Posted on: 3 December 2010

Digital Rare Book :
Selected Writings & Speeches
By Kashinath Trimbak Telang
Published by K.R.Mitra, Bombay - 1916

Mr. Justice Kashinath Trimbak Telang, M.A. LL.B. : Was unquestionably the most versatile and brilliant of the Judges of the Bombay High Court. His whole career was remarked by exceptional precocity. Born in 1850, he died in 1892. Within this short span of a little over 40 years, his life was packed with varied and brilliant achievements in diverse fields. He practiced as an advocate on the Original Side of the High Court. Mr. Inverarity who cam in close contact with him, regarded him as head and shoulders above all his Indian contemporaries at the Bar, both as lawyer and as a public speaker. His courtesy, modesty, candour and good humour, his fluent and graceful English attracted his European colleagues. At the Bar, he was distinguished for his knowledge of Hindu Law, where his Sanskrit learning gave him a special advantage. It is noteworthy that both at the Bar, and later in his judgments from the Bench, he brought his knowledge of Sanskrit and his legal learning to bear upon the liberalisation and modernisation of Hindu law to make it elastic and progressive. On the death of Mr. Justice Nanabhai Haridas in 1889, Mr. Telang was appointed Judge of the High Court at the remarkable age of 38. Mr. Telang was also an educationist and a staunch champion of English and liberal education. He was appointed as the Vice-Chancellor at the age of 36 and was the first and youngest Indian Vice-Chancellor of Bombay University. His untimely death caused universal regret.

Source : Bombay High Court


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Read Book Online : http://www.archive.org/stream/selectedwritings00tela#page/n3/mode/2up

KT Telang criticized Albrecht Weber's hypothesis that the story of the Ramayana was influenced by the Homeric epics. While devoted to the sacred classics of the Hindus, Telang did not neglect his own vernacular, Marathi literature being enriched by his translation of Lessing's Nathan the Wise, and an essay on Social Compromise. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashinath_Trimbak_Telang

Homer on the Ganges: The title of a slim, nineteenth century volume in the Library's collection of Indian books almost shouts out to be noticed--Was the Ramayana Copied from Homer? by Kashinath Trimbak Telang, Senior Fellow at Elphinstone College and Advocate at H.M.'s High Court in Bombay. http://www.loc.gov/rr/asian/guide/guide-homer.html

RBSI Flipped through the book and will read it in detail. I must say that Indian writers and commentators had a tough time battling ingrained prejudices in those days. We have a much easier time! I was not familiar with his writings. Thank you for introducing them to me.

Download pdf Book : http://ia360610.us.archive.org/2/items/selectedwritings00tela/selectedwritings00tela.pdf

Sumedha Verma : This was Telang's reply to Albrecht Weber - Was Ramayana copied from Homer : http://www.archive.org/stream/selectedwritings00tela#page/n45/mode/2up

Telang's rebuttal of Weber's proposition is the first chapter of the book. Telang rises as the Counsel for Defense before the jury (readers) and demolishes the Prosecutions case that Valmiki's Ramayana was borrowed from Homer. This is a lawyerly master-piece using typically the court room language for rebuttal and decimation of an opponent. Telang himself is neither a historian nor a Sanskrit scholar. But he has the mastery of a lawyer arguing in the highest courts to make the best use of evidence available to him to demolish the weaknesses in the evidence tendered by the other side.

@Sumedha Verma Ojha: I think it is a mistake to ascribe all that is said by Western Scholars about the antiquity of India (irrespective of whether it pre-dates or predates western civilization) to ingrained prejudices. As you know, every researcher brings her biases and prejudices to bear upon the research she produces. Weber or Max Muller or others (English and French scholars) were certainly no exception. You rightly point out that it must have been tough for Indian writers and commentators to engage in battle the whole-time scholars of the West. What beats me is why we Indians should always be reactive and struggle to rise to defend ourselves or our non-inferiority compared to the West? Why don't we produce orignal work? Why do we have to rebut someone or the other? The rest of the book is Telang's occassional writings on other subjects. He became a judge of the Bombay High Court and died young - at the age of 42. If you also noticeed, Telang's book was published a few decades after he died by the Gaud Saraswat Brahmin Sabha - a body of the (brahmin) caste to which he belonged.

@ SS I could agree with you in terms of letting people stew in their juice of ignorance but inaccuracy and untruths specially when they come not only from ignorance but prejudice are not acceptable to me. It is not opinions which bother me but facts. The entire idea of scholarship is to suspend biases and it is simply bad methodology to let prejudices speak instead of facts. Humanities are inexact but not as inexact as that. The so called scholarship of the scholars you speak of would not be acceptable in any reputable historical journal today because all concerned consciously try to exclude biases and not suppose them to be part of methodology. All of western scholarship may not be biased, a good deal is. Again, their ideas are informed by their perspective which is limited. We are broader minded because we have been exposed to the entire gamut of Western AND Eastern modes of thought . many Western scholars were not so fortunate; are not even today. I find this out in my interaction with people here in Switzerland and UK when I attend workshops, seminars etc. People just are not aware of lots of eastern knowledge. ( Some are both aware and knowledgeable but they are in a minority) As for rebuttal it comes in only as a an answer to something wrong which is averred as the truth. For instance, the esteemed Dr Deepak Chopra stating the the Vedas, Yoga, Advaita Vedanta are all not Hindu and that Hindus are too one eyed, tribal to think beyond their noses and are therefore incapable of any significant thought. The latter is an opinion about Hindus he is welcome to but the former is a matter of fact which I have every intention of re butting. There is now a trend towards original work which i hope gets strengthened.

I do not disagree with you and share you anguish about these matters. All I wish to observe is that "prejudice" is a serious allegation to be leveled against a researcher when there is nothing to stop us from exposing the biases and resulting erroneous conclusions. Again, I do believe that the Western scholars did contribute by keeping our interest alive in the subject matter. We Indians on our own were neither inclined to do so or worse still, were not capable of doing so. I am grateful even if a biased imperialist served my purpose in quite an unexpected way. Western scholars of today may be ignorant about our past. I think we are to blame for our own lack of interest and scholarship (and our own parochial attitudes). We know what disrepute we enjoy when it comes to producing authentic research and earning our PhDs. :(

Sigh...lots of stuff needs reform in our country...not the least academics and research. I think that when i write anything I am not addressing the ignorant masses who could not care less but the section which does read and think. Sometimes the reading of this section is also fairly limited. As for the ignorant or unconcerned I can only hope someone somewhere ignites their interest. I have started on a writing career with something of this objective....