Sir Charles Wilkins (1749?–1836), was an English Orientalist. Events While in debtors prison, John Cleland writes Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure). ... October 2, Charles Darwin returns from his voyage around the world. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2005 est. ... Orientalism is the study of Near and Far Eastern societies and cultures, by Westerners. ...

He was born at Frome in Somerset, probably in 1749, and in 1770 he went to India as a writer in the East India Company's service. Becoming attracted to the study of Oriental languages, particularly Sanskrit, he did important work towards facilitating such study by founding a printing press for these languages, taking a large personal share in the practical work of preparing the type. He returned to England in 1786, but continued his study of Sanskrit, and afterwards became librarian to the East India Company, and examiner at Haileybury when a college was established there in 1805. Wilkins was knighted in 1833 in recognition of his services to Oriental scholarship, and died in London. Statistics Population: 24,510 (2001 census) Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: ST775477 Administration District: Mendip Shire county: Somerset Region: South West England Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: Somerset Historic county: Somerset Services Police force: Avon and Somerset Police Fire and rescue: Somerset Ambulance: South Western... Somerset is a county in the south-west of England. ... The BEIC, sometimes referred to as John Company, was a joint-stock company which was granted an English Royal Charter by Elizabeth I on December 31, 1600, with the intention of favouring trade privileges in India. ... The Sanskrit language ( , ) is a classical language of India, a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and one of the 22 official languages of India. ... The printing press is a mechanical device for printing many copies of a text on rectangular sheets of paper. ... The Librarian, a 1556 painting by Giuseppe Arcimboldo A librarian is an information professional trained in library science: the organization and management of information and service to people with information needs. ... Haileybury is a name used by various places and institutions: Places Haileybury, Ontario in Canada Institutions Haileybury and Imperial Service College, a coeducational English public school Lambrook Haileybury junior school at Winkfield Row, Bracknell, Berks. ... The silver Anglia knight, commissioned as a trophy in 1850, intended to represent the Black Prince. ... 1833 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...

He was a pioneer in Oriental studies, being the first Englishman to acquire mastery of Sanskrit and to make a thorough study of Indian inscriptions in that script. He compiled a Sanskrit grammar and published several translations from the sacred books of the East, besides preparing a new edition of John Wilkins Richardson's Persian and Arabic dictionary, and a catalogue of the manuscripts collected by Sir William Jones, who acknowledged his indebtedness to Wilkins, and whom Wilkins assisted in founding the Asiatic Society of Bengal. His most outstanding achievement in orientalist scholarship was the translation of the Bhagavadgita in 1785, which was to have a profound influence on western perceptions of "original" Indian culture, as opposed to the contemporary "degenerate" state of the country. Indirectly and via intermediaries like Ram Mohan Roy this perception also came to shape the self-image Indian intellectuals and nowadays also a broader public had and have of the cultural and religious foundations of their country. Grammar is the study of rules governing the use of language. ... Sir William Jones Sir William Jones (September 28, 1746 – April 27, 1794) was an English philologist and student of ancient India, particularly known for his proposition of the existence of a relationship among Indo-European languages. ... Bengal, known as Bôngo (Bengali: বঙ্গ), Bangla (বাংলা), Bôngodesh (বঙ্গদেশ), or Bangladesh (বাংলাদেশ) in the Bengali language, is a region in the northeast of South Asia. ... Bhagavad Gīta भगवद्गीता, composed ca the fifth - second centuries BC, is part of the epic poem Mahabharata, located in the Bhisma_Parva chapters 23–40. ... An oil-painting of Raja Ram Mohan Roy by Atul Bose Ram Mohan Roy, also written as Rammohun Roy, or Raja Ram Mohun Roy (Bangla: রাজা রামমোহন রায়, Raja Ram Mohon Ray), (May 22, 1772 – September 27, 1833) was the founder of the Brahmo Samaj, one of the first Indian socio-religious reform...

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.