Monier Monier-Williams | |
|---|---|
 Photo of Monier Monier-Williams byLewis Carroll | |
| Born | Monier Williams (1819-11-12)12 November 1819 Bombay,Bombay Presidency, British India |
| Died | 11 April 1899(1899-04-11) (aged 79) Cannes, France |
| Education | King's College School,Balliol College, Oxford; East India Company College; University College, Oxford |
| Known for | Boden Professor of Sanskrit; Sanskrit–English dictionary |
| Awards | Knight Bachelor; Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire |
Sir Monier Monier-WilliamsKCIE (/ˈmɒniər/;néWilliams; 12 November 1819 – 11 April 1899) was a British scholar who was the secondBoden Professor of Sanskrit atOxford University, England. He studied, documented and taughtAsian languages, especiallySanskrit,Persian andHindustani.
Monier Williams was born inBombay, the son of Colonel Monier Williams,surveyor-general in theBombay presidency. His surname was "Williams" until 1887, when he added his given name to his surname to create the hyphenated "Monier-Williams". In 1822, he was sent to England to be educated at private schools at Hove, Chelsea and Finchley. He was educated atKing's College School,Balliol College, Oxford (1838–40), theEast India Company College (1840–41) andUniversity College, Oxford (1841–44). He took a fourth-class honours degree inLiterae Humaniores in 1844.[1]
He married Julia Grantham, daughter of Rev. Francis Joseph Faithfull, in 1848. They had six sons and one daughter. He died, aged 79, inCannes,France.[2]
Monier Williams taught Asian languages at theEast India Company College from 1844 until 1858[3][4] whencompany rule in India ended after the1857 rebellion. He came to national prominence during the1860 election campaign for theBoden Chair of Sanskrit atOxford University, in which he stood againstMax Müller.
The vacancy followed the death ofHorace Hayman Wilson in 1860. Wilson had started the university's collection ofSanskrit manuscripts upon taking the chair in 1831, and had indicated his preference that Williams should be his successor. The campaign was notoriously acrimonious. Müller was known for his liberal religious views and his philosophical speculations based on his reading of Vedic literature. Monier Williams was seen as a less brilliant scholar, but had a detailed practical knowledge of India itself, and of actual religious practices in modern Hinduism. Müller, in contrast, had never visited India.[5]
Both candidates had to emphasise their support for Christian evangelisation in India, since that was the basis on which the professorship had been funded by its founder. Monier Williams' dedication to Christianisation was not doubted, unlike Müller's.[6] Monier Williams also stated that his aims were practical rather than speculative. "Englishmen are too practical to study a language very philosophically", he wrote.[5]
After his appointment to the professorship Williams declared from the outset that the conversion of India to the Christian religion should be one of the aims oforientalist scholarship.[6] In his bookHinduism, published bySPCK in 1877, he predicted the demise of the Hindu religion and called for Christian evangelism to ward off the spread of Islam.[6] According to Saurabh Dube this work is "widely credited to have introduced the term Hinduism into general English usage"[7] while David N. Lorenzen cites the book along withIndia, and India Missions: Including Sketches of the Gigantic System of Hinduism, Both in Theory and Practice : Also Notices of Some of the Principal Agencies Employed in Conducting the Process of Indian Evangelization.[8][9]
When Monier Williams founded the University'sIndian Institute in 1883, it provided both an academic focus and also a training ground for theIndian Civil Service.[2] Since the early 1870s Monier Williams planned this institution. His vision was the better acquaintance of England and India. On this account he supported academic research intoIndian culture. Monier Williams travelled to India in 1875, 1876 and 1883 to finance his project by fundraising. He gained the support ofIndian native princes. In 1883 thePrince of Wales laid the foundation stone; the building was inaugurated in 1896 byLord George Hamilton. The Institute closed onIndian independence in 1947.
In his writings on Hinduism Monier Williams argued that theAdvaita Vedanta system best represented the Vedic ideal and was the "highest way to salvation" in Hinduism. He considered the more popular traditions ofkarma andbhakti to be of lesser spiritual value. However, he argued that Hinduism is a complex "huge polygon or irregular multilateral figure" that was unified bySanskrit literature. He stated that "no description of Hinduism can be exhaustive which does not touch on almost every religious and philosophical idea that the world has ever known."[6]
Monier-Williams compiled aSanskrit–English dictionary, based on the earlierPetersburg Sanskrit Dictionary,[10] which was published in 1872. A later revised edition was published in 1899 with collaboration byErnst Leumann and Carl Cappeller (sv).[11]
He wasknighted in 1876, and was madeKCIE in 1887, when he adopted his given name of Monier as an additional surname. He was elected as a member of theAmerican Philosophical Society in 1886.[12]
He also received the following academic honours: Honorary DCL, Oxford, 1875; LLD,Calcutta, 1876; Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, 1880; Honorary PhD, Göttingen, 1880s; Vice-President,Royal Asiatic Society, 1890; Honorary Fellow of University College, Oxford, 1892.[2]
Monier-Williams's translations include that ofKālidāsa's playsVikramorvasi (1849)[13] andŚākuntala (1853; 2nd ed. 1876).[14]
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