Friedrich Max Müller (German: 6 December 1823 – 28 October 1900) was a German-born linguist and Orientalist who lived and studied in Britain for most of his life. He was one of the founders of the Western academic disciplines of Indian Studies and Religious Studies (‘Science of Religion’, German: Religionswissenschaft). Müller wrote both scholarly and popular works on the subject of Indology.
In his sixties and seventies, Müller gave a series of lectures which reflected a more nuanced approach in favor of Hinduism and the ancient literature of India. His “What Can India Teach Us?” Lecture at the University of Cambridge, he championed ancient Sanskrit literature and India as follows:
If I were to look around the world and find a country most affluent in all the wealth, power and beauty that nature has to offer – a very paradise on earth in some parts – then I should point to India. If I were to be asked under what sky the human mind has most fully developed some of its choicest gifts, has pondered most deeply upon life’s greatest problems, and found solutions to some of them which even Worth noting are those who have studied Plato and Kant—I must point to India. And if I ask myself, to what literature are we in Europe, we who have been nourished almost exclusively on the ideas of the Greeks and Romans, and a Semitic race, the Jews, can draw that reformer which is most in order is more desired to make our inner life more perfect, more comprehensive, more universal, indeed more truly human, a life,
, Max Müller(1883)
He also speculates that the introduction of Islam in India in the 11th century had a profound effect on the psyche and behavior of Hindus in another discourse, “The True Character of the Hindus”:
Other epics too,Mahabharata, is full of episodes showing deep respect for truth. (…) If I must quote from all the law-books, and still from later works, everywhere you will hear the same key-tone of truthfulness pulsating through them all. (…) I say once again that I do not want to represent the people of India as two hundred and thirty three million angels, but I want it to be understood and accepted as a fact, that the harmful ancient The allegation of untruth leveled against the people is completely baseless. This is not only not true, but the exact opposite of the truth. As far as the modern period is concerned, and I date them after about 1000 AD, I can only say that after reading the accounts of the horrors and horrors of the Muslim rule, My wonder is that native virtues and truthfulness should abound so much. Got saved
— Max Müller, (1884)
Swami Vivekananda, who was a chief disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahansa, met Müller over lunch on 28 May 1896. Swami later wrote about Müller and his wife:
This trip was truly a revelation for me. That little white house, set in a beautiful garden, that silver-haired sage, with his face calm and gentle, and his forehead as smooth as a child’s in spite of seventy winters, and every line on that face spoke of a deep mine. Spirituality has been somewhere behind; That pious wife, through her long and arduous work of life’s helpers, opposition and contempt, and finally creating respect for the ideas of the sages of ancient India – trees, flowers, peace, and clear sky – all of which Sent me back to the imagination of the glorious days of ancient India, the days of our brahmarshis and rajarshis, the days of the great vanaprasthas, the days of Arundhati and Vashishtha. It was neither linguist nor scholar that I saw,
In his career, Müller expressed the view several times that there needed to be a “reformation” within Hinduism, comparable to the Christian reformation. [24] In his view, “If there is one thing to which the comparative study of religions puts into the clearest light, it is the inevitable decay to which every religion is exposed … Whenever we can trace a religion to its first beginnings, we free from the many defects which afflicted it in later states”.
He encouraged such reforms on the lines of Ram Mohan Roy. Brahmo Samaj used his relations with Müller believed that the Brahmos would give rise to an Indian form of Christianity and that they were in practice “Christian, Roman Catholic, Anglican or Lutheran”. In the Lutheran tradition, he hoped that “superstition” and idolatry, which he believed characterized modern popular Hinduism, would disappear. [26]
Müller wrote:
Its after Veda will tell a great deal about the fate of India and the development of millions of souls in that country. This is the root of their religion, and to show them what the root is, I am sure, is the only way to uproot whatever has arisen from it during the last 3,000 years… One must rise up and do that What he can do is God’s work.
Müller hoped that increased funding for education in India would promote a new form of literature combining Western and Indian traditions. In 1868 he appointed the newly appointed secretary of state George Campbell wrote to :
India has been conquered once, but India must be conquered again, and that second conquest must be conquered by education. Of late much has been done for education, but if the funds were tripled and quadrupled, it would hardly be enough (…) to encourage, as part of their education, the study of their own ancient literature By doing this, a sense of national pride and self-respect would be rekindled in those who influence large masses of people. A new national literature may emerge, imbued with Western ideas, yet retaining its original spirit and character (…) A new national literature will bring with it a new national life and a new moral enthusiasm. As for Dharma, it will take care of itself. Missionaries have done much more than they themselves know, nay, most of the work that is theirs, they will probably decline. Our nineteenth century Christianity will hardly be the Christianity of India. But the ancient religion of India is doomed – and if Christianity doesn’t step in, whose fault will it be?
— Max Müller, (1868)
Sanskrit study
In 1844, oxford Before beginning his academic career in Berlin, Müller studied with Friedrich Schelling. He began translating the Upanishads for Schelling, and continued to research Sanskrit under Franz Bopp, the first systematic scholar of Indo-European languages (IE). Schelling inspired Müller to link the history of language with the history of religion. At this time, Müller published his first book, a German translation of Hitopadesa, a collection of Indian fables. , [
In 1845, Müller moved to Paris to study Sanskrit under Eugène Burnouf. Barnouf encouraged him to publish the entire Rigveda, using the manuscripts available in England. He went to England in 1846 to study Sanskrit texts in the collection of the East India Company. He supported himself at first with creative writing, his novel German Love being popular in his time.
Müller’s connections with the East India Company and culturalists at the University of Oxford led to a career in Britain
, where he eventually became a leading intellectual commentator on the culture of India. At that time, Britain controlled the region as part of its empire. This led to a complex exchange between Indian and British intellectual culture, particularly through Müller’s links with the Brahmo Samaj.
Müller’s Sanskrit study occurred at a time when scholars were beginning to look at the development of language in relation to cultural development. The recent discovery of the Indo-European language group has begun to give rise to much speculation about the relationship between Greco-Roman cultures and more ancient ones. The Vedic culture of India in particular was considered the ancestor of European classical cultures. Scholars compare genetically related European and Asian languages to reconstruct the earliest form of the root language. The Vedic language, Sanskrit, was believed to be the oldest of the IE languages.
Müller devoted himself to the study of this language and became one of the leading Sanskrit scholars of his time. He believed that the earliest documents of Vedic culture should be studied to provide a key to the development of pagan European religions and religious belief in general. To this end, Müller sought to understand the Rigveda, the oldest of the Vedic scriptures. Müller translated the book Rigveda Samhita written by the 14th century Sanskrit scholar Sayanacharya from Sanskrit to English. Müller was deeply influenced by his contemporary and proponent of Vedantic philosophy, Ramakrishna Paramahansa, and wrote several essays and books about him.
Thousands start thinking because of each drop of ink. So we don’t have just one supreme text as others have. We have Ramayana, Mahabharata, Gita, Vedas and so many more and all are supreme. If all these books were not there then what would happen to you Kaliya? German-origin linguist and orientalist Friedrich Max Müller was jubilant by placing the Gita on his head…
