links updated at end of page 30th July 2008
RESULT OF THAT INTEREST: Such writings attracted the German scholars more and more to the study of Sanskrit, and many of them began to hold Bharatiya culture in great esteem. Prof. Winternitz has described their reverence and enthusiasm in the following words:
"When Indian literature became first known in the West, people were inclined to ascribe a hoary age to every literature work hailing from India. They used to look upon India as something like the cradle of mankind, or at leat of human civilisation."
This impression was natural and spontaneous. It was based on truth and had no element of bias. The historical facts that were handed down by the sages of Bharatavarsa were based on true and unbroken traditions. Their philosophical doctrines delved deep into the source and mysteries of life and propounded principles of eternal value. When the people of the West came to know of them for the first time, many unbigoted scholars were highly impressed by their marvellous accuracy and profound wisdom and being uninfluenced by any considerations of colour or creed they were generous in their acclamations. This enthusiastic applause of the honest people of Christian lands created a flutter in the dovecotes of Jewry and Christian missionaries, who were as ignorant of the real import of their own Scriptures and traditions as those of Bharatavarsa and followed only the dictates of dogmatic Pauline Christianity which had made them intolerant of all other faiths.
The correctness of our conclusion can be judged from the following observation of Heinrich Zimmer:-
"He (Schopenhauer) was th first among the Western people to speak of this in an incomparable manner - in that great cloudburst of European-Christian atmosphere."
How revengeful are dogmatic Christians and Jews on those who do not hold opinions similar to their own, is amply illustrated by the fate of Robertson Smith (1846-94 A.D.), the author of 'The Religion of the Semites'. and a professor of Hebrew in the Free Church College, Aberdeen. The punishment he got for the frank and fearless expression of his scientific researches is well recorded by Lewis Spence in the following words:-
"The heterodox character of an encyclopaedia article on the Bible led to his prosecution for heresy, of which charge, however, he was acquitted. But a further article upon 'Hebrew Language and Literature' in the Encyclopaedia Brittannica (1880) led to his removal from the professoriate of the College."
Primary Reason
JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN BIAS: The ancient Jews were descendants of the Aryas. Their beliefs were the same of those of Aryas. The Primeval Man, whom they called Adam, was Brahma, the originator of mankind. The Hebrew name is derived from 'Atma-Bhu", one of the epithets of Brahma. In the beginning of Creation 'Brahma gave names to all objects and beings', and so did Adam according to Jewish tradition ; 'and whatsoever Adam called every living creature that was the name thereof'. In later times the Jews forgot their ancient history and ancestry and became narrow in their outlook. They considered themselves to be the oldest of all races. But in 1654 A.D. Archbishop Usher of Ireland firmly announced that his study of Scripture had proved that creation took place in the year 4004 B.C. Som from the end of the seventeenth century, this chronology was accepted by the Europeans and they came to believe that Adam was created 4004 years before Christ.
Hence a majority of the modern Jews and the dogmatic Christians
and especially many professors of Sanskrit found it hard to reconcile themselves
to the view that any race or civilisation could be older than the date
of Adam accepted by them. They resented the hoary antiquity ascribed
by their broad-minded brother scholars to the literature and civilisation
of Bharatavarsa and much more to the origin of man. referring to
this deep-rooted prejudice, A.S. Sayce writes :-
"But as far as man was concerned, his history was still
limited by the dates in the margin of our Bibles. Even today the
old idea of his recent appearance still prevails in quarters where we should
least expect to find it and so-called critical historians still occupy
themselves in endeavouring to reduce the dates of his earlier history....
To a generation which had been brought up to believe that in 4004 B.C.
or thereabout the world was being created, the idea man himself went back
to 100,000 years ago was both incredible and inconceivable."
Ample evidence can be adduced to prove the existence of this inveterate prejudice but the above quotation from a great anthropologist would suffice for our purpose.
The studies of Sanskrit continued and flourished in Europe and very rapidly the opinions and judgments of scholars also became warped by the influence of the inherent prejudice fanned by the clergy. From the Vikram year 1858 to 1897 Eugene Burnouf occupied the chair of Professor of Sanskrit in France. He had two German pupils Rudolph Roth and Max Muller, who later on made a name in European Sanskrit scholarship.
THE PURPOSE OF BODEN CHAIR OF SANSKRIT IN OXFORD UNIVERSITY : In Samvat 1890 Horace Hayman Wilson became the Boden Professor of Sanskrit in the Oxford University. His successor Prof. M. Monier-Williams has drawn the attention of scholars to the object of the establishment of that chair in the following words ;-
"I must draw attention to the fact that I am only the second occupant of the Boden Chair, and that its Founder, Colonel Boden, stated most explicitly in his will (dated August 15, 1811 A.D.) that the special object of his munificent bequest was to promote the translation of Scriptures into Sanskrit; so as to enable his countrymen to proceed in the conversion of the natives of India to the Christian religion."
Prejudiced Sanskrit Professors
I. Prof. Wilson was a man of very noble disposition, but he had his obligations towards the motives of the founder of the Chair he occupied. He, therefore, wrote a book on 'The Religious and Philosophical System of the Hindus' and explaining the reason for writing it he says ; "These lectures were written to help candidates for a prize of ?200-given by John Muir, a well-known old Haileybury man and great Sanskrit scholar, for the best refutation of the Hindu Religious System".
From this quotation the learned readers can conclude to what extent the aim of European scholarship could be called scientific, how far the theories propounded by them could be free from partisanship and called reliable, and how true would be the picture of Bharatiya civilisation and culture drawn by them.
