Most of the research on perceptions on and reception of modern science in nineteenth century India focused on the Bengal province and the North India. However, it does not imply that Indian intelligentsia did not respond to modern science in other regions. For example, the Madras Presidency had instruments, but not observatory. The East India Company had established an observatory at Madras in 1870. IT was the first modern public observatory outside Europe and to use today's term, the first modern research institute in India. The Company had declared that the purpose of Madras Observatory was to encourage the advancement of the knowledge of astronomy, geography and navigation in India. There were other more important things than doing science, such as increasing the Company's revenue by improving irrigation facilities. Several astronomical observations were carried out by John Goldingdham and his deputy, Warren, both of whom were trained astronomers. While the British East India Company was reluctant to encourage observatories in India, the establishment of the Nizamia Observatory in 1908 in the Hyderabad State, shows that the Nizam's regime was receptive and favourable towards the establishment and continuation of the astronomical observatory. This was partly because Hyderabad State was never under any colonial regime. However, democratisation of scientific and technological development remained a myth for the millions of the country. Only certain social groups of the society were able to receive and respond to the introduction of modern science and technology to the Indian soil.

Reception of Modern Science in Colonial India

Now the question arises: “Which social groups were the first who received and responded to the introduction of modern science in India?” Of course, not much work has been done on the transmission of scientific ideas between different cultures. An attempt has been made to understand as to how knowledge conceived of within the epistemological framework of one culture is received, adapted and absorbed by another culture. In the first half of the nineteenth century, both Hindus and Muslims had their own elites. However, paradoxically, it was only the Hindu elites drawn naturally from the upper castes, principally the Brahmins, the Baidyas and the Kayasths in the Bengal province who made contact with the British and eagerly sought after modern science, which took roots in Europe as a legitimate knowledge.