scholarly journals Art. XVII.—On Female Infanticide in Cutch

1834 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-199
Author(s):  
Alexander Burnes
Keyword(s):  
Female Infanticide ◽  
The Public ◽  
Asiatic Society ◽  
Royal Asiatic Society

As the following remarks by a member of the Council of the Royal Asiatic Society may be considered an appropriate introduction to this subject, they are here prefixed.I Have perused with attention the report on Hindú Infanticide in Cutch, by Mr. Burnes, affording evidence of the assiduity which marks all his researches.Its publication in our Journal I should judge every way desirable; for it calls the notice of the public to the circumstance that the total suppression of this practice has not been effected; and we cannot aspire to higher merit than in laudably exerting ourselves to the promotion of such public measures as may tend to the well-doing of our fellow-creatures.

scholarly journals Art. XXI.—Some Account of the Systems of Law and Police as recognised in the State of Nepál

1834 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 258-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Houghton Hodgson
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Separate Paper ◽  
The Public ◽  
Asiatic Society ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Careful Comparison ◽  
Satisfactory Manner ◽  
Royal Asiatic Society

[With a view to obtain correct and authentic information on the subject of Nepálese law, both in its theoretical principles and practical administration, Mr. Hodgson addressed a series of questions to several individuals who were judged most capable of replying to them in a full and satisfactory manner. Copies of these series of interrogatories, with their respective answers, have been communicated by him to the Royal Asiatic Society (together with a separate paper on crimes and punishments); and the following article has been drawn up from a careful comparison of the whole, excluding as much as possible the repetitions unavoidably occurring, in many instances, in the various answers to any particular question. A reference to the works of Kirkpatrick, Hamilton, and others, will shew how little has hitherto been contributed to the knowledge of Europeans respecting Oriental systems of jurisprudence, as far as regards the kingdom of Nepal; it is therefore particularly gratifying to be enabled to produce so complete a view of the subject as has been furnished by Mr. Hodgson, whose perseverance and energy in obtaining an acquaintance with these and other matters hitherto kept sacred from all strangers, are only equalled by the intelligent and liberal manner in which he communicates to the public the information he has acquired.—Ed.

Anniversary General Meeting, President's Address, 13th May 2010

2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 581-583
Author(s):  
Gordon Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
General Meeting ◽  
Asian Studies ◽  
The Public ◽  
Asiatic Society ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Learned Societies ◽  
Royal Charter ◽  
Support Research ◽  
Royal Asiatic Society

Like a number of other learned societies founded in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the Royal Asiatic Society was established to support research and to disseminate knowledge to the public. It depends for its charitable status and the privileges attached to its Royal Charter on upholding these objectives. The Society has a good record in this respect, extending now over 186 years. To some degree, the work of the learned societies was first intruded on, and then taken over by, the universities as they grew in number, expanded their curricula, and went in for research as well as teaching. This was particularly true of the twentieth century where, in our field of interest, Asian studies in the humanities and social sciences became firmly lodged in several universities in the United Kingdom. But there always remained a place, particularly one where professional academics and the wider public could meet, for Society's such as ours to flourish; and, looking ahead, as university budgets come under greater pressure, I foresee a growing role for the Royal Asiatic Society in the future in ensuring that the interest and importance of understanding Asian societies and cultures remains in the forefront of the public mind.

scholarly journals Art. XI.—Lecture on the present State of the Cultivation of Oriental Literature

1852 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 191-215
Author(s):  
H. H. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Present State ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Public ◽  
Asiatic Society ◽  
Political Identification ◽  
Literature History ◽  
To Receive ◽  
Royal Asiatic Society

It has been judged possible, by the Council of the Royal Asiatic Society, that the objects for which the Society was founded, and for which it is maintained, may be made more generally known, and more accurately appreciated, by the adoption of arrangements of a more popular character than our ordinary proceedings, and which may interest a more numerous and varied portion of the public than the Members of the Society only, in matters concerning the Eastern World. It is not to be denied that the subjects which in a peculiar degree engage the attention of the Society,—the antiquities and literature of the nations of the East,—have hitherto failed to receive that attention from the public at large which might have been expected, if not from their own inherent interest, yet from our long and intimate intercourse with the most important countries of Asia, and the political identification of India and Great Britain. Works of high merit, elucidating Oriental literature, history, antiquities, religion, the conditions of Asiatic society in past or present times, and descriptive of the products of art or nature in the East, usually meet with a cold and discouraging reception, even from the reading world, or at most attract passing and ephemeral notice, leaving no durable impression, creating no continuous and progressive interest.

scholarly journals Art. II.—Letters to the Secretary of the Royal Asiatic Society

1841 ◽  
Vol 6 (11) ◽  
pp. 11-41
Author(s):  
W. Morley ◽  
Duncan Forbes
Keyword(s):  
The Public ◽  
French Government ◽  
Asiatic Society ◽  
The Press ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Mean Time ◽  
Royal Asiatic Society

