Pranam The article I wrote is true and available on record; and what you have produced is seen all around the hotels which is now called as untrue, but I have my doubts, since it is many and one major liar was Mccaulay and he insulted the Indians who was a barberic community as saxon when India was roaring with the civilisation. And I shall send in another article about British hypocrisy soon. KR IRS 1812221
On Fri, 17 Dec 2021 at 19:53, Rangarajan T.N.C. <[email protected]> wrote: > > http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00generallinks/macaulay/txt_minute_education_1835.html > > > > Pranam > > ADVERSE REMARKS OF THE BRITISH > > Macaulay's Minute on Education, February 2, 1835: > > All parties seem to be agreed on one point, that the > dialects commonly spoken among the natives of this part of India contain > neither literary nor scientific information, and are moreover so poor and > rude that, until they are enriched from some other quarter, it will not be > easy to translate any valuable work into them. It seems to be admitted > on all sides, that the intellectual improvement of those classes of > the people who have the means of pursuing higher studies can at > present be affected only by means of some language not vernacular > amongst them. What then shall that language be? One-half of the > committee maintain that it should be the English. The other half > strongly recommend the Arabic and Sanscrit. The whole question > seems to me to be-which language is the best worth knowing? I have > no knowledge of either Sanscrit or Arabic. But I have done what I could > to form a correct estimate of their value. I have read > translations of the most celebrated Arabic and Sanscrit works. I > have conversed, both here and at home, with men distinguished by > their proficiency in the Eastern tongues. I am quite ready to > take the oriental learning at the valuation of the orientalists > themselves. I have never found one among them who could deny that a > single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native > literature of India and Arabia. The intrinsic superiority of > the Western literature is indeed fully admitted by those members > of the committee who support the oriental plan of education. > > It will hardly be disputed, I suppose, that the > department of literature in which the Eastern writers stand highest is > poetry. And I certainly never met with any orientalist who ventured to > maintain that the Arabic and Sanscrit poetry could be compared to that of > the great European nations. But when we pass from works of imagination to > works in which facts are recorded and general principles > investigated, the superiority of the Europeans becomes absolutely > immeasurable. It is, I believe, no exaggeration to say that all > the historical information which has been collected from all the books > written in the Sanscrit language is less valuable than what may be found > in the most paltry abridgments used at preparatory schools in England. > > In every branch of physical or moral philosophy, the > relative position of the two nations is nearly the same. How then > stands the case? We have to educate a people who cannot at present be > educated by means of their mother-tongue. We must teach them some foreign > language. The claims of our own language it is hardly necessary > to recapitulate. It stands pre-eminent even among the languages of > the West. It abounds with works of imagination not inferior to the > noblest which Greece has bequeathed to us,-with models of every species > of eloquence,-with historical composition, which, considered merely as > narratives, have seldom been surpassed, and which, considered as > vehicles of ethical and political instruction, have never been > equaled-with just and lively representations of human life and > human nature,-with the most profound speculations on > metaphysics, morals, government, jurisprudence, trade,-with full and > correct information respecting every experimental science which > tends to preserve the health, to increase the comfort, or to > expand the intellect of man. Whoever knows that language has ready access > to all the vast intellectual wealth which all the wisest nations of the > earth have created and hoarded in the course of ninety generations. > It may safely be said that the literature now extant in that > language is of greater value than all the literature which three hundred > years ago was extant in all the languages of the world together. > Nor is this all. > > In India, English is the language spoken by the ruling > class. It is spoken by the higher class of natives at the seats of > Government. It is likely to become the language of commerce throughout the > seas of the East. It is the language of two great European communities > which are rising, the one in the south of Africa, the other > in Australia,-communities which are every year becoming more > important and more closely connected with our Indian empire. Whether we > look at the intrinsic value of our literature, or at the particular > situation of this country, we shall see the strongest reason to think that, > of all foreign tongues, the English tongue is that which would be the > most useful to our native subjects. The question now before us is simply > whether, when it is in our power to teach this language, we shall teach > languages in which, by universal confession, there are no books on any > subject which deserve to be compared to our own, whether, when we can > teach European science, we shall teach systems which, by universal > confession, wherever they differ from those of Europe differ for > the worse, and whether, when we can patronize sound philosophy and > true history, we shall countenance, at the public expense, medical > doctrines which would disgrace an English farrier, astronomy which > would move laughter in girls at an English boarding school, history > abounding with kings thirty feet high and reigns thirty thousand > years long, and geography made of seas of treacle and seas of > butter. > > Another instance may be said to be still before our eyes. Within > the last hundred and twenty years, a nation which had previously been in > a state as *barbarous *as that in which our ancestors were before > the Crusades has gradually emerged from the ignorance in which it > was sunk, and has taken its place among civilized communities. I > speak of Russia. There is now in that country a large educated class > abounding with persons fit to serve the State in the highest functions, and > in nowise inferior to the most accomplished men who adorn the best circles > of Paris and London. There is reason to hope that this vast empire which, > in the time of our grandfathers, was probably behind the Punjab, > may in the time of our