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JAMES PRINSEP

(1799-1840)

HISTORY AND THEORY OF CONSERVATION

GAYATHRI MR
SPA/NS/AC/882
SEMESTER I
TIMELINE AND MAJOR WORKS

1799 : Born in England

1818 : Primary Education and Architecture training


under Augustus Pugin

1819 : Posted as Assay master in Royal mint, Calcutta

1820 : Posted as Assay master in Royal mint, Benaras

1820-1830 : Works in Benaras

• Survey and Production of map


• Designed canals, bridges and tunnels
• Restoration work of Alamgir Mosque

1830-1840 : Works in Calcutta

• Studied, documented and illustrated many aspects


of numismatics, metallurgy, meteorology JAMES PRINSEP
(1799-1840)
1830 : Founding editor of the Journal of the Asiatic
Society of Bengal English scholar
Orientalist
 Antiquary
1836 : Deciphered the Kharosthi and Brahmi scripts of
ancient India

1840 : Died in London.


MAJOR WORKS IN BENARAS

FIRST MAP OF BENARAS


• In 1822, he prepared the first map of
Benaras city, at the scale of 8 inches to a
mile.

• Map was lithographed in England.

• Every single dwelling of the city found


place in it.

• He had represented everything that was


considered characteristics of the factual
urban qualities and essential.

• Identifies 66 ghats and 92 Hindu temples,


major bazars, thanas, melas.

• He created two copies of this enormous


map, one for the administration in Roman
script and one for the locals in Devanagari,
which plotted every building in the city.
SKETCHES AND PAINTINGS

• Made numerous sketches and and


evocative watercolours
illustrating temples, ghats, and
daily life.

• These masterpieces traveled


outside and across the world and
introduced to the Western world,
the enchantment of Benares over
the next few decades.

• Knowledge on architectural forms


and mastery of perspective gave
rich information on the daily life,
traditions and mythology of the
region.

Fig 1.On stone by JD Harding, based on a sketch by


James Prinsep
Fig 2.Lithograph of Kupuldhara Tulao
SKETCHES AND PAINTINGS

Fig 3. Temple of Visweswar, Benares


Fig 4. A Preacher Expounding The Poorans. In The Temple of Unn
Poorna, Benares. Lithograph by Prinsep (1835)
OTHER WORKS IN BENARAS

RESTORATION OF ALAMGIR MOSQUE


CLOSING OF WATER PONDS AND STREAMS
• Concerned about a marsh on the edge of town
responsible for periodic disease outbreaks.

• Prinsep devised a plan to drain the city of its


ponds and lakes and built a network of drains,
sewers and tunnels between 1824 and 1827.

• Lacking vision on social and cultural


importance of lakes and ponds and their role in
natural drainage system.

Pen and ink and watercolour map by James Prinsep (1799-


1840) of the area around the Machhodri tank at Varanasi Aurangzeb mosque with its minaret covered with
(Benares) scaffolding for restoration
ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL

• Founding editor of the Journal of the Asiatic


Society of Bengal

• Contributed articles on mineralogy, chemistry,


numismatics  and on the study of Indian
antiquities.

DECIPHERING THE ANCIENT SCRIPTS


• Coins and copies of inscriptions were
transmitted to him from all over India, to be
deciphered, translated, and published.

• The first successful attempts at deciphering


Brahmi in 1836 - Norwegian scholar Christian
Lassen, who used the bilingual Greek-Brahmi
coins of Indo-Greek kings Agathocles The last two letters at the end of this
and Pantaleon to correctly identify several inscription in Brahmi were guessed to
form the word "dǎnam" (donation),
Brahmi letters. which appears at the end of most
inscriptions at Sanchi and Bharhut.
• This hypothesis permitted the complete
decipherment of the Brahmi script by James
Prinsep in 1837, with the help of Major
Cunningham.
            
DECIPHERING THE ANCIENT SCRIPTS

• The Brahmi inscriptions on pillars and


rocks were in Prakrit.

• Inscribed on commands of a king who


referred to himself as Devanampiya
Piyadasi.

• Ethical principles on which his kingdom


was run and were clearly Buddhist in
inspiration.

• After deciphering the script, the entire Allahabad stone pillar inscription


legacy of Emperor Ashoka and Mauryan of Samudragupta
dynasty was revamped, which otherwise
would have been forgotten in the
homeland.

Bairat inscription, on which Prinsep


worked to decipher Brahmi. On display
in the Asiatic Society.
DECIPHERING THE ANCIENT SCRIPTS

Consonants of the Brahmi script, and their evolution down to modern Devanagari, according to James Prinsep,
as published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, in March 1838.
DECIPHERING THE ANCIENT SCRIPTS

• These scripts were found on the pillars at Delhi


and Allahabad and on rock inscriptions from
northern and southern parts pf India.

• Also deciphered Kharosthi script in the coins


and inscriptions of the north-west.

• The idea of Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, a Kharoshthi on a coin


Kharoshthi script of Indo-Greek
collection of Indian epigraphy, was first
King Artemidoros Aniketos,
suggested by Prinsep and the work was formally reading "Rajatirajasa Moasa
begun by Sir Alexander Cunningham in 1877. Putasa cha Artemidorasa".

• His studies on inscriptions helped in the


establishment of date of Indian dynasties based
on references to Antiochus and other Greeks.

• Also delved into the early history of


Afghanistan, producing several works that
touched on archaeological finds in that country.
Kharoshti script on a wooden plate, National
Museum, New Delhi
REFERENCES

BOOKS
Beneres Illustrated – James Prinsep

JOURNAL
• Sajith. "From Antiquarinism to Archaology under British Rule." The Journey of Indian
Archaeology (2013).

ONLINE ARTICLES
• Chakraborthy, Bhaswoti. "An Unusual Artist." The Telegraph 2010.
• Kang, Kanwarjit Singh. "He deciphered India’s past." Tribune March 2010.
• Shahane, Girish. https://scroll.in/article/902167/what-historians-could-learn-from-
james-prinsep-the-englishman-who-decoded-ashokan-edicts. 15 November 2018. English.
24 October 2019.
Thank You

Consonants of the Brahmi script, and their evolution down to modern Devanagari, according to James Prinsep,
as published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, in March 1838.

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