THE BRITISH TRIUMVIRATE OF GREAT INDOLOGISTS
V.S.Gopalakrishnan
Quite often India does not recognize itself, and when foreigners discover it we obtain our own recognition! This has been particularly so in respect of our ancient heritage! The ancient Sanskrit texts lay beyond the ken of the common man for whom Sanskrit had become a dead language, and some of our English ruling lords were responsible for sensitizing us to the glory of this heritage.
Many Britishers have been responsible for researching into our ancient Sanskrit texts and also translating them. But I consider that special praise belongs to three British Indologists who played a critical role in our reawakening. They are Sir Charles Wilkins (1749-1836), Sir William Jones (1746-1794) and Sir James Prinsep (1799-1840). These were men of extraordinary intellect and extraordinary vision blessed with remarkable talent and capacity for diligence. The three men came to India during the age of the East India Company which the Victorian Government superseded after the Mutiny of 1857. A few other great Indologists such as Henry Thomas Colebrooke (1765-1837) who was really an Orientalist more than an Indologist, and Horace Hayman Wilson (1786-1860) and Max Muller (1823-1900), who never visited India, were also essentially products of the East India Company period. I am not sure if I will be wrong to say that such a high level of Indological scholarship was sustained after the British Government got replaced as our masters.
SIR CHARLES WILKINS (1749-1836)
We must remember that the East India Company headed by Robert Clive got to rule firmly from Calcutta only from 1757 although the Company had got trading license at Calcutta in 1690. How soon the British scholars arrived in Calcutta is a matter of great wonder and amazement! Charles Wilkins was born in 1749 in Somerset, and was trained in youth as a printer. He arrived in India (Calcutta) in 1770 to work as a printer and writer in the Company. He quickly learnt Bengali and Persian and became so fluent in them that he later was appointed as a translator of Bengali and Persian (to English) in the Office of the Commissioner of Revenue. He also became the Superintendent of the Company’s Press.
Sir Charles Wilkins
Wilkins spent some years in Benaras where he learnt Sanskrit from a Brahmin Pandit named Kalinatha. He obtained sufficient proficiency in it as to be able to translate Mahabharata from Sanskrit to English, but thanks to the huge volume it remained an unfinished task. It is remarkable that Warren Hastings, the Governor, fully lent his support to Wilkins in such activity. However, in 1785, Wilkins at the age of only 36 attained a remarkable achievement by translating Bhagwat Gita from Sanskrit into English. As a typographer, Wilkins set up the first print type for Bengali and came to be known as “Caxton of India”. He also designed the Persian type for bringing out printed books in Persian.
Wilkins left India for good, back to his homeland, in 1786, in the very next year after he had translated the Gita, as his patron Warren Hastings had also left India. Back in England, he translated the Hitopadesa. He became the Director of the India House Library (which later was known as India Office Library and presently as “British Library-Oriental Collections”). In 1808, he published “The Grammar of the Sanskrita Language”. He was knighted in 1833 and he died in London in 1836 when he was 86.
SIR WILLIAM JONES (1746-1794)
Jones had a much shorter life than Wilkins but achieved much more than Wilkins. Born in London in 1846, three years before Wilkins, he was a “linguistic prodigy” and his youth went in learning Greek, Latin, French, Persian, Arabic and Hebrew. It is said that by the end of his life he knew 13 languages thoroughly and 15 more languages reasonably well! After graduating from Oxford, he did law from Middle Temple, London. Initially he worked as a Circuit Judge in Wales. He worked with Benjamin Franklin in untangling the issues of the American Revolution with which his sympathies lay. He arrived in India (Calcutta) in Sep 1783 to take up his appointment as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Bengal at the young age of 37.
