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{{Short description|Group dedicated to the academic study of the Indian subcontinent}}
{{Distinguish|Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2013}}
{{Infobox museum
| name = The Asiatic Society
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| image = [[File:Logo of the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1905 depicting Sir William Jones.png|150px|[[Emblem]] of the Asiatic Society, Kolkata]]<hr />[[File:Asiatic Society - Old Building - 1B Park Street - Kolkata 2015-02-18 2832.JPG|250px|Old building]]
| caption = The Asiatic Society, Kolkata, old building
| map_type =
| map_caption =
| map_alt =
| coordinates =
| established = {{start date and age|1784}}
| dissolved =
| location = 1 [[Park Street, Kolkata|Park Street]] <br/>[[Kolkata]] – 700016 <br/>[[West Bengal]], [[India]]
| type = Library
| collection =
| visitors =
| founder = [[William Jones (philologist)|Sir William Jones]]
| director =
| president = Swapan Kumar Pramanick<ref>{{cite web |title=Council {{!}} Asiatic Society |url=https://www.asiaticsocietykolkata.org/organization-structure/executive-council |website=www.asiaticsocietykolkata.org |publisher=The Asiatic Society |access-date=15 October 2021}}</ref>
| curator =
| publictransit = [[Park Street, Kolkata|Park Street]]
| network =
| website = [http://www.asiaticsocietykolkata.org/ asiaticsocietykolkata.org]
}}

'''The Asiatic Society''' is a [[Government of India]] organisation founded during the [[Company rule in India|Company rule]] in [[India]] to enhance and further the cause of "[[Oriental studies|Oriental research]]" (in this case, research into [[Indian subcontinent|India and the surrounding regions]]). It was founded by the philologist [[William Jones (philologist)|William Jones]] on 15 January 1784 in a meeting presided over by Justice [[Robert Chambers (English judge)|Robert Chambers]] in [[Calcutta]], the then-capital of the [[Bengal Presidency|Presidency of Fort William]].

At the time of its foundation, this Society was named as "'''Asiatick 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, on 1 July 1951, the name of the society was changed to its present one. The Society is housed in a building at [[Park Street, Kolkata|Park Street]] in Kolkata (Calcutta). The Society moved into this building during 1808. In 1823, the [[Medical and Physical Society of Calcutta]] was formed and all the meetings of this society were held in the Asiatic Society.

==History==
[[File:The Asiatic Society Building, 1828.tif|thumb|Old building of The Asiatic Society, {{Circa|1828}}, an early 19th century lithograph]]
In January 1784, [[William Jones (philologist)|Sir William Jones]] sent out a circular-letter to a selected number of British residents of Calcutta with a view to establish a society for the Asiatic studies. At his invitation, 30 British residents met in the Grand Jury Room of the Supreme Court (in Calcutta's Fort William) on 15 January 1784. The meeting was presided over by Sir Robert Chambers. At this meeting, Jones explained the aims of the Society he would establish. The ''Memorandum of Articles'' of the Asiatic Society, prepared by Jones said:<ref name=r>Chakrabarty, R. (2008). ''The Asiatic Society:1784-2008, An Overview'' in ''Time Past and Time Present: Two Hundred and Twenty-five Years of the Asiatic Society''' Kolkata: The Asiatic Society, pp.2-24</ref>

<blockquote> The bounds of investigations will be the geographical limits of Asia, and within these limits its enquiries will be extended to whatever is performed by man or produced by nature.</blockquote>Notable early members were [[Charles Wilkins]] and [[Alexander Hamilton (linguist)|Alexander Hamilton]] (the cousin of the American statesman). Initially, the Grand Jury Room of the Supreme Court was used for the meetings of the members, who had to pay a quarterly fee of two [[mohur]]s. The members were elected through ballot-voting. On 29 September 1796, the Society decided to have its own building. J.H. Harrington, then vice-president, selected the corner of Park Street and Chowringhee Road (present location) for the Society's house. The site was granted to the Society on 15 May 1805. The original plan for the new building was prepared by [[Captain Thomas Preston]]. The French architect Jean-Jacques Pichou<ref>Sometimes written Pichon (or Jean Jacques Pissaun)</ref> made certain modifications to it and constructed a two-storeyed building at the site. This 15,071 ft² building was built at a cost of Rs. 30,000. The first quarterly meeting of the Society for 1808 was held at its new building on 3 February 1808.<ref name=r/>

