Adhy ātma Rāmāyaṇa

[Rosane Rocher]

Hi Greg,

As my later posting shows, there were only 8 professors, besides the 
principal, at Banaras Sanskrit College, founded by Resident Jonathan 
Duncan in 1791.  Of these only Gosain Anand Ghan/Gyan/Gin/Gir was named 
for the purāṇas.  Banaras Sanskrit College was the only institution run 
by the British for panditic education at that time.  So that makes him 
one of a kind.

Cheers,
Rosane (with only one n):-)

On 2/20/11 4:17 AM, Gregory Bailey wrote:
> Hi Rosanne,
>
> Do we know anything more about Gir's role as professor of purāṇas? I wonder
> how many other positions of this exact kind existed then.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Greg Bailey
>
>
> On 16/02/11 8:15 AM, "Rosane Rocher"<rrocher at SAS.UPENN.EDU>  wrote:
>
>> Hi Bob,
>>
>> George Nicholls' /Sketch of the Rise**and Progress of the Benares
>> Patshalla or Sanskrit College, now forming the Sanskrit Department of
>> the Benares College/ (1907) lists Gosain Anand Gir as professor of
>> purāṇas in the first list of professors at the college, i.e. late 1790s
>> - early 1800s (p. 4).  I cannot make out enough of the name of the
>> translation's author to see if the two names can be reconciled.
>>
>> Rosane
>>
>> On 2/15/11 3:36 PM, Robert Goldman wrote:
>>> Dear Colleagues, (I hope that this comes through better than y past
>>> posting.)
>>>
>>> A local gentleman, a California winemaker by profession, visited me
>>> today to ask me about a book in his possession that had belonged to
>>> his late grandfather.  Upon inspection I found it to be a two volume
>>> set consisting of a handwritten English translation of the Adhyātma
>>> Rāmāyaṇa with an introduction by one Anand Ghan who describes himself
>>> as "A Member of the College of Brahmins at Benares" and who claims
>>> that he translated the text from "Sanscrit into Persian" and "Again
>>> translated from the Persian into English".  It is dated 1804 and
>>> appears to have been purchased in India, perhaps by the grandfather
>>> for Rs. 8.
>>>
>>> The book is in quite good condition. The handwriting is quite clear
>>> and the English excellent.
>>>
>>> The owner was reluctant to leave the book with me but  I was able to
>>> take  two images from it that I snapped with my mobile phone. One is
>>> of the title page of the first volume and one is from a randomly
>>> opened page to show what the text itself looks like.
>>>
>>> I would be interested to know if any of you know anything about  Pt.
>>> Ghan or the history of his double translation.
>>> Dr. R. P.  Goldman
>>> Professor of Sanskrit
>>> Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies
>>> MC # 2540
>>> The University of California at Berkeley
>>> Berkeley, CA 94720-2540
>>> Tel: 510-642-4089
>>> Fax: 510-642-2409
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>