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 Page 1


Civilising the “Native”, 
Educating the Nation
6
In the earlier chapters, you have seen how British rule affected 
rajas and nawabs, peasants and tribals. In this chapter, we 
will try and understand what implication it had for the lives of 
students. For, the British in India wanted not only territorial 
conquest and control over revenues. They also felt that they had 
a cultural mission: they had to “civilise the natives”, change their 
customs and values.
What changes were to be introduced? How were Indians 
to be educated, “civilised”, and made into what the British 
believed were “good subjects”? The British could find no simple 
answers to these questions. They continued to be debated for 
many decades. 
How the British saw Education
Let us look at what the British thought and 
did, and how some of the ideas of education 
that we now take for granted evolved in the 
last two hundred years. In the process of this 
enquiry, we will also see how Indians reacted 
to British ideas, and how they developed  
their own views about how Indians were to 
be educated.
The tradition of Orientalism
In 1783, a person named William Jones 
arrived in Calcutta. He had an appointment 
as a junior judge at the Supreme Court that 
the Company had set up. In addition to being 
an expert in law, Jones was a linguist. He 
had studied Greek and Latin at Oxford, knew 
French and English, had picked up Arabic 
from a friend, and had also learnt Persian. 
At Calcutta, he began spending many hours 
a day with pandits who taught him the 
subtleties of Sanskrit language, grammar and Fig. 1 – William Jones learning Persian
Linguist – Someone 
who knows and  
studies several 
languages
Chap 6.indd   65 8/31/2022   5:00:41 PM
Reprint 2024-25
Page 2


Civilising the “Native”, 
Educating the Nation
6
In the earlier chapters, you have seen how British rule affected 
rajas and nawabs, peasants and tribals. In this chapter, we 
will try and understand what implication it had for the lives of 
students. For, the British in India wanted not only territorial 
conquest and control over revenues. They also felt that they had 
a cultural mission: they had to “civilise the natives”, change their 
customs and values.
What changes were to be introduced? How were Indians 
to be educated, “civilised”, and made into what the British 
believed were “good subjects”? The British could find no simple 
answers to these questions. They continued to be debated for 
many decades. 
How the British saw Education
Let us look at what the British thought and 
did, and how some of the ideas of education 
that we now take for granted evolved in the 
last two hundred years. In the process of this 
enquiry, we will also see how Indians reacted 
to British ideas, and how they developed  
their own views about how Indians were to 
be educated.
The tradition of Orientalism
In 1783, a person named William Jones 
arrived in Calcutta. He had an appointment 
as a junior judge at the Supreme Court that 
the Company had set up. In addition to being 
an expert in law, Jones was a linguist. He 
had studied Greek and Latin at Oxford, knew 
French and English, had picked up Arabic 
from a friend, and had also learnt Persian. 
At Calcutta, he began spending many hours 
a day with pandits who taught him the 
subtleties of Sanskrit language, grammar and Fig. 1 – William Jones learning Persian
Linguist – Someone 
who knows and  
studies several 
languages
Chap 6.indd   65 8/31/2022   5:00:41 PM
Reprint 2024-25
66 OUR PASTS – III
Madrasa – An Arabic 
word for a place of 
learning; any type of 
school or college
poetry. Soon he was studying ancient Indian texts on            
law, philosophy, religion, politics, morality, arithmetic, 
medicine and the other sciences. 
Jones discovered that his interests were shared by many 
British officials living in Calcutta at the time. Englishmen 
like Henry Thomas Colebrooke and Nathaniel Halhed were 
also busy discovering the ancient Indian heritage, mastering 
Indian languages and translating Sanskrit and Persian works 
into English. Together with them, Jones set up the Asiatic 
Society of Bengal, and started a journal called Asiatick 
Researches. 
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. Indian 
civilisation, they felt, had attained its glory in the 
ancient past, but had subsequently declined. In order to 
understand India, it was necessary to discover the sacred 
and legal texts that were produced in the ancient period. 