From 1784 to 1828, only Europeans were elected members of the Society. In 1829, at the initiative of [[H.H. Wilson]], a number of Indians were elected members, which include [[Dwarakanath Tagore]], Sivchandra Das, Maharaja Baidyanath Roy, Maharaja Bunwari Govind Roy, Raja Kalikrishna Bahadur, Rajchunder Das, Ram Comul Sen, and [[Prasanna Coomar Tagore]]. On 12 December 1832, Ram Comul Sen was elected 'Native Secretary'. Later, [[Rajendralal Mitra]] became the first Indian President in 1885.<ref name=r/> Both the orientalist [[Brajendranath De]], and one of his grandsons, the historian [[Barun De]], were for some time vice-president of the Asiatic Society.<ref name="birthcentenaryofbdecelebrated">"Birth Centenary of B.De Celebrated" in ''The Statesman'', Wednesday, 24 December 1952</ref><ref name="latemrbdecelebration">"He Rehabilitated Persian in Bengal: Tributes to Late B.De: Birthday Celebration" in ''Amrita Bazar Patrika'', Wednesday, 24 December 1952</ref><ref name="frontline1">[http://www.frontline.in/other/obituary/historian-and-administrator/article4995294.ece "Historian and Administrator" - Aniruddha Ray] Retrieved 2015-03-03</ref>
==Library==
[[File:Asiatic Society - Park Street - Kolkata 2013-04-10 7830.JPG|thumb|left|The Asiatic Society building, [[Park Street, Kolkata]], <small>April 2013.</small>]]
One of the main activities of the Asiatic Society was to collect the old manuscripts of India.<ref name=X>Saraswati, H.D Swami Prakashanand. ''The True History and the Religion of India''. International Society of Divine Love. pp. 297. {{ISBN|0-9673823-1-9}}.</ref> There was an enormous collection of Sanskrit manuscripts with the society.<ref name=X/> At present{{clarify timeframe|date=November 2019}}, the library of the Asiatic Society has a collection of about {{formatnum:117000}} books and 79,000 journals printed in almost all the major languages of the world. It has also a collection of 293 maps, microfiche of 48,000 works, microfilm of 387,003 pages, 182 paintings, 2500 pamphlets, and 2150 photographs. The earliest printed book preserved in this library is Juli Firmici's ''Astronomicorum Libri'' published in 1499.<ref name=r/> 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 47,000 manuscripts in 26 scripts. The most notable amongst them are an illustrated manuscript of the ''[[Qur'an]]'', a manuscript of the ''[[Gulistan of Sa'di|Gulistan]]'' text, and a manuscript of ''[[Padshah Nama]]'' bearing the signature of Emperor [[Shahjahan]]. The number of journals in the possession of the library is about 80,000 at present.{{clarify timeframe|date=November 2019}}

The early collection of this library was enriched by the contributions it received from its members. On 25 March 1784, the library received seven Persian manuscripts from Henri Richardson. The next contribution came from [[William Marsden (orientalist)|William Marsden]], who donated his book ''The History of Sumatra'' (1783) on 10 November 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 3 February 1808 consisting of 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.

Since 1849, the Society has printed ''[[Bibliotheca Indica]]'', a collection of rare and unpublished works belonging to or treating of Oriental literature and containing original text-editions as well as translations into English, and also grammars, dictionaries, bibliographies, and studies.

