Role of Dr. G.W. Leitner in Promotion of Vernacular Education in Panjab

By Hardev Singh Virk | Opinion |

Dr Gottlieb Wilhelm (GW) Leitnerwas born in Budapest (1840) in a Jewish family. At the age of eight, he went to Constantinople to learn Arabic and Turkish. At ten, he was fluent in European languages and Arabic and Turkish. As a Linguist, he had acquaintance with fifty languages and could speak fluently many of these. He was appointed Professor of Arabic and Muslim Law in Kings College London at the age of twenty three.

Dr. Leitner was appointed the first Principal of the Government College, Lahore in 1864. He was the force behind the idea of setting up a university in Panjab. He founded Anjuman-i-Panjab in 1865, a propagandist literary society for promotion of education and himself became its Secretary. From the very outset, this society started a movement to get the colleges of the Panjab dissociated from the University of Calcutta and to secure the establishment of a University at Lahore. It established a free Public Library, compiled a number of treatises and translations in vernacular and classical languages, and opened an Oriental School at Lahore during the first year of its existence. Similar societies were founded at Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Rawalpindi. Dr Leitner prepared a plan for setting up “Oriental University” for promoting the study of vernacular literature and to impart knowledge of all sorts, including Science, in the vernacular. The proposal was not approved at the Govt. of India level due to shortage of funds.

The demand for a University in the Panjab had its genesis in a letter dated June 10, 1865, from Sir Donald McLeod, the then Lieutenant-Governor of the province, in which suggestions were invited for “the improvement of Oriental learning and the development of a sound vernacular literature“. The suggestions were warmly taken up by the Anjuman-i-Panjab, about 200 members of which deliberated upon them and proposed that an “Oriental University” be set up with headquarters at Lahore to achieve the goal. The movement was actively supported by a number of Englishmen who organized themselves into a ‘European Committee of Support’. Under the influence of this committee, the original character of the university was changed into an Anglo-Vernacular university.

In 1870, Panjab University College and its twin, Oriental College Lahore were born. The objective of setting up an Oriental University was to be achieved through this college. It was called Oriental School till March 1872, when its title was changed to Oriental College. Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit were taught as major languages in Oriental College along with study of Arithmetic, Algebra, Euclid, the History of India and Geography. After a few years, Hindi and Panjabi were also introduced in its curriculum.

According to a Report of 1879, Oriental College was running “in a flourishing condition” under the care of Dr. Leitner as a “guide, philosopher and friend”. He was Superintendent of Oriental College in addition to his duties as Principal of Govt. College, Professor of Arabic and Mohammedan Law there in, and Registrar of Panjab University College.

The Report by Dr. Leitner states the objects of the Oriental College as follows:

1. To give a high Classical Oriental education together with instruction in branches of general knowledge, and
2. To give a practical direction to every study. Oriental College was to train students in Entrance, Proficiency and High Proficiency in Arts; the Oriental Certificates of Pandit, Maulvi and Munshi; Oriental fellowships and Translatorships; Native Lawyers; Sub-Overseers; Teachers of Schools; Hakims and Veds in the native and prepared for the European medicine.

Dr Leitner was nursing the Oriental College to grow into the Oriental University. He was overjoyed over the conduct of students who hailed from Kabul, Hunza, Nagyr, Badakhshan, Bokhara, Kolab and Gabrial to become distinguished Oriental Scholars. The classes were run by Pandits, Maulvis and Munshis. The Report mentioned that the Engineering classes were taught by Ganga Ram (later Sir), the Mayo-Patiala Fellow, in vernacular (Urdu medium) in Oriental College. Law classes were also being held in Oriental College.

When Panjab University College was sanctioned by Govt. of India, its first object was “to promote the diffusion of European Science, as far as possible, through the medium of vernacular languages of the Panjab and the improvement and extension of the vernacular literature generally”. It was proposed to be achieved by offering monetary rewards to translators, editors and compilers. Dr. Leitner himself prepared four volumes under this scheme: “Sanin-i-Islam Parts I ⅈ and an Arabic grammar “Muqadamat-us-Sarf” in Urdu and Arabic”. Lala Bihari Lal wrote a treatise on psychology “Atam Tatwa Vidya” in Gurmukhi. Books of Chemistry, Mathematics, Physical Science, Philosophy and Physiology were translated into Urdu, the lingua franca of Panjab. So Academic Panjab was infected with the writer’s itch, one of the universal diseases of modern civilization, under the patronage of Dr. Leitner, the greatest Orientalist of his times.

