Wikipedia Trails: From Maya to Benjamin Simpson

 I began my Wikipedia Trail with the Wikipedia page on Maya, which I visited for this class when writing up my post on the Hindu idea that reality may be an illusion. While the Wikipedia page initially defined Maya as "illusion" or "magic," the page also provided a more nuanced look at the definition. One definition stood out to me, with Monier Williams defining maya as "wisdom and extraordinary power" initially but later meant unreality. I've never heard of this man, so I clicked a link to his Wikipedia page, where I learned more about Monier Monier-Williams. He was born in Bombay during British colonialism, and he was educated at Oxford as well as the East India Company College. He eventually became a professor of Sanskrit at Oxford, and he was knighted in 1876. He was made KCIE in 1887, but I had no clue what that meant, so I followed the Wikipedia link. KCIE stood for Knight Commander in the Indian Empire and was a ranking under the Order of the Indian Empire. This system was made to reward British officials who served in India, and it's an order of chivalry. I scrolled through the list and saw the title surgeon-general, which caught my eye, next to the name Benjamin Simpson. I clicked on Benjamin Simpson and found a rather short article, but it did provide some interesting pictures. Sir Benjamin Simpson was a Surgeon-General and photographer who served across India. He was part of a group who developed 80 photographs and were exhibited in the London International Exhibition in 1862.

Ruins of the old Kandahar Citadel, 1881. Source: Wikipedia