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As a Teacher & Historian
The long span of 30 years of his teaching career at Agra College
was a glorious one. Both as a teacher and researcher his role
was outstanding. He earned immense popularity among the students
of the Agra College as well as the two post-graduate Colleges
viz. St. John's and R.B.S. College who came to attend his
history classes. But this popularity he earned with the dint
of his hard labour. He delved deep into his subject and got
himself identified with its essence. He got rapid promotions
and became the Prof. & Head, Department of History, Agra
College in 1964 and remained there up to 1982 when he became
Vice-Chancellor of Agra University.
Besides too many accolades that he received from his Professors
and Principals, two are noteworthy for their comprehensive
assessments of his abilities.
Prof. A.L. Srivastava who was Professor and Head of History
Department, Agra, was all praise for his excellent teaching
and humane qualities and had this to say :
It gives me pleasure to certify that Prof. Agam Prasad
Mathur, M.A., has been my colleague in the Department of History,
Agra College, Agra since July 1952. He has been teaching British
History to the M.A. classes for the last several years with
success. Besides that paper he was entrusted with Mughal India,
Pre-Mughal India & the late Mughals from time to time.
He is a diligent and successful teacher, a friendly and dependable
colleague and a fine gentleman. He has been associated with
extra-curricular activities of the Department. He was for
sometime Secretary in charge of our Study Circle. This year
he has worked as the Treasurer of the History Association.
Mr. Mathur possesses the qualities of an organiser. He is
a friend of the student community and he is a pleasant man
to work with. Needless to add that he possesses many qualities
of head and heart, and an excellent character.
The Principal of Agra College Dr. M. Ray, was greatly impressed
by his scholarship, and administrative and teaching abilities
and wrote the following:
I have great pleasure in certifying that Prof. A.P. Mathur
joined the staff of the History Department at this College,
as a lecturer, in July 1952 after having a uniformly good
academic career at St. John's College, Agra and has been teaching
Degree and Postgraduate classes ever since. In December 1960
he was promoted to the post of Associate Professor and worked
in that capacity till July 1964 when he was asked to officiate
as Professor and Head of the Department. He was confirmed
in his post as Professor/Head of the Department of History
w.e.f. April 1, 1966.
Prof. Mathur is an excellent teacher. He has specialised in
Medieval, European and British History and enjoys a good reputation
as a teacher. He has shown brilliant results in the University
examinations and I am glad to record that for the last three
consecutive years his students have been obtaining First Class
with First Position in order of merit at the M.A. examination
of the University, which in itself is a testimony of his abilities
both as a conscientious teacher and a capable Head of the
Department.
As Head of the Department he has been very successful and
was able to resolve many a difficult situation by perseverance
and intelligence. He is considerate and discreet in seeking
cooperation of his colleagues and enjoys universal respect
of students. Needless to add Prof. Mathur possesses many administrative
and organizational qualities which are essential ingredients
for making one a successful Head of a Postgraduate Department.
I have personally known Prof. Mathur ever since he came to
this College and I found in him a faithful and devoted teacher;
a loyal, willing and dependable colleague. He is methodical
in his approach to the historical problems and possesses scholastic
bent of mind. Having sound knowledge of his subject, Prof.
Mathur is deeply interested in higher studies with sufficient
inclination towards original research. He keeps himself abreast
of recent researches in History and has himself published
a few research papers in the University Journal of Research.
Prof. Mathur is social, smart, straightforward, honest and
very resourceful. His conduct and character are exemplary.
A man of decent manners and amiable disposition, he possesses
all the qualities that go to make one a successful teacher
and an academician and I shall always watch his career with
interest.
I wish him well in life.
While he was a teacher he came into close contact with the
eminent historians of the country like Dr. Jadunath Sarkar,
Dr. Kannongo, Dr. Banarsi Prasad Saxena, Dr. Visheshwar Prasad,
Dr. Ishwari Prasad, Dr. R.C. Majumdar, Dr. S.P. Sen, Prof.
A.L. Basham, Prof. M. Habib, Prof. Nurul Hassan and many more.
He always encouraged his students to do their own original
thinking and do not subscribe to any of the prevalent controversial
doctrines propounded by the four schools of History viz.
the Allahabad School, Aligarh School, Dr. Sarkar's School
and the Marxian School. He himself had his own independent
views and was never led away by any of these schools. He had
special disliking for the attitude of the Marxian scholars
who tended to attribute all the happenings of the past to
economic causes.. Their allusion to Buddha's renunciation
due to economic cause was particularly repugnant to him.
