The article first appeared in The Scroll on January 21, 2024
In the year 1824 in the city of Patna, straddling the crossroads of rising European trade and a declining Mughal empire, an unlikely group of people met for an even more unlikely purpose. Under the stewardship of amateur English artist Charles D’Oyly, the group, made up of Europeans and Indians, decided on July 1 to form the Bihar School of Athens.