Whilst I was engaged last year in making a catalogue of the Oriental MSS. comprised in the libraries of the Society and the Oriental Translation Committee, I met with the historical MS. which is the subject of the following letter. I, at that time, applied to the Council of the Society for permission to forward a description of the MS. to M. Quatremere, who is employed in editing the only portion of the work hitherto known, in the hope that he would represent the matter to the French Government, and cause our MS. to be published in the “Collection Orientale,” as a sequel to his “Histoire des Mongols.” The council acceded to my request, and I accordingly wrote to M. Quatremère on the subject, but whether on account of my letter not having reached its destination or from the press of business, he has not as yet returned any answer to my communication. In the mean time, I think it desirable that the existence of this important volume should be made known to the public, and I have accordingly drawn up the following account of the MS. for insertion in the Journal of the Society.

scholarly journals Art. VI.—Remarks by Raja Radhakanta Deva, on Art. XI, Journal Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. XVI, p. 201;

1860 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 209-220
Author(s):  
H. H. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
The Public ◽  
Asiatic Society ◽  
Ancient Literature ◽  
Ancient Religion ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Royal Asiatic Society

The sixteenth volume of the Journal of our Society, has given insertion to a communication made by me, on the supposed authority of the Vedas, for the burning of Hindu widows, in which I have shown that the passage quoted as enjoining the practice, and as published by Mr. Colebrooke, in his Paper in the Asiatic Researches, upon the “Duties of a Sati or Faithful Widow,” had been either purposely or accidentally wrongly read, and that so far from authorizing the rite, its real purport was the reverse; and that it expected the widow to repress her affliction and return to her worldly duties. This view was entirely confirmed by the explanation of the passage given by the celebrated commentator, Sayana Acharya, and by the precepts of Aswalayana, cited by Professor Maximilian Miiller, published in continuation of my remarks on the same occasion. The revised reading has not proved acceptable to the Pandits of Calcutta, and the following letter is the expression of their sentiments. The writer, a friend of many years, Raja Radhakant Deb is well known as a leading member of the Native Society of Calcutta, who adds to the distinction of rank and station, that of a foremost place amongst Sanskrit scholars, as evinced by his great Lexicon or Literary Encyclopaedia of the Sanskrit language, in seven quarto volumes; the Sabdakalpadruma, which enjoys a European as well as Indian celebrity. Any opinion coming from him on subjects connected with the ancient literature of hia country is entitled to the greatest deference. The question of the authority for the Sati cremation is now, as he rightly observes, a matter merely for literary discussion, but as it is not without interest for the historian and antiquarian, his remarks will, I doubt not, be highly acceptable to those scholars who are engaged in the investigation of the ancient religion and history of the Hindus; and as he has no objection to their being laid before the public, I have thought it advisable to request a place for them in the Journal, although, as I shall subsequently explain, they have not induced me to modify in the least my opinions on the subject, as my esteemed correspondent seems t o anticipate.

scholarly journals An Illustrated Shiʿi Pilgrimage Scroll in the Collections of the Royal Asiatic Society

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
ULRICH MARZOLPH ◽  
MATHILDE RENAULD
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Visual Narrative ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Asiatic Society ◽  
Material Condition ◽  
Visual Dimension ◽  
History Of ◽  
Initial Survey ◽  
Royal Asiatic Society

Abstract The collections of the Royal Asiatic Society hold an illustrated pilgrimage scroll apparently dating from the first half of the nineteenth century. The scroll's hand painted images relate to the journey that a pious Shiʿi Muslim would have undertaken after the performance of the pilgrimage to Mecca. Its visual narrative continues, first to Medina and then to the Shiʿi sanctuaries in present-day Iraq, concluding in the Iranian city of Mashhad at the sanctuary of the eighth imam of the Twelver-Shiʿi creed, imam Riḍā (d. 818). The scroll was likely prepared in the early nineteenth century and acquired by the Royal Asiatic Society from its unknown previous owner sometime after 1857. In terms of chronology the pilgrimage scroll fits neatly into the period between the Niebuhr scroll, bought in Karbala in 1765, and a lithographed item most likely dating from the latter half of the nineteenth century, both of which depict a corresponding journey. The present essay's initial survey of the scroll's visual dimension, by Ulrich Marzolph, adds hitherto unknown details to the history of similar objects. The concluding report, by Mathilde Renauld, sheds light on the scroll's material condition and the difficulties encountered during the object's conservation and their solution.

The (Mis)Representation of Reality: ‘Knowledge’ and Image-Making in Glass Lantern Slides of China

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
AMY MATHEWSON
Keyword(s):  
Political Systems ◽  
Asiatic Society ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
Magic Lantern ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Royal Asiatic Society

Abstract The Royal Asiatic Society in London houses a collection of magic lantern slides of China dating from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. By investigating a selection of lantern slides, this article explores their epistemological nature and their wider relations to socio-cultural and political systems of power. These lantern slides highlight the complexity of our ways of seeing and representing that are embedded into particular historical and ideological systems in which meaning is both shaped and negotiated. This article argues that images are powerful conduits in disseminating and, if unchallenged, maintaining particular notions and ideas.

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