Fort William College, established in 1800 in Calcutta (now Kolkata) by the British, was a significant institution in the history of Indian studies during the British colonial period in India. Its establishment was influenced by the need for British administrators to learn Indian languages and later the college became a center for the study and translation of Indian texts, including ancient Hindu religious texts, historical documents, and literary works. Numerous volumes were translated from Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, Bengali, Hindi, and Urdu languages into English. Some books from the College library of Fort William were transferred to the School of Oriental Languages in Paris and are now held at BULAC. 

Émile Senart, a French scholar of Indian studies, rendered numerous Buddhist and Hindu texts into French, notably translating several Upanishads. He served as the president of the Société asiatique from 1908 to 1928 and established the "Association française des amis de l'Orient" in 1920. Senart held the position of professor at the Collège de France in Paris, where he taught courses related to Indian studies. 

Stein, a Hungarian-born British archaeologist renowned for his discovery at the Mogao Caves, near Dunhuang in 1907. He graduated in Sanskrit and Persian and later encountered the Indologist and philologist Rudolf Hoernle in Vienna during an Orientalist conference in 1886, where he learned of an ancient mathematical manuscript found in Bakhshali (Peshawar). In 1887, Stein travelled to India and assumed the role of Registrar at the University of the Punjab. Subsequently, from 1888 to 1899, he served as the Principal of Oriental College, Lahore. During his tenure, Stein oversaw the establishment of the Raghunath Temple Sanskrit Manuscript Library in Jammu, housing a collection of 5000 rare manuscripts.