James Prinsep FRS (20 August 1799 – 22 April 1840) was an English scholar, orientalist and antiquary. He was the founding editor of the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal and is best remembered for deciphering the Kharosthi and Brahmi scripts of ancient India.

James Prinsep was an antiquary and colonial administrator in India, and the first European scholar to decipher the edicts of the ancient Indian emperor Ashoka. Prinsep was appointed to the Calcutta (Kolkata) mint in 1819 but left to become assay master (1820–30) at …

Feb 18, 2024 · On September 15, 1819, James Prinsep, accompanied by one of his brothers, arrived in Calcutta and took up his assigned position in the assay department of the Calcutta mint. After a year, Prinsep was transferred to Benares to take up duties at the Company mint there. It was in Benares that James Prinsep’s life underwent a major transformation.

Jan 4, 2023 · James Prinsep was an English scholar best known for his work on deciphering the ancient Brahmi script in India. It is because of him that India learnt about Emperor Ashoka, one of the country’s greatest rulers.

Mar 4, 2020 · Essays on Indian antiquities, historic, numismatic and palaeographic of the late James Princep F.R.S. secretary of the asiatic society of Bengal vol.1. Reviews cannot be added to this item.

Oct 3, 2008 · Essays on Indian antiquities, historic, numismatic, and palæographic, of the late James Prinsep, to which are added his useful tables, illustrative of Indian history, chronology, modern coinages, weights, measures, etc. Book digitized by Google from the library of the New York Public Library and uploaded to the Internet Archive by user tpb.

Aug 19, 2019 · And the man who achieved this was an extraordinary Indologist and polymath, an Englishman named James Prinsep (1799-1840). In the 18th and early 19th century, very little was known of India’s past before Islamic rule.

Apr 20, 2024 · His empirical study of Benares as a city and of its people presents a very interesting first-hand information about Benares of the 1820s. He not only recorded in writing what he saw but also drew maps, illustrations of people and conducted population census of the city.

Feb 8, 2024 · James Prinsep first served in Calcutta and then in Benaras for ten years. Prinsep’s stay in Varanasi---from 1820 to 1830---is what is of interest and importance against the backdrop of what is unfolding today.

Oct 8, 2022 · The most important contribution to the de-mysti#cation of both Ashoka and Buddha came from the work of James Prinsep (1798’1839), a gifted engineer, draughtsman and numismatist (Allen 2002: 140’99; Allen 2012: 120’81; ODNB 2004: Vol. 59, 570’2).