Orientalist-Anglicist Controversy in India

• The impact of British rule in India extended to education and society.
• Churches, hospitals, and houses were constructed by the British upon settling in India.
• An example of church built during this time is the All Saints Cathedral Church in Allahabad.
• The British formed societies for hobbies like singing and acting.
• Clubs were established to provide social meeting places.
• Towns were constructed by the British in cooler, hilly areas for holidays.
• Indian towns became divided into two sections: "white towns" for Europeans and "black towns" for Indians.
• Europeans lived in spacious bungalows along wide, tree-lined roads.
• Indians resided in crowded areas, except for a few wealthy individuals in larger houses.
• By the mid-18th century, India had fallen behind Europe.
• Intellectual influence from European cultures remains, despite the decline of British military, political, and economic power.
• Before British rule, India was not a unified country but a collection of fragmented kingdoms.
• This disunity aided the British in establishing their empire.

Orientalists

• Orientalists were people with scholarly knowledge of Asian cultures and languages.
• Early East India Company officials believed that studying Indian languages and culture was essential for governance.
• They wrote and translated books on Indian literature, history, and culture, respecting Indian customs and laws.
• William Jones, a key Orientalist, founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal.
• The Asiatic Society of Bengal became an important center for Indian studies.
• Orientalists scientifically studied and classified Indian plants and animals.
• They also created the first modern maps of India and established the census.

Anglicists

• Many British officials did not share respect for Indian culture.
• They viewed India as backward and superstitious and aimed to reform and modernize it.
• These officials were known as the Anglicists.

Debate over Education

• The British-East India Company faced a controversy on the nature of education for local populations.
• Orientalists advocated for Sanskrit, Arabic, and Persian as mediums of education.
• Anglicists promoted Western education through English.
• Anglicists encouraged Christian missionaries to spread Christianity and educate Indians.
• Missionaries established schools for Indian children.
• William Carey, an important missionary, founded a mission and school in Serampore near Calcutta.
• Carey translated the Bible into Bengali and other Indian languages.
• He also bought a Bengali printing press and published dictionaries and grammar books.
• Carey and other Serampore missionaries set up printing presses in about 40 Indian languages.
• Printing presses made it possible to print works in these languages for the first time.
• They established a paper factory and published school books.
• There was a movement to motivate both Europeans and wealthy Indians to donate to private schools and colleges.
• Examples of schools that arose from private donations were Hindu College, later Presidency College (now Presidency University) in Calcutta, and Elphinstone College in Bombay.

William Jones Speech

• Sanskrit described as a language of wonderful structure, more perfect than Greek, more copious than Latin, and exquisitely refined.
• Sanskrit bears a stronger affinity to Greek and Latin in verb roots and grammar forms.
• It is believed that all three languages sprung from a common source.

Thomas Macaulay Extracts

• A single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia.
• It is necessary to educate people who cannot be educated by means of their mother tongue; they must be taught a foreign language.
• There is a need to form a class of interpreters between the British and the millions they govern.
• This class should be Indian in blood and color but English in tastes, opinions, morals, and intellect.

Wood’s Despatch

• Sir Charles Wood of the East India Company planned a complete education system overhaul called Wood's Despatch.
• Departments of Education were established in various states.
• Universities were established in Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras, with colleges networked under them.
• Education of the masses was recommended, with emphasis on primary education.
• A system of primary, secondary, and high schools was established.
• English was made compulsory in higher education; local languages were used at the school level.
• Educational institutions were mandated to be run by European headmasters and principals.
• The plan was introduced in 1854.

Social Reforms

• British officials continued the western education.
• Initially, British officials followed a policy of non-interference in social affairs.
• Orientalists believed that Indian customs and traditions should be respected and not changed.
• Anglicists opposed this view and believed that India should be changed.
• Newspapers were published in both English and vernacular languages in India.
• These newspapers highlighted social issues and increased awareness.
• Public opinion shifted in favor of reform.
• An educated, well-informed Indian middle class with liberal ideas developed.
• The educated middle class agreed that Indian society needed reform.
• This inhuman social custom was common in northern India, especially in Bengal.
• William Bentinck was distressed by reports of 800 cases of sati in a year.
• Bentinck promulgated Regulation XVII on December 4, 1829, outlawing sati.
• Those practicing sati were made liable for punishment in law courts as accessories to the crime.
• Widows were mistreated socially.
• Girls aged 8 or 9 were often married to older men.
• Widows had to shave their heads, wear white clothes, and eat simple vegetarian food, and were considered unlucky.
• The Hindu Widow Remarriage Act 1856 legalized the remarriage of Hindu widows.
• Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, an Indian social reformer, played a significant role in the act's establishment.
• Lord Dalhousie drafted the act and Lord Canning passed it.
• Bentinck's suppression of the 'thugs,' hereditary robbers, contributed to the material welfare of the people.
• Thugs operated in groups of 50-100, posing as commercial gangs or pilgrims who strangled and robbed travelers.
• They increased in number during the 18th century in central and northern India amidst the Mughal Empire's disintegration.
• Colonel Sleeman systematically organized a campaign against the thugs from 1830.
• Around 2,000 thugs were captured; many were exterminated, and the rest were transported to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• Sir William Sleeman was known as "Thugee Sleeman" for role in suppressing thugs.