Drawing on an impressive range of archival sources, Avril A. Powell provides a remarkably detailed reconstruction of the lives and achievements of two brothers, who were among the most prominent (and yet underinvestigated) Scottish orientalists in the 19th century – Dr John Muir (1810-1882) and Sir William Muir (1819-1844). Born in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, into a family which had built its economic fortune around commerce and trade with India, both became renowned scholars, educators and administrators in the East India Company and the Raj in North-West India between 1827 and 1876, and both, on their return from India, became influential intellectuals on the Edinburgh scene. John, a renowned Sankritist, would further his studies on Hindu religion and history and lead a semi-withdrawn scholar’s life in Edinburgh, while William, whose remarkable career had seen him rise to the Lieutenant-Governorship of the NWP, would first take up a seat on the Council of India in London and then preside as Principal of the University of Edinburgh. An established Islamist and Arabist, he, like his older brother, also engaged in study and publication, his own focus being the origins and history of Islam. Powell’s study, however, goes a long way beyond the conventional biographer’s chronological and empirical approach, in at least three ways.
Powell, Avril A., Scottish Orientalists and India: The Muir Brothers, Religion, Education and Empire, Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2010
SASSI, Carla
2013-01-01
Abstract
Drawing on an impressive range of archival sources, Avril A. Powell provides a remarkably detailed reconstruction of the lives and achievements of two brothers, who were among the most prominent (and yet underinvestigated) Scottish orientalists in the 19th century – Dr John Muir (1810-1882) and Sir William Muir (1819-1844). Born in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, into a family which had built its economic fortune around commerce and trade with India, both became renowned scholars, educators and administrators in the East India Company and the Raj in North-West India between 1827 and 1876, and both, on their return from India, became influential intellectuals on the Edinburgh scene. John, a renowned Sankritist, would further his studies on Hindu religion and history and lead a semi-withdrawn scholar’s life in Edinburgh, while William, whose remarkable career had seen him rise to the Lieutenant-Governorship of the NWP, would first take up a seat on the Council of India in London and then preside as Principal of the University of Edinburgh. An established Islamist and Arabist, he, like his older brother, also engaged in study and publication, his own focus being the origins and history of Islam. Powell’s study, however, goes a long way beyond the conventional biographer’s chronological and empirical approach, in at least three ways.
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