Asiatic Researches

Asia is a vast and magnificent land with a magnificent heritage of Civilization and a diversity of cultural strands and traditions. The Asiatic Society since its inception in 1784 took up this broad canvas for its investigation under the scholarly leadership of its founder Sir William Jones, who said about the scope of this publication that, ‘the bounds of its investigation will be the geographical limits of Asia, and within these limits its enquiries will be extended to whatever is performed by Man or produced by Nature”.
Sir Jones had a battery of scholars and Indologists like H.T. Colebrooke, H.H. Wilson, William Chambers, Charles Wilkins, Jonathan Duncan and many others to help and assist him in this huge task. These scholars had an abiding interest in unfolding the hidden treasures of oriental learning and thus laid a solid foundation of the science of Indology and Orientology. The fruits of these researches were contemplated to be published in annual volumes for wider appreciation by the academic world and the first volume of the ‘Asiatic Researches’ was published in 1788 under the editorship of Sir William Jones. The remaining 19 Volumes were published at a regular interval up till 1839, making the set complete in 20 Volumes. The wide range and variety of subjects dealt with in theses volumes present a panoramic view of the civilization and culture of Asia in its different facets and in the different periods of history. There are no less than 367 essays, some of them fully illustrated on so diverse subjects such as Antiquities, History, Languages and Literature, Religion, Manner, Customs and Music, Coins, Weights and Measures, Mathematical and Physical sciences, Geology, Zoology, Botany, Geography, Ethnography, Chemistry, Economic Sciences and Statistics in the series of these volumes. An analysis of the above subjects will enlighten readers about this work. The entire set is published in its complete form in 24 including volume of Index. The Publisher believes that these volumes will become a major research tool and will fill the vacuum created by its non-availability to the scholars and academicians the world over.