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{{for|the writer and editor|Charles Wilkins (writer)}}
{{EngvarB|date=July 2017}}
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{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = '''[[Royal Guelphic Order|Sir]]'''
| name =
| honorific_suffix = [[Royal Guelphic Order|KH]] [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]]
| native_name =
| native_name_lang = en
| image = Sir Charles Wilkins (1749 – 1836).jpg
| image_size = 250px
| alt = Portrait of a man
| caption = Charles Wilkins, in an [[mezzotint]] engraving by [[John Sartain]], after a painting by [[:Commons:Category:James Godsell Middleton|James Godsell Middleton]]. Published in 1830.
| birth_name = Charles Wilkins
| birth_date = 1749
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| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1836|05|13|1749}}
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| nationality = England
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| citizenship = England
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| occupation = [[oriental studies|Orientalist]], [[typographer]]
| years_active =
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'''Sir Charles Wilkins''', [[Royal Guelphic Order|KH]], [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]] (1749 – 13 May 1836), was an English [[typographer]] and [[oriental studies|Orientalist]], and founding member of [[The Asiatic Society]]. He is notable as the first translator of ''[[Bhagavad Gita]]'' into English, He supervised [[Panchanan Karmakar]] to create one <ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SdUFVbSLBJgC&pg=PA50 |title=Book History | author1 = Ezra Greenspan | author2 = Jonathan Rose | accessdate = 2 June 2015 | pages = 26, 50 | publisher = [[Penn State Press]] | year = 2003 | isbn = 9780271023304 }}</ref> of the first [[Bengali alphabet|Bengali]] typeface.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mLgIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA273 |title=Works [ed. by E.R. Rost]. – Horace Hayman Wilson – |accessdate=2 June 2015|last1=Rost |first1=Ernst Reinhold |year=1865 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The printed Bengali character and its evolution|last=Ross|first=Fiona G. E.|author-link=Fiona Ross (type designer)|date=1999|publisher=Curzon|isbn=070071135X|oclc=40588429}}</ref> In 1788, Wilkins was elected a member of the [[Royal Society]].<ref name="Oxford"/>

==Biography==
He was born at [[Frome]] in Somerset in 1749.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=96&dsqSearch=(text)%3D%27Wilkins%27 |title=DServe Archive Persons Show |publisher=Royalsociety.org |accessdate=2 June 2015 }}{{Dead link|date=July 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> He trained as a printer. In 1770 he went to [[India]] as a printer and writer in the [[British East India Company|East India Company]]'s service.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Wilkins, Charles|volume=28|pages=645–646}}</ref> His facility with language allowed him to quickly learn [[Persian language|Persian]] and [[Bengali language|Bengali]]. He created with his own hands the first type for printing Bengali.<ref name="annual69">____________. (1837). [https://books.google.com/books?id=Cm8EAAAAQAAJ&pg=PP9&client=firefox-a&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=0_1#PPA69,M1 "No. VIII, Sir Charles Wilkins, K.H.; D.C.L.; F.R.S.," '' ''The Annual biography and obituary for the year 1817–1837,'' pp. 69–72.] Google Books</ref> He published the first typeset book in the language, earning himself the name "the [[william Caxton|Caxton]] of India".<ref>Franklin, William, Introduction to ''The Bhǎgvǎt-Gēētā; The Hěětōpǎdēs of Veěshnǒǒ-Sǎrmā'', [translated by] Charles Wilkins, London : Ganesha Pub., c2001. pp.xxiv-v</ref> He also designed type for publications of books in Persian. In 1781 he was appointed as translator of Persian and Bengali to the Commissioner of Revenue and as superintendent of the Company's press. He successfully translated a Royal inscription in [[Kutila]] characters, which were thitherto indecipherable.

In 1784, Wilkins helped [[William Jones (philologist)|William Jones]] establish the [[Asiatic Society|Asiatic Society of Bengal]].<ref name="annual69"/>

[[File:A Grammar of the Bengal Language.png|thumb|Title page of the first Bengali typeface printed book ''[[A Grammar of the Bengal Language]]'', 1778]]
[[File:5th or 6th century Gopika cave inscription, Sanskrit, Shaktism, Anantavarman, Gupta script 2.jpg|thumb|Decipherment of the [[Gopika Cave Inscription]] (6th century CE, [[Brahmi script|Late Brahmi]]), with the original script in Late Brahmi, and proposed [[Devanagari]] line-by-line transliteration by Charles Wilkins in 1785.<ref name="Asiatic Researches">{{cite book |last1=Wilkins |first1=Charles |title=Asiatic Researches |date=1788 |publisher=London : Printed for J. Sewell [etc.] |pages=[https://archive.org/details/asiaticresearche01asia_0/page/n339 278]-281 |url=https://archive.org/details/asiaticresearche01asia_0}}</ref>]]
Wilkins moved to [[Varanasi]], where he studied Sanskrit under Kalinatha, a Brahmin pandit. At this period he began work on his translation of the [[Mahabharata]], securing strong support for his activities from the governor of British India, [[Warren Hastings]]. Though he never completed the translation, portions were later published. The most important was his version of the Gita, published in 1785 as ''Bhagvat-geeta, or Dialogues of Kreeshna and Arjoon'' (London: Nourse, 1785). In his preface Wilkins argued that the Gita was written to encourage a form of monotheist "unitarianism" and to draw Hinduism away from the polytheism he ascribed to the [[Vedas]].<ref name="Bhagavad Gita Website">{{cite web|url=http://www.bhagavad-gita.org/Articles/faq.html |title=Questions and Answers |publisher=Bhagavad-gita.org |accessdate=2 June 2015}}</ref>

He had a hobby to learn about other religions. He was also a scholar of Islam. He stayed in India for 16 years (1770–1786). He also made visits to holy shrines of other religions to learn about their customs.

