The
Asiatic Society of Bombay is based in
MumbaiMumbai, formerly Bombay, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. The city proper is the most-populous in the world, with approximately 14 million inhabitants. Along with the neighbouring suburbs of Navi Mumbai and Thane, it forms the world's 4th largest urban agglomeration, with around...
,
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
. It can trace its origin to the Literary Society of Bombay which first met in
MumbaiMumbai, formerly Bombay, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. The city proper is the most-populous in the world, with approximately 14 million inhabitants. Along with the neighbouring suburbs of Navi Mumbai and Thane, it forms the world's 4th largest urban agglomeration, with around...
on November 26, 1804, and was founded by Sir James Mackintosh. It was formed with the intention of "promoting useful knowledge, particularly such as is now immediately connected with India". After the
Royal Asiatic SocietyThe Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland was, according to its Royal Charter of 11 August 1824, established to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encouragement of science, literature and the arts in relation to Asia." From its incorporation the Society...
was established in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
in 1823, the Literary Society of Bombay became affiliated with it and was known as the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society since 1830. The Bombay Geographical Society merged with it in 1873 followed by the Anthropological Society of Bombay in 1896. In 1954, it was renamed the Asiatic Society of Bombay; it acquired its present name in 2002. It is funded by an annual grant from the Central Government of India.
Holdings
The library has over a hundred thousand books out of which 15,000 are classified as rare and valuable. It also has priceless articles, over 3,000 ancient manuscripts in
PersianPersian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is widely spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and to some extent in Iraq and Bahrain, and has a status of official language in the first three countries under different names...
,
SanskritSanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India. It is also declared as a classical language by the government of India....
and
PrakritPrakrit is the name for a group of Middle Indic, Indo-Aryan languages, derived from Classical Sanskrit and other Old Indic dialects. The word itself has a flexible definition, being defined sometimes as, "original, natural, artless, normal, ordinary, usual", or "vernacular", in contrast to the...
.
Among the rare works are:
- One of only two known original copies of Dante
DANTE is a not-for-profit organisation that plans, builds and operates the international networks that interconnect the various National Research and Education Networks in Europe and surrounding regions...
's Divine Comedy
- The Vasupujyacharita (12th century) Sanskrit text following the life of the Jain Tirthankara Vasupujya
Vasupujya Swami was the twelve Jain Tirthankar of the present age . According to Jain beliefs, he became a siddha, a liberated soul which has destroyed all of its karma. Vasupujya was born to King Vasupujya Raja and Queen Jaya Devi Rani at Champapuri in the Ikshvaku clan...
- The Shahnama of Firdausi (1853), written in Persian
- The Aranyakaparvan (16th century) manuscript contains illustrated text from the Mahabharat and is written in Sanskrit.
- Five Buddhist caskets excavated in the ancient port town of Sopara
Sopara or Soparaka was an ancient port town and the capital of the ancient Aparanta. The site of this ancient town is located near the present day Nala Sopara town in the Thane district of the state Maharashtra, India...
near the suburb of Nala SoparaNala Sopara is a city and a municipal council in Thane district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is a town within the Mumbai Conurbation. The town lies in Thane district of Maharashtra state in India. The population of the city is 184,664...
.
The Divine Comedy
The manuscript of the
Divine Comedy, a poem composed by
Dante AlighieriDurante degli Alighieri , commonly known as Dante, was an Italian poet of the Middle Ages. His central work, the Divina Commedia , is often considered the greatest literary work composed in the Italian language and a masterpiece of world literature.In...
in the 14th century, was written in the second half of fifteenth century. It is a beautiful codex on parchment and richly illustrated. It was given to the Society by
Mountstuart ElphinstoneMountstuart Elphinstone was a Scottish statesman and historian, associated with the government of British India. He later became the Governor of Bombay where he is credited with the opening of several educational institutions accessible to the Indian population...
, governor of Bombay and President of the Society from 1819-1827 and bears his signature.
In 1930, the
ItalianItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
government under Mussolini offered the society one million
poundsThe pound sterling , often simply called the pound, is the currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and British Antarctic Territory...
, calling the book a national treasure. Mussolini believed that the offer could not be refused, but to his shock, the Society turned down his request stating that it was donated by an ex-member of the Society and hence it was their property.
The book is leather bound and is in a good condition as also a visit to the Society by the Italian Minister of Culture in 2002 confirmed.
Functions of the society
- Holding: Preserving, conserving, cataloguing and documenting holdings
- Research: Generating supporting and disseminating research in its chosen fields
- Public interface: Providing a forum for debate and discussions on topics of public interest.
The adopt-a-book scheme was recently introduced by the Society which allows patrons to fund the upkeep of rare books. The Society is financially in the red with a loss of Rs 1 crore (10 million). Due to the availability of information from the
internetThe Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standardized Internet Protocol Suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, membership has dropped significantly in recent years.
Town Hall
The Town Hall, (Colloquially Called
Tondal in the 19th Century) which houses the Asiatic Society of Bombay was however not built in 1804, the year in which the Literary Society of Bombay was formed. Though Sir
James MackintoshSir James Mackintosh was a Scottish jurist, politician and historian. He is said to have been one of the most cultured and catholic-minded men of his time . His studies and sympathies embraced many interests...
did moot the proposal for a grand edifice, it was not completed until the year 1830 (year to be confirmed with tablet on the entrance) after many fits and starts, when the Bombay Government agreed to make up for the shortfall in funds in return for office-space. The after-effects of this compromise can still be seen in the unseemly crowds gathered at the Stamp Office and other government departments in the Town Hall.
It is now classified a heritage structure, heavily influenced by Greek and Roman architecture. It has a portico with eight Doric columns. A flight of 30 steps lead up to the town hall and a
wrought ironthumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content, in comparison to steel, and has fibrous inclusions, known as slag. This is what gives it a "grain" resembling wood, which is visible when it is etched...
divided Regency staircase leads to the vestibule. In 1930 Sir
John MalcolmSir John F. Malcolm was a Scottish soldier, statesman, and historian-Early Life:Born at Burnfoot, Dumfriesshire, Malcolm was the son of George Malcolm, a gentleman farmer of Eskdale and Burnfoot. Jock, as he was then known, was one of the four Malcolm brothers who attained knighthoods or...
,
governorA governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
of
BombayThe Bombay Presidency was a former province of British India. It was established in the 17th century as a trading post for the British East India Company, but later grew to encompass much of western and central India, as well as parts of post-partition Pakistan and the Arabian Peninsula.At its...
stated: "It is the most magnificent structure that taste and munificence combined have as yet erected in India."
The edifice is in the prime Fort area of
South MumbaiSouth Mumbai , the southern-most precinct of the city of Mumbai, India, comprises the city's main business localities and its adjoining areas. It is the richest urban precinct in India, and houses most of the city's elite....
overlooking the
Horniman Circle GardensThe Horniman Circle Gardens is a large park in South Mumbai, India which encompasses an area of . It is situated in the Fort district of Mumbai, and is surrounded by office complexes housing the country's premier banks...
and the
Reserve Bank of IndiaThe Reserve Bank of India is the central bank of India, was established on April 1, 1935 in accordance with the provisions of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934. The Central Office of the Reserve Bank was initially established in Kolkata but was permanently moved to Mumbai in 1937...
.