BODEN, Joseph. 17?? — Lisbon 21.11.1811. British Colonial Officer. Founder of the famous Boden chair of Sanskrit at Oxford University. Entered the Bombay Native Army in 1781, held appointments in the staff in Bombay, and was member of the Military Board. Lieutenant-colonel 1806, retired in 1807 and moved to Lisbon because of health problems. No Sanskrit scholar himself, but in his will he left a large sum of money after his daughter’s death (1827) for the future Sanskrit chair (actually filled only in 1832). The purpose of the new chair, however, was not so much to further Sanskrit studies than the propagating of Christianity in India. The purpose was removed in the new statutes in 1882.
Publications: Apparently no publications at all.
Sources: Buckland, Dictionary; H.M.C[hichester], D.N.B. 5, 1886, 291, rev. by *Ph. Carter, Oxford D.N.B. 2005; Monier Williams, Sanskrit–English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1899, Preface p. ix. Not in the Br. Biogr. Arch.
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