==Museum==
[[File:Bhabru inscription.jpg|thumb|The [[Bairat Temple|Bairat]] [[Minor Rock Edict]] of [[Ashoka]] (circa 250 BCE) is visible at the Asiatic Society.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://i0.wp.com/www.kolkataonwheels.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/DSC_0042.jpg|title=Image of the full display}}</ref>]]
The museum of the Society was founded in 1814 under the superintendence of [[Nathaniel Wallich]]. The rapid growth of its collection is evident from its first catalogue, published in 1849. By 1849, the Society had its own museum consisting of inscriptions in stone and metal, icons, old coins, and Sanskrit manuscripts etc.<ref name=X/>

[[File:Signboard of the Arabic, Persian and Urdu section of the Asiatic Society.jpg|thumb|The Arabic, Persian and Urdu section of the Asiatic Society.]]
When the [[Indian Museum]] of Calcutta was established in 1814, 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.

==Journal of the Asiatic Society==
The Society's journal has had several changes of name, sometimes reflecting changes in the Society. It is currently called the ''Journal of the Asiatic Society''.<ref>See Books Online https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/serial?id=jasiatbengal Retrieved 7 June 2022.</ref><ref>Journal of the Asiatic Society https://www.asiaticsocietykolkata.org/history</ref>
* 1788-1842 ''Asiatick Researches, Transactions of the Society Instituted in Bengal, for enquiring into the History and Antiquities, the Arts, Sciences and Literature, of Asia''
* 1832 ''The Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal'' - [[James Prinsep]] was the founding editor
* 1953 ''The Journal of the Asiatic Society''

==List of presidents==
{{Main|List of Presidents of The Asiatic Society}}

==See also==
* [[Asiatic Society of Bombay]]
* [[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]]
* [[Société Asiatique]]
* [[South Asian Studies]]

==Works==
*{{cite book|title=Asiatic researches or transactions of the Society instituted in Bengal, for inquiring into the history and antiquities, the arts, sciences, and literature, of Asia, Volume 17|author=Asiatic Society of Bengal|year=1832|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0iZFAAAAcAAJ|access-date=24 April 2014}}
*{{cite book|title=Asiatick researches|year=1832|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cd7cOX5rVgIC|access-date=24 April 2014}}
*{{cite book|title=Asiatick Researches, Or, Transactions of the Society Instituted in Bengal, for Inquiring Into the History and Antiquities, the Arts, Sciences, and Literature of Asia, Volume 17|others=Contributor Asiatick Society (Calcutta, India)|year=1832|publisher=Bengal Military Orphans Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lygoAAAAYAAJ|access-date=24 April 2014}}

==References and sources==
;References
{{reflist}}
;Sources
* Mitra, S.K. (1974). ''The Asiatic Society'', Calcutta: The Asiatic Society.

==External links==
*
* {{official|http://www.asiaticsocietykolkata.org/}}
* [http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Asiatic_Society "Asiatic Society", ''Banglapedia.'' On Line.]
* [http://www.scholarly-societies.org/history/1784as.html "Asiatic Society of Bengal", Scholarly Societies Project.]
* [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/51678 Scanned volumes of the Journal of the Asiatic Society]

{{Bengal Renaissance}}
{{Kolkata topics}}
{{Tourist attractions in Kolkata}}
{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Asiatic Society, The}}
[[Category:Asian studies]]
[[Category:Research institutes in Kolkata]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1784]]
[[Category:Academic institutions associated with the Bengal Renaissance]]
[[Category:Educational institutions established in 1784]]
[[Category:Museums in Kolkata]]
[[Category:Asian art museums]]
[[Category:Art museums and galleries in India]]
[[Category:Manuscripts by collection]]
[[Category:1784 establishments in British India]]
[[Category:Research institutes in West Bengal]]
[[Category:Monuments of National Importance in West Bengal]]

The Asiatic Society - Revision history

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