Charles Boddam (1762–1811) was born in India, the son of Rawson Hart Boddam. He joined the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

as a writer in 1780. In 1793, Boddam was appointed to

Saran district Saran district is one of the 38 Districts of Bihar, districts of Indian States and territories of India, state of Bihar. The district, part of Saran Division, is also known as Chhapra district after the headquarters of the district, Chhapra. It is ...

as Judge of Diwani Adawlut and Magistrate. He died at

Fort William, India Fort William, officially Vijay Durg, is a fort in Hastings, Calcutta (Kolkata). It was built during the early years of Britain's administration of Bengal. It sits on the eastern banks of the River Hooghly, the major distributary of the Rive ...

on 13 August 1811. Between April 1794 and April 1806 he lived in an impressive neo-classical house in

Chhapra Chhapra (ISO 15919, ISO: ''Chaparā'') is a city and headquarters of the Saran District in the Indian state of Bihar. It is situated near the junction of the Ghaghara River and the Ganges River. Chhapra grew in importance as a river-based mar ...

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

. A watercolour of the house, belonging to about 1810, is preserved in the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

, number Add.Or.3203. Boddam was a scholar of Persian and made a translation of the ''Rāmāyaṇa'' from Persian, the latter in turn prepared from the Sanskrit in about 1794 by Anand G'yan, a Professor at the

Benares Sanskrit College Sampurnanand Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya (IAST: ; formerly Varanaseya Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya and Government Sanskrit College, Varanasi) is an Indian university and institution of higher learning located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. It is one of t ...

. The English translation is preserved among Boddam's papers in the

. Boddam also collected Arabic manuscripts, some of which he acquired from the collection of Henry Vansittart. Among these is a copy of the commentary ''at-Talwih fi Kashfi Haqaiq at Tanqih'' (التلويح إلى کشف حقائق التنقيح) of

Al-Taftazani Sa'ad al-Din Masud ibn Umar ibn Abd Allah al-Taftazani () also known as Al-Taftazani and Taftazani (1322–1390) was a Muslim Persian polymath."Al-Taftazanni Sa'd al-Din Masud b. Umar b. Abdullah", in Encyclopedia Islam by W. Madelung, Brill ...

, which carries Boddam's signature and the date “Calcutta, May 1st, 1787.” The manuscript was cataloged by Otto Loth in his ''Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office''.Otto Loth, ''Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office'' (London: Printed by order of the Secretary of State for India in Council, 1887), no. 323.

References

External links

Loth, Otto. (1887). A Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boddam, Charles 1762 births 1811 deaths British East India Company people British India judges