Introduction

This chapter discusses the significance of G.A. Grierson’s Linguistic Survey of India. Drawing on Grierson’s correspondence, I show how the Survey coincided with, and contributed to, a shift in the colonial approach towards ‘vernaculars’, as well as a broader shift in European linguistics. Grierson’s supporters at the time of his proposal for the Survey in the 1880s saw his previously published work as evidence of his commitment to Indian vernaculars, which they argued qualified him for the post of the Survey’s superintendent. The Survey, therefore, also grew out of his earlier work which strengthened his bid to become its superintendent.