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A long-standing European fascination with Asia, from the Middle East to China and Japan, came more sharply into focus during the early modern period, as voyages of exploration gave rise to commercial enterprises such as the East India companies and their attendant colonial activities. This series is a collaborative venture between the Cambridge Library Collection and the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, founded in 1823. The series reissues works from the Royal Asiatic Society's extensive library of rare books and sponsored publications that shed light on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European responses to the cultures of the Middle East and Asia. The selection covers Asian languages, literature, religions, philosophy, historiography, law, mathematics and science, as studied and translated by Europeans and presented for Western readers.

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103 results in Cambridge Library Collection - Perspectives from the Royal Asiatic Society

Page 4 of 6

The History of India, as Told by its Own Historians
  • The Muhammadan Period
  • Volume 1
  • Henry Miers Elliot
  • Edited by John Dowson
  • Published online:
    05 June 2014
    Print publication:
    21 March 2013
    First published in:
    1867
  • This extensive eight-volume work was first published between 1867 and 1877 by the linguist John Dowson (1820–81) from the manuscripts of the colonial administrator and scholar Sir Henry Miers Elliot (1808–53). Before his death, hoping to bolster British colonial ideology, Elliot had intended to evaluate scores of Arabic and Persian historians of India, believing that his translations would demonstrate the violence of the Muslim rulers and 'make our native subjects more sensible of the immense advantages accruing to them under the mildness and the equity of our rule'. Volume 1 contains introductory material and Elliot's original preface; early Arab geographers' chronicles, including Ibn Khordadbeh's ninth-century Book of Roads and Kingdoms and tenth-century works by Estakhri and Ibn Hawqal; histories of Sindh, including the Chach Nama; and extensive appendices giving further contextual information and ethnographic notes on India.

A Grammar of the Mahratta Language
  • To Which Are Added Dialogues on Familiar Subjects
  • William Carey
  • Published online:
    05 May 2014
    Print publication:
    07 March 2013
    First published in:
    1805
  • Marathi, an official language of Maharashtra and Goa, is among the twenty most widely spoken languages in the world. The southernmost Indo-Aryan language, it is also spoken in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, and Daman and Diu, and is believed to be over 1,300 years old, with its origins in Sanskrit. First published in 1805, this grammar of Marathi (then known as Mahratta) was compiled by the Baptist missionary William Carey (1761–1834) during his time in India. Its purpose was to assist Carey's European students at Fort William College in their learning of the language, and it is comprehensive in ITS coverage, providing numerous examples. Containing detailed descriptions of Marathi's Devanagari alphabet, its word and sentence formation, and its complex tense, voice, gender, agreement, inflection, and case systems, the work remains an invaluable resource for linguists today. Carey's 1810 dictionary of Marathi is also reissued in this series.

A Code of Gentoo Laws; or, Ordinations of the Pundits
  • From a Persian Translation, Made from the Original, Written in the Shanscrit Language
  • Nathaniel Brassey Halhed
  • Published online:
    05 May 2014
    Print publication:
    28 March 2013
    First published in:
    1776
  • In the second half of the eighteenth century, the English philologist Nathaniel Brassey Halhed (1751–1830) was employed in India by the East India Company. There he was asked to translate into English the Hindu legal code, so that the British authorities could better understand native laws. The result was this accomplished work, first published in 1776, which served to correct Western misinterpretations of Hindu law, and to show that it was fully adequate for application in Bengal, and also the most appropriate system, as opposed to Western-style laws, in the region's cultural and religious milieu. In preparing it, Halhed sought advice from experienced native lawyers, who provided verifications of both the Persian version and its Sanskrit original. Accompanied by the translator's preface and a glossary, this extensive code remains of relevance to scholars of Indian law and history.

