Sir John Strachey (a South Asia scholar)

by Kayalvizhi Thu Aug 28, 2014 5:55 pm

“What is India? …. There is no such country, and this is the first and most essential fact about India that can be learned. India is a name which we gave to a region including a magnitude of different countries…. The difference of the countries in Europe are undoubtedly smaller than those between the countries of India. Scotland is more like Spain that Bengal is like the Punjab…There are no countries in civilized Europe in which people differ so much as the Bengali differs from the Sikh, and the language of Bengal is as unintelligible in Lahore as would be in London.” -- Sir John Strachey (1888)

by Kris Thu Aug 28, 2014 6:03 pm

Kayalvizhi wrote:“What is India? …. There is no such country, and this is the first and most essential fact about India that can be learned. India is a name which we gave to a region including a magnitude of different countries…. The difference of the countries in Europe are undoubtedly smaller than those between the countries of India. Scotland is more like Spain that Bengal is like the Punjab…There are no countries in civilized Europe in which people differ so much as the Bengali differs from the Sikh, and the language of Bengal is as unintelligible in Lahore as would be in London.” -- Sir John Strachey (1888)

So why did the UK include Scotland during Sir John's time and why does it include it now? There are many Scots who believe they have nothing in common with the English. I certainly didn't see many similarities.

Sir John Strachey (a South Asia scholar)

Sir John Strachey (a South Asia scholar)

Re: Sir John Strachey (a South Asia scholar)