He is a real master of his subject. He has special interest
in European and British History and is a master of medieval
and modern Indian History. He has specialised in the study
of comparative religion. Modern Indian renaissance with special
emphasis on social and religious reforms was his subject of
research. As a result of original work done on this subject,
he is recognised as a great scholar of History. To all historians
he is known as historian of Radhasoami Faith and also as one
who has made his mark in writing the history of Uttar Pradesh.
More particularly Agra and Akbar have engaged his special
attention and interest. He was the Chief Convener of the Seminar
on the 400th anniversary of the Sulh-i-Kul organised by the
U.P. Government in which all the top dignitaries and academicians
of the country participated. His doctoral thesis on Radhasoami
Faith, a significant religious reform movement of the 19th
century, has been widely acclaimed by the scholars of India
and abroad. Besides he has contributed many an article on
a variety of topics on Indian history.
His epoch-making thesis "Radhasoami Faith - A Historical
Study" published in 1974 by Vikas, placed him in the
first rank of historians in India and the world. Applauding
the high worth of his thesis, the celebrated historian Dr.
R.C. Majumdar wrote the following letter :
Dear Prof. Mathur
I have recd. with great interest and profit your book on 'Radhasoami
Faith', which you very kindly sent two months ago. I am sorry
I am rather late in acknowledging receipt of it. I was very
busy with my literary work and could not devote time to read
it with that care and attention which it deserves.
I have now gone through your very interesting and at the same
time very learned, critical and thorough discussion of a very
interesting religious sect which deserves more attention than
it has hitherto received from historians. I was deeply impressed
by my visit to Dayalbagh, about a decade ago, and naturally
your book was very welcome to me. As you have justly pointed
out the rational attitude towards religion displayed by the
founder of this sect ever before the time of Rammohan Roy
must be noted by all historians who seek after truth and are
not carried by emotion inspired by a spirit of hero-worship.
I have tried to show in my humble way that Rammohan was undoubtedly
a very great figure and his contributions to the making of
modern age are not minimized even if we admit as historical
truth that he was not the only man to whom is to be credited
everything that has created Modern India. I have been, and
still am being, strongly condemned for this view, particularly
as I am a son of Bengal, but your book adds one more evidence
that the credit for ushering the modern age in India must
be given to others also - among whom I include the founder
of the Radhasoami Faith. By the way, when I visited Dayalbagh
I found an unfinished mausoleum whose artistic decoration
(inlaid gems) rivals that of Taj Mahal. Has that been finished
?
Yours sincerely
R.C. Majumdar
He was honoured with the Fellowship of the Indian Historical
Society (F.I.H.S.) , Fellowship of the Royal Asiatic Society,
London (F.R.A.S.) and Fellowship of United Writers' Association
(F.U.W.A.I.). His name also appeared in world's Who is Who.
He was nominated as Member of the Executive Council of the
Institute of Historical Studies, Historical Record Commission
of India, Historical Record Commission of U.P., and a life
member of Indian History Congress. He was awarded Life Membership
of the Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage. He was also made
a Member of International Goodwill Society, Authors Guild
of India and Member, Board of Trustees, Institute for world
Congress on Human Rights, New Delhi. He equally made his mark
as a research supervisor and produced dozens of PhDs under
his supervision. Thus Prof. Mathur's 30 year-long career at
Agra College brought him immense recognition, honour and reputation
in the country and abroad.
As Vice-Chancellor
Prof. Mathur reached the highest pinnacle in academic life
when he became the Vice-Chancellor of Agra University in 1982.
Even many academicians were overawed when Prof. Mathur was
raised to the august position of the Vice-Chancellor from
the post of the Head of the Department in College. To many
it was incredible that a teacher should become a Vice-Chancellor
without being a Principal. His installation as the Vice-Chancellor
was a matter of pride and honour to St. John's College and
Agra College in particular and to all other colleges of the
Agra University. The Managing Committee of Agra College paid
a glowing tribute to Prof. Mathur on his occupying the position
of Vice-Chancellorship and hosted a dinner in his honour on
November 2, 1982. It unanimously passed the following Resolution
in his honour:
"The Managing Committee of Agra College expresses
its great delight and congratulates Prof. A. P. Mathur on
his appointment as the Vice-Chancellor of Agra University.