A Grammar of the High Dialect of the Tamil Language, Termed Shen-Tamil
  • To Which is Added, an Introduction to Tamil Poetry
  • C. G. Beschi
  • Translated by B. G. Babington
  • Published online:
    05 May 2014
    Print publication:
    18 April 2013
    First published in:
    1822
  • Published in 1822, but completed in manuscript form almost 100 years earlier, this work was designed to accompany Beschi's earlier Grammar of Common Tamil. While the latter enabled the student to speak the language, this reissue offers a way into reading Tamil's classical literature with its complexity of thought and technique. One of the earliest and most distinguished pioneers in the field of Tamil studies, C. G. Beschi (1680–1747) was a Jesuit missionary in Madura, as well as a translator and composer of Tamil poetry. Since this treatise was not previously formally printed, this translation by B. G. Babington (1794–1866), from the original Latin, is based on a collation of texts, transcriptions and copies. In his preface, Babington outlines errata and problems stemming from this process, and makes explanatory notes where necessary. The work nevertheless remains a groundbreaking study of an ancient and complex language by a sensitive and thorough scholar and a gifted translator.

The Works of Sir William Jones
  • With the Life of the Author by Lord Teignmouth
  • Volume 7
  • William Jones
  • Edited by Lord Teignmouth
  • Published online:
    05 May 2014
    Print publication:
    28 March 2013
    First published in:
    1807
  • A renowned Enlightenment polymath, Sir William Jones (1746–94) was a lawyer, translator and poet who wrote authoritatively on politics, comparative linguistics and oriental literature. Known initially for his Persian translations and political radicalism, Jones became further celebrated for his study and translation of ancient Sanskrit texts following his appointment to the supreme court in Calcutta in 1783. He spent the next eleven years introducing Europe to the mysticism and rationality of Hinduism through works such as his nine 'Hymns' to Hindu deities and his translation of the Sanskrit classic Sacontalá. Volume 7 of his thirteen-volume works, published in 1807, addresses Jones' significant jurisprudential work, containing his 'Charges' as a supreme court judge. It also contains Jones's most controversial work, his Institutes of Hindu Law (1794), a translation from Sanskrit which Jones considered his masterpiece, although postcolonial scholars argue that it cemented Britain's imperial control over India.

The Cave Temples of India
  • James Fergusson, James Burgess
  • Published online:
    05 May 2014
    Print publication:
    06 May 2013
    First published in:
    1880
  • Born in Scotland, James Fergusson (1808–86) spent ten years as an indigo planter in India, the profits from which allowed him to embark upon a second career as an architectural historian. Although he had no formal training, he became one of the most respected researchers in the field, particularly in Indian architecture. He made numerous trips around India in order to study and document its cave temples, publishing his first book on the subject in 1845. In 1880, he returned to the subject, collaborating with the archaeologist James Burgess (1832–1916) as part of the Archaeological Survey of India. It was Fergusson who first categorized the temples, suggesting that they could be classified through reference to the religious order and function. Illustrated with more than 150 maps, plans and drawings, this work of impressive scope remains of relevance to students of Indian architecture and history.

The Dervishes
  • Or, Oriental Spiritualism
  • John P. Brown
  • Published online:
    05 May 2014
    Print publication:
    28 March 2013
    First published in:
    1868
  • An American diplomat and self-taught scholar of the history and languages of the Islamic world, John Porter Brown (1814–72) published in 1868 this illustrated account of the Dervish orders of the Near East. Assisted closely by followers of this Sufi ascetic path while in Constantinople, Brown based his research on original Turkish, Arabic and Persian manuscripts. The work also includes extracts from other scholarly works on Dervish history, fleshing out this engaging introduction to a devout way of life and the philosophy underpinning it. As a Freemason, Brown was struck by the relationship between some Masonic and Dervish tenets, and he highlights parallels between the Christian and Islamic faiths in order to forge a better understanding of the traditions and beliefs of the people of the Near East for the benefit of Western readers.

The Algebra of Mohammed ben Musa
  • Mohammed ben Musa
  • Translated by Friedrich August Rosen
  • Published online:
    05 April 2014
    Print publication:
    28 March 2013
    First published in:
    1831
  • Mohammed ben Musa (c.780–c.850) was a Persian mathematician and astronomer. The word 'algebra' derives from his Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing, which introduced modern algebraic methods. First published in 1831, this translation from Arabic into English was prepared by the German orientalist Friedrich August Rosen (1805–37). The key algebraic methods introduced are reduction, completion and balancing. To reduce an equation is to change an expression to a simpler form; completion is to remove a negative quantity from one side of the equation and add it to the other; and balancing is to cancel like terms on opposite sides of the equation. An account is also given of solving polynomial equations up to the second degree. Rosen's introduction and notes accompany the translation, which remains relevant in the history of mathematics.

