The Maharaja's College is a government college of higher education located in Kochi, Kerala. Established in 1875, it is one of the oldest colleges in India. Located in the heart of the city, the college is spread over a campus of on the banks of Vembanad Lake. Blanketed by tall and rare species of trees, its campus features is a mix of old and modern architecture and covers a total area of , providing infrastructural facilities for the 22 departments of the college. History This multidisciplinary centre of higher learning had its humble beginnings as a single room English school started by the Royal (Kingdom of Cochin) Shankara Warrier in 1845 "to impart such instruction to the students as would enable them to converse with Englishmen without the aid of an interpreter". The school was upgraded to a college in 1875 and in June 1925 the college acquired its present name. The college provided instruction in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Zoology, History and Economics. At that time there were two hostels and physical education, literary and science associations functioning in full swing. Sir C. V. Raman and Dr S. Radhakrishnan were among the speakers at the Golden Jubilee celebrations in 1925. The first PG course was started in 1947 in the Department of Chemistry, which already had research facilities holding to M.Sc. and Ph.D. The government of Kerala recognised it as a Centre of Excellence in the state and the University Grants Commission awarded the college with Potential for Excellence (CPE) status based on the NAAC Accreditation results. UGC awarded Autonomous status to the college. Campus Library The college library is 135 years old and has a collection of nearly one lakh (hundred thousand) books, including a prestigious collection of rare literature books. The reference section itself has 2000 books. However, lack of space is one of the vexing problems of the library. A reference and information section, inter-library networking and Internet facility are some of the immediate requirements of the library. Sport facilities The university has 18 acres of land specifically dedicated to sports, including a 400-meter synthetic track, football and cricket grounds, courts for field hockey, volleyball, basketball, kho-kho, kabaddi and badminton, futsal, table tennis, carrom, chess, wrestling, weightlifting, judo, powerlifting etc. Staff and students co-operative society The Maharaja's College staff and students co-operative society Ltd. no. 207, functioning on the campus, aims at promoting the spirit of cooperation