Question

The Asiatic Society had been established in Calcutta by ________.
(A) TB Macaulay
(B) Sir William Jone
(C) GK Gokhale
(D) Annie Besant

Answer 1

Hint: The Asiatic Society was an organisation during the period of British Raj in India. This organisation was found to enhance and further the cause of the ‘Oriental research’ which is the research into India and the surrounding regions.

Complete step-by-step answer:
The Asiatic Society was established in the year 1784 i.e., 236 years ago. It is located in 1 Park Street, Kolkata located in West Bengal in India. It is a library and its president is Isha Mohammad. William Jones found this organisation on 15 January 1784, who was a philologist. All the meetings of the Medical and Physical Society of Calcutta, which was formed in 1823, were held in the Asiatic Society. Collecting the old manuscripts of India is one of the main activities of the Asiatic Society. There was an enormous collection of the Sanskrit manuscripts in the Society. This society’s library has a collection of about 117,000 books and 79,000 journals at present which is printed in almost all the major languages of the world. It also has a collection of about 293 maps, microfilm of 387,003 pages, the microfiche of 48,000 workers, 2500 pamphlets, 2150 photographs and 182 paintings. There is also a museum of this society which was founded in 1814 under the Superintendence of Nathaniel Wallich.

Thus, option (B) is correct.

Note: The Asiatic Society was named as “Asiatick Society” at the time of this foundation. Without any formal resolution, the society dropped the antique ‘k’ in 1825 and was renamed as the Asiatic Society. Later the name was changed to ‘The Asiatic Society of Bengal’ in 1832 and in 1936 the name was again changed to ‘The Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal’. It was finally named as the present one on 1 July 1951.