grandchildren, be pressing close on > France and Britain in the career of improvement. And how was this > change effected? Not by flattering national prejudices; not by feeding the > mind of the young Muscovite with the old women's stories which his rude > fathers had believed; not by filling his head with lying legends about St. > Nicholas; not by encouraging him to study the great question, whether the > world was or not created on the 13th of September; not by calling him "a > learned native" when he had mastered all these points of knowledge; > but by teaching him those foreign languages in which the greatest > mass of information had been laid up, and thus putting all that information > within his reach. The languages of western Europe civilised Russia. I > cannot doubt that they will do for the Hindoo what they have done for the > Tartar. And what are the arguments against > that course which seems to be alike recommended by theory > and by experience? It is said that we ought to secure the > cooperation of the native public, and that we can do this only > by teaching Sanscrit and Arabic. I can by no means admit > that, when a nation of high intellectual attainments undertakes > to superintend the education of a nation comparatively ignorant, > the learners are absolutely to prescribe the course which is to > be taken by the teachers. It is not necessary however to say > anything on this subject. For it is proved by unanswerable > evidence, that we are not at present securing the co-operation of the > natives. It would be bad enough to consult their intellectual taste > at the expense of their intellectual health. But we are > consulting neither. We are withholding from them the learning > which is palatable to them. We are forcing on them the mock learning which > they nauseate. This is proved by the fact that we are forced to pay > our Arabic and Sanscrit students while those who learn English are > willing to pay us. All the declamations in the world about the > love and reverence of the natives for their sacred dialects will > never, in the mind of any impartial person, outweigh this undisputed > fact, that we cannot find in all our vast empire a single student who will > let us teach him those dialects, unless we will pay him. > > VIpoint: Other evidence is not wanting, if other > evidence were required. A petition was presented last year to the > committee by several ex-students of the Sanscrit College. The petitioners > stated that they had studied in the college ten or twelve > years, that they had made themselves acquainted with Hindoo > literature and science, that they had received certificates of > proficiency. And what is the fruit of all this? "Notwithstanding > such testimonials," they say, "we have but little prospect of bettering our > condition without the kind assistance of your honourable committee, > the indifference with which we are generally looked upon by our > countrymen leaving no hope of encouragement and assistance from > them." They therefore beg that they may be recommended to the > Governor-General for places under the Government-not places of > high dignity or emolument, but such as may just enable them to exist. "We > want means," they say, "for a decent living, and for our progressive > improvement, which, however, we cannot obtain without the assistance > of the Government, by whom we have been educated and maintained from > childhood." They conclude by representing very pathetically that they are > sure that it was never the intention of the Government, after behaving so > liberally to them during their education, to abandon them to destitution > and neglect. { KR so who caused the fall} > > The fact that the Hindoo law is to be learned chiefly from > Sanscrit books, and hematoma law from Arabic books, has been much > insisted on, but seems not to bear at all on the question. We are > commanded by Parliament to ascertain and digest the laws of India. The > assistance of a Law Commission has been given to us for that > purpose. As soon as the Code is promulgated the Shastras and the > Hadiya will be useless to ammonify or a Shudder Ameen. I hope and > trust that, before the boys who are now entering the Madrasa and the > Sanscrit College have completed their studies, this great work > will be finished. It would be manifestly absurd to educate the > rising generation with a view to a state of things which we mean to > alter before they reach manhood. But there is yet another argument > which seems even more untenable. It is said that the Sanscrit and the > Arabic are the languages in which the sacred books of a hundred > millions of people are written, and that they are on that > account entitled to peculiar encouragement. Assuredly it is the duty of > the British Government in India to be not only tolerant but neutral on all > religious questions. But to encourage the study of a literature, admitted > to be of small intrinsic value, only because that literature > inculcated the most serious errors on the most important subjects, is a > course hardly reconcilable with reason, with morality, or even with > that very neutrality which ought, as we all agree, to be sacredly > preserved. It is confined that a language is barren of useful knowledge. > We are to teach it because it is fruitful of monstrous superstitions. We > are to teach false history, false astronomy, false medicine, because we > find them in company with a false religion. > > It is taken for granted by the advocates of > oriental learning that no native of this country can possibly attain > more than a mere smattering of English. They do not attempt to prove this. > But they perpetually insinuate it. They designate the education which their > opponents recommend as a mere spelling-book education. They assume it is > undeniable that the question is between a profound knowledge of Hindoo and > Arabian literature and science on the one side, and superficial > knowledge of the rudiments of English on the other. This is not > merely an assumption, but an assumption contrary to all reason > and experience. We know that foreigners of all nations do learn our > language sufficiently to have access to all the most abstruse > knowledge which it contains sufficiently to relish even the more > delicate graces of our most idiomatic writers. {KR Do we have this kind of > pride today on our assets?} > > KR IRS 171221 > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Thatha_Patty" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAL5XZorQAPwcYmEUgGMYhBt-yiVygnvk6bmqvkpxmD%2BdFeDf5g%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAL5XZorQAPwcYmEUgGMYhBt-yiVygnvk6bmqvkpxmD%2BdFeDf5g%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAL5XZopP%2BRmFH%3Dw7T0hepu8%3DUc2ZzZNrQ1f6Y4J5QMRhFBwd6w%40mail.gmail.com.
