Fort William College
Encyclopedia
Fort William College was an academy and learning centre of Oriental studies
established by Lord Wellesley
, then Governor-General
of British India. It was founded on July 10, 1800 within the Fort William complex in Calcutta
. Thousands of books were translated from Sanskrit
, Arabic, Persian
, Bengali
, Hindi
and Urdu
at this institution.
settled in Calcutta. It is considered by many historians to be starting point of the Bengal renaissance
. A establishment of The Calcutta Madrassa in 1781, the Asiatic Society
in 1784 and the Fort William College in 1800, completed the first phase of Kolkata’s emergence as an intellectual centre.
Teaching of Asian languages dominated: Arabic, Hindustani, Persian, Sanskrit, Bengali; and later Marathi and even Chinese were added. Each department of the college was staffed by notable scholars. The Persian department was headed by Neile B. Edmonstone, Persian translator to the government. His assistant teacher was John H. Harington, a judge of Sadar Diwani Adalat and Francis Gladwin, a soldier diplomat. For Arabic studies, there was Lt. John Baillie, a noted Arabist. The Hindustani language
department was entrusted to John Borthwick Gilchrist
, an Indologist of great repute. H.T. Colebroooke, the famous orientalist, was head of the Sanskrit department. William Carey, a non-civilian missionary and a specialist in many Indian languages, was selected to head the department of vernacular languages. While notable scholars were identified and appointed for different languages, there was no suitable person in Kolkata who could be appointed to teach Bengali. In those days the Brahmin scholars learnt only Sanskrit, considered to be the language of the gods, and did not study Bengali. The authorities decided to appoint Carey, who was with the Baptist Mission in Serampore
. He, in turn, appointed Mrityunjoy Vidyalankar as head pandit, Ramnath Bachaspati as second pandit and Ramram Bose as one of the assistant pandits.
Along with teaching, translations were organized. The college employed more than one hundred local linguists. At that time there were no textbooks available in Bengali. On 23 April 1789, Calcutta Gazette published the humble request of several Natives of Bengal for a Bengali grammar and dictionary.
. The Raj Bhavan
(then known as Government House) was opened a little later.
.
were never in favour of a training college in Kolkata and as such there always was a fund crunch for running the college. Subsequently a separate college for the purpose, The East India Company College
at Haileybury (England), was established in 1807. However Fort William College continued to be a centre of learning languages.
With the British settling down in the seat of power, their requirements changed. Bentinck
announced his educational policy of public instruction in English in 1835, mostly to cater to the growing needs of administration and commerce. He clipped the wings of Fort William College and the Dalhousie
administration formally dissolved the institution in 1854.
Orientalism
Orientalism is a term used for the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists, as well as having other meanings...
established by Lord Wellesley
Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley
Richard Colley Wesley, later Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, KG, PC, PC , styled Viscount Wellesley from birth until 1781, was an Anglo-Irish politician and colonial administrator....
, then Governor-General
Governor-General of India
The Governor-General of India was the head of the British administration in India, and later, after Indian independence, the representative of the monarch and de facto head of state. The office was created in 1773, with the title of Governor-General of the Presidency of Fort William...
of British India. It was founded on July 10, 1800 within the Fort William complex in Calcutta
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
. Thousands of books were translated from Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
, Arabic, Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
, Bengali
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
, Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
and Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
at this institution.
The college
Fort William College aimed at training British officials in Indian languages and in the process it fostered the development of languages such as Bengali and Hindi. The period is of historical importance. In 1815, Ram Mohan RoyRam Mohan Roy
Raja Ram Mohan Roy was an Indian religious, social, and educational reformer who challenged traditional Hindu culture and indicated the lines of progress for Indian society under British rule. He is sometimes called the father of modern India...
settled in Calcutta. It is considered by many historians to be starting point of the Bengal renaissance
Bengal Renaissance
The Bengal Renaissance refers to a social reform movement during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the region of Bengal in Undivided India during the period of British rule...