For only those texts could reveal the real ideas and laws 
of the Hindus and Muslims, and only a new study of 
these texts could form the basis of future development  
in India.
So Jones and Colebrooke went about discovering  ancient 
texts, understanding their meaning, translating them, and 
making their findings known to others. This project, they 
believed, would not only help the British learn from Indian 
culture, but it would also help Indians rediscover their own 
heritage, and understand the lost glories of their past. In this 
process, the British would become the guardians of Indian 
culture as well as its masters. 
Influenced by such ideas, many Company officials 
argued that the British ought to promote Indian rather 
than Western learning. They felt that institutions should 
be set up to encourage the study of ancient Indian texts 
and teach Sanskrit and Persian literature and poetry. The 
officials also thought that Hindus and Muslims ought to 
be taught what they were already familiar with, and what 
they valued and treasured, not subjects that were alien to 
them. Only then, they believed, could the British hope to 
win a place in the hearts of the “natives”; only then could 
the alien rulers expect to be respected by their subjects. 
With this object in view, a madrasa was set up in 
Calcutta in 1781 to promote the study of Arabic, Persian 
and Islamic law; and the Hindu College was established 
in Benaras in 1791 to encourage the study of ancient 
Sanskrit texts that would be useful for the administration 
of the country.
Fig. 2 – Henry Thomas 
Colebrooke
He was a scholar of Sanskrit 
and ancient sacred writings of 
Hinduism.
Chap 6.indd   66 4/21/2022   12:18:02 PM
Reprint 2024-25
Page 3


Civilising the “Native”, 
Educating the Nation
6
In the earlier chapters, you have seen how British rule affected 
rajas and nawabs, peasants and tribals. In this chapter, we 
will try and understand what implication it had for the lives of 
students. For, the British in India wanted not only territorial 
conquest and control over revenues. They also felt that they had 
a cultural mission: they had to “civilise the natives”, change their 
customs and values.
What changes were to be introduced? How were Indians 
to be educated, “civilised”, and made into what the British 
believed were “good subjects”? The British could find no simple 
answers to these questions. They continued to be debated for 
many decades. 
How the British saw Education
Let us look at what the British thought and 
did, and how some of the ideas of education 
that we now take for granted evolved in the 
last two hundred years. In the process of this 
enquiry, we will also see how Indians reacted 
to British ideas, and how they developed  
their own views about how Indians were to 
be educated.
The tradition of Orientalism
In 1783, a person named William Jones 
arrived in Calcutta. He had an appointment 
as a junior judge at the Supreme Court that 
the Company had set up. In addition to being 
an expert in law, Jones was a linguist. He 
had studied Greek and Latin at Oxford, knew 
French and English, had picked up Arabic 
from a friend, and had also learnt Persian. 
At Calcutta, he began spending many hours 
a day with pandits who taught him the 
subtleties of Sanskrit language, grammar and Fig. 1 – William Jones learning Persian
Linguist – Someone 
who knows and  
studies several 
languages
Chap 6.indd   65 8/31/2022   5:00:41 PM
Reprint 2024-25
66 OUR PASTS – III
Madrasa – An Arabic 
word for a place of 
learning; any type of 
school or college
poetry. Soon he was studying ancient Indian texts on            
law, philosophy, religion, politics, morality, arithmetic, 
medicine and the other sciences. 
Jones discovered that his interests were shared by many 
British officials living in Calcutta at the time. Englishmen 
like Henry Thomas Colebrooke and Nathaniel Halhed were 
also busy discovering the ancient Indian heritage, mastering 
Indian languages and translating Sanskrit and Persian works 
into English. Together with them, Jones set up the Asiatic 
Society of Bengal, and started a journal called Asiatick 
Researches. 
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. Indian 
civilisation, they felt, had attained its glory in the 
ancient past, but had subsequently declined. In order to 
understand India, it was necessary to discover the sacred 
and legal texts that were produced in the ancient period. 
For only those texts could reveal the real ideas and laws 
of the Hindus and Muslims, and only a new study of 
these texts could form the basis of future development  
in India.
