Description

The first college in India: The ‘Cotym college’ or the ‘Syrian College of CMS Kottayam’. The establishment of the College happened through the union of some accidents and certain designs-accidents in history and designs of a philanthropic colonial officer, namely, Col John Munro.

The ancient christian church in Kerala was exposed to the western world. As a result the Church Mission Society’s endeavour named the ‘mission of help’ to the Syrian Church began.The first fruit of this ecumenical fellowship was the ‘Cottayam College’. The Kottayan college opened for teaching-learning in March 1815. It was after four decades of the establishment of the Kottayam college that the first university in India was founded-in 1857.

Until the nineteenth century, Kerala society was a feudal one. With the coming of colonial modernity, the feudal system was thrown out. The entry of colonial modernity into the fabric of Kerala society was effected through two important factors: Modern liberal education and the Printing. The Kottayam CMS college played a critical role in bringing modernity into Kerala society.

Contents

1. The Inception

2. Two Forgotten Years and

Two forgotten Principals in the History

3. Syrian College of CMS, Cotym

The First College in India

4. Many Ways and Single Aim: the Modernity

5. Kottayam College: the Cradle of Printing, Publishing

and Modern Prose in Malayalam

6. A New Campus for the College:

a Prophecy or a Sense of Foreboding?

7. The Principal who Inspired

8. Universities for India; Writer Couple for Kottayam

9. Kottayam College: The Passage along which

Modernity Blew in

End Notes

Appendices

Short Notes

Chronology

British Officers

Kings of Travancore

Dalavas and Dewans of Travancore

Malayalam Months

Bibliography

Glossary

Index