John Beames

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John Beames (21 June 1837 - May 1902) was the eldest son of Rev. Thomas Beames , preacher of St. James’s Piccadilly and grandson of John Beams Esq. of Lincoln’s Inn . Educated at Merchant Taylor ’s School and Hailey bury College , in his fourth term, he won Classic, andSanskrit), prizes as well as the Persian Medal.He he arrived in India in 1858 and served in the Punjab from March 1859, to late 1861.He was a member of the Indian Civil Service in British India. served in the Punjab from March 1859, to late 1861 and in Bengal December 1861 , to the conclusion of his service .He was employed in the Bengal Presidency, becoming a permanent Collector in 1867 , a Commissioner in 1881 and thrice officiated as a Member of the Board of Revenue. By the time he retired from the ICS in March 1893 , he had gained extensive knowledge of Indian life in all its complexity and richnessas a civilian in Bengal in the nineteenth century. He was a District Officer and Collector of several districts in Bengal, and the Commissioner of Chittagong. He was also a scholar of Indian history, literature and linguistics. His great work was a comparative grammar of Indo-Aryan languages, published in 3 volumes in 1872-1879. In his autobiography, which was not published until 1960, he describes himself as "an obscure person - an average, ordinary, middle-class Englishman".

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[edit] Carrier & Scholarly Contribution

Beames’s scholarly contributions began early in his career. While at the district of Champaran, Bihar, he published essays in the Bengal Asiatic Society. These dealt with the question of retaining Arabic element in the official form of Hindustani. Treating Bishop Caldwell’s Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian Languages as a model, he commenced work on the counterpart of Aryan languages. To The Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society, Beams contributed essays on Chand Bardoi and other old Hindi authors and studies on the antiquities and history of Orissa (1870-1883). In 1891, he published a pioneering volume Bengali Grammar, and after his retirement, he wrote for Imperial and Asiatic Quarterly Review. His reputation rightly rests on the Comparative Grammar of the Aryan Language of India, published in volumes in 1872, 1895 and 1879. John Beames (1837-1902) who served as the Collector of Balasore and Cuttack, became an important interlocutor of local linguistic and cultural aspirations. Little known even in Orissa, his evocative “Memoirs of a Bengali Civilia” is generally confined to antiquarian circles. The classicists remember his celebrated “Comparative Grammar of the Aryan Languages of India” and essays in Indian Antiquary and Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society. And yet, Beames remains foremost in his interventions for the survival of the Oriya language. He made outstanding contributions for regional formations in Eastern India.

[edit] Role in the survival of the Oriya language

The Oriya – Bengali language conflict had basically an economic origin. Language hegemony was deployed by sections of the Bengali colonial administration for the exercise of power by cornering government jobs. One of the earlier manifestations by resistance to the colonial administration in Orissa was the assertion of linguistic and cultural identity. .[1] In 1867, for instance, Deputy Magistrate Rangalal Bandhopadhyaya spoke in public meeting of the primacy of Bengali over Oriya. Like wise, well-known Bengali scholar Rajendralal Mitra who came to study the temples of Cuttack declared that there was no need to have a separate language for a mere 20 lakh Oriya population. In fact, Mitra argued that Orissa was doomed to remain backward so long as it had a separate language. Pandit Kanti Chandra Bhattacharya, a teacher of Balasore Zilla School , published a little pamphlet named ‘Udiya Ekti Swatantray Bhasha Noi (Oriya not an independent language ) where Mr.Bhattacharya claimed that Oriya was not a separate and original form of language and was a mere corruption of Bengali .He suggested British Government to abolish all Oriya Vernacular Schools from Orissa and to alter into Bengali Vernacular Schools . [2] Beames examines both the languages from close quarters and suggests that as a separate language “Uriya extends along the sea coast from Subarnarekha to near Ganjam.’ Landwards, its boundary is uncertain, it melts gradually into the Boud and other rude hill dialects and co-exists with them.”Beams wrote three notes remain supremely important in this regard. ‘On the relation of the Oriya to the other modern Aryan language,’ ‘On Oriya language, script and literature’ and ‘Urya.’ [3] These refuted the claim that Oriya was a dialect of Bengali, specifically the conspiracy of Bengali intellectuals to abolish Oriya Language got dimmed Beames’s exposition of the origin of Oriya language and study of its evolution brought him closer to the Oriya people who were battling then for the survival of their language. John Beames represents perhaps the best face of British colonialism in Orissa. Educated, enlightened and well meaning, he adapted to the land and its culture. While his contributions in the field of administration will be forgotten, his linguistic and cultural legacy remains historic. Beames empathized with the local culture and aspirations and made decisive interventions in the comparative study of languages. His support of the cause of Oriya was timely. It contributed vitally to community formation in Orissa during the 19th century.

[edit] Beams & Orissa

Beames’s Memoirs records his stay in Orissa as a period of great happiness and productivity. Orissa had just recovered from a severe famine in 1866 when he arrived in Balasore in 1869. He learnt Oriya and wrote on its language, literature, temple iconography, fortresses and folklore. He identified with local sentiments for the preservation and promotion of the Oriya language. On a Copper Plate Grant from Balasore AD 1483, argued that Oriya script had developed from a southern variety of Kutila type. He wrote on the poetry of Dinahrushna Das pioneered comparative folk culture studies with the publication of his folklore of Orissa.

[edit] See also


[edit] Bibliography

  • B. P. Ambashthya, editor, Beames' contributions to the political geography of the subahs of Awadh, Bihar, Bengal, and Orissa in the age of Akbar. Patna: Janaki Prakashan, 1976.
  • John Beames, A comparative grammar of the modern Aryan languages of India : to wit, Hindi, Panjabi, Sindhi, Gujarati, Marathi, Oriya, and Bangali. London: Trübner, 1872-1879. 3 vols.
  • John Beames, Memoirs of a Bengal Civilian. London: Chatto & Windus, 1961.
  • Henry Miers Elliot, Memoirs on the History, Folk-lore and Distribution of the Races of the North Western Provinces of India: Being an Amplified Edition of the Original Supplemental Glossary of Indian Terms, 2 vols. revised by John Beames. London: Trübner, 1869; New Delhi, Asian Educational Services, 2 vols. (2004) ISBN 8120619056
  • John Beames’s Essays on Orissa History and Literature : Edited by Kailash Patnaik, Published by Prafulla Pathagara,Jagatsinghpur,Cuttack , 2004

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Pritish Acharya, “Nationalistic Politics: Nature, Objectives and Strategy.” From Late 19th Century to Formation of UPCC,” in Culture, Tribal History and Freedom Movement, ed. P.K. Mishra, Delhi: Agam Kala Prakasham, 1989
  2. ^ Sachidananda Mohanty, “Rebati and the Woman Question in Orissa,” India International Centre Quarterly, New Delhi, Vol. 21, No.4, Winter 1994
  3. ^ John Beames’s Essays on Orissa History and Literature : Edited by Kailash Patnaik, Published by Prafulla Pathagara,Jagatsinghpur,Cuttack , 2004
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