  The Asiatic Society, Kolkata, old building | |
| Established | 15 January 1784; 241 years ago (1784-01-15) |
|---|---|
| Location | 1Park Street Kolkata – 700016 West Bengal,India |
| Type | Library |
| Founder | Sir William Jones |
| President | Swapan Kumar Pramanick[1] |
| Public transit access | Park Street |
| Website | asiaticsocietykolkata.org |
The Asiatic Society is an organisation founded during theCompany rule inIndia to enhance and further the cause of "Oriental research" (in this case, research intoIndia and the surrounding regions). It was founded by thephilologistWilliam Jones on 15 January 1784 in a meeting presided over by JusticeRobert Chambers inCalcutta, the then-capital of thePresidency of Fort William.
At the time of its foundation, this Society was named as "Asiatick Society". In 1825, the society was renamed as "The Asiatic Society". In 1832 the name was changed to "The Asiatic Society of Bengal" and again in 1936 it was renamed as "The Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal". Finally, on 1 July 1951, the name of the society was changed to its present one. The Society is housed in a building atPark Street in Kolkata (Calcutta). The Society moved into this building during 1808. In 1823, theMedical and Physical Society of Calcutta was formed and all the meetings of this society were held in the Asiatic Society.
In January 1784,Sir William Jones sent out a circular-letter to a selected number of British residents of Calcutta with a view to establish a society for the Asiatic studies. At his invitation, 30 British residents met in the Grand Jury Room of the Supreme Court (in Calcutta'sFort William) on 15 January 1784. The meeting was presided over by Sir Robert Chambers. At this meeting, Jones explained the aims of the Society he would establish. TheMemorandum of Articles of the Asiatic Society, prepared by Jones said:[2]
The bounds of investigations will be the geographical limits of Asia, and within these limits its enquiries will be extended to whatever is performed by man or produced by nature.
Notable early members wereCharles Wilkins andAlexander Hamilton (the cousin of the American statesman). Initially, the Grand Jury Room of the Supreme Court was used for the meetings of the members, who had to pay a quarterly fee of twomohurs. The members were elected through ballot-voting. On 29 September 1796, the Society decided to have its own building. J.H. Harrington, then vice-president, selected the corner of Park Street and Chowringhee Road (present location) for the Society's house. The site was granted to the Society on 15 May 1805. The original plan for the new building was prepared byCaptain Thomas Preston. The French architect Jean-Jacques Pichou[3] made certain modifications to it and constructed a two-storeyed building at the site. This 15,071 ft2 building was built at a cost of Rs. 30,000. The first quarterly meeting of the Society for 1808 was held at its new building on 3 February 1808.[2]
From 1784 to 1828, only Europeans were elected members of the Society. In 1829, at the initiative ofH.H. Wilson, a number of Indians were elected members, which includeDwarakanath Tagore, Sivchandra Das, Maharaja Baidyanath Roy, Maharaja Bunwari Govind Roy, Raja Kalikrishna Bahadur, Babu Rajchunder Das (Zamindar ofJanbazar),Ram Comul Sen, and Prasanna Coomar Tagore (member of thePathuriaghata branch of theTagore family). On 12 December 1832,Ram Comul Sen was elected 'Native Secretary'. Later,Rajendralal Mitra became the first Indian President in 1885.[2] Both the orientalistBrajendranath De, and one of his grandsons, the historianBarun De, were for some time vice-president of the Asiatic Society.IT IS ALIVE NOW ALSO TO ENQUITE ABOUT FURTHER STUDIES OF HISTORY.[4][5][6]
One of the main activities of the Asiatic Society was to collect the old manuscripts of India.[7] There was an enormous collection of Sanskrit manuscripts with the society.[7] At present[timeframe?], the library of the Asiatic Society has a collection of about 117,000 books and 79,000 journals printed in almost all the major languages of the world. It has also a collection of 293 maps, microfiche of 48,000 works, microfilm of 387,003 pages, 182 paintings, 2500 pamphlets, and 2150 photographs. The earliest printed book preserved in this library is Juli Firmici'sAstronomicorum Libri published in 1499.[2] It has in its possession a large number of books printed in India in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The library also possesses many rare and scarcely available books. The library has a rich collection of about 47,000 manuscripts in 26 scripts. The most notable amongst them are an illustrated manuscript of theQur'an, a manuscript of theGulistan text, and a manuscript ofPadshah Nama bearing the signature of EmperorShahjahan. The library also has coins issued by Chhatrapati Shivaji Mahraj.[timeframe?]
The early collection of this library was enriched by the contributions it received from its members. On 25 March 1784, the library received seven Persian manuscripts from Henri Richardson. The next contribution came fromWilliam Marsden, who donated his bookThe History of Sumatra (1783) on 10 November 1784. Robert Home, the first Library-in-Charge (1804) donated his small but valuable collection of works on art. The first accession of importance was a gift from the Seringapatam Committee on 3 February 1808 consisting of a collection from the Palace Library ofTipu Sultan. The library received the Surveyor-General Colonel Mackenzie's collection of manuscripts and drawings in December 1822.
Since 1849, the Society has printedBibliotheca Indica, a collection of rare and unpublished works belonging to or treating of Oriental literature and containing original text-editions as well as translations into English, and also grammars, dictionaries, bibliographies, and studies.
The museum of the Society was founded in 1814 under the superintendence ofNathaniel Wallich. The rapid growth of its collection is evident from its first catalogue, published in 1849. By 1849, the Society had its own museum consisting of inscriptions in stone and metal, icons, old coins, and Sanskrit manuscripts etc.[7]
When theIndian Museum of Calcutta was established in 1814, the Society handed over most of its valuable collections to it. The Society, however, still has a museum of its own which possesses a rock edict ofAsoka (c. 250 BCE) and a significant collection of copper plate inscriptions, coins, sculptures, manuscripts, and archival records. Some masterpieces, likeJoshua Reynolds’Cupid asleep on Cloud,Guido Cagnacci'sCleopatra,Thomas Daniell'sA Ghat at Benares, andPeter Paul Rubens’Infant Christ are also in the possession of this museum.
The Society's journal has had several changes of name, sometimes reflecting changes in the Society. It is currently called theJournal of the Asiatic Society.[9][10]
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