Maharajah’s Government Sanskrit College in Vizianagaram is possibly the only one of its kind anywhere: it has only one student, one principal and one non-teaching staff, a sweeper. And it is located not in rural hinterland but in bustling Vizianagaram.
One of the oldest in the country, it was established by the Gajapati rulers of Vizianagaram in 1860, and handed over to the State government in 1957. But the Sanskrit College is now gasping for survival as nobody is ready to join its five-year integrated oriental language courses of B.A (Sanskrit) and B.A (Telugu).
The college now has only one student in the final year of B.A. (Sanskrit). The principal doubles up as the teacher. There would be no students once the last one completes her course in the current academic year. Only the principal and the sweeper would remain. Given the lack of students, two junior assistants have been sent on deputation to government colleges in Salur and S. Kota.
The college used to offer courses in the Vedas, Sanskrit, and Telugu. But the course in the Vedas was suspended after all the students of the M.R. Samskruta Patasala, a feeder school, enrolled in the Ramanarayanam Veda Patasala, a project run by the NCS Group (a business house with interests in the sugar industry), in 2010. The attraction was free meals. “Ever since, admissions have been dull,” said Ms. Swapna Haindavi, the principal. She said the B.A (Telugu) course was affiliated to Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, and B.A (Sanskrit) to Sri Venkateswara Vedic University, Tirupati.
“Lack of government support, especially lodging, boarding and scholarships for integrated courses, is a reason for lack of interest,” Ms. Haindavi said. “The institution would have retained its glory had the government attached it to Sri Venkateswara Vedic University.”
