Asiatic Society of Bombay – Burning Issues – Free PDF

Context

• On Saturday, the Asiatic Society of Mumbai elected the first woman president in the 215 years of its existence.
• Prof Vispi Balaporia will head the institution that is a treasure house of remarkable historical artifacts.

 Asiatic Society, Mumbai

• The Asiatic Society is housed in the iconic Town Hall building in the colonial-era Fort precinct and has witnessed the evolution of the city’s intelligentsia in its long history.
• It is a learned society
• Its library, home to over 1 lakh books
• It has generous donations by the likes of Mountstuart Elphinstone, Jagannath Shankarsheth, Cowasji Jehangir, and Bhau Daji Lad.
• The library recently scrapped its referral system for membership
• Among the prized collections of the Society is an original copy of Dante’s Divine Comedy, and coins issued by Kumaragupta (5th century), Akbar (16th century), and Shivaji (17th century).
• The Governor of Maharashtra is the Society’s Chief Patron.

 A Rich history

• The Asiatic Society began its journey in 1804 as the Literary Society of Bombay.
• It was founded by Sir James Mackintosh
• In 1826, the Literary Society became the Mumbai arm of the London-based Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland and came to be called the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (BBRAS).
• In its early days, membership of the Society was restricted to European “gentlemen”, and the “natives” were not allowed to join until 1841.
• The Bombay Geographical Society and the Anthropological Society of Bombay merged with the BBRAS in 1873 and 1896 respectively.
• According to the Society’s website, its journal has been in publication since 1841.

 Asiatic Society

• The Asiatic Society was founded by civil servant Sir William Jones on 15 January 1784 in a meeting presided over by Sir William Jones, Justice of the Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William in Calcutta.
• It aimed to enhance and further the cause of Oriental research.
• One of the main activities of the Asiatic Society was to collect the old manuscripts of India.

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