(Residential halls of Aligarh Muslim University: Person behind the name series/ blog 6)

Mohsin Aziz

Chakarvarty Hostel is one of the residential hostels of Mohammad Habib Hall. It is named after Jadav Chandra Chakravarty who was a professor of mathematics at Aligarh Muslim University.

Early Life

Very little information is available about Professor Jadav’s early life. He was born in tetulia village in Sirajganj in 1855 in present day Bangladesh. His father, Krishna Chandra Chakarvarty was a priest and his mother Durgarani was a housewife. His childhood was spent in poverty. His early education was in the village school. He lost his father when he was a teenager which posed financial problems for the family. In 1876 at the age of 21 he cleared the entrance examination with first division. This earned him scholarship of 15 rupees. To augment family income he took private tuition also. He did his master’s from Presidency College in Calcutta. He obtained M.A. in mathematics from Presidency College. While studying he got a part time teaching job at Cathedral Mission College in Calcutta where he taught physics and chemistry. After completing his master’s he got a permanent lectureship at City College Calcutta. He used to teach mathematics there. It was during this time that he thought of writing text book of mathematics for students. However it could not materialize as he got a job as bureucrate under British Raj and was posted at Cooch Bihar (Chattopadhyay, D., 2021) He continued there till 1887 before he moved to M.A.O. College at Aligarh.

At Aligarh

Jadav Chandra Chakarvarty joined the then Mohammedan Anglo Oriental College, M.A.O. College, on 1 January 1888, thus, starting a new phase in his life. He joined through an advertisement in a Calcutta (now Kolkatta) newspaper. According to Morrisons (1988, reprint) “Professor Chakravarty came from Calcutta at a time when the politicians of Bengal were being roughly handled at Aligarh and it is too much hope that remarks were not occassionally dropped which must have been painful for him. But besides proving himself an admirable teacher, a most loyal colleague, he has shown a sympathetic interest in the progress of the institution and the cause which it was founded to promote; the esteem and confidence which he now commands among Muhammadan trustees was most conspicously shown by his appointment as Registrar of the College in 1899 – a post which he continues to hold at much inconvenience to himself but to the great advantage of the institution “. He got himself so much involved in the affairs of the University that in his own words “I have become a Mohammadan at heart, so far at least as the interests of the college are concerned”. He was called Babu Jadav by the staff and students.

Mathematics Department at Aligarh

Since the very beginning M.A.O. college was fortunate to get professors of mathematics of very high caliber. It was in 1885 that Prof. Harold Cox joined M.A.O. College as professor of Mathematics and Political Economy in October 1885 at a salary of INR. 300 per month which was quite a handsome salary at that time. He was a tripos in Mathematics from Jesus College, Cambridge. Prof. Harold resigned in 1887 to take up a teaching position back in England. As a replacement, a young Professor by the name of Pandit Ram Shankar Mishra joined and filled the gap. However, in 1888 he left M.A.O. College as he was appointed as Professor at Agra College. An advertisment was given in newspaper for the post of mathematics professor. Professor Jadav responded to the advertisement and joined in 1888, thus, begining a long and mutually beneficial and fruitful relationship with M.A.O. College and later with Aligarh Muslim University. Professor Jadav joined at a handsome salary of 200 rupees per month. By 1905 his salary had increased to 300 rupees per month. In fact, there was a time in the beginning when Prof. Jadav and Professor Siddons covered English, History, Mathematics and Philosophy. There were separate professors for Arabic and Persian. In fact, these were the only subjects offered in the beginning. This continued up to 1895 when more subjects were added.

