Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c11.s4.14

c11.s4.14

Like William Jones, H.H. Wilson also learned Sanskrit from the *paṇḍits*. He had forged relationships with Indian scholars. It was with their help that he could produce a translation of *Meghadūta* in 1814. Wilson was an influencial figure; he served as a secretary to the Asiatic Society in Calcutta from 1811, and in 1823 became the secretary to the Government’s Central Committee of Public Instruction, where he was a leading advocate for the promotion of Sanskrit education in India. He wanted to encourage Sanskrit learning for uplifting of the Indian society. He pleaded for encouraging Sanskrit studies, to enable the Indians to better understand their own culture and literature. He utilized his stay at the Banaras Sanskrit College during 1819-20 to prepare for the Bodon Professorship and also acknowledged that the Oriental *paṇḍits* of the city “afforded him valuable opportunities for improving (his) knowledge of Sanskrit”. Wilson’s *Dictionary of Sanskrit and English* was translated and amended and an enlarged version of the original compilation prepared by “Learned Natives for the College of Fort William”, under the supervision of Pt. Raghumani Bhattacharya.