Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/448

 professor of English history in the re-formed Presidency College, Calcutta. His post involved him in arduous work. He soon instituted an M.A. course in the Calcutta University, and extended the themes of his lectures to political economy and philosophy. In 1857 Cowell became secretary of a Vernacular Literature Society, founded with the object of providing the natives with translations of good English literature. At the same time he was more and more attracted to missionary work. He held Bible readings in his house on Sundays, and latterly a number of conversions resulted, not without some risk of offence to his Hindu connections. One of his chief Calcutta friends was William Kay [q. v.], principal of Bishop's College. Meanwhile he pursued Oriental studies untiringly. Persian continued to fascinate him. Of two copies which he procured of the MS. of Omar Khayyam belonging to the Asiatic Society at Calcutta, he sent one to FitzGerald. His own important article on Omar Khayyam appeared in the 'Calcutta Review' in March 1858. Having passed the government examinations in Hindustani and Bengali, he undertook in 1858 an additional office at Calcutta, that of principal of the Sanskrit College, a foundation of Warren Hastings. Cowell's predecessor was a native. His relations with the pundits of the college were soon intimate and affectionate. By their aid he acquired a profound familiarity with the scholastic Sanskrit literature in rhetoric and philosophy, while he stimulated the pundits' scholarly activity, and often gratified them with a prepared speech in Bengali and a Sanskrit 'Sloka.' Many native editions of works on rhetoric and poetry which were published in the 'Bibliotheca Indica,' a series issued by the Asiatic Society of Bengal, of which he became early in 1858 a joint philological secretary, express their indebtedness to Cowell. Cowell's own Sanskrit publications during this period also appeared chiefly in the 'Bibliotheca Indica.' With Dr. Roer he continued the edition of the 'Black Yajur Veda' (1858-64, vols. i. and ii.), which he afterwards carried on alone it was ultimately finished by its fifth editor in 1899 ; and singly he edited two Upanisads, the 'Kausitaki' (1861) and the 'Maitri' (1863 ; translation added 1870). The most important of his works at this time was his edition and translation of the 'Kusumanjali' with the commentary of Haridasa (Calcutta, 1864). The book, which in respect of difficulty might be compared with the 'Metaphysics' of Aristotle, supplies the Hindu proof of the existence of God. Cowell read it with Mahesa Candra, whose name he associated with his own on the title-page, and the edition was dedicated to Max Miiller. He made a close study of the 'Siddhanta-Muktavall,' a philosophical work, which he used as a college manual and examination text-book, and of the 'Sarvadar-sanasamgraha,' of which he translated one chapter, relating to the Carvaka system (Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1862). He contemplated full translations of both books.

One of his last official duties in India was to visit the Tols (native quasi-colleges) at Nuddea, which were homes of pundit research and had last been inspected by Wilson in 1829. His report, published in the 'Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal' for 1867, supplies interesting details concerning the methods of this pundit university.

By the spring of 1864 the state of Cowell's health demanded a furlough. With his Oriental scholarship immensely strengthened he revisited England. His original intention of returning to India was not carried out. In the summer of 1865 he became examiner in Oriental subjects to the Civil Service Commission ; in the same year he refused a curatorship at the Bodleian and in 1866 a similar position at the British Museum. Occupying himself in varied literary work, he recommenced his general reading and his epistolary and personal intercourse with FitzGerald.

In 1867 the University of Cambridge bestowed on Cowell the newly founded professorship of Sanskrit. Theodor Aufrecht was another candidate, but Cowell was warmly supported by Max Müller and many eminent scholars and friends. He was elected on a general vote of the university by ninety-six votes to thirty-seven. He published his inaugural lecture on the Sanskrit language and literature in 1867. The remainder of his life was spent at Cambridge in complete content. In 1874 he became fellow of Corpus Christi College. He retained the professorship and the fellowship until his death in 1903. During those thirty-six years his time was unstintingly given to his duties. He announced each term a formidable list of lectures, generally delivered at his own house. In accordance with a life-long habit, his private literary work occupied him before breakfast. At first he lectured not only on