Scottish Orientalists and India

Powell, Avril A.:
Scottish Orientalists and India : the Muir Brothers, Religion, Education and Empire / Avril A. Powell. - Woodbridge ; Rochester, NY : The Boydell Press, 2010. - xv, 318 S. : Ill., Kt. - (Worlds of the East India Company ; 4)
ISBN 978-1-84383-579-0
£ 65,00
DDC: 954.0310922

Beschreibung
Structured around the lives and careers of two Scottish scholar-administrator brothers, Sir William and Dr John Muir, who served in the East India Company and the Raj in North-West India from 1827-1876, this book examines cultural, especially religious and educational attitudes and interactions during the period.
   The core of the study centres on a detailed examination of the brothers' seminal works on Vedic and Islamic history and society which, researched from Sanskrit and Arabic sources, became standard reference works on India's religions during the Raj. The publication of these works coincided with the outbreak of the Indian Uprising of 1857, on the nature of which William's correspondence with his brother and others allows some reconsideration, especially in respect of Muslim participation. Powell also examines the response of Indian Muslim scholars, particularly of Sir Saiyid Ahmad Khan, to William's critiques of Islam and the brothers' patronage of Oriental scholarship, comparative religion and education during their long retirement back in their native Scotland. The study contributes to current debates about the Scottish contribution to Empire with particular reference to India and to cultural issues. [Verlagsinformation]

Inhalt
List of illustrations and map. vii
Acknowledgements. ix
Abbreviations. xii
Career summaries. xiv
Muir family networks. xvi
Introduction. 1
1. Scottish Beginnings: Commerce, Christianity and Schooling. 21
2. Preparation for Empire: Haileybury College. 51
3. Religion: Evangelicals in North-West India. 75
4. Education: Engagement with Pandits, 'Ulama and their Pupils. 100
5. The Making of the Orientalist Scholars. 126
6. Original Sanskrit Texts and The Life of Mahomet. 149
7. Hiatus: 1857 and its Lessons. 173
8. Contestation: An Indian Response on Religion and Civilization. 195
9. Symbiosis: Education and the Idea of a University. 221
10. Retrospective from late Nineteenth-Century Edinburgh. 248
Afterword. 278
Glossary. 289
Bibliography. 291
Index. 307

Autorin
AVRIL A. POWELL is Reader Emerita in the History Department at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Profile page.

Quellen: Boydell & Brewer; Amazon; WorldCat