Robert B. Wray cast a

movable type Movable type (US English; moveable type in British English) is the system and technology of printing and typography that uses movable Sort (typesetting), components to reproduce the elements of a document (usually individual alphanumeric charac ...

font for printing

Bengali script The Bengali script or Bangla alphabet (, Romanization of Bengali, romanized: ''Bāṅlā bôrṇômālā'') is the standard writing system used to write the Bengali language, and has historically been used to write Sanskrit within Bengal. ...

in 1778. It proved revolutionary for the British rule in India.

Warren Hastings Warren Hastings (6 December 1732 – 22 August 1818) was a British colonial administrator, who served as the first governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal), the head of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and so the first governor-gener ...

had taken over as the

Governor-General of India The governor-general of India (1833 to 1950, from 1858 to 1947 the viceroy and governor-general of India, commonly shortened to viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom in their capacity as the emperor o ...

. By the

Regulating Act 1773 The East India Company Act 1772 ( 13 Geo. 3. c. 63) (also known as the Regulating Act 1773) was an act of the Parliament of Great Britain intended to overhaul the management of the East India Company's rule in India (Bengal). The act did not ...

, he had become the Governor-General over the empire that had been established by the

British 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 ...

in India. The officials of Hastings were motivated by the European

Classicism Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aesthe ...

. They were of the firm view that the rule of Britain over India was transitory. Soon, the great Old Indian culture would revive itself and regain its lost glory. They spent their energy to learn the Indian languages, literature, religion and culture. It has been identified with the Orientialist group among the British officials. Soon, they realized that they had to run their rule by adopting the regional languages. There was a dire need of using Bengali as the language of the administration. It was made possible when Robert B. Wray cast the Bengali type in 1778. It started a new phase of interaction between the British Officials and Indian people. It resulted in creation of

Fort William College Fort William College (also known as the College of Fort William) was an academy of Orientalism, oriental studies and a centre of learning, founded on 18 August 1800 by Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, Lord Wellesley, then Governor-Gener ...

under the Governor-General Richard Wellesley. It was under the aegis of this college that most of the literary work of Orientalists had taken place. It was then that European books covering European philosophy and science, were translated into Bengali.

References

* Jones, Kenneth W. Jones, "Socio Religious Reform Movements in British India".

The New Cambridge History of India ''The New Cambridge History of India'' is a major multi-volume work of historical scholarship published by Cambridge University Press. It replaced '' The Cambridge History of India'' published between 1922 and 1937. The new history is being publi ...

. 1994. India. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wray, Robert B. English printers Year of birth missing Year of death missing