So Jones and Colebrooke went about discovering  ancient 
texts, understanding their meaning, translating them, and 
making their findings known to others. This project, they 
believed, would not only help the British learn from Indian 
culture, but it would also help Indians rediscover their own 
heritage, and understand the lost glories of their past. In this 
process, the British would become the guardians of Indian 
culture as well as its masters. 
Influenced by such ideas, many Company officials 
argued that the British ought to promote Indian rather 
than Western learning. They felt that institutions should 
be set up to encourage the study of ancient Indian texts 
and teach Sanskrit and Persian literature and poetry. The 
officials also thought that Hindus and Muslims ought to 
be taught what they were already familiar with, and what 
they valued and treasured, not subjects that were alien to 
them. Only then, they believed, could the British hope to 
win a place in the hearts of the “natives”; only then could 
the alien rulers expect to be respected by their subjects. 
With this object in view, a madrasa was set up in 
Calcutta in 1781 to promote the study of Arabic, Persian 
and Islamic law; and the Hindu College was established 
in Benaras in 1791 to encourage the study of ancient 
Sanskrit texts that would be useful for the administration 
of the country.
Fig. 2 – Henry Thomas 
Colebrooke
He was a scholar of Sanskrit 
and ancient sacred writings of 
Hinduism.
Chap 6.indd   66 4/21/2022   12:18:02 PM
Reprint 2024-25
CIVILISING THE “NATIVE”, EDUCATING THE NATION         67
Not all officials shared these views. Many were very 
strong in their criticism of the Orientalists. 
“Grave errors of the East”
From the early nineteenth century, many British officials 
began to criticise the Orientalist vision of learning. They 
said that knowledge of the East was full of errors and 
unscientific thought; Eastern literature was non-serious 
and light-hearted. So they argued that it was wrong 
on the part of the British to spend so much effort in 
encouraging the study of Arabic and Sanskrit language 
and literature. 
James Mill was one of those who attacked the 
Orientalists. The British effort, he declared, should not be 
to teach what the natives wanted, or what they respected, 
in order to please them and “win a place in their heart”. 
The aim of education ought to be to teach what was useful 
and practical. So Indians should be made familiar with 
the scientific and technical advances that the West had 
made, rather than with the poetry and sacred literature 
of the Orient.
By the 1830s, the attack on the Orientalists became 
sharper. One of the most outspoken and influential 
of such critics of the time was Thomas Babington 
Macaulay. He saw India as an uncivilised country that 
needed to be civilised. No branch of Eastern knowledge, 
according to him could be compared to what England 
had produced. Who could deny, declared Macaulay, that 
Fig. 3 – Monument to Warren Hastings, by 
Richard Westmacott, 1830, now in Victoria 
Memorial in Calcutta
This image represents how Orientalists 
thought of British power in India. You will 
notice that the majestic figure of Hastings, an 
enthusiastic supporter of the Orientalists, is 
placed between the standing figure of a pandit 
on one side and a seated munshi on the 
other side. Hastings and other Orientalists 
needed Indian scholars to teach them the 
“vernacular” languages, tell them about local 
customs and laws, and help  them translate 
and interpret ancient texts. Hastings took 
the initiative to set up the Calcutta Madrasa, 
and believed that the ancient customs of the 
country and Oriental learning ought to be the 
basis of British rule in India.
Orientalists – Those with 
a scholarly knowledge of 
the language and culture           
of Asia
Munshi – A person who 
can read, write and teach 
Persian
Vernacular – A term 
generally used to refer to 
a local language or dialect 
as distinct from what 
is seen as the standard 
language. In colonial 
countries like India, the 
British used the term 
to mark the difference 
between the local 
languages of everyday 
use and English – the 
language of the imperial 
masters.
