The Seminal Contribution of British Orientalists to Indian History

Many Indians consider British rule to be entirely evil. Shashi Tharoor says so in his book Inglorious Empire: What the British Did to India. But they conveniently miss the most important contribution of the British to Indian history.

If it were not for the British orientalists, the glorious Buddhist history of India could not have been brought to light. After all, the Brahmans did their level best to erase every trace of Buddhism in India. First by adopting Buddha as the 9th avatar of Vishnu and later on by converting many Buddhist artifacts, and viharas into Hindu temples.

Prior to the work of these orientalists, Indians had forgotten about their greatest emperor — Ashoka. Many of the Ashokan pillars were destroyed, some were converted into Shivlings, and the Brahmi inscriptions on these pillars could not be deciphered by the Brahmin scholars.

For this reason, it’s important to recognize the contribution of the British to the re-discovery of India’s long-forgotten history, which was also its golden phase.

William Jones

William Jones was a senior judge in the Supreme Court of Calcutta in the 18th Century. He founded the Asiatic Society which later on became the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Jones discovered that the alphabets on Firoz Shah’s pillar in Delhi (Ashokan pillar) bore the same resemblance as some other inscriptions discovered at other places.

However, even though Jones was an accomplished Sanskritist, he was unable to decipher the inscriptions nor was able to discover the person who had ordered their engraving on these stone monuments. The main reason for this inability was that the Ashokan inscriptions were written in the Brahmi script, from which Pali and Sanskrit later developed.

This work of deciphering the Ashokan inscriptions was left to the later-day British orientalists since William Jones died prematurely at the age of 47 in 1794.

James Prinsep

James Prinsep has many accomplishments to his name, but he is best remembered for his contribution to numismatics and deciphering the Ashokan inscriptions written in Ardh Magadhi (Brahmi). He was the first to discover that rock edicts and pillars being found throughout the length and breadth of the country were the work of India’s greatest and long-forgotten emperor, Ashoka.

It was through the painstaking effort of Prinsep that the real personality of Ashoka was revealed through his rock edicts and pillar inscriptions. We now know that Ashoka was not a sectarian ruler but rather a compassionate, secular, hard-working monarch who made the happiness of his subjects the primary objective of his kingship.

For Ashoka, ‘Conquest by Dharma alone’ was the ideal he strived and attained, perhaps the only monarch in the World to do so. He also laid deep emphasis on religious tolerance and a ban on animal sacrifice.

Such deep insight into the life of a king who ruled 2300 years ago could not be possible had it not been for the efforts of Orientalists like Prinsep and to whom India shall remain forever indebted.

Sir Alexander Cunningham

Alexander Cunningham was a friend, confidant, and pupil of James Prinsep. After the untimely death of Prinsep, his unfinished work was carried on with renewed zeal by Cunningham.

Had it not been for Cunningham, the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya would not be present today. The present Bodhi tree is the 4th generation offspring of the original tree.

The earlier Bodhi tree had been destroyed in the 19th Century due to natural causes. It was the foresight of Cunningham that made him transplant a part of the root of the destroyed tree to sprout the present-generation Bodhi tree. The Buddhist world salutes Sir Alexander Cunningham for his great act of kindness.

Cunningham completed the excavation of the Sanchi stupa and made the discovery that the railings with their exquisite carvings at the entrance of the stupa were constructed in a later phase than the original stupa built by Ashoka.

Sir Alexander Cunningham also excavated the Bharhut Stupa constructed in the post-Ashokan period and also wrote a book detailing the stupa.

Cunningham was the founder of the Archaeological Society of India and became its first Director General in 1861.

In the context of excavations and discoveries of ancient sites, he famously remarked that “the discovery and publication of all the existing remains of architecture and sculpture, with coins and inscriptions, would throw more light on the ancient history of India,…,than the printing of all the rubbish contained in the 18 Puranas”.

His contribution to the re-discovery of Buddhist history is seminal.

John Marshall

John Marshall was the Director General of ASI for two decades during which he oversaw the restoration of Sanchi to its pristine glory. So passionate was Marshall towards this historical Buddhist monument, that he co-authored a three-volume work on The Monuments of Sanchi along with the french scholar Alfred Foucher.

Marshall also oversaw the excavations of Harappa and Mohenjodaro along with Daya Ram Sahni and R.D. Bannerjee thereby bringing to light the Indus Valley Civilization before the world for the first time.

The Buddhist monuments around Taxila, including the ancient university, were also excavated by John Marshall, a work that lasted for 21 years.

Apart from these towering figures, there were many other Britishers who contributed to the excavations of India’s legacy.

Did these Orientalists have any vested interest?

When we speak of India’s colonial past, we usually talk in terms of the drain of wealth from India, British oppression, and so on. These British Orientalists had full-time jobs in the British East India Company and later on under the Viceroy’s government.

But they were also deeply interested in knowing about India’s past, its languages, culture, and people. They were confounded to discover that the ancient history of this country was shaped by Buddhism and not Hinduism, a later-day construct.

The Britisher’s zeal for rediscovering India’s ancient past stemmed from their own admiration for their past heritage and its preservation. If you look at the great towns of Europe, you will notice that they have not abandoned their historic buildings and monuments in favor of modernity. Rather these buildings have been well preserved and continue to be in use, hundreds of years after their construction.

This is what led the British orientalists to discover India’s long-forgotten Buddhist past even though they could’ve simply ignored it, being a colonial power.