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MarathiatFortWilliamCollege.HetranslatedtheBibleintoBengali,Oriya,
Marathi,Hindi,AssameseandSanskrit.Healsotranslatedpartsofitinto
twentynineotherlanguagesanddialects.Inaddition,hecocompiled
dictionariesofBengali,Sanskrit,andMarathi,andcotranslatedthreevolumes
oftheHinduepicRamayana.Careyisalsocreditedwithestablishingaprinting
pressatSerampore,urgingthegovernmenttoendinfanticideandsati,and
encouragingtheuseofIndiansasmissionaries.In1813,theBritishopened
Indiatomissionaries,andtheirnumbersrapidlyincreased.
Initially,theEastIndiaCompanyhadfollowedtheMoghulpatternofpatronage
toIndianlearning,thoughonamuchmoremodestlevel.Hastingssetupa
CollegeofArabicandPersianstudiesatCalcutta,andJonathanDuncana
SanskritCollegeatBenares.In1813,theCharterActgranted£10,000
annuallyto‘therevivalandimprovementofliteratureandtheencouragementof
thelearnedNativesofIndiaandfortheintroductionandpromotionofa
knowledgeofthesciencesamongtheinhabitantsoftheBritishTerritoriesin
India’(Spear1970:126).Atfirst,undertheinfluenceofBritishorientalists,this
ledtotheprintingofclassicsandthetranslationofmodernworksintoSanskrit.
However,in1835theGovernorGeneralWilliamBentinckissuedaresolution
declaringthatthefundsshouldthereafterbeusedtoimpart‘knowledgeof
EnglishliteratureandsciencethroughthemediumoftheEnglishlanguage’(ibid.:
127).EnglishbecametheofficialstatelanguageinsteadofPersian;inthelower
courts,Persianwasreplacedbythelocallanguages,whosedevelopmentwas
broadenedbytheneedsofadministrativeandlegalprose,ratherthandevotional
poetry.Meanwhile,IndiansbegantorealizetheadvantagesofEnglishforcareer
advancement.TheHinduCollege,whereEnglishlanguageandliteraturewere
taught,wasfoundedinBengalin1816.TheBritishfoundedthreeEnglishstyle
universitiesbetween1848and1856anddevelopedagrantsystemtoenable
Indianstoopenprivatecollegeswhichwereaffiliatedtothem.TheAligarh
CollegewasfoundedbySayyidAhmadKhanin1875tocaterfortheneedsof
MuslimsinDelhi.
Theadventoftheprintingpresshadinitiallyenabledprosetranslationsofthe
Bibletobemadeavailableinthevernaculars.Variousmissionarysocietiesalso
publishedtranslationsofcatechismsandothertexts.Butthepressesalsoserved
toencourageotherprosewritinginthelocallanguages:socialreformers
publishedtractsonwomen’seducation,childmarriage,widowremarriage,and
caste.RamMohanRoy(1772–1833)printedthefirstIndiannewspaperanda
bilingualEnglish–Bengalimagazine.BengaliandHindiwerehisfirstlanguages,
buthealsospokeSanskrit,Persian,Arabic,Hebrew,GreekandEnglish.He
criticizedHindusectarianismandsuperstition,urgingareturntoamonotheism
basedontheVedasandUpanisads,whichhetranslatedfromSanskritinto
Hindi,Bengali,andEnglish.Thetranslationsangeredtheorthodoxtradition,but
ledtohimbeingelectedtohonorarymembershipoftheSociétéAsiatiquein
1824.HealsopublishedsomeworksontheteachingsofChrist.Asfounder
andeditoroftwoofIndia’searliestnewspapers,heurgedthegovernmentto
bansati,whichitdidin1829.
Indianreligionsalsoregainedconfidence,andRamakrishna(asuccessortothe
Bhaktitradition)inspiredhisdiscipleVivekanandatofoundtheRamakrishna
Mission,whichbegantoplayanimportantpartinpublishingHindutextsin
Sanskrit,withEnglishglosses,anddistributingtheminIndiaandabroad,
especiallyintheUnitedStates.PuranasandUpanishadswerealsotranslated,
forexamplebyDurgaprasadintoHindi.VersionsofSanskritandPersiantales
begantoappearinlocallanguages,forexamplethoseofRajaBhoj,Raja
Birbal,Akbar,andHakimTaiinHindi.
Europeanacademicsmeanwhilesponsoredtheestablishmentoflearned
societies,suchastheRoyalAsiaticSociety,thePaliTextSociety,andsoon,
andcontinuedtheproductionoftranslationsofSanskritandPalitexts.
Dictionariesandgrammarswerecompiled,servingtheneedsofbothorientalist
scholarsandChristianmissionaries.TheIndependencemovementalso
encouragedconsiderablelinguisticactivityinlocallanguagesandinEnglish,as
wellasintranslationbetweenthem.
RabindranathTagore(1861–1941)translatedhisownworkfromBengaliinto
English,andwasawardedtheNobelPrizeforLiteraturein1913fortheEnglish
versionofwhatisprobablyhismostenduringwork,Gitanjali,‘Song