubilee celebration address the then Principal Mr. H.R.Batheja righly observed:

“we have at last a temple of learning, fair to look on, stately in proportions which compares not unfavorably with the only other tempale – The temple of Jaganath for which Odisha is known all over India. The twin monuments represent Odisha to the outside world and are source of justice and pride to every Oriya”.

Indian Science Congress Association meet of 1962 was held in Ravenshaw College Quadrangle. The College achieved the unique distinction of being one of the three colleges of the country to have been awarded national honour by Government of India through the issue of commemorative stamp in 1978.

The College has seen 55 Principals. It has been accorded autonomous status since 1989. It stands today on a sprawling campus of 87.4 acres (354,000 m2). The magnificent red brick building of Gothic architecture has several blocks added to it in course of time. The main library is located in the new centenary library building. Teaching is now imparted to more than 5000 students in Arts, Science and Commerce faculties. Altogether there are 22 departments out of which 17 have postgraduate teaching facility and M.Phil course is available in 12 subjects. In addition, several new courses have been added under autonomous functioning besides the regular courses. There are 11 hostels, 9 of which are on the campus, accommodating about 2,500 boarders. The College also houses, besides Ravenshaw Junior College having student strength of 1536, the Cuttack Study Centre of Indira Gandhi National Open University having student strength of 1133, IAS Coaching Class and Pre-Examination Training Centre for SC/ST students. The campus also has a Post Office, an Extension Counter of State Bank of India, a Dispensary, a Power House, GED, PWD and PHS sections, a canteen, Guest House, a Gymnasium, and spacious play grounds. Ravenshaw has acquired a distinctive, secular, cosmopolitan culture of its own helping all Ravenshawvians to live in the College motto “Gyanameba Shakti” or 'Knowledge is Strength'.