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Incarnations: India in 50 Lives: William Jones: Enlightenment Moghul

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08/06/2015

William Jones: Enlightenment Moghul

BBC Radio 4 - Incarnations: India in 50 Lives, William Jones: Enlightenment Moghul

The 18th-century Welsh scholar who awakened interest in Indian language and culture.

A profile of the greatest Orientalist of his time. William Jones's studies changed not just the way the world sees India, but also how Indians would come to see their own culture.

Professor Sunil Khilnani looks at the contribution Sir William Jones made to our understanding of Indian history and culture. Jones set sail for India at the end of the 18th century where he became one of the greatest advocates for studying the glories of India's past. Already a master of many languages, he learned Sanskrit which he declared "more perfect than the Greeks, more copious than the Latin and more exquisitely refined than either". He introduced a radical idea: that Sanskrit and Europe's classical languages were all tributaries of a single, lost linguistic river. Professor Khilnani describes Jones as "a man who arrived in India and studied its culture with humility and then sought to awaken the West to its riches. The irony is that he also awakened the East".

Produced by Mark Savage
Researcher: Manu Pillai

With a recital of an Indian composition on harpsichord, from the Oriental Miscellany by Jane Chapman.

Listeners can catch up with the series and see the list of remarkable Indians featured in the series on the Radio 4 website.

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