Raja Rammohun Roy’s letter to Lord Amherst, written on December 11, 1823, is one of the most significant documents in the history of Indian education. It represents a bold protest against the British government's plan to establish a traditional Sanskrit College in Calcutta and serves as a manifesto for modern, scientific education.
Here is the complete, simplified rewrite of that letter . It is written in clear, modern English, and I have made sure to keep every single argument, detail, and example from the original text.
To His Excellency the Right Honorable William Pitt, Lord Amherst.
My Lord,
Even though the native people of India are usually hesitant to bother the Government with their opinions on public matters, remaining silent right now would be taking that respect too far. The current British rulers of India have traveled thousands of miles to govern a people whose language, literature, manners, customs, and ideas are completely new and strange to them. Because of this, the rulers cannot possibly understand the true local conditions as well as the native people themselves do. Therefore, we would be failing in our duty to ourselves—and giving our rulers a good reason to complain about our laziness—if we did not speak up on such an important issue. By sharing accurate information based on our local knowledge and experience, we hope to help the Government create policies that truly benefit the country, thereby supporting your generous intentions to improve India.
The plan to establish a new Sanskrit School in Calcutta shows the Government's admirable desire to improve the native people of India through education. This is a blessing for which we will always be grateful, and anyone who wishes the best for humanity must want these educational efforts to be guided by the most enlightened principles so that the flow of knowledge is directed into the most useful areas.
When this school was first proposed, we understood that the British Government had dedicated a large sum of money to be spent annually on educating its Indian subjects. We were highly optimistic that this money would be used to hire talented, educated European gentlemen. We hoped they would teach the native people of India Mathematics, Natural Philosophy (Physics), Chemistry, Anatomy, and other useful sciences. These are the exact sciences that have allowed European nations to achieve a level of perfection that elevates them above the people of other parts of the world.
As we looked forward to this promised dawn of modern knowledge for our younger generation, our hearts were filled with joy and gratitude. We were already thanking God for inspiring the most generous and advanced Western nations with the glorious ambition of bringing the arts and sciences of modern Europe to Asia.
However, we now find that the Government is establishing a Sanskrit school run by Hindu pundits to teach the exact same knowledge that is already common in India. This type of school is very similar to the ones that existed in Europe before the time of Francis Bacon. We can only expect it to fill the minds of young students with picky grammatical rules and theoretical debates that have little to no practical use for the students or for society. The students there will only learn things that were already known two thousand years ago, along with empty, useless arguments created by theoretical thinkers since then. This is the exact same curriculum already being taught all over India.
It is a well-known fact that the Sanskrit language is so difficult that it takes almost an entire lifetime to learn it perfectly. For centuries, this difficulty has been a tragic barrier to the spread of knowledge. Furthermore, the knowledge hidden behind this difficult language is simply not worth the immense effort it takes to uncover it. If the Government feels it is necessary to keep the Sanskrit language alive just to preserve the valuable information it contains, there is a much easier way to do this than building a brand new Sanskrit College. There have always been, and still are, many Sanskrit professors all over the country who teach the language and the literature that this new school intends to teach. If the Government wants to promote Sanskrit, it could simply offer financial rewards and grants to the most famous existing professors who already teach it independently. These rewards would easily motivate them to work even harder.
The British Government set this money aside specifically to improve its Indian subjects. Because of this, I must respectfully tell Your Lordship that following the current plan for a Sanskrit school will completely defeat that original goal. We cannot expect any improvement to come from forcing young men to waste twelve of the best years of their lives learning the tiny, complex details of Vyakarana (Sanskrit grammar). For example, they will spend their time debating points like this: In the word khadati (which means "he, she, or it eats" from the root khad, meaning "to eat"), does the entire word khadati contain the meaning, or is the meaning split between the distinct parts of the word? This is like asking in English: "How much of the meaning is in the word 'eat', and how much is in the letter 's'? Do the two parts convey the meaning separately or together?"
Improvement also will not come from the kind of theoretical speculations taught in the Vedanta. Students will be asked to write essays on questions like: "How is the soul absorbed into God?" and "What is the relationship between the soul and the divine essence?" Teaching young people the doctrines of the Vedanta will not make them better members of society. These doctrines teach that all visible, physical things are illusions and have no real existence. Therefore, fathers, brothers, and family members do not actually exist and do not deserve any real love or affection. According to this teaching, the sooner we escape our families and leave the world, the better. Similarly, a student of the Mimamsa philosophy gains absolutely no practical benefit from learning why reciting certain passages from the Vedas supposedly makes it sinless to kill a goat, or from debating the magical influence of those Vedic passages.
Finally, a student of the Nyaya Shastra (logic and philosophy) does not improve his mind by learning how many imaginary, theoretical categories the objects of the universe can be divided into. He gains nothing by debating the speculative relationship between the soul and the body, or the eye and the ear.
To help Your Lordship truly understand the uselessness of encouraging this kind of imaginary learning, I ask you to compare the state of science and literature in Europe before Francis Bacon to the massive progress in knowledge that has happened since his time.
If the British government actually wanted to keep the British people ignorant of real knowledge, they would never have allowed Francis Bacon's modern philosophy to replace the old, medieval school system (which was perfectly designed to keep people ignorant). In the exact same way, the Sanskrit education system is perfectly designed to keep India in darkness. If it were the British Legislature's official policy to keep India in the dark, this school would be a great idea. However, since the Government's actual goal is to improve the native population, it must promote a more liberal, enlightened education system that includes Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Anatomy, and other useful sciences. This can easily be done with the money you have already set aside. You simply need to hire a few talented, educated gentlemen from Europe and provide a college equipped with the necessary books, scientific instruments, and apparatus.
In bringing this matter to Your Lordship's attention, I believe I am fulfilling a serious duty to my countrymen. I also owe this duty to the enlightened British Sovereign and Legislature, who have generously extended their care to this distant land with the true desire to improve its people. Therefore, I humbly trust that you will forgive me for taking the liberty to express my honest thoughts to Your Lordship.
Calcutta, The 11th December 1823.
I have etc.,
RAMMOHUN ROY.
The original letter to be read here
https://akshara.ink/books/life-and-letters-raja-rammohun-roy/12-appendix-letter-amherst/
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