The Kingdom and People of Siam
  • With a Narrative of the Mission to that Country in 1855
  • Volume 2
  • John Bowring
  • Published online:
    05 April 2014
    Print publication:
    28 March 2013
    First published in:
    1857
  • Published in two volumes in 1857, this was the most successful work of the linguist and politician Sir John Bowring (1792–1872). His varied career included work as an editor and translator, service as an MP in Britain and as a consul in China, and the controversial governorship of Hong Kong. His appointment to this last post in 1854 saw him aggressively assert British interests with little regard for Asian sensibilities. The following year he travelled to Siam (Thailand) to negotiate a treaty with that country which became a model for future agreements, giving the Siamese government an insight into Western diplomacy which would be invaluable. Volume 2 covers the political make-up of the nation, containing chapters on its dependencies and diplomatic relations, including an account of the work done by Bowring and his party. Also featured are personal accounts from long-term foreign residents of Siam and writings by its king, Mongkut (1804–68).

Two Treatises on the Hindu Law of Inheritance
  • Translated by H. T. Colebrooke
  • Jimutavahana, Vijnaneshwara
  • Published online:
    05 April 2014
    Print publication:
    06 June 2013
    First published in:
    1810
  • Published in 1810, this work was one of the key translations of texts that formed part of the law books of the Anglo-Indian civil courts under the East India Company. A successor to the orientalist and jurist Sir William Jones, Henry Thomas Colebrooke (1765–1837) had taught himself Sanskrit and became involved in studying and trying to codify Hindu law to apply it in the civil law courts where he held superior judicial positions. Here he translates two medieval texts, Jimutavahana's Dayabhaga and part of Vijnaneshwara's Mitakshara, which formalised an area of legal theory, serving as the principal guides in, respectively, Bengal and the rest of India for laws on inheritance until the Hindu Succession Act of 1956. Despite errors later identified in the translation, Colebrooke's work stands as an important scholarly undertaking, reflecting his desire to promote knowledge of Hindu law, culture and heritage throughout the English-speaking world.

Observations on the State of Society among the Asiatic Subjects of Great Britain
  • Particularly with Respect to Morals; and on the Means of Improving It
  • Charles Grant
  • Published online:
    05 April 2014
    Print publication:
    18 April 2013
    First published in:
    1797
  • Scotsman Charles Grant (1746–1823) travelled to India in 1767. During his 22-year stay, he rose through the ranks of the East India Company, serving as a member of the company's board of trade. Following his return to Britain, he served three times as the company's chairman and was also elected to Parliament. His conversion to a fervent form of Christianity had occurred in 1776, making him a well-known advocate of evangelisation in the newly acquired British territories. In this work, he launches a strong attack on Hindu belief, labelling it as depraved, degenerate and despotic. 'The true cure of darkness is the introduction of light,' he argues. Written in 1792 but first published in 1797, this work was also presented to Parliament in 1813 in a bid to influence the renewal and amendment of the East India Company's charter.

The Sikh Religion
  • Its Gurus, Sacred Writings and Authors
  • Volume 4
  • Max Arthur Macauliffe
  • Published online:
    05 April 2014
    Print publication:
    28 March 2013
    First published in:
    1909
  • Born and educated in Ireland, Max Arthur Macauliffe (1841–1913) joined the Indian Civil Service in 1862. In 1882 he was promoted to the post of deputy commissioner of the Punjab. But it was after he retired from the civil service in 1893 that he gained public attention. Macauliffe developed a close affinity with Sikhism while in the Punjab, eventually converting to the religion. His translation into English of the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of Sikhism, is recognised as the most accurate to date. Following this project, he set to work on this six-volume set, covering the history and philosophy of Sikhism, first published in 1909 and still regarded as the definitive work on the subject. Volume 4 narrates the lives of Hargobind, Har Rai, Harkrishan and Tegh Bahadur, the sixth to ninth Sikh gurus, with translations of Tegh Bahadur's compositions in the Sikh holy book.

