The position of
Boden Professor of Sanskrit at the
University of Oxford was established in 1832 with money bequeathed to the university by
Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Boden, a retired soldier in the service of the
East India Company. He wished the university to establish a
Sanskrit professorship to assist in the conversion of the people of
British India to Christianity, and his bequest was also used to fund
scholarships in Sanskrit at Oxford. The first two professors were elected by Oxford graduates, as the university's statutes provided:
Horace Hayman Wilson won by a narrow majority in 1832, and
the 1860 election was hotly contested, as the rivals each claimed to be best at fulfilling Boden's intentions and presented different views about the nature and purpose of Sanskrit scholarship. Reforms of Oxford implemented in 1882 removed all mention of Boden's original purpose from the statutes, removed the power to elect the professor from graduates, and gave the holder of the professorship a
fellowship at
Balliol College, Oxford.