Who said, "A single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia"?

Who said, "A single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia"? Correct Answer T. B. Macaulay

The correct answer is T. B. Macaulay.

Key Points

Thomas Babington Macaulay

• By the 1830s the attack on the Orientalists became sharper. One of the most outspoken and influential of such critics of the time was Thomas Babington Macaulay.
• He saw India as an uncivilised country that needed to be civilised. No branch of Eastern knowledge, according to him could be compared to what England had produced. Who could deny, declared Macaulay, that“a single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia”.
• He urged that the British government in India stop wasting public money in promoting Oriental learning, for it was of no practical use. With great energy and passion, Macaulay emphasised the need to teach the English language.
• He felt that knowledge of English would allow Indians to read some of the finest literature the world had produced; it would make them aware of the developments in Western science and philosophy. Teaching of English could thus be a way of civilising people, changing their tastes, values and culture.
• Following Macaulay’s minute, the English Education Act of 1835 was introduced. The decision was to make English the medium of instruction for higher education, and to stop the promotion of Oriental institutions like the Calcutta Madrasa and Benaras Sanskrit College.