Chap 6.indd   67 4/21/2022   12:18:04 PM
Reprint 2024-25
Page 4


Civilising the “Native”, 
Educating the Nation
6
In the earlier chapters, you have seen how British rule affected 
rajas and nawabs, peasants and tribals. In this chapter, we 
will try and understand what implication it had for the lives of 
students. For, the British in India wanted not only territorial 
conquest and control over revenues. They also felt that they had 
a cultural mission: they had to “civilise the natives”, change their 
customs and values.
What changes were to be introduced? How were Indians 
to be educated, “civilised”, and made into what the British 
believed were “good subjects”? The British could find no simple 
answers to these questions. They continued to be debated for 
many decades. 
How the British saw Education
Let us look at what the British thought and 
did, and how some of the ideas of education 
that we now take for granted evolved in the 
last two hundred years. In the process of this 
enquiry, we will also see how Indians reacted 
to British ideas, and how they developed  
their own views about how Indians were to 
be educated.
The tradition of Orientalism
In 1783, a person named William Jones 
arrived in Calcutta. He had an appointment 
as a junior judge at the Supreme Court that 
the Company had set up. In addition to being 
an expert in law, Jones was a linguist. He 
had studied Greek and Latin at Oxford, knew 
French and English, had picked up Arabic 
from a friend, and had also learnt Persian. 
At Calcutta, he began spending many hours 
a day with pandits who taught him the 
subtleties of Sanskrit language, grammar and Fig. 1 – William Jones learning Persian
Linguist – Someone 
who knows and  
studies several 
languages
Chap 6.indd   65 8/31/2022   5:00:41 PM
Reprint 2024-25
66 OUR PASTS – III
Madrasa – An Arabic 
word for a place of 
learning; any type of 
school or college
poetry. Soon he was studying ancient Indian texts on            
law, philosophy, religion, politics, morality, arithmetic, 
medicine and the other sciences. 
Jones discovered that his interests were shared by many 
British officials living in Calcutta at the time. Englishmen 
like Henry Thomas Colebrooke and Nathaniel Halhed were 
also busy discovering the ancient Indian heritage, mastering 
Indian languages and translating Sanskrit and Persian works 
into English. Together with them, Jones set up the Asiatic 
Society of Bengal, and started a journal called Asiatick 
Researches. 
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. Indian 
civilisation, they felt, had attained its glory in the 
ancient past, but had subsequently declined. In order to 
understand India, it was necessary to discover the sacred 
and legal texts that were produced in the ancient period. 
For only those texts could reveal the real ideas and laws 
of the Hindus and Muslims, and only a new study of 
these texts could form the basis of future development  
in India.
So Jones and Colebrooke went about discovering  ancient 
texts, understanding their meaning, translating them, and 
making their findings known to others. This project, they 
believed, would not only help the British learn from Indian 
culture, but it would also help Indians rediscover their own 
heritage, and understand the lost glories of their past. In this 
process, the British would become the guardians of Indian 
culture as well as its masters. 
Influenced by such ideas, many Company officials 
argued that the British ought to promote Indian rather 
than Western learning. They felt that institutions should 
be set up to encourage the study of ancient Indian texts 
and teach Sanskrit and Persian literature and poetry. The 
officials also thought that Hindus and Muslims ought to 
be taught what they were already familiar with, and what 
they valued and treasured, not subjects that were alien to 
them. Only then, they believed, could the British hope to 
win a place in the hearts of the “natives”; only then could 
the alien rulers expect to be respected by their subjects. 
With this object in view, a madrasa was set up in 
Calcutta in 1781 to promote the study of Arabic, Persian 
and Islamic law; and the Hindu College was established 
in Benaras in 1791 to encourage the study of ancient 
Sanskrit texts that would be useful for the administration 
of the country.
Fig. 2 – Henry Thomas 
Colebrooke
He was a scholar of Sanskrit 
and ancient sacred writings of 
Hinduism.
Chap 6.indd   66 4/21/2022   12:18:02 PM
Reprint 2024-25
CIVILISING THE “NATIVE”, EDUCATING THE NATION         67
Not all officials shared these views. Many were very 
strong in their criticism of the Orientalists. 
