Sir Monier Monier-Williams (b. 1819-1899) in his earlier career taught Asian languages at the East India Company College, and delved deep into the cultural heritage of India, its religious practices in vogue, including modern Hinduism. His aims being practical rather than speculative and his vast practical knowledge of India and her people, earned him the professorship of the Boden Chair of Sanskrit at Oxford University where he studied, documented and taught Asian languages and also compiled one of the most widely used Sanskrit-English dictionaries. In 1883, he also founded the Indian Institute at Oxford University that provided a perfect training ground for studies focused on Indology.