In 1916 Abhay enrolled at Scottish Church College, one of the two most respected colleges in Calcutta. Four years later he passed his final examinations with distinction in English, philosophy, and economics. But he refused to walk into the hall to collect the diploma he had earned. Just as his formal education was coming to an end, he chose to make a quiet political statement.
| Detail | Description |
|---|---|
| College | Scottish Church College, Calcutta |
| Founder | Rev. Alexander Duff, Christian missionary |
| Enrolled | 1916 |
| Subjects | English, philosophy, and economics |
| Graduated | 1920, B.A., diploma refused |
| Notable classmate | Subhas Chandra Bose |
A Missionary College for Bengali Sons #
Scottish Church College had been founded in 1830 by the Reverend Alexander Duff, a Scottish missionary. Duff believed that a Western, English-medium education, given through mission schools and colleges, would draw educated Indians toward Christianity. By Abhay's time the college no longer pressed this Christian aim so strongly. Instead, it was known for producing well-rounded, morally serious graduates, and many Vaishnava families in Calcutta sent their sons there without much worry that their religion would be interfered with. Bible study was compulsory, and each morning began with scripture readings and hymns. Most of the Scottish professors were ordained ministers of the Church of Scotland. But Abhay remembered them less as missionaries and more as strict, polite and sometimes rather unusual teachers.
Professors, Poetry, and the Gita #
Abhay studied English and Sanskrit in his first year, then Sanskrit and philosophy, and finally philosophy and economics, the combination he carried through to graduation. He joined the college's English Society, where he recited Keats and Shelley to his classmates. He also joined its Sanskrit Society. There he was known for his fine recitation of the eleventh chapter of the Bhagavad-gita, which describes Krishna's universal form. One professor taught English literature by comparing Dickens and Walter Scott to the Bengali novelist Bankim Chandra Chatterji. This was a small sign of respect for Bengali literature, and Abhay remembered it fondly. He did not have such fond memories of one economics professor. When this professor was frustrated with his students, he would tell them plainly that Indians should never expect independence and were fit only for low, unskilled work.
Subhas Chandra Bose and Talk of Swaraj #
Subhas Chandra Bose was one year ahead of Abhay at Scottish Church. Bose was already a committed nationalist. He had been expelled from Presidency College for organizing a student strike against an abusive British professor. At Scottish Church, Bose served as secretary of the Philosophy Club. He quietly drew fellow students, Abhay among them, into discussions of Indian independence, or swaraj, and the leaders connected with it: Gandhi, Bipin Chandra Pal, Surendranath Banerjee, Lala Lajpat Rai. Open political protest was not allowed on campus, so these conversations happened informally, among friends. By his own account, Abhay was not drawn to political organizing itself. What attracted him to the independence movement was something else. The movement insisted that India's civilization and scriptures deserved to be taken seriously, not dismissed as primitive.
Gandhi's Non-Cooperation Movement Arrives #
The mood of the movement changed sharply after 1919. In April of that year, British troops fired on an unarmed crowd gathered at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, killing hundreds. Until then, Gandhi had hoped that Indian loyalty during the recent war might be rewarded with self-government. Now he gave up that hope. He called for complete non-cooperation with British institutions: a boycott of British schools, courts, titles, and goods. Students across India were urged to leave government-affiliated colleges and not complete their degrees. Gandhi said these degrees produced loyal subjects, not free citizens. At that time, wearing homespun khadi cloth instead of British mill cloth was a small but clear political statement, and Abhay began wearing khadi.
Refusing the Diploma #
Abhay completed his fourth year at Scottish Church in 1920 and sat for and passed his final B.A. examinations. His name appeared on the list of students cleared to receive their diplomas at the graduation ceremony. He did not attend. To show support for Gandhi's non-cooperation movement, he refused to appear and collect the diploma he had earned. In this way he gave up a qualification that would have opened doors to a career. But that career, as he saw it, would have been built on British terms.
I joined Gandhi's movement in 1920 and gave up my education. Although I had passed my final examination -- B.A. -- I gave it up and did not appear.
His father did not scold him for it. Gour Mohan had never set his hopes for his son on a British degree. But Abhay still had to earn a living. Gour Mohan, not Gandhi's movement, arranged Abhay's next step. He found Abhay a position at a Calcutta pharmaceutical firm. This was the beginning of the working life described in Marriage and Household Life.
A Country in Ferment #
Abhay grew up at a very special time in Bengal. His British-run college taught Bible study and English poetry to the sons of a colonized people. One of his classmates would later lead an army against the empire. Across the city there was a hidden current of nationalist feeling, but on a campus lawn it could only be discussed in whispers. Abhay took in all of this, but by nature he did not become a political man. The years at Scottish Church did not leave him with loyalty to a political party. They left him with a firm, settled feeling that India's spiritual heritage was worth more than its colonizers were willing to admit. Two years later, on a Calcutta rooftop, that feeling would come back in a changed form.
