UPSC Civil Services Model Paper 3

● Jones and Colebrooke came to represent a particular attitude towards India. They shared a deep respect for ancient cultures, both of India and the West.
● William Jones was the founder of Asiatic Society of Bengal and started a journal Asiatik Researchers. Hence, Statement 1 is NOT correct .
◦ In 1784 he founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal to encourage Oriental studies. He himself took up Sanskrit, to equip himself for the preparation of a vast digest of Hindu and Muslim law.
● Henry Thomas Colebrooke was associated with Royal Asiatic Society and Royal Astronomical Society.
He has been described as " the first great Sanskrit scholar in Europe. " Hence, Statement 2 is NOT correct .
◦ He was a director of the Royal Asiatic Society, and many of the papers in the society's Transactions were communicated by him.
◦ In 1822 he was elected the second president of the Royal Astronomical Society.
◦ After eleven years' residence in India, Colebrooke began the study of the Sanskrit language; and to him was entrusted the translation of the major Digest of Hindu Laws, a monumental study of Hindu law which had been left unfinished by Sir William Jones.