The birth of associational life in Calcutta- Founding of the Asiatic Society
Associational life, public sphere, and civil society are closely linked concepts. Some use these terms interchangeably, others attribute distinct meanings to them. Without getting bogged down in semantics, we will consider the last two terms- public sphere and civil society- as broadly conveying the same meaning- a domain that is distinct from those directed and controlled by the state, corporations and family, where people meet, discuss and sometimes take collective action on a voluntary basis. Associational life, on the other hand, can be thought of as the cumulative experience of individuals in a society who are members of voluntary associations. It is possible to imagine the existence of civil society/ public sphere without any associational life- people meeting in the town square for a specific cause without being affiliated to each other through membership of any voluntary associations would qualify as being part of the public sphere- but it is likely that such an enterprise would lack vitality. Associational life is usually the lifeblood that sustains a well-functioning civil society or public sphere.
The associational life of Calcutta between 1784 and 1947 was distinctive in an important sense. The vast majority of scholarly works on civil society, public sphere and associational life is focused on their impact on the functioning of democracy within particular societies. Civil societies, public sphere and associational life are generally held to be salutary for democracy as they can be a necessary counterbalance to the power of the state. Democratic societies are also sovereign societies. Hence, the extant literature has not really explored these ideas in the colonial context. But in the case of Calcutta, its associational life directly engendered the Creative Society within the city. And, while it did help to often hold the colonial government to account, its major contribution was to foster innovation and creativity in the fields of arts, science, literature, drama, paintings, sculpture, and education.
Asiatic Society was founded by William Jones on 15th January 1784. Often Warren Hastings is credited with the founding of the Institute, but Asiatic Society was Jones’s project, Hastings lent his support but had little to do with setting its scope and direction.
William Jones was a Fellow of the Royal Society before he arrived in Calcutta as a Supreme Court Judge in 1783. By that time, he was already a renowned scholar in Britain. Asiatic Society was modeled after the Royal Society of Great Britain. Jones himself was very much a product of the eighteenth century European Age of Enlightenment. It was through him and the Asiatic Society, the ideals of the enlightenment were ushered into the city of Calcutta. The scope of the Society was wide ranging, covering ‘Man and Nature; whatever is performed by the one, or produced by the other’ [1]. Jones highlighted three disciplines that would underpin such an endeavour.
“the three main branches of learning are history, science, and art: the first comprehends either an account of natural productions, or the genuine records of empires and states; the second embraces the whole circle of pure and mixed mathematicks, together with ethicks and law, as far as they depend on the reasoning faculty; and the third includes all the beauties of imagery and the charms of invention, displayed in modulated language, or represented by colour, figure, or sound.” [2]
The domain of research would cover Asia in its entirety. Jones laid out the possible range of enquiry for the Institute’s future researchers
“you will investigate whatever is rare in the stupendous fabrick of nature, will correct the geography of Asia by new observations and discoveries; will trace the annals, and even traditions, of those nations, who from time to time have peopled or desolated it; and will bring to light their various forms of government, with their institutions civil and religious; you will examine their improvements and methods in arithmetick and geometry, in trigonometry, mensuration, mechanicks, opticks, agronomy, and general physicks; their systems of morality, grammar, rhetorick, and dialectick; their skill in chirurgery and medicine, and their advancement, whatever it may be, in anatomy and chymistry. To this you will add researches into their agriculture, manufactures, trade; and, whilst you inquire with pleasure into their musick, architecture, painting, and poetry, will not neglect those inferior arts, by which the comforts and even elegances of social life are supplied or improved.” [3]
It is worth reiterating here the point that the Asiatic Society and the consequent birth of associational life in Calcutta, would not have materialised without the transformation of Calcutta from ‘Factory Town’ to the burgeoning capital city of British India. As the city became more complex, that complexity sparked other dynamics within it.
[1] Jones, W., 1784. Sir William Jones-A Discourse on the Institution of a Society for Inquiring into the History, Civil and Natural, the Antiquities, Arts, Sciences, and Literature, of Asia.
[2] Ibid
[3] Ibid
