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Cambridge Majlis
Debating society for Indian students studying at the University of Cambridge
About
The Cambridge Majlis was founded around 1891 for Indian students at the university. In its early days it met at the home of Dr Upendra Krishna Dutt. The society became a debating organization where Indian students at Cambridge could reason and practise debates, as well as socialize and discuss political matters. It was named after the Persian word for assembly. A number of Indian nationalist politicians came to Cambridge to address the Majlis. The Cambridge Majlis had close links with its Oxford counterpart, founded in 1896, with various joint dinners and debates.
Members included: Subhas Chandra Bose, K. L. Gauba, Aurobindo Ghose, Fazl-i-Husain, Mirza Abol Hassan Ispahani, Mohan Kumaramangalam, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajni Patel, Shankar Dayal Sharma.
Notable speakers included: C. F. Andrews, E. M. Forster, M. K. Gandhi, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Sarojini Naidu, Lala Lajpat Rai.
Deshmukh, C. D., The Course of My Life (Bombay: Orient Longman, 1974)
Khosla, G. D., Memory’s Gay Chariot: An Autobiographical Narrative (New Delhi: Allied Publishers, 1985)
Kiernan, V. G., ‘Mohan Kumaramangalam in England’, Socialist India (23 February 1974), pp. 5–7, 36; (2 March 1974), pp. 13–17, 24
Lahiri, Shompa, Indians in Britain: Anglo-Indian Encounters, Race and Identity, 1880–1930 (London: Frank Cass, 2000)
Mukherjee, Sumita, Nationalism, Education and Migrant Identities: The England-Returned (London: Routledge, 2010)
Visram, Rozina, Asians in Britain: 400 Years of History (London: Pluto Press, 2002)
L/PJ/12/4, India Office Records, Asian and African Studies Reading Room, British Library, St Pancras
Programme cards and menus, Saroj Kumar Chatterjee Collection, King’s College, Cambridge
Cambridge Majlis Minute Book, 1932–7, Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge
Image credit
© Remaking Britain: South Asian Connections and Networks, 1930s – present
