The 1860 Boden Professor of Sanskrit election at the University of
Oxford involved candidates with different approaches to Sanskrit
scholarship. One was Monier Williams (pictured), an Oxford-educated
Englishman and teacher of Sanskrit to those preparing to work in British
India. The other, Max Müller, was a German-born specialist in
comparative philology. The election came as Britain debated its role in
India following the 1857 rebellion. Williams saw the study of Sanskrit
as a tool in the conversion of India to Christianity. Müller saw his
work as also valuable for its own sake. Both men battled for the votes
of Oxford graduates through manifestos and advertisements, and received
newspaper endorsements. Special trains to Oxford were provided on the
day of the election, 7 December 1860, for non-residents to cast votes.
Williams won by a majority of more than 220 votes. Thereafter, he helped
to establish the Indian Institute at Oxford, received a knighthood, and
held the chair until his death in 1899.
Read more:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1860_Boden_Professor_of_Sanskrit_election>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1803:
Haitian Revolution: Nearly all the final French ships in Haiti
were captured by the Royal Navy when they attempted to evade the
Blockade of Saint-Domingue.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockade_of_Saint-Domingue>
1907:
At least 362 miners were killed when an explosion destroyed a
mine in Monongah, West Virginia, leading to the establishment of the
United States Bureau of Mines.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monongah_mining_disaster>
1941:
The British Secret Intelligence Service established a facility
known as "Camp X" in Ontario, Canada, to train covert agents in
clandestine operations.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_X>
2015:
In Venezuela's parliamentary election, the ruling United
Socialist Party lost control of the National Assembly for the first time
since 1999.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Venezuelan_parliamentary_election>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
picaresque:
1. Of or pertaining to adventurers or rogues.
2. (literature) Characteristic of a genre of Spanish satiric novel
dealing with the adventures of a roguish hero.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/picaresque>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I do believe we've lost something. … I can't get my hand on it,
but we're just not quite where we should be, as the greatest democracy
in the world. And I don't know how you correct it, but I keep hoping
that there will be a change in my lifetime.
--Bob Dole
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bob_Dole>
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