Zakir Husain Delhi College

Historic map of Delhi (Shahjahanabad), in 1863, showing it as Oriental College

The courtyard of Ghazi al-Din Khan's Madrassah at Delhi, 1814-15

It was initially founded by Ghaziuddin Khan, a general of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, a leading Deccan commander and the father of Qamar-ud-din Khan, Asaf Jah I, the founder of the Asaf Jahi dynasty of Hyderabad, also known as the first Nizam of Hyderabad, in 1690s, and was originally termed Madrasa Ghaziuddin Khan after him. However, with a weakening Mughal Empire, the Madrasa closed between 1790 and 1791, but with the support of local nobility, an oriental college for literature, science and art, was established at the site in 1792.[1][3]

It stood just outside the walled city of Delhi outside the Ajmeri Gate, near Paharganj close to the New Delhi railway station. It was originally surrounded by a wall and connected to the walled city fortifications and was referred to as the College Bastion.[4][5]

It was reorganized as the 'Anglo Arabic College' by the British East India Company in 1828 to provide, in addition to its original objectives, an education in English language and literature. The object was “to uplift” what the Company saw as the “uneducated and half-barbarous people of India.” Behind the move was Charles Trevelyan, the brother-in-law of Thomas Babingdon Macaulay, the same infamous Macaulay whose famously declared that “a single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia”.[6]

Rev. Jennings started secret Bible classes in the officially secular Delhi College. In July 1852, two prominent Delhi Hindus, Dr. Chaman Lal, one of Zafar’s personal physicians, and his friend Master Ramchandra,[7] a mathematics lecturer at the Delhi College, baptised a public ceremony at St. James' Church, Delhi.[3]

Dr. Sprenger, then principal, presided over the founding of the college press, the Matba‘u ’l-‘Ulum and founded the first college periodical, the weekly Qiranu ’s-Sa‘dain, in 1845.

Another cultural intermediatory was Mohan Lal Kashmiri, diplomat, and author, who worked for the East India Company and was educated at the college.[8]

It was renamed Zakir Husain College in 1975 by Indira Gandhi government after Dr. Zakir Husain, a distinguished educator and a President of India.[2] The college was later shifted to its present building outside Turkman Gate in 1986, the old structure in the Madrasa Ghaziuddin complex, still houses a hostel for the college.[5] It was declared a heritage monument by the ASI in 2002. Then in 2008, a separate archive on its history was set up within the college library, with centuries-old books and documents on display, chronicling its 300-year-old history.[1]

It has had a number of distinguished alumni. Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi and Rashid Ahmad Gangohi, the founding figures of Darul Uloom Deoband,[9] Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, the founder of Aligarh Muslim University, Maulana Mohammed Hussain Azad, the father of Urdu prose, Deputy Nazir Ahmed, the Urdu essayist and ICS, poets, Ali Sardar Jafri and Akhtar ul-Iman, Dr. Ravi Chaturvedi (Padma Shri 2012) the first Hindi Cricket commentator he was also faculty in zoology department in same college Mirza M N Masood, an Indian hockey olympian, eminent linguist and the 5th Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia Professor Emeritus Masud Husain Khan, Khwaja Ahmed Farooqui (literature), Professor A N Kaul (pro-vice chancellor, Delhi University), J N Dixit (Defence Analyst), Professor Gopi Chand Narang (world-renowned Urdu/Persian critic), Professor Dr. Ravi Ranjan, Pankaj Vohra (Associate Editor, Hindustan Times), B N Uniyal, Shahid Siddiqui, Manmohan, Mukul Vyas, Chandra Prabha, Habib Akhtar, M Afzal (journalists), Harsh Verma (Journalist and Serial Advisor & Analyst in Public and Private Policy) politicians like Dr. Harsh Vardhan (Incumbent Minister of Ministry of Science & Technology, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Earth Sciences), Jagdish Tytler and Sikandar Bakht.[1][3]

Among the greats of Delhi College was Professor Bhisham Sahni of the English department who was a noted writer and dramatist. Professor Sahni was the brother of actor Balraj Sahni.

It's said that Ghalib was once a candidate for the Persian post for Delhi College. However, the administrator conducting the interview failed to come out to greet him, and an offended Ghalib left.[3]

Mamluk Ali Nanautawi, the distinguished scholar, who descendants founded Darul Uloom Deoband, served as the Head Teacher of the college.[10] He taught Arabic here in 1830s.[3]

Zakir Husain Delhi College offers science, humanities and commerce as well as language courses. One important feature of the college is that it is (at least used to be) the only college in Delhi which offers Graduation courses to male students in Psychology. All other colleges which offer this course are exclusively for female students. Umar faraan

Zakir Husain Delhi College is run by the Zakir Husain Memorial Trust since 1975.[2][5]

The College has a library possessing about 1,18,462 books. It runs on open shelf system but some important text books are also kept in reserve section.It not only caters to the academic requirements but also houses leisure books and books to increase general awareness.The Library is named after the college principal Mirza Mehmood Begg.

The College has an auditorium with a seating capacity of 417 persons. Various cultural programmes, lectures and college annual function are also organised in this auditorium. This auditorium is named after the former college principal Salman Gani Hashmi.

The Delhi College Archives, situated in a section of the M. M. Begg Library, was inaugurated by Professor Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, Chairman, Indian Council of Historical Research, on February 18, 2008.

The archives contain a large number of files relating to the college and significant developments in higher education in Delhi and North India from 1823 onwards. These have been located within the National Archives of India and the Delhi Archives, and analyzed over the last couples of years.

Original writings by teachers and alumni of the college in Urdu, Persian and English are also available in the archives. Text books prepared and/or used during the 19th Century for instruction in mathematics, history, geography, philosophy, literature etc., are on display. The archives also contains secondary sources and books relating to Delhi College and the intellectual ferment in Delhi region during the 18th and 19th centuries.

A major annual event in the college calendar is the Zakir Husain Memorial Lecture to commemorate Dr. Zakir Husain. The speaker is an eminent personality of his field. It is organized in the 1st week of February. Zakir Husain Memorial Lecture is organized since 2006 annually. The lecture has been delivered by the following persons so far:

• Aruna Roy (2006)
• Professor Sukhadeo Thorat (2007)
• Intizar Hussain (2008)
• Hamid Ansari (2009)
• Professor B. B. Bhattacharya (2010)
• Soli Sorabjee (2011)
• Professor C. M. Naim (2012)
• Professor V.S. Chauhan (2013)

This is the only constituent college of the University of Delhi which holds an annual convocation ceremony. Although, due to the ongoing construction of a new building in the college, the college ground remains occupied as a result of which the ceremony wasn't held this year.

• Mohan Lal Kashmiri
• List of colleges affiliated with the University of Delhi
• Anglo Arabic Senior Secondary School another descedent of the original institution

• Official website Zakir Husain Delhi College