The Asiatic Society is an organisation founded during the Company rule in India to enhance and further the cause of "Oriental research" (in this case, research into India and the surrounding regions). It was founded by the philologist William Jones on 15 January 1784 in a meeting presided over by Justice Robert Chambers in Calcutta, the then-capital of the Presidency of Fort William.

At the time of its foundation, this Society was named as "Asiatick Society". In 1825, the society was renamed as "The Asiatic Society". In 1832 the name was changed to "The Asiatic Society of Bengal" and again in 1936 it was renamed as "The Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal". Finally, on 1 July 1951, the name of the society was changed to its present one. The Society is housed in a building at Park Street in Kolkata (Calcutta). The Society moved into this building during 1808. In 1823, the Medical and Physical Society of Calcutta was formed and all the meetings of this society were held in the Asiatic Society.

History

thumb|Old building of The Asiatic Society, , an early 19th century lithograph

In January 1784, Sir William Jones sent out a circular-letter to a selected number of British residents of Calcutta with a view to establish a society for the Asiatic studies. At his invitation, 30 British residents met in the Grand Jury Room of the Supreme Court (in Calcutta's Fort William) on 15 January 1784. The meeting was presided over by Sir Robert Chambers. At this meeting, Jones explained the aims of the Society he would establish. The Memorandum of Articles of the Asiatic Society, prepared by Jones said:

<blockquote> The bounds of investigations will be the geographical limits of Asia, and within these limits its enquiries will be extended to whatever is performed by man or produced by nature.</blockquote>Notable early members were Charles Wilkins and Alexander Hamilton (the cousin of the American statesman). Initially, the Grand Jury Room of the Supreme Court was used for the meetings of the members, who had to pay a quarterly fee of two mohurs. The members were elected through ballot-voting. On 29 September 1796, the Society decided to have its own building. J.H. Harrington, then vice-president, selected the corner of Park Street and Chowringhee Road (present location) for the Society's house. The site was granted to the Society on 15 May 1805. The original plan for the new building was prepared by Captain Thomas Preston. The French architect Jean-Jacques Pichou made certain modifications to it and constructed a two-storeyed building at the site. This 15,071&nbsp;ft<sup>2</sup> building was built at a cost of Rs. 30,000. The first quarterly meeting of the Society for 1808 was held at its new building on 3 February 1808. There was an enormous collection of Sanskrit manuscripts with the society.]]

The museum of the Society was founded in 1814 under the superintendence of Nathaniel Wallich. The rapid growth of its collection is evident from its first catalogue, published in 1849. By 1849, the Society had its own museum consisting of inscriptions in stone and metal, icons, old coins, and Sanskrit manuscripts etc.

  • 1798-1842 Asiatick Researches, Transactions of the Society Instituted in Bengal, for enquiring into the History and Antiquities, the Arts, Sciences and Literature, of Asia
  • 1832 The Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal – James Prinsep was the founding editor
  • 1953 The Journal of the Asiatic Society

List of presidents

See also

  • The Asiatic Society of Mumbai
  • Asiatic Society of Bangladesh
  • Calcutta Historical Society
  • Société Asiatique
  • South Asian Studies

Works

In 2025, the Asiatic Society of Kolkata launched 'Anukriti' at its 243rd Foundation Day. Anukriti focuses on the physical recreation of damaged manuscripts using technologies developed in collaboration with the IPCV Laboratory, IIT Kharagpur and CDAC Kolkata.

References and sources

;References

;Sources

  • Mitra, S.K. (1974). The Asiatic Society, Calcutta: The Asiatic Society.
  • "Asiatic Society", Banglapedia. On Line.
  • "Asiatic Society of Bengal", Scholarly Societies Project.
  • Scanned volumes of the Journal of the Asiatic Society