A. C. Clayton was a British missionary and scholar who spent decades working in South India, developing deep expertise in Tamil culture, Dravidian religious practices, and Vedic studies. His work represents early 20th-century missionary scholarship that sought to understand Indian religious traditions.
Major Works
Clayton authored several significant works during his time in India:
- The Rig-Veda and Vedic Religion (1913) - A comprehensive introduction to Vedic literature and early Aryan religion
- The Paraiyan - Published in the Madras Government Museum Bulletin
- Gangai’s Pilgrimage - A literary work
- The Tamil Bible Dictionary - A reference work for Tamil-speaking Christians
The Rig-Veda and Vedic Religion
His most substantial scholarly contribution was The Rig-Veda and Vedic Religion (1913), published by the Christian Literature Society for India. This work was intended as a revised and expanded treatment of Dr. Murdoch’s earlier account of the Vedas, incorporating modern scholarship and interpretation methods available at the time.
Friedrich Max Müller was one of the most influential scholars of the 19th century, a towering figure in the fields of comparative philology, mythology, and religion. Though he never visited India, his work did more than perhaps any other single scholar’s to bring Sanskrit literature to Western attention.
The Rig Veda Edition
Müller’s crowning achievement was his critical edition of the Rig Veda with Sayana’s Sanskrit commentary, published in six volumes between 1849 and 1874. This monumental work, sponsored by the East India Company, made the oldest Hindu scriptures accessible to European scholars for the first time in a reliable text.
Harihar Das was an Indian scholar and biographer whose meticulous research and dedication rescued the poet Toru Dutt from comparative oblivion. Born in the village of Sidhipasa, Bengal, Das first encountered Toru Dutt’s poetry as a schoolboy when reading “Buttoo” in an examination textbook. This early encounter sparked a fascination that would shape his life’s work.
The Biography Project
Despite the passage of forty-three years since Toru Dutt’s death in 1877, no comprehensive biography of the remarkable poet existed when Das began his research in December 1911. Indian writers had traditionally neglected biography as a literary form, and Toru’s name was sinking into obscurity despite her extraordinary achievements in English, French, and Sanskrit literature.
Henry Beveridge was a Scottish historian and colonial administrator whose comprehensive histories of India remain valuable sources for understanding the subcontinent’s past. A distinguished member of the Bengal Civil Service, he combined administrative duties with serious historical scholarship.
A Comprehensive History of India
Beveridge’s most ambitious work was his three-volume A Comprehensive History of India, published in 1862. Written just five years after the Sepoy Mutiny, this sweeping narrative covered India from ancient times through the rebellion and its aftermath. The work is notable for:
John Nicol Farquhar (1861-1929) was a Scottish educational missionary and Orientalist whose scholarly works on Indian religions remain foundational texts in the study of Hinduism and modern Indian religious movements.
Early Life and Education
Born in Aberdeen in 1861, Farquhar initially trained as a draper’s apprentice before returning to formal education at age 21. He attended Aberdeen Grammar School (1882), Aberdeen University (1883), and completed his studies at Christ Church, Oxford, earning his B.A. in 1889. He later received a D.Litt. from Oxford in recognition of his scholarly contributions.
Kallidaikurichi Aiyah Nilakanta Sastri stands as one of the most distinguished historians of modern India and the preeminent authority on South Indian history. Born in 1892 in Tirunelveli district to a Telugu Niyogi family, Sastri dedicated his life to rigorous historical scholarship, producing works that continue to serve as standard references decades after their publication.
Academic Career
After completing his Master’s degree at Madras Christian College in 1913, Sastri began his teaching career at Hindu College, Tirunelveli. His brilliance soon earned him positions at India’s premier institutions: Banaras Hindu University (1920-1922), Madras University (1922-1946), and University of Mysore (1952-1955). From 1957 to 1972, he directed UNESCO’s Institute of Traditional Cultures of South East Asia, where he fostered international scholarship on Asian civilizations.
Lala Lajpat Rai, known as Punjab Kesari (Lion of Punjab), was one of the most influential figures in India’s struggle for independence. A fiery orator, prolific writer, and fearless leader, he dedicated his life to the cause of Indian freedom and social reform.
The Lal Bal Pal Trio
Lajpat Rai formed one-third of the famous Lal Bal Pal triumvirate, alongside Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Bipin Chandra Pal. Together, they represented the rise of militant nationalism in the Indian National Congress, advocating for Swaraj (self-rule) and rejecting the moderate approach of petitioning the British for reforms.
Maurice Bloomfield was one of America’s foremost Sanskrit scholars, whose meticulous philological work established lasting standards in Vedic studies. As Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology at Johns Hopkins University for nearly half a century, he trained generations of scholars and produced foundational reference works.
The Vedic Concordance
Bloomfield’s greatest contribution to scholarship was his Vedic Concordance (1897), published as part of the Harvard Oriental Series. This exhaustive index of every phrase in Vedic literature remains an indispensable tool for scholars. The work’s painstaking accuracy and comprehensive coverage exemplified Bloomfield’s exacting scholarly standards.
Romesh Chunder Dutt CIE (1848-1909) was an Indian civil servant, economic historian, and nationalist leader whose two-volume Economic History of India established the intellectual foundations of Indian economic nationalism.
Career
Born into a distinguished Bengali family, Dutt qualified for the Indian Civil Service in 1869. He became the first Indian appointed as district magistrate (1883) and the first to reach the rank of Divisional Commissioner (1894). His administrative experience managing famines gave him firsthand knowledge of colonial taxation’s impact on rural poverty.
Sarojini Naidu, known as the “Nightingale of India,” was a poet, political activist, and one of the foremost leaders of India’s independence movement. She was the first Indian woman to become President of the Indian National Congress.
Sir Herbert Hope Risley KCIE CSI FRAI (4 January 1851 - 30 September 1911) was a British ethnographer and colonial administrator who became the pre-eminent anthropologist in British India. As a member of the Indian Civil Service from 1873 to 1910, he conducted pioneering studies on the tribes and castes of India, developing systematic anthropometric methods to classify the Indian population.
Early Life and Education
Risley was born at Akeley, Buckinghamshire, where his father served as rector. He belonged to one of the “Founder’s Kin” families of Winchester College, where he had a distinguished career, winning the Goddard Scholarship, the Moore Stevens Divinity Prize, and the King’s Gold Medal for the Latin Essay. He entered New College, Oxford in 1869, taking a Second Class in Law and Modern History before being selected for the Indian Civil Service.
Sophia Dobson Collet was an English author and dedicated scholar who devoted her life to preserving the story of Raja Rammohun Roy, the father of modern India. Despite being a lifelong invalid who collected materials and wrote portions of her work from her sickbed, she demonstrated remarkable determination and scholarly rigor.
The Biography Project
To be the biographer of Rammohun Roy was, for Miss Collet, “the supreme mission of life.” This passionate zeal was matched by the complete detachment of her outlook and a phenomenal capacity for collecting facts and verifying them. She spent years conducting patient research, gathering materials through long and laborious efforts.