{"id":13656,"date":"2020-11-12T12:09:23","date_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:09:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/t-creative.com\/asiatic\/?page_id=13656"},"modified":"2025-11-09T21:59:39","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T21:59:39","slug":"about-us","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/about-us\/","title":{"rendered":"About Us"},"content":{"rendered":"

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About Us<\/h1>\n

The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland was founded by the eminent Sanskrit scholar, Henry Thomas Colebrooke (1735\u20131867), on the 15th March 1823. It received its Royal Charter from King George IV on the 11th August 1824 \u2018for the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encouragement of science, literature and the arts in relation to Asia\u2019.<\/h4>\n

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Founding of the Society<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Colebrooke previously had served as President of the Asiatick Society of Bengal, a learned society founded in 1784 by the philologist and jurist Sir William Jones (1746\u201394). Upon his return to London, Colebrooke wished to create a similar society that not only focused on India but the whole of Asia. The Society\u2019s iconic seal was designed by the artists Thomas Daniell (1749\u20131840) and William Daniell (1769\u20131837), known for their picturesque views of India, both of whom were founding members of the Society. The original drawing of the seal depicts a richly caparisoned elephant carrying a howdah symbolising our enduring connection with Asia.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n

Foster a deeper understanding of Asia<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Throughout its early history, the Society encouraged the study of the history, scientific knowledge, languages, and religions of Asia through lectures and publications. The Society published its first volume of Transactions<\/em> in 1827, a journal that included articles on all aspects of Asia. This was superseded by the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society<\/em> in 1834 which continues to be published today in conjunction with Cambridge University Press. The establishment of special funds such as the Oriental Translation Fund permitted the Society to publish translations of valuable works on Asian history and literature. Notable publications include Autobiographical Memoirs of the Moghul Emperor Timur<\/em> (1830) translated by Charles Stewart, Ram Raz\u2019s Essay on the Architecture of the Hindus<\/em> (1834) and History of the Afghans<\/em> (1836) by Ni\u2018mat Allah and translated by Bernhard Dorn.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n

Our membership and wider community<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Many distinguished scholars have been members of the Society or have received recognition for their work from the Society, including Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1772\u20131833), the distinguished Indian reformer and writer; Edward Hincks (1792\u20131866) and Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson (1810\u201395), Assyriologists who contributed to the decipherment of the Mesopotamian cuneiform script; Sir Richard Burton (1821\u201390), the noted explorer and translator of One Thousand and One Nights<\/em> and the Kama Sutra<\/em>; Sir Aurel Stein (1862\u20131943), the renowned archaeologist of the \u2018Silk Roads\u2019; B. C. Law (1892\u20131968), the eminent Indologist; Gertrude Caton-Thompson (1888\u20131985), archaeologist; Dame Freya Stark (1893\u20131993), traveller and author; and Professor Dame Caroline Humphrey (1943-), anthropologist.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n

A unique resource for discovering Asia<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Thanks to generous donations and bequests from its members and benefactors, the Society has become home to an extraordinary collection of manuscripts, paintings, photographs and archives, forming a unique resource for the study of the history, languages, cultures, and religions of Asia. Our treasures include finely illustrated Persian manuscripts, Indian paintings and architectural studies, early photographs of ancient Javanese sites, the personal papers of influential Orientalists and much more. Since 2018, the Society\u2019s Digital Library<\/a> has been making its historic collections accessible to a worldwide audience.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n

2023 Bicentenary<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The Society celebrated its bicentenary in 2023 with a series of special events and research initiatives, including an exhibition held at Brunei Gallery, SOAS and the publication of a limited-edition reissue of Lieutenant Colonel James Tod\u2019s Annals and Antiquities of Rajast\u2019han<\/em>, with a new Companion Volume by Dr Norbert Peabody. Mr Peter Collin, a long-standing member of the Society, also compiled a prosopography of over 500 early members, now available on our website here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Details of the re-issue of James Tod\u2019s book can be found here<\/a>.[\/vc_column_text][vc_media_grid element_width=”2″ css=”” grid_id=”vc_gid:1762725555626-2d4c01ee-7353-6″ include=”23694,22362,19977,21563,21497,20199″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” css=”.vc_custom_1760914346246{background-image: url(https:\/\/royalasiaticsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/landscape1.jpg?id=1875) !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n

Donors & Grants<\/h3>\n

The Society is grateful to the following bodies and individuals for their support:[\/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n