Sanskrit College Benaras 1791
Also called: Benaras Sanskrit College · Topic: Europeans in India and the Rise of Company Rule · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Sanskrit College at Benaras (Varanasi) was founded in 1791 by Jonathan Duncan. Duncan was the East India Company's Resident, its official agent, at Benaras. The college studied and preserved Hindu law, literature and religion through Sanskrit. It also had a practical purpose: to train Indian pandits (Sanskrit scholars) who could help British judges apply Hindu law in the Company's courts. It is an early example of Company support for Indian learning.
Example
Pandits trained at the Benaras Sanskrit College advised Company judges on Hindu law. They helped decide cases about inheritance and family matters in the courts of the late 18th century.
Don't confuse with
- Calcutta Madrasa (1781): Warren Hastings founded it in Calcutta for Islamic law and Persian–Arabic learning. The Benaras college focused on Sanskrit and Hindu law.
Related concepts
- Orientalists
- Calcutta Madrasa 1781
- Charter Act 1813
- Hindu College 1817
- Orientalist-Anglicist controversy
- Macaulay's Minute on Indian Education
- William Bentinck
- Downward filtration theory
- Wood's Despatch 1854