THE ASIATIC SOCIETY
THE ASIATIC SOCIETY When the Asiatic Society was established on January 15, 1784, its founder Sir William Jones (1746-1794) began his work with a dream, that visualised a centre for Asian studies including almost everything concerning man and nature within the geographical limits of the continent. Most of the mysteries of this vast land, like its old inscriptions in Brahmi, were still undeciphered and comparative philology as a discipline or science was not yet born. In the early days of the Asiatic Society, William Jones for all his efforts could not procure even a slice of land wherein to house his dream. In 1805 the Government gifted to the Society a plot of land at the corner of Park Street and Chowringhee, the present site of the Asiatic Society, to which was added later, in 1849, a small portion on the western side. Membership of the Society for many years remained exclusively European and only in January 1829, on the suggestion of Dr. Horace Hayman Wilson