In the beginning there were very few students in the mathematics department. In fact, Ziauddin Ahmad was the only student of Prof. Jadav in advanced mathematics. Later Ziauddin Ahmad took doctoral degrees both in India and Europe and became Sir Ziauddin Ahmad. Sir Ziauddin was a worthy student of Prof. Jadav. There is a Hall of residence name after him, Ziauddin Hall. Ziauddin Ahmad also joined mathematics department as teacher and along with his teacher Prof. Jadav took it to great heights. The department is still highly ranked as can be judged by the fact that in 7th Annual Survey of US News and World Report, it is the only Mathematics department to be ranked from India (www.amu.ac.in) and has maintained the first position in India in 2023 as well by the same agency (www.indianeducationdiary.in)

Professor Jadav: The author

One of the reasons for Professor Jadavs popularity was a series of textbooks on Algebra and Arithmetic which he wrote at M.A.O. College. These books are still in use even after more than 100 years of being first published. The first in the series was his textbook “Arithmetic” whose first edition was published in 1890. It became so popular that it was translated into several verncular languages such as Urdu, Bengali, Oriya, Assamese, Nepali and Hindi. In 1915 he published another book called algebra. This too became very popular. He wrote many other books for students of various classes. The sale of the books brought him good royalty. His book Arithmetic is still popular and easily available on Amazon even after 123 of its first publication. The Urdu translation of the book (part 4) for students of class 4 is available at Rekhta.com. This edition was published in 1926. The cover page mentions that the book is in strict accordance to the new curriculum for year 1926-27. It was published by P. C. Dwadash Shreni & Co., Aligarh. It was printed by Seth Phul Chand at Hira Lal Printing Press, Aligarh. The price mentioned on the cover page is 2 Anna (www.rekhta.com). Another copy of the is available published by P. C. Dwadash Shreni & Co. in 1937 at Hira Lal Printing Press, Aligarh. It was printed by Ram Narain. The price mentioned is 1 rupee and 14 Anna (www.rekhta.com). It is interesting to note the phenomennal increase in the price of the book in eleven years from 1926 to 1937. One rupee had 16 Anna. The price change is from 2 Anna to one rupee 14 Anna which translates to 30 Anna. This is 15 times increase in the price of the book. Presently it is available on Amazon for 2500 rupees.

Retirement and Death:

Prof. Jadav took sick leave from the College in the beginning of 1909. He returned to the college in June 1911 and tendered his resignation due to bad health. However, he was persuaded to withdraw it by the College authorities. However, he finally retired from the services of the College in 28 February 1916. A simple ceremony was held to bid him farewell. He was presented a gold watch by the then Lt. Governor on behalf of the college trustees. The students presented him a silver tea set. To perpetuate his memory and as a token of gratitude for his services to the college, the staff instituted a ‘Chakravarty Medal‘ to be given to the best performer in M.A. Mathematics. Thus, ended his long association with M.A.O.College. Later a hostel in Mohammad Habib Hall was named as Chakravarty hostel.

After retirement, Professor Jadav’s information is not available. What we know is that he was elected Chairman of Sirajganj Municipality. He did many works of public welfare as chairman. He developed a theatre in Sirajganj which is presently called Poura Bhasani Milayatan. He breathed his last in Calcutta on 26th November 1920 (Chattopadhyay, D., 2021)

References:

Chattopadhyay, Dhrubajyoti, (2021) 100th death anniversary Jadav Chandra: Unsung Indian mathematician. Science Reporter. May, Pp. 38-39.

Morrison, Theodore (1988) Morrison’s history of the MAO College, Aligarh. (Reprint Editor: Safi Ahmad Kakorwi) Markaz-e-Adab-e-Urdu.

Pathan, M. A. (1984) Babu Jadav Chandra Chakravarty. Fikro Nazar, Namwarn-e-Aligarh, January, Vol.23, pp. 259-262

http://www.amu.ac.in

http://www.indiaeducationdairy.in. Available at: https://indiaeducationdiary.in/us-news-and-world-report-declares-amus-dept-of-mathematics-number-one-in-india/

http://www.cosmicguru.blogspot (2018, July 27) Mathematician Jadav Chandra Chakravarti (1855-1920)