“Grave errors of the East”
From the early nineteenth century, many British officials 
began to criticise the Orientalist vision of learning. They 
said that knowledge of the East was full of errors and 
unscientific thought; Eastern literature was non-serious 
and light-hearted. So they argued that it was wrong 
on the part of the British to spend so much effort in 
encouraging the study of Arabic and Sanskrit language 
and literature. 
James Mill was one of those who attacked the 
Orientalists. The British effort, he declared, should not be 
to teach what the natives wanted, or what they respected, 
in order to please them and “win a place in their heart”. 
The aim of education ought to be to teach what was useful 
and practical. So Indians should be made familiar with 
the scientific and technical advances that the West had 
made, rather than with the poetry and sacred literature 
of the Orient.
By the 1830s, the attack on the Orientalists became 
sharper. One of the most outspoken and influential 
of such critics of the time was Thomas Babington 
Macaulay. He saw India as an uncivilised country that 
needed to be civilised. No branch of Eastern knowledge, 
according to him could be compared to what England 
had produced. Who could deny, declared Macaulay, that 
Fig. 3 – Monument to Warren Hastings, by 
Richard Westmacott, 1830, now in Victoria 
Memorial in Calcutta
This image represents how Orientalists 
thought of British power in India. You will 
notice that the majestic figure of Hastings, an 
enthusiastic supporter of the Orientalists, is 
placed between the standing figure of a pandit 
on one side and a seated munshi on the 
other side. Hastings and other Orientalists 
needed Indian scholars to teach them the 
“vernacular” languages, tell them about local 
customs and laws, and help  them translate 
and interpret ancient texts. Hastings took 
the initiative to set up the Calcutta Madrasa, 
and believed that the ancient customs of the 
country and Oriental learning ought to be the 
basis of British rule in India.
Orientalists – Those with 
a scholarly knowledge of 
the language and culture           
of Asia
Munshi – A person who 
can read, write and teach 
Persian
Vernacular – A term 
generally used to refer to 
a local language or dialect 
as distinct from what 
is seen as the standard 
language. In colonial 
countries like India, the 
British used the term 
to mark the difference 
between the local 
languages of everyday 
use and English – the 
language of the imperial 
masters.
Chap 6.indd   67 4/21/2022   12:18:04 PM
Reprint 2024-25
68 	 OUR 	P ASTS 	–	III
“a single shelf of a good European 
library was worth the whole 
native 	 literatur e 	 of 	 India 	 and	
Arabia”. He urged that the British 
gover nment 	 in 	 India 	 stop 	 wasting 	
public money in promoting 
Oriental learning, for it was of no  
practical use.
With great energy and 
passion, Macaulay emphasised 
the need to teach the English 
language. He felt that knowledge 
of 	 English 	 would 	 allow 	 Indians 	 to	
read some of the finest  literature 
the world had produced; it 
would make them aware of the 
developments in Western science 
and philosophy. Teaching of English could thus be a 
way of civilising people, changing their tastes, values 
and culture. 
Following Macaulay’s minute, the English Education 
Act of 1835 was introduced. The decision was to make 
English the medium of instruction for higher education, 
and to stop the promotion of Oriental institutions like  the 
Calcutta Madrasa and Benaras Sanskrit College. These 
institutions were seen as “temples of darkness that were 
falling of themselves into decay”. English textbooks now 
began to be produced for schools.
Education for commerce
In 	 1854, 	 the 	 Court 	 of 	 Directors 	 of 	 the 	 East 	 India	
Company in London sent an educational despatch 
to 	 the 	 Governor-General 	 in 	 India. 	 I s s u e d 	 b y 	 C h a r l e s	
Wood, the President of the Board of Control of the 
C o m p a n y , 	 i t 	 h a s 	 c o m e 	 t o 	 b e 	 k n o w n 	 a s 	 W o o d ’ s 	 D e s p a t c h .	
