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Introduction
Education should be aimed at developing a man’s life at various levels like the physical, mental, intellectual, moral and spiritual. The all-round development should take place simultaneously and harmoniously, keeping in view, the summum bonum of life, which is to realize the oneness of all existence. All misery at the physical, mental, intellectual, moral or spiritual plane is due to ignorance and the education that is incorporated in schools and colleges should be capable of removing this ignorance in all these planes. The Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda College was instituted with this purpose in mind. It is a matter of pride that the College was ranked among the top ten colleges in the whole of India, according to a study conducted by India Today Magazine in 1998.
‘The circumstances in which the institution came into existence are fairly well known. The spectacle of hundreds of deserving young students failing to secure admission into any of the existing colleges in Madras caused wide-spread grief and created a desire in the minds of some public-spirited gentlemen to open another first grade college in the city. The organizers held a number of meetings during August and September 1945, discussed the question in all its bearings and decided to appeal to the public for donations. The response was encouraging, as many had keenly felt the need for another college, in which admission would be made on merit and not on communal considerations. It was therefore agreed from the very beginning that the institution should be open to all who had the qualification of merit, without any distinctions of caste or community. It was also felt that the management of the college should be entrusted to the Ramakrishna Mission, whose labours in the field of education as well as of religion and social service are well known throughout India, and that the College should be called Vivekananda College, after the great patriot-monk, the Founder of the Mission. Accordingly the Governing Body of Sri Ramakrishna Mission was approached and they approved of the scheme and kindly agreed to lend their residential High School buildings to the College until permanent buildings should be put up. … The Governing Body of the Mission at Belur has since also agreed to the plan of permanently locating the College at Mylapore, in these buildings, subject, of course, to the approval of the Syndicate of the Madras University. The College is thus part and parcel of the Ramakrishna Mission, though forming a separate unit with its own finances. Its Managing Committee is appointed by the Governing Body and is presided over by the Head of the local Math, and the Secretary of the local branch of the Mission is one of its members. Accordingly, its policy is guided by the religious and educational ideals of the Ramakrishna Mission.
‘The Committee of Management sent up their application to the University on the 31st of October 1945 and recognition was granted in May 1946. The religious rites in connection with the opening of the College were performed on the Akshaya Tritiya day in May. On that day, a picture of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was consecrated in the Math and brought in procession to the College buildings and installed in the Main Hall. The College was formally declared open by Swami Kailasanandaji, the President of the Madras branch of the Mission, on the 21st June 1946, and regular work began on the 1st July with an address by Professor Radhakrishnan, Vice Chancellor of the Benares Hindu University’ (Viveka, Vivekananda College Magazine, 1947, pp. 1-2).
Dr. S. Radhakrishnan who was the Vice-Chancellor of the Benaras Hindu University, rendering the Inaugural Address, said:
Education consists in its emphasis on spirituality. Spirituality or religion is not exclusive of social life. We have to interpret religion as a call to serve the society, a call to make the starving souls and famished minds elevate and to protect them from sorrow. That is religion. That is patriotism. That is Swami Vivekananda.
Fortuitous were the evacuation rules during the war period, which necessitated the School of the Ramakrishna Mission Students’ Home being taken out of Madras. Thus the land buildings were available on a temporary basis at first, and on a permanent basis later on, for being the nucleus of the Vivekananda College.
‘The whole matter was discussed on 4 February 1947 by the Governing Body at Calcutta, at which the Secretary of the Home and the Secretary of the College were present and passed a Resolution of which extracts are given below:-
(1) Due intimation to the Government of Madras is to be given about its permanent location in the Students’ Home premises.
(2) Eight remaining acres of land of the Students’ Home, together with two acres of contiguous land to be acquired, is set apart for the purposes of the Residential High School and the Students’ Home.
(3) The Residential High School of the Home is to be brought back from Athur within the period stipulated by G.B. Resolution No. 1 dated 14-1-1946.
(4) A sum of Rs. 4,00,000/- is to be paid by the Vivekananda College to the Madras Students’ Home as compensation in the following manner:
(a) Rs. 1,00,000 in cash for acquiring the said two acres of contiguous land for the Residential High School and Students’ Home;
(b) the remaining three lakhs being paid up in thirty years together with 3½% interest either by monthly instalments of Rs. 1,353 or yearly instalments of Rs. 16,312 (the three lakhs representing the actual cost of land and buildings transferred and not its present market value).
‘… The area transferred is approximately 10.15 acres, consisting of 72 grounds [1 cawny 19 grounds 827 sq. ft. and 1 cawny 6 grounds 50 sq. ft. = 73 grounds 877 sq. ft., a little more than the 72 grounds said to have been transferred] acquired from Sri P.R. Ganapathy I year and 111 grounds [92 grounds 1768 sq. ft. and 18 grounds 792 sq. ft. = 111 grounds 160 sq. ft.] purchased from Selvarajeswari Ammal….’ (Manual, Sri Ramakrishna Mission Students’ Home, pp. 116-117).
Further land was added through purchase in course of time: purchased from City Improvement Trust 22 grounds 510 sq. ft. and 51 grounds 1200 sq. ft. on 23rd August 1955. The Ramakrishna Mission sold an extent of 13 grounds and 123 sq. ft. to the City Improvement Trust for a nominal sum of Re. 1/- on 29th June 1954 (Document No. 1068/54). Thus the present area of this branch centre of the Ramakrishna Mission amounts to 72 grounds + 111 grounds 160 sq. ft. + 22 grounds 510 sq. ft. + 51 grounds 1200 sq. ft. – 13 grounds 123 sq. ft. = 243 grounds 1747 sq. ft. or about 13.43 acres).
