Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c59.s3.14

v4.c59.s3.14

During the decline of Mughal civilisation, education died out in India; the only schools that survived devoted themselves to the low but useful work of preparing clerks and accountants. The primary education of the masses and the higher education of the classes, were alike undreamt of. Our indigenous leaders revealed their true character in the case of the Sanskrit College founded at Benares by Jonathan Duncan. The Peshwas had set up no great college of Hindu learning, and when the British established their Sanskrit College at Benares and Duncan expected the supreme head of the Brahman rāj to rejoice at this promotion of Brahmanic learning, Sir Charles Malet, the Resident at Punā, reported that when he talked enthusiastically about the merits of this “College for promoting, or rather preserving Brahmanic knowledge,...he had the mortification of thinking that his descriptions, instead of producing admiration and emulation, have been received with marks of coldness and jealousy.” [*PRC.* ii. 146, Aug. 1792.]