James Prinsep
Videos
Page
James Prinsep was an English scholar, orientalist and antiquary. He was the founding editor of the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal and is best remembered for deciphering the Kharosthi and Brahmi scripts of ancient India. He studied, documented and illustrated many aspects of numismatics, metallurgy, meteorology apart from pursuing his career in India as an assay master at the mint in Benares.
James Prinsep in medal cast c. 1840 from the National Portrait Gallery
Young James drawn by his sister Emily
A Preacher Expounding The Poorans. In The Temple of Unn Poorna, Benares. Lithograph by Prinsep (1835)
Lithograph of Kupuldhara Tulao, Benares by Prinsep (1834)
The Asiatic Society
Videos
Page
The Asiatic Society is a Government of India organisation founded during the Company rule in India to enhance and further the cause of "Oriental research". It was founded by the philologist William Jones on 15 January 1784 in a meeting presided over by Justice Robert Chambers in Calcutta, the then-capital of the Presidency of Fort William.
The Asiatic Society, Kolkata, old building
The Asiatic Society building, Park Street, Kolkata, April 2013.
The Bairat Minor Rock Edict of Ashoka (circa 250 BCE) is visible at the Asiatic Society.
The Arabic, Persian and Urdu section of the Asiatic Society.