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A renowned Enlightenment polymath, Sir William Jones (1746-94) was a lawyer, translator and poet who wrote authoritatively on politics, comparative linguistics and oriental literature. Known initially for his Persian translations and political radicalism, Jones became further celebrated for his study and translation of ancient Sanskrit texts following his appointment to the supreme court in Calcutta in 1783. He spent the next eleven years introducing Europe to the mysticism and rationality of Hinduism through works such as his nine 'Hymns' to Hindu deities and his translation of the Sanskrit classic Sacontalá. Volume 7 of his thirteen-volume works, published in 1807, addresses Jones' significant jurisprudential work, containing his 'Charges' as a supreme court judge. It also contains Jones's most controversial work, his Institutes of Hindu Law (1794), a translation from Sanskrit which Jones considered his masterpiece, although postcolonial scholars argue that it cemented Britain's imperial control over India.

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