It is a matter of great pride and honour to the College that
one of its Heads of Department has become the Vice-Chancellor
of the University. It is a recognition of his selfless and
devoted service extending over a period of thirty years. The
Committee wholeheartedly praises his honest and sincere services
to the College and pays glowing tributes to him as an eminent
educationist, teacher, scholar and historian. He also organised
a National Integration Programme on the 400th Anniversary
of Emperor Akbar's Sulh-i-Kul on a huge scale and it was a
tremendous success. The Committee places on record its wholehearted
appreciation of the same." (English rendering from
Hindi).
Just after a gap of two and a half years Prof. Mathur was
again appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University on 28th
April, 1988 for another full term of three years. This in
itself was a historic achievement, for no other Vice-Chancellor
before him had ever been appointed for a second term in the
same University.
As an Administrator
The secret of his success as an administrator, in my opinion,
lies in his infallible judgment of human character and psychology
of a man at the first meeting. He can peep into the workings
of a man's mind and heart as one would do through a magnifying
glass. He can judge the intentions and purposes, follies and
weaknesses, motives and designs, sincerity or sham, devotion
or infidelity, as accurately as one would render a table of
multiplication. No one can deceive him or take him for granted.
He is equally a judge of man's sincerity, honesty, integrity,
efficiency and capacity. He is an ardent admirer of goodness,
nobility and uprightness of character, even if he finds them
in his opponent. He can never mistake in placing the right
person in the right place. He can pick up talent from the
crowd. Once he entrusts a person with a position of responsibility,
he allows him full freedom to work, and yet he watches him
work closely from behind the curtain. As a result, no one
could take liberties with his office or be negligent or indifferent
to his duty. This accounts for his remarkable success in the
administration of the University and several other educational
and social institutions which he has administered from time
to time.
Indomitably Optimistic
The one great quality of Prof. Mathur which has impressed me
most is his fearlessness. He is fearlessly optimistic. A religious
head has to be both fearless and optimistic and that Prof.
Mathur is to the core. No opposition, no adversities, no unforeseen
developments can ever bow him down. He remains undaunted,
unscanned and unfathomed in all situations. He is firm like
a rock and deep like an ocean. I have personal knowledge of
the fact that Prof. Mathur has several times faced and passed
through highly formidable and difficult situations under which
an ordinary man might have fallen flat and got crushed. But
Prof. Mathur rode over them with astonishing courage, confidence
and faith. He has come out through them with redoubled courage
and reinforced spirit. Even physical infirmities to which
'flesh is heir to' cannot daunt his spirit. Sometime back
he suffered from acute gout pain in his legs. The pain was
so acute and clinically incurable that he had to use elbow
crutches even to stand up. One day when I saw him standing
with the support of his elbow crutches, a cold stream of pain
and dismay passed through my veins. Later, after the gap of
a few months, when I went up to see him, he came forward with
long paces and held me in his arms. The crutches had disappeared,
the gout had vanished. Was it in any way short of a miracle?
It was the victory of the spirit over the flesh, of the spiritual
over the physical which only a spiritual sage could perform
and demonstrate.
Prof. Mathur is full to the brim with the 'milk of human kindness'.
He is known for his charity, benevolence and large-heartedness.
What he preaches from the pulpit he practises in life. Radhasoami
faith is the faith of love. Its cardinal principle is: Love
thy neighbour. Popularly known as Dadaji Maharaj amongst his
followers, he has assimilated all the cardinal principles
of his religion in his character and conduct. Prompted by
these principles, he has set up a number of free educational
institutions, charitable dispensaries and shelter homes. Hundreds
of people take their food at Hazuri Bhawan almost every day.
He gives liberal donations and regular aid to many institutions
dedicated to the service of the poor and needy. Many poor
parents resort to Hazuri Bhawan to solemnize the marriages
of their daughters when part of the expenditure is borne by
their 'Dadaji'. Dadaji is compassionate to the poor and helpless,
considerate to his subordinates, affectionate to his youngers,
friendly to his associates and colleagues, and particularly
regardful to his old companions and friends. He misses no
opportunity to favour his friends.
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