. A establishment of The Calcutta Madrassa in 1781, the Asiatic Society
Asiatic Society
The Asiatic Society was founded by Sir William Jones on January 15, 1784 in a meeting presided over by Sir Robert Chambers, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court at the Fort William in Calcutta, then capital of the British Raj, to enhance and further the cause of Oriental research. At the time of...
in 1784 and the Fort William College in 1800, completed the first phase of Kolkata’s emergence as an intellectual centre.
Teaching of Asian languages dominated: Arabic, Hindustani, Persian, Sanskrit, Bengali; and later Marathi and even Chinese were added. Each department of the college was staffed by notable scholars. The Persian department was headed by Neile B. Edmonstone, Persian translator to the government. His assistant teacher was John H. Harington, a judge of Sadar Diwani Adalat and Francis Gladwin, a soldier diplomat. For Arabic studies, there was Lt. John Baillie, a noted Arabist. The Hindustani language
Hindustani language
Hindi-Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language and the lingua franca of North India and Pakistan. It is also known as Hindustani , and historically, as Hindavi or Rekhta...
department was entrusted to John Borthwick Gilchrist
John Borthwick Gilchrist
John Borthwick Gilchrist FRSE was a Scottish surgeon and Indologist.-Early life:Gilchrist was born in Edinburgh to merchant Walter Gilchrist, who disappeared the year he was born...
, an Indologist of great repute. H.T. Colebroooke, the famous orientalist, was head of the Sanskrit department. William Carey, a non-civilian missionary and a specialist in many Indian languages, was selected to head the department of vernacular languages. While notable scholars were identified and appointed for different languages, there was no suitable person in Kolkata who could be appointed to teach Bengali. In those days the Brahmin scholars learnt only Sanskrit, considered to be the language of the gods, and did not study Bengali. The authorities decided to appoint Carey, who was with the Baptist Mission in Serampore
Serampore
Serampore is a city and a municipality in Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority. It is a pre-colonial town on the right bank of the Hoogli River...
. He, in turn, appointed Mrityunjoy Vidyalankar as head pandit, Ramnath Bachaspati as second pandit and Ramram Bose as one of the assistant pandits.
Along with teaching, translations were organized. The college employed more than one hundred local linguists. At that time there were no textbooks available in Bengali. On 23 April 1789, Calcutta Gazette published the humble request of several Natives of Bengal for a Bengali grammar and dictionary.
Location
It was located at the corner of Council House Street. The house was subsequently occupied by Messrs. Mackenzie Lyall & Co., and known as The Exchange. Still later, it housed the offices of Bengal Nagpur Railway. In those days, it was at one corner of the parade ground, now known as the MaidanMaidan (Kolkata)
The Maidan is the largest urban park in Kolkata in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a vast stretch of field and home to numerous play grounds, including the famous cricketing venue Eden Gardens, several football stadia, and Kolkata Race Course. Maidan is dotted with several statues and...
. The Raj Bhavan
Raj Bhavan (West Bengal)
Raj Bhavan is the Governor's palace in Kolkata, West Bengal. Built in 1803 and once the residence of the Viceroy of India, and called Government House, the palatial building is now the residence of the Governor of West Bengal. The present Governor, H.E...
(then known as Government House) was opened a little later.
Library
For teaching purposes the College of Fort William accumulated a library of old manuscripts (from all over South Asia) and added multiple copies of its own imprints. The list of books recommended later for preservation includes many books of historical value. Subsequently, when the college was wound up, it gave away the magnificent collection in the library to the newly formed Calcutta Public Library, now the National LibraryNational Library of India
The National Library of India at Belvedere, Calcutta is the second largest library in India after the Anna Centenary Library in Chennai and India's library of public record....
.
Hurdles
The court of directors of the British East India CompanyBritish East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
were never in favour of a training college in Kolkata and as such there always was a fund crunch for running the college. Subsequently a separate college for the purpose, The East India Company College
East India Company College
The East India College was a college in Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire, England. It was founded in February 1806 as the training establishment for the British East India Company . At that time, the BEIC provided general and vocational education for young gentlemen of sixteen to eighteen years old,...
at Haileybury (England), was established in 1807. However Fort William College continued to be a centre of learning languages.
