The Madras Sanskrit College, Chennai

Founded by V. Krishnaswami Iyer (1906)

The college owes its origin to Sri V. Krishnaswami Iyer, a leader of the Madras Bar who later became a judge of the Madras High Court and whom Mahatma Gandhi called "Mahapurusha". Troubled by the falling number of Sanskrit teachers and declining standards, he mooted the idea in December 1905, and the college began functioning on 1 February 1906 in a rented building in Mylapore. A trust deed executed on 27 October 1907 by Krishnaswami Iyer and Sir C.P. Ramaswami Iyer set out its aim: to maintain a Sanskrit college and promote research in oriental learning.

Kuppuswami Sastri and the early years

The first principal (1906–1910) was Mahamahopadhyaya Prof. S. Kuppuswami Sastri, who combined traditional pandit learning with modern critical scholarship. Students studied Mimamsa, Advaita Vedanta, Vyakarana, Sahitya, Jyotisha and Nyaya over a five-year course ending in the Visarada certificate, and unusually for the time, English and comparative studies were taught alongside. The college was recognised by the Director of Public Instruction in 1907. Mahatma Gandhi visited on 28 April 1915, and Rabindranath Tagore on 9 October 1922.

Siromani courses

Affiliated to the University of Madras, the college added the Sahitya Siromani course, Veda Bhashya courses (taught until 1972), Jyothisha Siromani in 1966 and Vyakarana Siromani in 1973, and later admitted its first women students and began a Nyaya Siromani course. Today the University of Madras structures the Siromani as a seven-year programme in three stages: Prak-Siromani (2 years), Siromani Madhyama B.A. (3 years) and Siromani M.A. (2 years).