|
|
|
Departments » History History
Brief History of DepartmentThe Department of History has come a long way and it was already in existence when the University of Mysore was founded in 1916-17. Formerly as part of the Maharaja's College it had the unique distinction of having on its roll very great minds who could rub shoulders with such intellectual giants as Oswald Spengler and Arnold Toynbee, so much so that the Maharaja's College itself came to be called "History College". It had such distinguished historians as Denham, C.R. Reddy, R.K. Mukherjee, Neelakantha Sastri, M.V. Krishna Rao, Srikanta Sastri and so on. The establishment of the Department of History almost coincided with a very significant development in the nation's march towards freedom namely the entry of the nation's struggle against colonialism on its most crucial phase of development. Humiliated and battered at the demoralising effects of colonial rule, the Indian people had to fall back upon their heritage for inspiration, solace and strength. The writings of nationalist historians served the purpose of instilling in them hope, confidence and pride in their heritage. Radha Kumud Mukherjee who headed the Department of History at this time wrote his famous book The Hindu Polity which came to exert a tremendous amount of influence on the intellectual aristocracy of Mysore and in particular his own colleagues and students. They came to evince keen interest in unrevilling Indian antiquity. Shama Sastri's discovery of Kautilya's Arthasastra and its publication brought great name and fame and was an excellent contribution at this juncture. No less significant was the work of such dedicated scholars as R. Narasimhachar, M.H. Krishna, Neelakantha Sastri, Srikanta Sastri and M.V. Krishna Rao in building up the Department nor in strengthening the Oriental Research Institute which recently came to exhibit its rare collections. True to the tradition of Orientalist scholarship, their contribution to the study of Indian antiquity has been remarkable. Antiquarians as they came to be popularly called they could be gauged from the solidity of their work and profundity of their thought, which eventually led to the successful branching up of another Department when in 1958 the Department of Indology was established to promote the study of antiquity and preservation of ancient monuments. A well renowned archaeologist-historian Dr. M. Sheshadri who had received specialized training abroad and who had come to acquire excellent expertise in the domain of archaeology came to head this Department and guide its destiny. For a long time departments of Political Science, Sociology and Economics were hardly distinguished from History and that professors of History usually used to head these other disciplines as well. Professor M.V. Krishna Rao and his predecessors in the department had the unique distinction of playing this role. It is also a matter of great satisfaction and pride that when the Universities of Karnatak, Bangalore, Mangalore and Kuvempu were established it is the alumni of this department which went to occupy the chairs there and organised the Departments. Professor Narasaiah's and Professor Veerathappa's services to organize the department of History at Bangalore University should be recalled and so is the work of Professor S. Shettar, the present chairman of the ICHR (Indian Council of Historical Research, New Delhi), in building up the Department of History and Archaeology, alongwith the Institute of Art History at Karnatak University trained in intellectual history, -Professor B. Surendra Rao is playing a creditable role at Mangalore while Professor S.A. Bari is entrusted with the task of nursing a department in a young Kuvempu University at Shankarghatta, Shimoga. |
|||||||||||