The name of the branch centre was changed in 1983 to Ramakrishna Mission Vidyapith for administrative convenience, and it comprises the following:
1) Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda College (Day)
2) Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda College Evening College
3) Ramakrishna Mission Vidyapith Hostel
4) The Institute of Vivekananda Studies
Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda College
Day College
The College was thus started in June 1946 with the prime motive of imparting man making and character building education to the student community. Based on Swami Vivekananda’s principle of combining science with spirituality, this institution, while it offers courses of study which will enable the students to make a decent living and stand on their own feet, it also caters to the total needs of a student in terms of his personality development. Education is not merely filling the brain with information that may remain undigested. Education should bring in all-round development of the youngsters and make them worthy citizens of the country. The various programmes offered in the College aim at this (w) holistic approach, which is the need of the hour. In fact, Swami Vivekananda has emphasized that education is the panacea for all social ills. The College at inception aimed at imparting such an education to the young men irrespective of their caste or creed in keeping with the traditions of Ramakrishna Mission Institutions. Ironically, in recent years, since the 1980s, community considerations have entered into both admission of students and appointment of teachers, owing to the College being a Government Aided College.
The Managing and College Committee
The Presidents
Swami Kailasanandaji Maharaj was the first President of the Managing Committee and he continued in this post till 1971. Sri N. Subramaniam (1971-1980), Dr. C. Raghavachari (1980-1986), and Prof. T.S. Sadasivam (1986-2001) served as successive Presidents of the Managing Committee. Srimat Swami Gautamanandaji Maharaj, President of Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, is presently the President of the Managing Committee.
The Secretaries
Sri M. Subbaraya Iyer was the first Secretary of the College. He served in this capacity from 1946 to 1960. Sri S. Parthasarathy Aiyangar (1960-1965), Sri N. Subramaniam (1965-1970), Swami Nishkamanandaji Maharaj (1970-1976), and Swami Amritanandaji Maharaj (1976-1999) were the successive Secretaries of the Managing Committee. The present Secretary of the College, Swami Satyapriyanandaji Maharaj, is a B.Tech., M.Tech., Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from I.I.T. Madras, and has done Post-Doctoral Research in Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, USA, for two years before taking to the monastic way of life. He combines in himself the best of both secular as well as spiritual education.
The Principals
Dr. D.S. Sarma was the first principal of the College. He served in this capacity from 1946 to 1948. Prof. N. Sundaram Aiyyar (1949-1959), Prof. T.R. Raghava Shastri (1959-1962), Prof. T.N. Seshadri (1962-1965), Prof. G. Venkataraman (1965-1973), Prof. N. Venkatasubramaniam (1973-1981), Prof. K. Ganesan (1981-1992), Prof. V. Thiagarajan (1992-1994), Prof. P.R. Vittal (1994-1996), and Prof. P. Natarajan (1996-2000) were the successive Principals. Dr. S. Ramaratnam (for a bio-data, look under Sanskrit Department) is the present Principal of the College.
The Present Managing and College Committees
The members of the Managing Committee at present are:
1. Swami Gautamananda.. President
2. Dr. Nalli Kuppuswami Chetty.. Vice-President
3. Sri V. Ratnam (Retd. Chief Justice).. Vice-President
4. Sri.Ramasubrahmaeya Rajhu.. Vice-President
5. Sri S. Ramakrishnan.. Assistant Secretary
6. Swami Yogirajananda.. Assistant Secretary
7. Sri S. Mahadevan.. Treasurer
8. Sri P. Haridas.. Member
9. Swami Jnanadananda.. Member
10. Sri C.G. Rangabashyam (Retd. IAS).. Member
11. Sri R. Manjunath Pai.. Member
12. Sri C.V. Narasimhan (Retd. IPS).. Member
13. Sri S. Sankaran.. Member
14. Sri M.A. Alagappan.. Member
15. Dr. S. Ramaratnam.. Principal
16. Swami Satyapriyananda.. Secretary

The present College Committee includes all the members of the Managing Committee and in addition the following:
1. Dr. V. Arasu .. University Representative
2. Thiru Sivaramakrishna Dass .. Teacher Representative
3. Thriu G. Suriyanarayanan .. Teacher Representative
4. Thiru N. Pattabhiraman .. Office Superintendent
Some of the leading personalities who have served on the Managing Committee in the past are:
1. Swami Paramatmananda
2. Swami Cinmatrananda
3. Swami Tanmayananda
4. Swami Tapasyananda
5. Swami Sukhatmananda
6. Swami Kirtidananda
7. Swami Raghavesananda
8. Swami Smaranananda
9. Swami Kamalananda
10. Justice N. Chandrasekhar Aiyar
11. Justice P.V. Rajamannar
12. Justice M. Patanjali Sastry
13. Rao Bahadur Sri C. Ramanujacharya
14. Sri N. Gopalaswami Iyengar
15. Sri T.R. Venkatarama Sastry
16. Sri V.L. Ethiraj
17. Sri Alladi Krishna Aiyyar
18. Sri S. Krishna Aiyyar
19. Sri K. Balasubramania Aiyyar
20. Sri V.N. Subbarayan
21. Sri K. Venkataswamy Naidu
22. Sri S. Venkataraman
23. Sri T.S. Santhanam
24. Sri T.V. Viswanath Aiyyar
25. Sri M.A.M. Ramaswamy
26. Prof. J. Ramachandran
27. Sri Obul Reddy

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