Sir William Jones
The linguistic scholar in Jones overtook his reputation as a Judge. He began to learn Sanskrit. He realized that India had a wealth of heritage to be unraveled to the world. Most astonishingly, within a year of arrival in India, he founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784 to encourage Indological studies. In this work he was assisted by Wilkins and Colebrooke. Jones himself came out with various studied works on Sanskrit, Law, Music, botany, geography etc. Jones was the first to conceive and propose that Sanskrit, Greek and Latin have common roots. He declared that the Sanskrit language is more perfect than Greek and more copious than Latin. He translated “Manusmriti” into English. He translated Kalidasa’s “Sakuntalam” and “Ritu Samhara”, and Jayadeva’s “Gita Govinda” into English.
Sadly Jones passed away in Calcutta from inflammation of liver, when he was only 48 and he lays buried South Park Street Cemetary.
SIR JAMES PRINSEP (1799-1840)
James Prinsep was the son of John Prinsep who came to India as an indigo farmer, made a lot of money and returned to London. James was very good at drawing, engineering, architecture and chemistry. For some time he was an assistant to the assay master at the Royal Mint in London. Assaying is the art of assessing the extent of gold and silver in coins.
He arrived in India (Calcutta) in 1819 and worked as assay master at the Calcutta mint and at the Benaras mint. He was a great numismatist . He deciphered Bactrian and Kushan coins. By studying the post-Alexander coins of the North West which contained Greek on one side and Kharoshti on the other side, he deciphered the Kharoshti script itself. He deciphered the Asokan rock edicts in Brahmi script.
Sir James Prinsep
Prinsep was a great scholar in a variety of subjects. He was adept at and wrote extensively on metallurgy, meteorology, astronomy, architecture, mineralogy and chemistry. He was an artist of great merit and produced a large number of lithographs and water colours. He has an established name amongst the galaxy of Colonial painters.
a lithograph (drawing) made by Prinsep.
In 1832, he succeeded H.H.Wilson as the Secretary of the Asiatic Society of Bengal and became the founder-editor of the “Journal of the Asiatic Society”.
It is said that the over-exercise he gave to his brain to the neglect of his body led to his early death. He suffered from headaches. He left for England in a poor physical condition in 1838 and died there in 1840.
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V.S.Gopalakrishnan
Quite often India does not recognize itself, and when foreigners discover it we obtain our own recognition! This has been particularly so in respect of our ancient heritage! The ancient Sanskrit texts lay beyond the ken of the common man for whom Sanskrit had become a dead language, and some of our English ruling lords were responsible for sensitizing us to the glory of this heritage.
Many Britishers have been responsible for researching into our ancient Sanskrit texts and also translating them. But I consider that special praise belongs to three British Indologists who played a critical role in our reawakening. They are Sir Charles Wilkins (1749-1836), Sir William Jones (1746-1794) and Sir James Prinsep (1799-1840). These were men of extraordinary intellect and extraordinary vision blessed with remarkable talent and capacity for diligence. The three men came to India during the age of the East India Company which the Victorian Government superseded after the Mutiny of 1857. A few other great Indologists such as Henry Thomas Colebrooke (1765-1837) who was really an Orientalist more than an Indologist, and Horace Hayman Wilson (1786-1860) and Max Muller (1823-1900), who never visited India, were also essentially products of the East India Company period. I am not sure if I will be wrong to say that such a high level of Indological scholarship was sustained after the British Government got replaced as our masters.
SIR CHARLES WILKINS (1749-1836)
We must remember that the East India Company headed by Robert Clive got to rule firmly from Calcutta only from 1757 although the Company had got trading license at Calcutta in 1690. How soon the British scholars arrived in Calcutta is a matter of great wonder and amazement! Charles Wilkins was born in 1749 in Somerset, and was trained in youth as a printer. He arrived in India (Calcutta) in 1770 to work as a printer and writer in the Company. He quickly learnt Bengali and Persian and became so fluent in them that he later was appointed as a translator of Bengali and Persian (to English) in the Office of the Commissioner of Revenue. He also became the Superintendent of the Company’s Press.
