ABSTRACT
On one level, the Survey is a culmination of British imperial schemes to convert the scripts of India to a Roman system, and its use of this script is iconic of British colonial authority. Its transliteration of Indian languages into the Roman script also reflects Grierson’s interest in biblical translation and his links with missionaries in India. In addition to the historical link between Christian proselytisation and Romanisation, previous schemes of Romanisation in India equated it with a universalising and global modernity, and this, too, is reflected in the Survey. However, in the final analysis, the Roman script unravels as a master script in the Survey and its inadequacies are revealed in its processes of transliteration. India’s multi-script environment is given play through the Roman script rather than being displaced by it.
