Nathaniel Brassey Halhed - Life of Seclusion and After

Life of Seclusion and After

For all the effort that Halhed took to advocate Brothers' belief he remained unsuccessful and damaged his reputation irreparably. The millennium saw him a proud but recluse man. He soon accepted the futility of his actions and took stock of his bearings, began to pay off his debts, sold his personal collection of Oriental manuscripts and his own unpublished works. He lived twelve years without saying one word, and many thought he was dead. He was suffering from acute poverty and lack of employment. Indeed so deplorable was his condition that he once had to refuse meeting Mrs. Hastings on her visit to London for lack of adequate clothing. However, he came out of this ascetic existence and rejoined his former friends most of whom were returned Anglo-Indians. In spite of his resolution never to rejoin the Company's services, it was still with the home administration of the Company where lay his greatest possibility of finding employment as he was too old to travel to India. It was difficult for him to acquire a post since he could not join at the bottom of the ladder and the rigid seniority system hindered him being posted at an elevated rank. Fortunately, luck smiled upon him when the Company decided to expand its examiner's department. Halhed applied to one of the newly opened civil secretary posts which carried a £600 salary in April and was appointed in July the same year. The salary was soon increased to £1000 with incentives. The work not just provided him with a steady income but also made the newly opened Company Library accessible to him which contained several new manuscripts. Charles Wilkins, his old partner, was the custodian. Halhed spent much of the summer of 1810 translating a curious collection of Tipu Sultan's dreams written in the prince's own hand. He also made translations of the Mahabharata although his work was more of a personal study, fragmentary in nature, and made to "understand the grand scheme of the universe". He did not seek to publish any of his translations.