BUCHANAN-HAMILTON FRANCIS, 1762-1829
Buchanan ( ಬುಕನನ್-ಹ್ಯಾಮಿಲ್ಟನ್
ಫ್ರಾನ್ಸಿಸ್) was one of the travellers from the
United Kingdom who was commissioned
to visit certain parts of
India
and write a report based on his experiences
and observations. He was a physician by training even though his contributions from
his soujourn in
India
are more concerned with his expertise
as a geographer, botanist and zoologist. He undertook a detailed exploratory study
of the regions that came under his perview. He was asked by the East India Company
to write a report on the topography, history, antiquities, religion, natural products
and cultural achivements of those regions. This work prepared him suitably for his
later meanderings in the southern parts of
India
. After the defeat of Tippu Sultan in
the fourth war of
Mysore, Buchanan was given
an assignment to survey
South India. This shows the
the awareness of the colonial rulers of the fact that an encyclopaediac knowledge
about the areas under their governance will go a long a way in retaining that control.
However Buchanan undertook
the journey in 1800 and travelled itinerantly for one year. His journey began and
culminated in
Madras
. He made extensive notes running to one thousand and five
hundred pages and thus created a huge body of information and knowledge which is
important even to this day. Among the places that he visited in Karnataka Tekal,
Malur,
Bangalore
, Doddaballapur, Sira, Mangalore, Bidanur, Sonda, Ikkeri and
Hiriyur are important. His experiences documented in the form of a diary were sent
to
England
. Dr Wilkins who studied this material
realised its importnace and ordered its immediate publication. Consequently the
huge volume was published verbatim with the title, ‘A Journey from
Madras through the Countries of
Mysore
,
Canara and Malabar’
in 1807.
The volume which runs
to one thousand and five hundred pages contains twenty chapters and contains meticulously
collected information about the flora, fauna, food and commercial crops, domistication
of animals, claimate, mining, festivals and rituals. The material is presented in
the form of tables and graphs also. The book has served as a veritable source for
the succeeding historians such C.Hayavadana Rao, B.Krishnayyangar and B.L.Rice.
It’s to be noted that Buchanan made copies of many stone and copper inscriptions
of Karnataka and they were sent to
Calcutta
. He could lay his hands on many a script (kaData) giving important
tit bits about the history of Karnataka.
Dr Srinivasa Havanur the well known scholar
appreciates the historical sense and an eye for details possessed by Buchanan. The
‘Tiger and The Thistle- Tipu Sultan and the Scots In India’ is another book written
by Dr Francis Buchanan.
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