Outlining the educational policy that was to be followed 
in 	 India, 	 it 	 emphasised 	 once 	 again 	 the 	 practical 	 benefits	
of a system of European learning, as opposed to  
Oriental knowledge. 
One	 of	 the	 practical	 uses	 the	 Despatch	 pointed 	 to	 was	
economic. 	 European 	 lear ning, 	 it 	 said, 	 would 	 enable 	 Indians	
to recognise the advantages that flow from the expansion of 
trade and commerce, and make them see the importance 
of	 developing 	 the	 r esour ces 	 of	 the	 country. 	 Intr oducing	
them to European ways of life, would change their tastes 
and desires, and create a demand for British goods, for 
Indians 	 would 	 begin 	 to 	 appr eciate	 and 	 buy	 things	 that	
were produced in Europe.
Fig. 4 – Thomas Babington 
Macaulay in his study
Language of  
the wise?
Emphasising the need to 
teach English, Macaulay 
declared:
All parties seem to 
be agreed on one 
point, that the dialects 
commonly spoken 
among the natives 
... of India, contain 
neither literary nor 
scientific information, 
and are, moreover, 
so poor and rude 
that, until they are 
enriched from some 
other quarter, it will 
not be easy to translate 
any valuable work into 
them ...
From Thomas Babington Macaulay, 
Minute of 2 February 1835 on  
Indian Education 
Source 1
Chap 6.indd   68 4/22/2022   11:56:33 AM
Reprint 2024-25
Page 5


Civilising the “Native”, 
Educating the Nation
6
In the earlier chapters, you have seen how British rule affected 
rajas and nawabs, peasants and tribals. In this chapter, we 
will try and understand what implication it had for the lives of 
students. For, the British in India wanted not only territorial 
conquest and control over revenues. They also felt that they had 
a cultural mission: they had to “civilise the natives”, change their 
customs and values.
What changes were to be introduced? How were Indians 
to be educated, “civilised”, and made into what the British 
believed were “good subjects”? The British could find no simple 
answers to these questions. They continued to be debated for 
many decades. 
How the British saw Education
Let us look at what the British thought and 
did, and how some of the ideas of education 
that we now take for granted evolved in the 
last two hundred years. In the process of this 
enquiry, we will also see how Indians reacted 
to British ideas, and how they developed  
their own views about how Indians were to 
be educated.
The tradition of Orientalism
In 1783, a person named William Jones 
arrived in Calcutta. He had an appointment 
as a junior judge at the Supreme Court that 
the Company had set up. In addition to being 
an expert in law, Jones was a linguist. He 
had studied Greek and Latin at Oxford, knew 
French and English, had picked up Arabic 
from a friend, and had also learnt Persian. 
At Calcutta, he began spending many hours 
a day with pandits who taught him the 
subtleties of Sanskrit language, grammar and Fig. 1 – William Jones learning Persian
Linguist – Someone 
who knows and  
studies several 
languages
Chap 6.indd   65 8/31/2022   5:00:41 PM
Reprint 2024-25
66 OUR PASTS – III
Madrasa – An Arabic 
word for a place of 
learning; any type of 
school or college
poetry. Soon he was studying ancient Indian texts on            
law, philosophy, religion, politics, morality, arithmetic, 
medicine and the other sciences. 
Jones discovered that his interests were shared by many 
British officials living in Calcutta at the time. Englishmen 
like Henry Thomas Colebrooke and Nathaniel Halhed were 
also busy discovering the ancient Indian heritage, mastering 
Indian languages and translating Sanskrit and Persian works 
into English. Together with them, Jones set up the Asiatic 
Society of Bengal, and started a journal called Asiatick 
Researches. 
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. Indian 
civilisation, they felt, had attained its glory in the 
ancient past, but had subsequently declined. In order to 
understand India, it was necessary to discover the sacred 
and legal texts that were produced in the ancient period. 
For only those texts could reveal the real ideas and laws 
of the Hindus and Muslims, and only a new study of 
these texts could form the basis of future development  
in India.