With the British settling down in the seat of power, their requirements changed. Bentinck
Lord William Bentinck
Lieutenant-General Lord William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck GCB, GCH, PC , known as Lord William Bentinck, was a British soldier and statesman...
announced his educational policy of public instruction in English in 1835, mostly to cater to the growing needs of administration and commerce. He clipped the wings of Fort William College and the Dalhousie
James Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie
James Andrew Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie KT, PC was a Scottish statesman, and a colonial administrator in British India....
administration formally dissolved the institution in 1854.
Eminent scholars
Fort William College was served by a number of eminent scholars. They contributed enormously towards development of Indian languages and literature. Some of them are noted below.- William Carey (1761–1834) was with Fort William College from 1801 to 1831. During this period he published a Bengali grammar and dictionary, numerous text books, the BibleBibleThe Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, grammar and dictionary in other Indian languages. - John Borthwick GilchristJohn Borthwick GilchristJohn Borthwick Gilchrist FRSE was a Scottish surgeon and Indologist.-Early life:Gilchrist was born in Edinburgh to merchant Walter Gilchrist, who disappeared the year he was born...
(June 1759 - 1841) - Mrityunjay Vidyalankar (1762?–1819) was First Pandit at Fort William College. He wrote a number of text books and is considered the first ‘conscious artist’ of Bengali prose. Although a Sanskrit scholar he started writing Bengali as per the needs of Fort William College. He published Batris Singhasan (1802), Hitopodesh (1808) and Rajabali (1808). The last named book was the first published history of India. Mrityunjoy did not know English and as such the contents were possibly provided by the English-knowing scholars of Fort William College.
- Tarini Charan Mitra (1772–1837), a scholar in English, Urdu, Hindi, Arabic and Persian, was with the Hindustani department of Fort William College. He had translated many stories into Bengali.
- Lallulal (also spelt as Lalloolal or Lallo Lal), the father of Hindi KhariboliKhariboliKhariboli , also Khari Boli, Khadiboli, Khadi Boli or simply Khari, is a Western Hindi dialect spoken mainly in the rural surroundings of Delhi, the northern areas of Western Uttar Pradesh and the southern areas of Uttarakhand in India...
prose, was instructor in Hindustani at Fort William College. He printed and published in 1815 the first book of old Hindi literature, Tulsidas’s Vinaypatrika. - Ramram BasuRamram BasuRamram Basu was a notable early scholar and translator of the Bengali language , and credited with writing the first original work of Bangla prose written by a Bengali....
(1757–1813) was with the Fort William College. He assisted William Carey, Joshua Marshman and William WardWilliam Ward (missionary)William Ward was an English pioneer Baptist missionary, author, printer and translator. On 10 May 1802 he was married at Serampore to the widow of John Fountain, another missionary, by whom he left two daughters.-Early life:...
in the publication of the first Bengali translation of the Bible. - Ishwar Chandra VidyasagarIshwar Chandra VidyasagarIshwar Chandra Vidyasagar CIE , born Ishwar Chandra Bandopadhyaya , was an Indian Bengali polymath and a key figure of the Bengal Renaissance....
(1820–91) was head pandit at Fort William College from 1841 to 1846. He concetrated on English and Hindi while serving in the college. After discharging his duties as academician, and engagements as a reformer he had little time for creative writing. Yet through the text books he produced, the pamphlets he wrote and retelling of Kalidas’sKalidasaKālidāsa was a renowned Classical Sanskrit writer, widely regarded as the greatest poet and dramatist in the Sanskrit language...
Shakuntala and Shakespeare’sWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
A Comedy of Errors he set the norm of standard Bengali prose. - Madan Mohan TarkalankarMadan Mohan TarkalankarMadan Mohan Tarkalankar was a Bengali poet and Sanskrit scholar. He also developed Bengali text-books for children. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Akshay Kumar Datta and Tarkalankar were the first “to envisage texts that would build the character of the new generation without sacrificing literary...
(1817–58) taught at Fort William College. He was one of the pioneers of text book writing.