How did Berlin Museums get the Benin Bronzes? Part Two Anti-colonial activists have succeeded in having some plunder returned to its original country, but the struggle goes on Hari Kumar 22/01/2022 Humboldt Forum. Photo: Derbrauni CC4.0 International This is the second part of this article. You can read part one here . The complex nature of Western scholars in colonial times It would be one-dimensional and anti-dialectical to ignore the scholarly and sweeping visions of some of the leading “Orientalists”. Sir William Jones, for example, first translated Kalidas of 400 AD (“the Indian Shakespeare”) from Sanskrit into English. He undertook his studies in 1785, in the colony of “British india”. In his book, India discovered , he declared Sankskrit “more perfect than either Greek or Latin”. It is true he was seen by Edward Said in a more diminished way than perhaps he deserved: “He was appointed to ‘an honourable and profitable place in the Indies’, and (took) up a post with the...