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| Dr John Borthwick Gilchrist (1759–1841)artuk.org |
John Borthwick Gilchrist, FRSE LLD (22 June 1759 - 9 January 1841) was a Scott who led a productive life in India during the colonial period. Being a man of many talents, his contribution to the Indian languages was a remarkable one. Besides being a Scottish surgeon, he was an was an Indigo farmer, and an Indologist and an Oriental Linguist. He compiled and authored An English-Hindustani Dictionary, A Grammar of the Hindoostanee Language, The Oriental Linguist, and many more. His lexicon of Hindustani was published in Arabic script, Nāgarī script, and also in Roman transliteration.
Gilchrist, born in the Old Town, Edinburgh attended George Heriot's School, and the High School (1773). He began his Carrier as a surgeon's mate in the Royal Navy, then, in 1783, as an assistant surgeon in the East India Company's Medical Service. In 1782 he first landed at Bombay and had a chance to take up a job in General Goddard's detachment (army troops). In the next 16 years he held various positions and established himself as a dedicated worker. Realizing the importance of learning the native languages of India, as a surgeon, he turned 180 degrees and evinced interest in learning Hindustani- mix of Hindi and Urdu. This is something most physicians do not ever do - taking interest in altogether a different field. Gilchrist thought it would help him easily communicate with the native soldiers - Sepoys. It was John Gilchrist who was instrumental in popularizing Hindustani as the language of British administration. Earlier, the EIC considered it a Moor's language. He changed their misconception that had been around there for a long time.
He quickly realized the language spoken in the northern part of India was neither Persian nor Arabic and it it was only Hindustani developed around cities like Delhi, Meerut and Saharapur, etc as result of interaction between early migrants from Iran and Turkey.Khariboli, one of the early Hindi languages had strong grammar and vocabulary that included numerous Persian words. The same language was known as Dakhini in the Deccan and western parts spoken by the settlers from the north who retained the language and the roots.
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| Henri Martin, orientalist, student of Gilchrist. commons.wikimedia.org |
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| First Indian educational institution - Ft. William college (1800), Calcutta navrangindia.blogspot.com |
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| Gilchrist educational trust. karakoram.co |
In 1803 Ft. William made rapid strides in the promotion of Hindi and Hindi literature. First Bible translation in Hindi appeared in 1818 later in 1826a Hindi news paper called Udant Martanda appeared for the first time. In a growing colonial bureaucracy, the use of Urdu/ Hindi was quite helpful and it improved the efficiency of the administration. They no longer had to depend on the Dubash for English translation of the native tongue. By 1833, the vernacular languages and the English were widely used in the administration.
Because of the language movements, the administration gave official recognition to Urdu and Hindustani as the languages of the Colonial India. But, Urdu with Persian script was mainly spoken among the Muslim and Hindustani with Nagri scrip was popular among non-Muslims - mostly Hindus. Gilchrist, who discovered Hindustani became a patron of standardized Urdu and of Hindi language and its re-invigoration indirectly- Hindi as we know to day was the product of 19th C. It became the hallmark of the Raj later as they had to depend on the natives for the smooth functioning of the administration.
After 1785 Gilchrist never concentrated on Medical services. His travel across the northern belt got him a chance to evolve teaching Urdu in simple style, a pragmatic and practical way to carry on the Colonial administrative work. The Hindoostanee Grammar and Dictionary was published in 1786. This was useful to communicate with the Indian soldiers. In 1794 he was promoted to surgeon with the East India Company. In 1796, over ten years of efforts, he finally published his grammar of Urdu, which appeared at the Chronicle press, Calcutta. In 1801 Gilchrist was named head of the college, and professor of Persian and Hindustani at Ft. William upon recommendation from the Governor-General, the Marquess Wellesley, .
After 1804 he returned to Edinburgh for health reasons and was honored with an LLD by Edinburgh University and in 1807 he became a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Married to one Mary Ann Coventry, 29 years younger to him (he was 48), Gilchrist had no children. His business ventures in banking did not give him satisfaction, Later in 1828 he helped found Univesity College London where he taught Hindustani. Upon his his death in 1841, he endowed the Gilchrist Educational Trust to promote education.
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| Tomb at the Père-Lachaise Cemetery./en.wikipedia.org |
Ref:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gilchrist_(linguist)
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