This book is a collection of eleven Anniversary Discourses of Sir William Jones, who founded the Asiatic Society in 1784. The Discourses present a brilliant comparative view of the cultures and civilisations of the Indian sub-continent, the Asian continent, and Europe in which similarities and diversities have been discussed by the great scholar. It is abundantly clear that the spirit of Enlightenment is writ large on these discourses, which have a great historical importance. Sir William Jones was associated with the administration of the East India Company. But he was basically a scholar, a researcher, and he carefully side-stepped the methodology of the British imperialist historians, and evinced an enduring appreciation of the contributions of Asiatic civilisations to the totality of humanities and sciences.

I believe that this collection of the Discourses of Sir William Jones would be deeply appreciated by scholars and readers in general. We have not changed the original spellings, and the text is printed without any change or modification.