Ever since a controversy broke out over Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s suggestion to rename the iconic Ravenshaw College (converted into a university in 2006) there is increasing curiosity about Thomas Edward Ravenshaw, after whom the institution is named.

People want to know who the man was, what was his contribution to Odisha. Questions are being asked about his role in the death of millions due to starvation during the 1866 Na’Anka Durbhiksha, the Great Famine of Odisha.

The minister’s suggestion has led to agitation on the streets. The Odisha Assembly, too, witnessed a ruckus over the issue. Ravenshaw alumni have protested against the proposal with the government booking two of them for protests.

Sudhansu Mohanty, a former civil servant and an established author, told The Telegraph, “Ravenshaw was the pioneer of modern western education in the state, which was then a mere Division of Calcutta Presidency. What he had done for Odisha no colonial administrator did in the field of education. He began the school in Cuttack, and it slowly grew into a college that wasn’t named after him, as done by man/men in India today. It was named after him by the grateful Oriyas of those days as a tribute to Ravenshaw’s contribution to Orissa’s education. The demand to rename is completely preposterous.”

He continued, “It is true that the Na’Anka Durbhiksha, the Great Orissa Famine of 1866, was one of Orissa’s most tragic events. But Ravneshaw was not to be blamed for the entire thing. Cecil Beadon, the then governor of Bengal was more guilty than Ravenshaw.”

Even the Orissa Famine Commission, appointed by the British government, in its 1866-67 report did not put the entire blame on Ravenshaw and also questioned the role played by the then governor and the board of revenue at Calcutta. The famine wiped out a third of the population of coastal Odisha.

Former DGP Amiya Bhusan Tripathy, author of Trust Redeemed: Birth of Ravenshaw University, told this newspaper: “Name changing is their agenda. Pradhan has called for a debate and we are ready for it. We should not blame Ravenshaw alone for the famine. When he joined the division, the famine already started. He had given a vivid report on the famine to the British government. The then governor-general must be blamed for it, not a mere bureaucrat. Besides, he strove hard to introduce the Odia language in schools. where Bengali textbooks were used.

Ravenshaw, in his letter to the then secretary of the government of Bengal, had proposed establishment of a college in Cuttack. The then governor accepted the proposal but insisted on public contribution. Maharaja of Mayurbhanj (Maharaja Krushna Chandra Bhanjadeo) and people of Orissa contributed respectively for the purpose with contributions of ₹25,000 and ₹20,000 respectively in 1978.