So Jones and Colebrooke went about discovering  ancient 
texts, understanding their meaning, translating them, and 
making their findings known to others. This project, they 
believed, would not only help the British learn from Indian 
culture, but it would also help Indians rediscover their own 
heritage, and understand the lost glories of their past. In this 
process, the British would become the guardians of Indian 
culture as well as its masters. 
Influenced by such ideas, many Company officials 
argued that the British ought to promote Indian rather 
than Western learning. They felt that institutions should 
be set up to encourage the study of ancient Indian texts 
and teach Sanskrit and Persian literature and poetry. The 
officials also thought that Hindus and Muslims ought to 
be taught what they were already familiar with, and what 
they valued and treasured, not subjects that were alien to 
them. Only then, they believed, could the British hope to 
win a place in the hearts of the “natives”; only then could 
the alien rulers expect to be respected by their subjects. 
With this object in view, a madrasa was set up in 
Calcutta in 1781 to promote the study of Arabic, Persian 
and Islamic law; and the Hindu College was established 
in Benaras in 1791 to encourage the study of ancient 
Sanskrit texts that would be useful for the administration 
of the country.
Fig. 2 – Henry Thomas 
Colebrooke
He was a scholar of Sanskrit 
and ancient sacred writings of 
Hinduism.
Chap 6.indd   66 4/21/2022   12:18:02 PM
Reprint 2024-25
CIVILISING THE “NATIVE”, EDUCATING THE NATION         67
Not all officials shared these views. Many were very 
strong in their criticism of the Orientalists. 
“Grave errors of the East”
From the early nineteenth century, many British officials 
began to criticise the Orientalist vision of learning. They 
said that knowledge of the East was full of errors and 
unscientific thought; Eastern literature was non-serious 
and light-hearted. So they argued that it was wrong 
on the part of the British to spend so much effort in 
encouraging the study of Arabic and Sanskrit language 
and literature. 
James Mill was one of those who attacked the 
Orientalists. The British effort, he declared, should not be 
to teach what the natives wanted, or what they respected, 
in order to please them and “win a place in their heart”. 
The aim of education ought to be to teach what was useful 
and practical. So Indians should be made familiar with 
the scientific and technical advances that the West had 
made, rather than with the poetry and sacred literature 
of the Orient.
By the 1830s, the attack on the Orientalists became 
sharper. One of the most outspoken and influential 
of such critics of the time was Thomas Babington 
Macaulay. He saw India as an uncivilised country that 
needed to be civilised. No branch of Eastern knowledge, 
according to him could be compared to what England 
had produced. Who could deny, declared Macaulay, that 
Fig. 3 – Monument to Warren Hastings, by 
Richard Westmacott, 1830, now in Victoria 
Memorial in Calcutta
This image represents how Orientalists 
thought of British power in India. You will 
notice that the majestic figure of Hastings, an 
enthusiastic supporter of the Orientalists, is 
placed between the standing figure of a pandit 
on one side and a seated munshi on the 
other side. Hastings and other Orientalists 
needed Indian scholars to teach them the 
“vernacular” languages, tell them about local 
customs and laws, and help  them translate 
and interpret ancient texts. Hastings took 
the initiative to set up the Calcutta Madrasa, 
and believed that the ancient customs of the 
country and Oriental learning ought to be the 
basis of British rule in India.
Orientalists – Those with 
a scholarly knowledge of 
the language and culture           
of Asia
Munshi – A person who 
can read, write and teach 
Persian
Vernacular – A term 
generally used to refer to 
a local language or dialect 
as distinct from what 
is seen as the standard 
language. In colonial 
countries like India, the 
British used the term 
to mark the difference 
between the local 
languages of everyday 
use and English – the 
language of the imperial 
masters.
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68 	 OUR 	P ASTS 	–	III
“a single shelf of a good European 
library was worth the whole 
native 	 literatur e 	 of 	 India 	 and	
Arabia”. He urged that the British 
gover nment 	 in 	 India 	 stop 	 wasting 	
public money in promoting 
Oriental learning, for it was of no  
practical use.
