Sanskrit and the british orientalists: romanticism, colonialism and cultural transmission

Abstract

This paper examines the panorama that drew the attention of orientalist to the study of sanskrit. On one hand, it presents the political and social background that, coupled with the romantic spirit, magnified ancient India as an ideal place whose literature needed to be uderstood. These studies were commissioned by the East India Company with the purpose of subjugating and ruling the inhabitants of the indian subcontinent. On the other hand, the work of the first translators of sanskrit into english is acknowledged as a key factor in the transmission of indian culture to the west. The decline of orientalism has multiple roots, but one of the most significant is the sharp division between east and west, where the western perspective is imposed upon the eastern and carries with it an imperialist context. However, history is no longer simply a tale of heroes and villains. Therefore, this work aims to account for the legacy orientalists bequeathed to scholars of India, particularly those working outside India.