Book Title: Most Ancient Aryan Society
Author(s): Ram Chandra Jain
Publisher: Institute of Bharatalogical Research Sriganganagar Rajasthan
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CHAPTER I
PRE-ARYAN ANCIENT ŚRAMAŅIC SOCIETY
1. INTRODUCTION
Till the close of the Eighteenth century, different countries of the world thought themselves different entities having no organic relationship with each other. This was the age of the rise of European imperialism. Scientifically and technologically far advanced countries of Europe fell upon the weaker and backward countries of Asia, Africa and other parts of the world. The rulers soon realized the fundamental law of governance. They felt that their rule would not successfully endure for long till they knew the manners, customs, beliefs and history of their subject peoples. This desire for knowledge was purely materialistic born of imperial necessities.
Imperial Necessity for Research.
Sporadic efforts to gain such knowledge had continued since the beginning of the sixteenth century A. D. by different rulers and their associates in different countries. The shining sceptre fell upon the head of Sir William Jones, the Chief Justice of the High Court of Judicature at Fort Williams in Bengal, India, then under the rule of the East India Company operating from Great Britain and Ireland. He gave his famous historical address to the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1786 A. D. He established the common origin of a number of languages, such as, Greek, Latin, Gothic, Celtic, Persian, Sanskrit and others to which the scholars gave the name of Indo-European or Indo-Germanic. He laid the foundation of comparative philology.
Sir Jones' Discovery
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