Sanskrit College and University, which will celebrate its bicentenary next month, will appeal to its alumni for contributions as it does not have the funds to celebrate the landmark.
Officiating vice-chancellor Raj Kumar Kothari said they resolved to reach out to former students in a meeting on Thursday.
Two months ago, the university had sent a budget proposal of Rs 6.65 crore to the higher education department for the bicentenary celebrations.
However, as they have not received any response and the occasion is just weeks away, the university has decided to reach out to the alumni for support.
A college official said they had planned year-long celebrations starting from February 25 but the funds constraint has made this uncertain.
In 2015, the Bengal government converted Sanskrit College, a government college, into Sanskrit College and University.
“We have appealed to the alumni to come forward with their contribution and help us in generating funds so we can hold the programme in a befitting manner. Since we have a rich pool of alumni from the institution’s earlier avatar as a college, their contribution could be of some assistance,” Kothari told The Telegraph.
“We have not yet received any response from the state government,” Kothari said.
Calls and text messages to education minister Bratya Basu went unanswered.
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar is among the many celebrated former principals of Sanskrit College.
The foundation of Sanskrit College was laid based on a recommendation by James Prinsep and Thomas Babington Macaulay.
Vidyasagar had himself studied at this institution where he first gained recognition as a brilliant scholar and was appointed its principal in 1851.
Vidyasagar had ushered in a series of reforms, opening the college’s doors to castes other than Brahmins and Vaidyas and introducing teaching of grammar and mathematics in Bengali and English and not Sanskrit alone.
He resigned from the college in 1854 when he realised he could not implement all his ideas freely.
The college website says it was under the auspices of Rt. Honorable William Pit
Amherst that John Paskal Larkins Esquire, a scholar of oracular knowledge, laid the foundation stone of the college in 1824 to promote the learning of Sanskrit among British officials as well as Indians.
