Samaldas Arts College

• 1. January 1888

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  Samaldas Arts College in Bhavnagar, Gujarat, carries a piece of history that many find unexpected. In January 1888, Mohandas Gandhi, later known as Mahatma Gandhi, arrived there as a student. He stayed only until June of that year, just six months. Yet that brief enrollment places him on a list of graduates that spans ornithologists and physicists, novelists and poets, critics, judges, and politicians. How did a college in a small princely state produce so many figures who shaped India's public and literary life? The reasons begin with a maharaja of Bhavnagar, and a name.

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• 2. A Maharaja's Memorial

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  Takhtsinhji, the Maharaja of Bhavnagar State, founded the college in memory of his Diwan, Samaldas Paramananddas Mehta. The title of Diwan designated the chief minister of a princely state. When Mehta died, Takhtsinhji chose education as his tribute. The college opened its first classes in January 1885. Those sessions met in the Majiraj Girls High School while the college's own building was being constructed. The new institution was affiliated from the start to the University of Bombay.

  The college's first principal, R. H. Gunion, served from 1885-1890. J. N. Unwalla held the role from 1890-1905. K. J. Sanjana first served from 1905-1906. B. A. Enti stepped in briefly in 1906, before Sanjana returned for a second term from 1907-1923. T. K. Shahani guided the college from 1923-1948, a span of a full quarter century. J. B. Sendil followed from 1952-1962. B. C. Desai, S. M. Shah, and A. S. Prabhudesai each led the college in the following decades. A. A. Shaikh has served as principal since 1994. Those decades of changing leadership run alongside an equally significant history of changing buildings.

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• 3. Three Buildings

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  On the 25th of November 1884, James Furgusson, the Governor of Bombay, laid the foundation stone of the college's first permanent building. The site chosen was opposite Peel Garden in Bhavnagar. R. Proctor Sims, the Public Works Councillor, directed its construction. Lord Reay, the Governor of Bombay, formally opened the building on the 17th of December 1886. The college did not move in until 1893, seven years after that inauguration. That original structure now serves a different purpose, repurposed as the Sheth J. P. Ayurveda College.

  In 1932, Krishnakumarsinhji, the Maharaja of Bhavnagar, built a new college building on Vaghawadi Road. That building also eventually passed out of the college's hands. Since June 1963, it has operated as the P. P. Institute of Science.

  On the 1st of November 1955, Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, laid the foundation of the present college building. Samaldas Arts College is now affiliated to Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University, an institution named for the same maharaja who funded the college's second building.

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• 4. Law, Science, and Public Life

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  H. J. Kania went from Samaldas to the highest judicial post in the country, becoming the first Chief Justice of India. Sanat Mehta, another former student, built a career as a politician and social activist. Nautam Bhatt became a physicist. Lalsinh Raol turned toward the natural world, working as an ornithologist, nature conservationist, and writer. The college's literary alumni were the most numerous group, and they included Kundanika Kapadia, a novelist, story writer, and essayist.

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• 5. Poets, Critics, and Scholars

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  Yashwant Trivedi graduated from Samaldas to become a poet, essayist, and critic. Harindra Dave became a poet, journalist, playwright, and novelist. Mansukhlal Jhaveri worked as a poet, critic, and literary historian. Ramnarayan V. Pathak was a poet and writer, and Hardwar Goswami combined poetry with playwriting and prose. Krishnalal Jhaveri spanned five roles: writer, scholar, literary historian, translator, and judge.

  Harivallabh Bhayani worked across linguistics, research, criticism, and translation. Anantrai Raval served as a critic and editor. Amrutlal Yagnik devoted himself to criticism, biography, essays, editing, and translation. Nanabhai Bhatt built a career as an educationist.

  Among those who shaped the college from the teaching side, Manilal Dwivedi was a writer and philosopher. Kantilal Vyas served on the faculty as a linguist, critic, and editor. Samaldas stands among the oldest colleges in western India, and the name it carries has been spoken in Bhavnagar since 1885.

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