Mountstuart Elphinstone (1799 - 1859)

His Life :          

    Son of lord Elphinston, Mountatuart was born in 1779, Educated at Edinburg and joined the Bengal Civil service when he was 16 years old He became resident at Nagpur in 1804 and was sent on a mission to sher shuja in 1808. He headed the first British Mission to Afghanistan and was the last British Resident at the court of the poshwa in 1816. As resident at poona, he came into close contact with the affairs of the peshwari down to its abolition.

   Elphinstone was Governor of Bombay from 1819 to 1827. He was a liberal-minded scholar administrator. He prepared the Bombay code and initiated the policy of Indianisation of civil Administration. He founded a society in 1820 for the spread of vernacular education. He was an admirer of local administration,especially the village panchayats. Elphinstone resigned his Governorship in 1827 and returned home after declining the Governor – Generalship in succession to Lord William Bentinck! He devoted his retired life to the writing of history.

His work

    M.Elphinston’s  Account of the kindom of Kabul was published in 1815. His more famous work was History of Hindu and Muhammadan India (1841). The Rise  of the British power in the East was posthumously edited in 1887.

His Contribution

   M.Elphinstone had written his works based on personal observation and chronicles.His work is the result of the careful and critical study of available sources. Though a junior contemporary of James Mill, he never hesitated to criticize the History of the British India. His criticism is the Romanticist reaction to the Enlightenment – utilitrarian approach of James Mill. Dismissing the traditional Hindu conception of yugas, Elphinstone reconstructed the chronology of ancient Indian history which is being followed with minor modifications. He lays greater emphasis on the administrative system,society,literature,philosophy,religion,culture,overseas trade,maritime activities etc. Traditional political history is neglected to the background .  He is the first historian to make a clear distinction between the Aryan culture of the North India and the Dravidian Culture of the south which was in an advanced stage of development.

Estimate

    Though an Imperialist historian Elphinstone avoided the partial approach of J.Mill and used the contributions of the Indologists. He Fixed the chronological framework for the history of ancient India. R.C.Mazumdar considers him Tacitus of modern India. He underlines the importance of the cultural contributions of the Hindus. He is more positive,objective,sober and sympathetic.His interpretation of early and medieval history of India is based on intensive and systematic study. In a nutshell,Mountstuart Elphinstone is “more humane and less logical”.