"Indian Thought and the Shadow of Macaulay"
Professor Sir Christopher A. Bayly FBA, FRSL (Vere Harmsworth Professor Emeritus, University of Cambridge; Professor of History, Queen Mary University of London; Vivekananda Professor University of Chicago, 2014-15) will be delivering the 2015 Lecture in Comparative World History. He will speak on: "Indian Thought and the Shadow of Macaulay". The role of English in India is once again a matter of debate in India following the victory of Narendra Modi in last year's elections. This year's Lecture contextualises the influence of Macaulay in the long term. It shows how and why the use of English was spreading in the Subcontinent well before Macaulay's notorious 'Minute' but discusses the Minute's meaning and global context. The lecture goes on to consider the emergence of modern Hindi and the attempt in the Punjab in the 1880s to reassert the teaching of Persian as a pan-Indian language. It ends with a discussion of the contest between English and Indian languages in the 20th and 21st centuries. A reception will follow in the Franklin Center First Floor Gallery.