Art. I.—On the present State and future Prospects of Oriental Literature, viewed in connexion with the Royal Asiatic Society

Abstract

When the Asiatic Society was first founded in Bengal, the purposes of its institution were stated in these memorable words by Sir William Jones: “The bounds of its investigation will be the geographical limits of Asia; and within these limits its inquiries will be extended to whatever is performed by man, or produced by nature.” The announcement was hailed with enthusiasm, not only by the ardent scholars who began to explore the untrodden fields of Indian literature, but by their distant countrymen, anxious to learn the result of their investigations. Asia has ever engaged the sympathies of Christian Europe; it was the cradle of our race, the birth-place of our faith, the first great source of our civilisation. We can read no history, investigate no antiquarian problem, nor examine any philological research, without having our attention more or less directed towards those vast plateaux whence our forefathers descended into the western world. Every new fact communicated respecting them interests us like intelligence of our family; every fresh monument of antiquity discovered in these regions claims the same respect that we accord to the tombs of our ancestors.