Asiatic Society

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This article is about the society in Calcutta. For other uses, see Asiatic Society.

The Asiatic Society was founded by Sir William Jones (1746-1794) on 15 January 1784 in Calcutta, then capital of British India, to enhance and further the cause of Oriental research. At the time of its foundation, this Society was named as "Asiatic Society". In 1825 the Society was renamed as "The Asiatic Society". In 1832 the name was changed to "The Asiatic Society of Bengal", and again in 1936 it was renamed as "The Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal." Finally, in 1951 the name of the society was changed to its present one. The Society is housed in a building at Park Street in Kolkata. The Society moved into this building in 1808.

The library of the Asiatic Society has a collection of about 1,49,000 books printed in almost all the major languages of the world. The earliest printed books in this library belong to the late 15th century. It has in its possession a large number of books printed in India in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The library also possesses many rare and scarcely available books. The library has a rich collection of about 47000 manuscripts in 26 scripts. The most notable amongst them are an illustrated manuscript of the Quran, a manuscript of the Gulistan text, and a manuscript of Padshanamah bearing the signature of Emperor Shahjahan.The number of Journals in the possession of this library is about 80,000 at prsent.

The early collection of this library was enriched by the contributions it received from its members. In March 25, 1784 the library received 7 Persian manuscripts from Henri Richardson. The next contribution came from William Marsden, who donated his book, History of Island of Sumatra (1783) on November 10, 1784. Robert Home, the first Library-in-Charge (1804) donated his small but valuable collection of works on Art. The first accession of importance was a gift from the Seringapatam Committee on February 3, 1808 consisting a collection from the Palace Library of Tipu Sultan. The library received the Surveyor-General Colonel Mackenzie’s collection of manuscripts and drawings in December 1822.

The museum of the Society was founded in 1814 under the superintendence of N. Wallich. The rapid growth of its collection is evident from its first catalogue, published in 1849. When the Indian Museum of Calcutta was established in 1866, the Society handed over most of its valuable collections to it. The Society however still has a museum of its own which possesses a rock edict of Asoka (c. 250 BCE) and a significant collection of copper plate inscriptions, coins, sculptures, manuscripts and archival records. Some masterpieces, like Joshua Reynolds’ Cupid asleep on Cloud , Guido Cagnacci’s Cleopatra, Thomas Daniell’s A Ghat at Benares and Peter Paul Rubens’ Infant Christ are also in the possession of this museum.