Major General Vans Kennedy (Founders and Guardians of The Asiatic Society of Mumbai)

DETAILS: 

• Publisher: Indus Source Books
  
• Language: English
  
• Pages: 222
  
• Cover: Paperback
  
• Weight 170 gm
  
• Edition: 2018
  
• ISBN: 9789385509353

ABOUT THE BOOK

Vans Kennedy (1783-1846) was of Scottish descent, and a Major General in the then Bombay Army. Reckoned as one of the greatest contributors of his generation in the field of military law, his expertise ranged far beyond his military specialties. Undoubtedly, he was a celebrated Oriental scholar, linguist and antiquarian with a profound body of literary works to his credit. Though revered for his vast intellectual accomplishments, Vans Kennedy's literary contributions largely remain hidden or are lost in the maze of a forgotten history. Vans Kennedy spent his entire professional career in the Bombay Presidency. Beginning in 1800 with the 2nd Regiment Bombay Native Infantry, he was wounded in a campaign in Malabar. Later he donned important appointments like: Persian Interpreter of the Poonah Subsidiary Force, Judge Advocate General of the Bombay Army, Oriental Translator to Government, President of the Clothing Board, and the Colonel of the Regiment of the 4th Regiment Bombay Native Infantry. For almost 30 years from 1817 to 1846, Vans Kennedy had a long, scholarly association with the Society (Literary Society of Bombay and later Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society), and he was the first scholar to become both its Secretary and President. Vans Kennedy took pride in having served in India. Throughout his life, he retained the character of a student. He used to read extensively, and had mastered 12 languages. As a scholar in search for the truth, Vans Kennedy would delve deeper into the subjects he chose, and work on them with the utmost passion to ultimately contribute to the knowledge repository on Oriental studies. In his days, Vans Kennedy was the undoubted literary colossus of Bombay. A true trailblazer, his works were critically acclaimed for their originality, and for the use of empirical evidence.

Madhavi Kamat is the Honorary Joint Finance Secretary of the Asiatic Society of Mumbai. An alumna of the University of Mumbai [K.T. Telang Gold Medalist for Masters in History], and of the Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda [Masters in Museology — Course Topper], she is an avid reader who takes keen interest in history. Her first book was a biography of the 20th century social reformer, Ramabai Ranade, published in Marathi in 2010.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Madhavi Kamat is the Honorary Joint Finance Secretary of the Asiatic Society of Mumbai. An alumna of the University of Mumbai [Masters in History], and of the Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda [Masters in Museology), she is an avid reader who takes keen interest in medieval and modern history of India. Madhavi has written a biography on the famous social reformer of the 20th Century Maharashtra, Ramabai Ranade, which was published in Marathi in the year 2010.

In her academic path, Madhavi was awarded the prestigious Dakshina fellowship while pursuing her B.A. degree, and she was the recipient of the Justice K.T. Telang Gold Medal and the Sir William Wedderburn Scholarship in her M.A. [History). Besides, she also topped her class in Masters in Museology.

In her professional life as a first generation entrepreneur and cofounder of a boutique content creation and software development firm, Aksharmaya, Madhavi creates and edits multi-lingual content for a variety of organisations. Passionate about Marathi, she has been undertaking specialist translation assignments for English to Marathi translations. A keen learner of history, her primary interests are in studying biographical accounts. And before devoting her efforts wholeheartedly to history, she also dabbled in Marathi experimental theatre as an actor.