Acharya Brojendra Nath Seal College popularly known as ABN Seal, earlier Victoria College, is a state-government owned co-educational college in

Cooch Behar Cooch Behar (), or Koch Bihar, is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Cooch Behar district. It is in the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas at . Cooch Behar is the only planned city in the ...

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It was established in 1888 and offers

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-lev ...

and

postgraduate education Postgraduate or graduate education refers to Academic degree, academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by higher education, post-secondary students who have earned an Undergraduate education, un ...

. The college is affiliated to the

Cooch Behar Panchanan Barma University Cooch can refer to: * A colloquial term for the vagina * A variation of the surname Couch ** William Cooch (1898–1950), New Zealand artist, architect and stamp designer See also * Cooch Behar (disambiguation) * * Hoochie coochie, a dance *Couch ...

and accredited as A by NAAC. The college has been conferred "Centre of Excellence" status by the University Grants Commission.

History

Acharya Brojendra Nath Seal College was established in 1888 as Victoria College by Maharaja Nripendra Narayan of Koch Bihar to enhance student capability in the Kingdom. The first principal was John Cornwallis Godley who in 1895 became the second principal of

Aitchison College Aitchison College ( ur, ایچیسن کالج) is an independent, semi-private boys school for boarding and day students from grade 1–13 in Lahore, Pakistan. It has a tradition of providing an education that uses academics, sports, and co-curri ...

in Lahore. Later Maharaja Nripendra Naryayan offered the post of principal to Acharya Brajendra Nath Seal, a

Brahmo Bengali Brahmos are those who adhere to Brahmoism, the philosophy of Brahmo Samaj which was founded by Raja Rammohan Roy. A recent publication describes the disproportionate influence of Brahmos on India's development post-19th Century as unpa ...

and philosopher, who remained in the post for eighteen years from 1896 to 1913. In 1950, when the state of

was merged into Union of

, the governance was passed to

Government of West Bengal The Government of West Bengal also known as the West Bengal Government, is the subnational government of the Indian state of West Bengal , created by the National Constitution as the state's legislative, executive and judicial authority. The ...

. It was earlier affiliated to the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...

and

University of North Bengal University of North Bengal (abbreviated as NBU) is a public state collegiate major research university in North Bengal region of West Bengal, which is located in Raja Rammohanpur, Siliguri, Darjeeling district, in the Indian state of West Be ...

and is now affiliated to

after the creation of the same. In 1970, it was renamed as Acharya Brojendra Nath Seal College. It is one of the few colleges under the Cooch Behar Panchanan Barma University to give postgraduate education.

Facilities and campus

The college is in the heart of the town with a campus of and built-up area of 9032.96 sq. meters. The college is divided into six blocks — administrative, bioscience, centenary, humanities, chemistry, and library — and twelve departments. The college has separate hostels for boys and girls with a capacity of 85 and 75 respectively. There are separate common rooms for boys, girls and teachers with facilities for indoor games like

carom Carom may refer to: * Ajwain (''Trachyspermum ammi''), an herb in Indian cuisine * Carom billiards (also known as Carambole) * Ricochet, a rebound, bounce or skip off a surface, particularly in the case of a projectile * Carrom Carrom is ...

and

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

. There is provision for playing outdoor games. There is an in-campus canteen offering snacks and beverages. The college has an

IGNOU Indira Gandhi National Open University, known as IGNOU, is a Central University located at Maidan Garhi, New Delhi, India. Named after former Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi, the university was established in 1985 with a budget of 20& ...

study center to facilitate distance education. Acharya Brojendra Nath Seal College has a library with about 55,000 books, journals and periodicals in a two-storied building with an area of about with two reading rooms. The library has LAN facilities and LIBSYS software and follows open access for PG students. The library has photocopying facilities and is partially computerised. Computers with Internet connection are available in the computer center. There are twenty laboratories for science subjects. The college also has hostels for both boys and girls. The Nripendra Narayan Memorial Boys' Hostel is the boy's hostel located right next to the college. Sister Nivedita Girls’ Hostel is the girl's hostel which is also located near the college campus.

Notable alumni

*Rai Chaudhuri Satish Chandra Mustafi, Secretary and Extra-Ordinary Member, Cooch Behar State Council, Additional Member, Cooch Behar Legislative Council, Cooch Behar State, music composer and sitarist *Rajendra Prasad Roy, State Pleader, Cooch Behar State, musician and sitarist *Ambika Charan Roy *Pulin Bihari Das, Indian Revolutionary *Dr. Suresh Chandra Bandopadhyay, Indian Revolutionary *

Kali Mohan Ghosh Kali (; sa, काली, ), also referred to as Mahakali, Bhadrakali, and Kalika ( sa, कालिका), is a Hindu goddess who is considered to be the goddess of ultimate power, time, destruction and change in Shaktism. In this tradit ...

, Indian Revolutionary *Ashruman Das Gupta, Household Minister, Cooch Behar State, writer *Birendralal Sarkar *Subodh Kumar Chakraborty, Travelogue Writer, Novelist *Shivendra Narayan Mandal, Folk artist, researcher and writer on Folk music. *

Bishnu Prasad Rabha Bishnu Prasad Rabha was an cultural figure from Assam, known for his contributions in the fields of music, dance, painting, literature as well as political activism. As an advocate of people's cultural movement, he drew heavily from different ...

, revolutionary, music composer and singer *

Panchanan Barma Panchanan Barma (1866–1935), also known as Thakur Panchanan or Panchanan Sarkar, was a Rajbanshi leader and social reformer from Cooch Behar, West Bengal, India. He dedicated his life for the improvement of backward class people, specifically ...

(1865–1935), reformer from Cooch Behar *

Amiya Bhushan Majumdar Amiya Bhushan Majumdar (Bengali: অমিয় ভূষণ মজুমদার) (22 March 1918 – 8 July 2001) was an Indian novelist, short-story writer, essayist and playwright. In a writing career spanning over four decades, Majumdar ...

(1918-2001), Novelist *

Amar Roy Pradhan Amar Roy Pradhan or Amarendra Nath Roy Pradhan (15 August 1930 – 3 July 2013) was an Indian politician from All India Forward Bloc party. He remained MP from Cooch Behar Lok Sabha constituency eight times from 1977 to 1999, prior to which h ...

(1930 – 2013), Indian politician from All India Forward Bloc

Notable faculty members

* Acharya Brajendra Nath Seal, Principal, 1896-1913 * Sadhu T.L. Vaswani, Principal, 1915-1917 *Prof. Joy Gopal Bandopadhyaya, Professor of English *Prof. Chunilal Mukherjee, Professor of Economics *Prof. Sarat Chandra Gupta, Principal *Prof. Amulya Ratan Gupta, Professor of English, 1920-1952 *Dr. Kanak Kumar Dhar, B.Sc., M.B. (CAL),L.R.C.P. & S. (EDIN), L.M. (DUB), D.T.M. & D.T.H. (L'Pool) *Prof. Tarapada Chattapadhyaya, Professor of Physics *Prof. Chandika Prasad Bandopadhyaya, Principal

References

External links

* Colleges affiliated to Cooch Behar Panchanan Barma University Academic institutions formerly affiliated with the University of North Bengal Universities and colleges in Cooch Behar district Educational institutions established in 1888 Commerce colleges in India Arts colleges in India 1888 establishments in India Education in the princely states of India {{WestBengal-university-stub