Fort William College
Fort William College (also known as the College of Fort William) was an academy of
Languages
Fort William College aimed at training British officials in
Teaching of Asian languages dominated: Arabic, Urdu, Persian, Sanskrit, Bengali. Later, Marathi and even Chinese were added.[6] Each department of the college was staffed by notable scholars. The Persian department was headed by Neil B. Edmonstone, Persian translator to the East India Company's government since 1794.[7] While notable scholars were identified and appointed for different languages, there was no suitable person in Calcutta 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 they 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 Basu as one of the assistant pandits.[8]
Along with teaching, translations were organized. The college employed more than one hundred local linguists.[6] There were no textbooks available in Bengali. On 23 April 1789, the Calcutta Gazette published the humble request of several natives of Bengal for a Bengali grammar and dictionary.[8]
Location
The college was located at the corner of Council House Street and Dalhousie Square (now B. B. D. Bagh). After the college closed the building had a series of occupancies. First it was The Exchange of Messrs. Mackenzie Lyall & Co., then offices of the Bengal Nagpur Railway[9]: 271 and later the local HSBC Bank office.[9]: 544
Library
The College library of Fort William was an important centre of learning and housed a magnificent collection of old manuscripts and many valuable historical books from across South Asia. Multiple MS copies were printed.[6][10] When the college was dissolved in 1854, the books of the collection listed for preservation were transferred to the newly formed Calcutta Public Library, now the National Library.[6] Some books were transferred to the School of Oriental Languages in Paris and are now held at BULAC.[11]
Hurdles
The court of directors of the
With the British settling down in the seat of power, their requirements changed. Lord William Bentinck announced his educational policy of public instruction in English in 1835, mostly to cater to the growing needs of administration and commerce.[4]: 236 He clipped the wings of Fort William College, and the Dalhousie administration formally dissolved the institution in 1854.[7]
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 textbooks, the Bible, grammar and dictionary in other Indian languages.[12]: 112
- Matthew Lumsden (1777–1835)
- John Borthwick Gilchrist(June 1759 – 1841)
- Mrityunjay Vidyalankar (c. 1762 – 1819) was First Pandit at Fort William College. He wrote a number of textbooks and is considered the first 'conscious artist' of Bengali prose.[13] 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 so the contents were possibly provided by other scholars of Fort William College.[8]
- 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.[12]: 196
- Vinaypatrika.[3]
- Ramram Basu (1757–1813) was with the Fort William College. He assisted William Carey, Joshua Marshman and William Ward in the publication of the first Bengali translation of the Bible.[3]
- Kalidasa's Shakuntala and Shakespeare's A Comedy of Errors he set the norm of standard Bengali prose.[5]
References
- Danvers, FC; M. Monier-Williams; et al. (1894). Memorials of Old Haileybury College. Westminster: Archibald Constable and Company. p. 238.
- ISBN 978-969-0-01691-1.
- ^ ISBN 0-19-563696-1.
- ^ ISBN 81-7476-355-4.
- ^ ISBN 0-19-563696-1.
- ^ a b c d e Diehl, Katharine Smith. "College of Fort William". Katharine Smith Diehl Seguin, Texas. Archived from the original on 30 April 2007. Retrieved 19 February 2007.
- ^ a b c Islam, Sirajul (2012). "Fort William College". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
- ^ a b c Mukhopadhyay, Prabhatkumar, Rammohun O Tatkalin Samaj O Sahitya, 1965, pp. 47–51, Viswa Bharati Granthan Bibhag (in Bengali).
- ^ a b Cotton, H.E.A., Calcutta Old and New, 1909/1980, General Printers and Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
- ^ Pritchett, Frances. "Selected publications of Fort William College" (PDF). First Editions recommended for preservation. Columbia University. Retrieved 19 February 2007.
- ^ "Fort William College Collection at BULAC (in French)". bina : collections patrimoniales numérisées de la BULAC. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
- ^ ISBN 81-85626-65-0(in Bengali).
- ISBN 0-19-563696-1.
Further reading
- Bowen, John (October 1955). "The East India Company's Education of its Own Servants". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. New Series. 87 (3–4). London: The Royal Asiatic Society: 105–123. .