Exposé de la religion des Druzes
  • Tiré des livres religieux de cette secte, et précédé d'une introduction et de la vie du khalife Hakem-biamr-Allah
  • Volume 1
  • Antoine Isaac Silvestre de Sacy
  • Published online:
    05 April 2014
    Print publication:
    28 February 2013
    First published in:
    1838
  • Antoine Isaac Silvestre de Sacy (1758–1838), the most distinguished French orientalist of his time, is considered the father of Arab scholarship in Europe. He had a lifelong interest in a little-known religious community, the Druze, which emerged in the eleventh century as an Ismaili schismatic movement. De Sacy's monumental study was begun in the 1790s, when he translated some of the Druze scriptures from Arabic to French. Such was his commitment to learning more about the Druze that he waited forty years before publishing this two-volume work in 1838, as he hoped to uncover further source material. It offers pioneering insight into the religious system founded by Hamza ibn-'Ali ibn-Ahmad during the reign of the caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah. Volume 1 looks at the early history and doctrines of the Ismaili movement before expanding on the reign of al-Hakim (996–1021).

Notes of Proceedings and Occurrences, during the British Embassy to Pekin, in 1816
  • George Thomas Staunton
  • Published online:
    05 April 2014
    Print publication:
    28 March 2013
    First published in:
    1824
  • Sir George Thomas Staunton (1781–1859), Sinologist and politician, was a key figure in Anglo-Chinese relations, as had been his father. In 1798 he began working for the British East India Company in Canton (Guangzhou), where he was the only Englishman who could understand Chinese, having begun learning it as a child. By 1815, British trade with China was worth over £4 million in tea duties alone, and there was immense pressure for the Chinese to relax their restrictions. In 1816, following earlier failed missions, an embassy, including Staunton as second commissioner, was organised to seek better trading conditions and to press the emperor for the opening up of a second harbour. Chinese mistrust and British arrogance led to the failure of the embassy, with no imperial audience given. This account, privately published in 1824, is a valuable document in the understanding of the historical background to Britain's relationship with China into the twentieth century.

Exposé de la religion des Druzes
  • Tiré des livres religieux de cette secte, et précédé d'une introduction et de la vie du khalife Hakem-biamr-Allah
  • Volume 2
  • Antoine Isaac Silvestre de Sacy
  • Published online:
    05 April 2014
    Print publication:
    28 February 2013
    First published in:
    1838
  • Antoine Isaac Silvestre de Sacy (1758–1838), the most distinguished French orientalist of his time, is considered the father of Arab scholarship in Europe. He had a lifelong interest in a little-known religious community, the Druze, which emerged in the eleventh century as an Ismaili schismatic movement. De Sacy's monumental study was begun in the 1790s, when he translated some of the Druze scriptures from Arabic to French. Such was his commitment to learning more about the Druze that he waited forty years before publishing this two-volume work in 1838, as he hoped to uncover further source material. It offers pioneering insight into the religious system founded by Hamza ibn-'Ali ibn-Ahmad during the reign of the caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah. Volume 2 thoroughly examines the Druze hierarchical structures and doctrines, from moral duties to civil law.

The Ancient Geography of India
  • The Buddhist Period, Including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang
  • Alexander Cunningham
  • Published online:
    05 April 2014
    Print publication:
    28 March 2013
    First published in:
    1871
  • 'Ancient geography' refers here to India's Buddhist period up to the seventh century CE, during which time Buddhism was the subcontinent's dominant religion. First published in 1871, this detailed study covering this period was written by Sir Alexander Cunningham (1814–93), who served as an officer in the East India Company and then went on to found and direct the Archaeological Survey of India. He had become an expert on the country's ancient geography owing to his experience as a surveyor. In this work he draws on material ranging from the campaigns of Alexander the Great to the travels of the seventh-century Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang, who recorded much about India's geographical, political, religious and cultural landscape. Although this book was published as Part I, a subsequent volume on the Muslim period was never completed.