Wilkins spent some years in Benaras where he learnt Sanskrit from a Brahmin Pandit named Kalinatha. He obtained sufficient proficiency in it as to be able to translate Mahabharata from Sanskrit to English, but thanks to the huge volume it remained an unfinished task. It is remarkable that Warren Hastings, the Governor, fully lent his support to Wilkins in such activity. However, in 1785, Wilkins at the age of only 36 attained a remarkable achievement by translating Bhagwat Gita from Sanskrit into English. As a typographer, Wilkins set up the first print type for Bengali and came to be known as “Caxton of India”. He also designed the Persian type for bringing out printed books in Persian.
Wilkins left India for good, back to his homeland, in 1786, in the very next year after he had translated the Gita, as his patron Warren Hastings had also left India. Back in England, he translated the Hitopadesa. He became the Director of the India House Library (which later was known as India Office Library and presently as “British Library-Oriental Collections”). In 1808, he published “The Grammar of the Sanskrita Language”. He was knighted in 1833 and he died in London in 1836 when he was 86.
SIR WILLIAM JONES (1746-1794)
Jones had a much shorter life than Wilkins but achieved much more than Wilkins. Born in London in 1846, three years before Wilkins, he was a “linguistic prodigy” and his youth went in learning Greek, Latin, French, Persian, Arabic and Hebrew. It is said that by the end of his life he knew 13 languages thoroughly and 15 more languages reasonably well! After graduating from Oxford, he did law from Middle Temple, London. Initially he worked as a Circuit Judge in Wales. He worked with Benjamin Franklin in untangling the issues of the American Revolution with which his sympathies lay. He arrived in India (Calcutta) in Sep 1783 to take up his appointment as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Bengal at the young age of 37.
The linguistic scholar in Jones overtook his reputation as a Judge. He began to learn Sanskrit. He realized that India had a wealth of heritage to be unraveled to the world. Most astonishingly, within a year of arrival in India, he founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784 to encourage Indological studies. In this work he was assisted by Wilkins and Colebrooke. Jones himself came out with various studied works on Sanskrit, Law, Music, botany, geography etc. Jones was the first to conceive and propose that Sanskrit, Greek and Latin have common roots. He declared that the Sanskrit language is more perfect than Greek and more copious than Latin. He translated “Manusmriti” into English. He translated Kalidasa’s “Sakuntalam” and “Ritu Samhara”, and Jayadeva’s “Gita Govinda” into English.
Sadly Jones passed away in Calcutta from inflammation of liver, when he was only 48 and he lays buried South Park Street Cemetary.
SIR JAMES PRINSEP (1799-1840)
James Prinsep was the son of John Prinsep who came to India as an indigo farmer, made a lot of money and returned to London. James was very good at drawing, engineering, architecture and chemistry. For some time he was an assistant to the assay master at the Royal Mint in London. Assaying is the art of assessing the extent of gold and silver in coins.
He arrived in India (Calcutta) in 1819 and worked as assay master at the Calcutta mint and at the Benaras mint. He was a great numismatist . He deciphered Bactrian and Kushan coins. By studying the post-Alexander coins of the North West which contained Greek on one side and Kharoshti on the other side, he deciphered the Kharoshti script itself. He deciphered the Asokan rock edicts in Brahmi script.
Sir James PrinsepPrinsep was a great scholar in a variety of subjects. He was adept at and wrote extensively on metallurgy, meteorology, astronomy, architecture, mineralogy and chemistry. He was an artist of great merit and produced a large number of lithographs and water colours. He has an established name amongst the galaxy of Colonial painters.
In 1832, he succeeded H.H.Wilson as the Secretary of the Asiatic Society of Bengal and became the founder-editor of the “Journal of the Asiatic Society”.
It is said that the over-exercise he gave to his brain to the neglect of his body led to his early death. He suffered from headaches. He left for England in a poor physical condition in 1838 and died there in 1840.
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