“Oxford’s
Elephant”
By Ihsan Aslam
Oxford, UK
Oxford doesn’t have a
zoo. Oxford University Student Union’s (OUSU,
pronounced, as it happens, as “ow-zoo”)
“zoo” is not a collection of animals,
but the name of its entertainment wing which organizes
club nights for a very different form of creatures.
And the Iinternet address “zoo.ox.ac.uk”
will not lead you to the zoo, but to the Department
of Zoology.
Oxford does, however, have an elephant. Well,
sort of. And a very prominent one at that. But
I’ll come to that shortly. There was a time
when the Oxford area used to have elephants roaming
about. Palaeoloxodon antiquus is the name of the
straight-tusked beasts which wandered around this
part of England over 100,000 years ago. Did you
notice “ox” and “don”
in the name? Ordinary folk are said to have descended
from apes, but I have a hunch Oxford scholars
may perhaps be traced back to the mighty palaeoloxodon.
You’d expect the Oxford elephant I’m
writing about to be solidly on the ground. Well,
it isn’t. You see, as Francis Kilvert said
in 1876, “There is nothing like Oxford”.
So, dear readers, expect the unexpected here.
Defying gravity, the elephant graces the skyline
of the city. It’s not exactly a flying elephant
but it comes very close to that. The elephant
I am referring to is, in fact, the weathercock
of the Modern History Faculty building.
(If you’d like to a see a picture of this
graceful animal, go to:
http://www.history.ox.ac.uk/images/elephant_large.jpg
.)
High above the city of dreaming spires, we have
this cute elephant, complete with an Indian rider
and a howdah, marching across the sky. So this
is where East meets West. This is where South
Asia fuses with Europe. This is where India mingles
with England. Here, on the roof of the Modern
History building, we have a powerful symbol of
the historic link between the people of Britain
and the subcontinent.
When you enter the Modern History building in
Broad Street you find a metal plaque informing
you that “This building, dedicated to Eastern
Sciences, was founded for the use of Aryas (Indians
and Englishmen) by excellent and benevolent men
desirous of encouraging knowledge”. The
plaque tells us that “the high-minded heir-apparent,
named Albert Edward, son of the Empress of India,
himself performed the act of inauguration”
by laying a memorial stone on May 2, 1883.
This building, designed by the Victorian architect
Basil Champneys, was originally founded as the
Indian Institute. It was Sir Monier Monier-Williams,
a professor of Sanscrit at the University, who
initiated the idea for it as far back as 1875.
He undertook trips to India to drum up support
for it and also enlisted the help of dignitaries
in Britain. The building was opened in 1896 by
the then secretary of state for India, Lord George
Hamilton.
The Indian Institute’s aim was to foster
and facilitate Indian studies in Oxford and to
make “England and India better acquainted
with each other”. A reminder of this aim
can be seen on the plaque at the entrance of the
building: “By the Favor of God may the learning
and literature of India be ever held in honor;
and may the mutual friendship of India and England
constantly increase.”
The Indian Institute had its own lecture rooms,
library and reading rooms, and a museum. The specialized
books and other material have now been shifted
to the nearby New Bodleian library. The original
museum’s collections have likewise been
transferred to the Ashmolean Museum. But the famous
elephant continues to march along the roof of
the building. On a quite day you might just hear
it blowing its trunk!
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