During a visit to Varanasi, he made a stop at Patna, and visited Patna Sahib Gurudwara, the birthplace of Guru Gobind Singh Ji. He wrote his account of this visit titled as 'Sikhs and their College at Patna'. He writes about Dasam Granth there and notes in this article.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sikhsangat.org/2016/rebuttal-of-gurdarshan-dhillons-comment-about-sikh-scripture-sri-dasam-granth/|title=Rebuttal of gurdarshan Dhillon comment about sikh scripture Sri Dasam Granth|publisher=sikhsangat.org|access-date= 28 December 2016}}</ref>

Meanwhile, inscriptions of the 6th century CE in late [[Brahmi script]] were deciphered in 1785 by Charles Wilkins, who published an essentially correct translation of the [[Gopika Cave Inscription]] written by the [[Maukhari]] king Anantavarman.<ref name="RS202">{{cite book |last1=Salomon |first1=Richard |title=Indian Epigraphy |pages=[https://archive.org/details/RichardSalomonIndianEpigraphyAGuideToTheBookZa.org/page/n228 206]-207 |url=https://archive.org/details/RichardSalomonIndianEpigraphyAGuideToTheBookZa.org |date=1998 |language=English}}</ref><ref name="Asiatic Researches"/> Wilkins seems to have relied essentially on the similarities with later [[Brahmic scripts]], such as the script of the [[Pala Empire|Pala period]] and early forms of [[Devanagari]].<ref name="RS202"/>

His translation of the Gita was itself soon translated into French (1787) and German (1802). It proved to be a major influence on [[Romanticism|Romantic literature]] and on European perception of Hindu philosophy. [[William Blake]] later celebrated the publication in his picture ''The Bramins'', exhibited in 1809, which depicted Wilkins and Brahmin scholars working on the translation.

With Hastings' departure from India, Wilkins lost his main patron. He returned to England in 1786, where he married [[Elizabeth Keeble]]. In 1787 Wilkins followed the Gita with his translation of ''The [[Hitopadesha|Heetopades]] of Veeshnoo-Sarma, in a Series of Connected Fables, Interspersed with Moral, Prudential and Political Maxims'' (Bath: 1787). He was elected a fellow of the [[Royal Society]] in 1788. In 1800, he was invited to take up the post of the first director of the India House Library, which became over time the world-famous 'India Office Library' (now British Library – Oriental Collections).<ref name="india9">{{cite web|url=http://www.india9.com/about.html |title=About |publisher=India9.com |accessdate=2 June 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.india9.com/i9show/Charles-Wilkins-32001.htm |title=Charles Wilkins in India |publisher=India9.com |date=14 December 2005 |accessdate=2 June 2015}}</ref> In 1801 he became librarian to the East India Company, He was named examiner at [[East India Company College|Haileybury]] when a college was established there in 1805. During these years he devoted himself to the creation of a font for Devanagari, the "divine script". In 1808 he published his ''Grammar of the Sanskrita Language''. King George IV gave him the badge of the [[Royal Guelphic Order]] and he was [[knight]]ed in recognition of his services to Oriental scholarship in 1833.<ref name="india9"/> He died in London at the age of 86.

In addition to his own translations and type designs, Wilkins published a new edition of [[John Richardson (scholar)|John Richardson]]'s ''Persian and Arabic dictionary'' – ''A Vocabulary Persian, Arabic, and English; Abridged from the Quarto Edition of Richardson's Dictionary as Edited by Charles Wilkins, Esq., LL.D., F.R.S. – By David Hopkins, Esq., Assistant Surgeon on the Bengal Establishment'' in 1810.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d-oKAAAAMAAJ&q=Persian+and+Arabic+dictionary+richardson&pg=PA13 |title=Bibliotheca orientalis – Julius Theodor Zenker |accessdate=2 June 2015|last1=Zenker |first1=Julius Theodor |year=1846 }}</ref> He also published a catalogue of the manuscripts collected by Sir William Jones, who acknowledged his indebtedness to Wilkins.<ref name="EB1911"/>

==See also==
* [[Royal Society]]—Wilkins was elected to membership in the Society in 1788.<ref name="Oxford">{{cite web|title=Wilkins, Sir Charles|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/printable/29416|publisher=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|accessdate=13 October 2015}}</ref> Those signing that nomination letter were: [[James Rennell]], [[William Marsden (orientalist)|William Marsden]], [[Charles Blagden]], [[Alexander Dalrymple]], [[Samuel Harper (librarian)|Samuel Harper]], [[Sir George Staunton, 1st Baronet|George Staunton]], [[Thomas Astle]].

==Notes==
{{reflist|30em}}

==References==
* ____________. (1837). [https://books.google.com/books?id=Cm8EAAAAQAAJ&client=firefox-a ''The Annual biography and obituary for the year 1817–1837.''] London: Longmans. {{OCLC|162110842}}
* [[Reinhold Rost|Rost, Reinhold]]. (1865). [https://books.google.com/books?id=mLgIAAAAQAAJ&printsec=titlepage&client=firefox-a&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0 ''Works by the late Horace Hayman Wilson'']. London: Trubner. {{OCLC|65757936}}

==External links==
* [http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Wilkins,_Sir_Charles Charles Wilkins] at [[Banglapedia]]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkins, Charles}}
[[Category:1749 births]]
[[Category:1836 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Frome]]
[[Category:English orientalists]]
[[Category:English Indologists]]
[[Category:Sanskrit–English translators]]
[[Category:Translators of the Bhagavad Gita]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:English typographers and type designers]]

Charles Wilkins - Revision history

>JJMC89 bot III at 04:42, 2 July 2021