Orientalist
Orientalists were the group of people who wanted to give education to Indian people in the Indian language. The emphasis was on the knowledge of the East. They wanted Indians to learn about Indian philosophy, science, and literature. In the Initial stage, company officials favored oriental learning.
Orientalists were led by William Jones who was a junior judge of the supreme court and linguist. He had a deep interest in Indian philosophy, religion, law, and politics. Henry Thomas Colebrooke and Nathanial Halhed were other officials who supported the orientalist approach, they had an interest in the Indian glory, cultural decline, and future development.
The interest of these British officials led to the formation of the Asiatic Society of Bengal on January 15, 1784, by Sir William Jones. They started a journal called Asiatic Researches. Other important establishments regarding orientalists were Calcutta Madrasa by Warren Hastings in 1781, and The Banaras Sanskrit college by Jonathan Duncan in 1791.
Aims of the Orientalist
- They wanted to become guardians of Indian culture and hoped to win the hearts of the native people so that it becomes easy to rule them by appearing as protectors of their culture.
- They believed that to bring the glory back and rule properly they need to learn Indian culture and literature which led to a detailed study and translation of the ancient text.
- Most of the orientalists were linguists and their personal interest in learning about India’s rich culture and history favored oriental learning.
Orientalist-Anglicist Controversy
The East India Company was formed in 1600. Before the arrival of the East India Company in India, Persian used to be the court language. Both Hindus and Muslims irrespective of religion used to learn Persian to get employment.
After attaining political power in the country EIC wanted to remain neutral and not interfere in the sphere of religion and culture of Indian society. They feared adverse reactions and opposition to their work by indigenous people. However, after constant pressure from Christian missionaries, the orientalist, liberals, and Indian social reformers, it decided to take educational administration into their hands.
The first effort regarding bringing educational reform was taken in the Charter Act of 1813. It was decided that EIC will provide Rs. 1 lakh for the promotion of education in India. However, a conflict of opinion arose that whether the company should promote western education or Indian education. The medium of instruction between English or Indian languages like Sanskrit, Persian, or Arabic was also a concern. This controversy is known as Orientalist-Anglicist Controversy.
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