The Kingdom and People of Siam
  • With a Narrative of the Mission to that Country in 1855
  • Volume 1
  • John Bowring
  • Published online:
    05 April 2014
    Print publication:
    28 March 2013
    First published in:
    1857
  • Published in two volumes in 1857, this was the most successful work of the linguist and politician Sir John Bowring (1792–1872). His varied career included work as an editor and translator, service as an MP in Britain and as a consul in China, and the controversial governorship of Hong Kong. His appointment to this last post in 1854 saw him aggressively assert British interests with little regard for Asian sensibilities. The following year he travelled to Siam (Thailand) to negotiate a treaty with that country which became a model for future agreements, giving the Siamese government an insight into Western diplomacy which would be invaluable. Volume 1 is an illustrated introduction to the country, following the structure of Bishop Pallegoix's earlier work, with chapters on Siam's geography and history; population; manners and customs; legislation; resources, industry and finances; culture and religion; and its capital, Bangkok.

Historical Sketches of the South of India
  • In an Attempt to Trace the History of Mysoor, from the Origin of the Hindoo Government of that State, to the Extinction of the Mohammedan Dynasty in 1799
  • Volume 3
  • Mark Wilks
  • Published online:
    05 April 2014
    Print publication:
    28 March 2013
    First published in:
    1817
  • Classically educated, Mark Wilks (c.1760–1831) joined the Madras army of the East India Company and would go on to serve as political resident at the court of Mysore from 1803 to 1808. He also later served as governor of Saint Helena from 1813 to 1816, during which time he witnessed the arrival of Napoleon Bonaparte. Elected to the Manx parliament in 1816, Wilks became its speaker in 1826 and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in the same year. Drawing on state records and his own experiences, he first published this acclaimed three-volume history of the kingdom of Mysore between 1810 and 1817. Volume 3 narrates the history of the third (1789–92) and fourth (1798–9) Anglo-Mysore wars, the capture of Seringapatam and the death of Tipu Sultan (1750–99).

The History of India
  • Volume 2
  • Mountstuart Elphinstone
  • Published online:
    05 April 2014
    Print publication:
    28 February 2013
    First published in:
    1841
  • Appointed through family influence to the East India Company, Mountstuart Elphinstone (1779–1859) arrived on the subcontinent in 1796, quickly learning Persian and developing an interest in Indian civilisation. After postings in Benares, Afghanistan and Poona, he became governor in 1819 of the recently acquired territory that became known as the Bombay Presidency, where he remained until his resignation in 1827. On his return to England, he devoted much of his time to writing and was a founder member of the Royal Geographical Society. This two-volume history, based on a range of Indian sources and first published in 1841, is infused with his lifelong understanding of Indian culture, science and philosophy. A scholarly refutation of James Mill's History, it was the most popular work of its kind among the early Victorian public. Volume 2 covers the period from the thirteenth century to the demise of the Mogul empire in the mid-eighteenth century.

Bija Ganita; or, the Algebra of the Hindus
  • Bhascara Acharya
  • Translated by Edward Strachey
  • Published online:
    05 April 2014
    Print publication:
    28 February 2013
    First published in:
    1813
  • An important mathematician and astronomer in medieval India, Bhascara Acharya (1114–85) wrote treatises on arithmetic, algebra, geometry and astronomy. He is also believed to have been head of the astronomical observatory at Ujjain, which was the leading centre of mathematical sciences in India. Forming part of his Sanskrit magnum opus Siddhānta Shiromani, the present work is his treatise on algebra. It was first published in English in 1813 after being translated from a Persian text by the East India Company civil servant Edward Strachey (1774–1832). The topics covered include operations involving positive and negative numbers, surds and zero, as well as algebraic, simultaneous and indeterminate equations. Strachey also appends useful notes made by the orientalist Samuel Davis (1760–1819). Of enduring interest in the history of mathematics, this was notably the first work to acknowledge that a positive number has two square roots.

Page 4 of 6