The establishment of the Panjab University College was only a stepping-stone for the leaders of the movement to press forward their demand for the foundation of the Panjab University. Dr. Leitner, the Principal of the College, pleaded their case very effectively. Despite all efforts of Dr Leitner to push up the proposal in the both Houses of Parliament in England, it was not approved by the Government of India. The decision evoked great disappointment and there was complete lull for three years.

In 1877, Lord Lytton, on the occasion of the Imperial Darbar in Delhi, promised to introduce a Bill in the Legislative Council for endowing the Panjab University College with the status of a University, competent to confer degrees. During the next five years the torch of the University movement was kept burning by the people of the Panjab under the guidance of Dr. Leitner and letters were exchanged between the State Government and Government of India on the one hand, and between the Government of India and the Secretary of State on the other. Panjab University came into existence on October 14, 1882, by a Notification issued by the Lieutenant-Governor of the Panjab, in pursuance of the provisions of the Act of Incorporation. Mr. Baden-Powell was appointed the first Honorary Vice-Chancellor and Dr. Leitner, the Registrar of the new University.

He retired from Indian Civil service in 1886 and died in Bonn in 1899. The people of Panjab (both Indian and Pakistani) owe their debt and gratitude to Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner for creation of Panjab University (Lahore & its sister at Chandigarh) and promotion of Oriental Learning in vernacular languages of Panjab. He was a pioneer of Urdu language as medium of instruction and he wrote several treatises on the dialects of the tribal belt of Hindu Kush area of United India.

WHY STEP-MOTHERLY TREATMENT FOR PANJABI

After the annexation of Panjab in 1849, the British Indian government started planning for introduction of modern European system of education in Panjab. Sikh Sardars were generally as innocent of letters as the medieval English barons of England. Persian was the court language of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. It was replaced by Urdu as the lingua franca of Panjab after annexation and also adopted as the medium of instruction. The Panjab Administration Report of 1851-52 states: “Panjabi is falling into desuetude, losing its currency as a spoken language, and degenerating into a provincial and rustic dialect whereas Urdu is gaining ground among the upper and middle classes in Punjab”.

The Sikh Sardars and Chiefs of States also gave preference to Urdu vis a vis Punjabi in the Gurmukhi script as medium of instruction. Sardar Dyal Singh, a scion of the Majithia family, was among the promoters of Western education in the medium of English. He was a philanthropist extraordinary and donated funds to several educational institutions in Lahore without any strings. He donated all his movable and immovable properties in Punjab to set up Dayal Singh Trust.  Thus his wealth was used in funding The Tribune, Dyal Singh College & Library and activities of Brahmo Samaj in Lahore and Calcutta.

Ultimately, Panjabi was introduced in the curriculum of Oriental College, Lahore in 1877 through the efforts of Bhai Gurmukh Singh, a prominent leader of Singh Sabha movement, and Sardar Attar Singh Bhadaur, President of Khalsa Diwan, Lahore. Gurmukh Singh was appointed as first teacher of Panjabi. Later on, Panjab University, Lahore was not in favour of recognizing Panjabi as a subject for examinations on the plea that there is no worthwhile literature published in this language. Again, Sardar Attar Singh came to the rescue by providing a list of books from his library to the Senate of the university. However, Panjabi was being taught at the basic level (Budhimani, Vidwani and Giani) and MA in Panjabi was introduced in the University curriculum at Khalsa College, Amritsar in the academic session 1948-49, after the partition of India in 1947.

Scholar and scientist Hardev Singh Virk retired from Amritsar-based Guru Nanak Dev University in 2002 after serving as Founder Head Physics Department and Dean Academics. Ex-Professor of Eminence, Punjabi University, Patiala. He is the present Visiting Professor at SGGS World University, Fatehgarh Sahib (Punjab), India. 

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