With great energy and 
passion, Macaulay emphasised 
the need to teach the English 
language. He felt that knowledge 
of 	 English 	 would 	 allow 	 Indians 	 to	
read some of the finest  literature 
the world had produced; it 
would make them aware of the 
developments in Western science 
and philosophy. Teaching of English could thus be a 
way of civilising people, changing their tastes, values 
and culture. 
Following Macaulay’s minute, the English Education 
Act of 1835 was introduced. The decision was to make 
English the medium of instruction for higher education, 
and to stop the promotion of Oriental institutions like  the 
Calcutta Madrasa and Benaras Sanskrit College. These 
institutions were seen as “temples of darkness that were 
falling of themselves into decay”. English textbooks now 
began to be produced for schools.
Education for commerce
In 	 1854, 	 the 	 Court 	 of 	 Directors 	 of 	 the 	 East 	 India	
Company in London sent an educational despatch 
to 	 the 	 Governor-General 	 in 	 India. 	 I s s u e d 	 b y 	 C h a r l e s	
Wood, the President of the Board of Control of the 
C o m p a n y , 	 i t 	 h a s 	 c o m e 	 t o 	 b e 	 k n o w n 	 a s 	 W o o d ’ s 	 D e s p a t c h .	
Outlining the educational policy that was to be followed 
in 	 India, 	 it 	 emphasised 	 once 	 again 	 the 	 practical 	 benefits	
of a system of European learning, as opposed to  
Oriental knowledge. 
One	 of	 the	 practical	 uses	 the	 Despatch	 pointed 	 to	 was	
economic. 	 European 	 lear ning, 	 it 	 said, 	 would 	 enable 	 Indians	
to recognise the advantages that flow from the expansion of 
trade and commerce, and make them see the importance 
of	 developing 	 the	 r esour ces 	 of	 the	 country. 	 Intr oducing	
them to European ways of life, would change their tastes 
and desires, and create a demand for British goods, for 
Indians 	 would 	 begin 	 to 	 appr eciate	 and 	 buy	 things	 that	
were produced in Europe.
Fig. 4 – Thomas Babington 
Macaulay in his study
Language of  
the wise?
Emphasising the need to 
teach English, Macaulay 
declared:
All parties seem to 
be agreed on one 
point, that the dialects 
commonly spoken 
among the natives 
... of India, contain 
neither literary nor 
scientific information, 
and are, moreover, 
so poor and rude 
that, until they are 
enriched from some 
other quarter, it will 
not be easy to translate 
any valuable work into 
them ...
From Thomas Babington Macaulay, 
Minute of 2 February 1835 on  
Indian Education 
Source 1
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CIVILISING THE “NATIVE”, EDUCATING THE NATION         69
Wood’s Despatch also argued that European 
learning would improve the moral character of 
Indians. It would make them truthful and honest, 
and thus supply the Company with civil servants who 
could be trusted and depended upon. The literature of 
the East was not only full of grave errors, it could also 
not instill in people a sense of duty and a commitment 
to work, nor could it develop the skills required  
for administration.
Following the 1854 Despatch, several measures 
were introduced by the British. Education departments 
of the government were set up to extend control 
over all matters regarding education. Steps were 
taken to establish a system of university education. 
In 1857, while the sepoys rose in revolt in Meerut 
and Delhi, universities were being established in 
Calcutta, Madras and Bombay. Attempts were also 
made to bring about changes within the system of  
school education.
Fig. 5 – Bombay University in the nineteenth century
Activity
Imagine you are living in the 1850s. You hear of 
Wood’s Despatch. Write about your reactions. 
?
An argument  
for European  
knowledge
Wood’s Despatch of 1854 
marked the final triumph of 
those who opposed Oriental 
learning. It stated.
We must emphatically 
declare that the 
education which 
we desire to see 
extended in India is 
that which has for its 
object the diffusion 
of the improved arts, 
services, philosophy, 
and literature of 
Europe, in short, 
European knowledge.
Source 2
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