II. In the same spirit of prejudice the aforesaid scholar Rudolph Roth wrote his thesis 'Zur Literatur und Geschichte des Veda,' a dissertation on the Vedic literature and history. In 1909 V. was published his edition of te Nirukta of Yaska. He was too proud of his own learning and of the German genius. He asserted that be means of the German 'science' of philology Vedic mantras could be interpreted much better than with the help of Nirukta. Roth wrote many other things in this haughty vein.
III. The same pedantry is exhibited in the writings of W.D. Whitney who asserts ; "The principles of the 'German School' are the only ones which can ever guide us to a true understanding of the Veda."
IV. MAX MULLER : Max Muller was a fellow-student of Roth. Besides his teacher's stamp on him, Max Muller's interview with Lord Macaulay on the 28th December, 1855 A.D. also played a great part in his anti-Indian views. Max Muller had to sit silent for an hour while the historian poured out his diametrically opposite views and then dismissed his visitor who tried in vain to utter a simple word : "I went back to Oxford", writes Max Muller, "a sadder man and a wiser man."
Max Muller's name became widely known to the people of Bharatavarsa for two reasons. Firstly, he was a voluminous writer and secondly his views were severely criticised by the great scholar and savant Swami Dayananda Saraswati (1881-1940 V.) in his public speeches and writings. The value of Max-Muller's opinions, may be estimated from his following statements :-
(1) "History seems to teach that the whole human race required a gradual education before, in the fullness of time, it could be admitted to the truths of Christianity. All the fallacies of human reason had to be exhausted, before the light of a high truth could meet with ready acceptance. The ancient religions of the world were but the milk of nature, which was in due time to be succeeded by the bread of life.... 'The religion of Buddha has spread far beyond the limits of the Aryan world, and to our limited vision, it may seem to have retarded the advent of Christianity among a large portion of the human race. But in the sight of Him with whom a thousand years are but as one day, that religion, like the ancient religions of the world, may have but served to prepare the way of Christ, by helping through its very errors to strengthen and to deepen the ineradicable yearning of the human heart after the truth of God."
(2) "Large number of Vedic hymns are childish in the extreme ; tedious, low, commonplace."
(3) "Nay, they (the Vedas) contain, by the side of simple, natural, childish thoughts, many ideas which to us sound modern, or secondary and tertiary."
Such blasphemous reviling of the most ancient and highly scientific scripture of the world can come only from word of the mouth of a bigoted (not an honest) Christian, a low pagan or an impious atheist. Barring Christianity, Max Muller was bitterly antagonistic to every other religion which he regarded as heathen. His religious intolerance is borrowed from his bitter criticism of the view of the German scholar, Dr. Spiegel, that the Biblical theory of the creation of the world is borrowed from the ancient religion of the Persians or Iranians. Stung by this statement Max Muller writes: "A writer like Dr. Spiegel should know that he can expect no money ; nay, he should himself wish for no mercy, but invite the heaviest artillery against the floating battery which he has launched in the troubled waters of Biblical criticism." (Strange to say that our History supports the truth of Dr. Spiegel's view to the extent that the Biblical statements were derived from Persian, Babylonian and Egyptian scriptures, which according to the ancient history of the world, were in turn derived from Vedic sources.)
At another place the same devotee of the Western 'scientific' scholarship says : "If in spite of all this, many people, most expectant to judge, look forward with confidence to the conversion of the Parsis, it is because, in the most essential points, they have already, though unconsciously, approached as near as possible to the pure doctrine of Christianity. Let them but read Zend-Avesta, in which they profess to believe, and they will find that their faith is in longer the faith of the Yasna, the Vendidad and the Vispered. As historical relics, these works, if critically interpreted, will always retain a pre-eminent place in the great library of the ancient world. As oracles of religious faith, they are defunct and a mere anachronism in the age in which we live."
Even a superficial reader can see the strain of Christian
fanaticism running through these lines. If Bharatiya culture could exact
occasional praise from the pen of a bigoted man like Max Muller, it was
only due to its unrivalled greatness and superiority.
MAX MULLER AND JACOLLIOT: The French scholar Louis
Jacolliot, Chief Judge in Chandranagar, wrote a book called 'La Bible dans
l'Inde' in Samvat 1926. Next year an English translation of it was also
published. In that book all the main currents of thought in the world have
been derived from the ancient Aryan thought. He has called Bharatvarsha
'the Cradle of Humanity'.
'Land of ancient India! Cradle of Humanity. hail!
Hail revered motherland whom centuries of brutal invasions have not yet
buried under the dust of oblivion. Hail, Fatherland of faith, of love,
of poetry and of science, may we hail a revival of thy past in our Western
future.'
This book cut Max Muller to the quick and he said
while reviewing it that 'the author seems to have been taken in by the
Brahmins of India'.
MAX MULLER'S LETTER: Personal letters give a true picture of the writer's inner mind. A person expresses his inmost feelings in the letters which he writes to his intimate relations and friends. Such letters are very helpful in estimating his real nature and character. Fortunately, a collection called the 'Life and Letters of Frederick Max Muller' has been published in two volumes. A few extracts from those letters would suffice to expose the mind of the man who is held in great esteem in the West for his Sanskrit leaning and impartial judgement.
(a) In a letter of 1866 A.D. (V Sam, 1923) he writes to
his wife:
'This edition of mine and the translation of the
Veda will hereafter tell to a great extent on the fate of India, .....it
is the root of their religion and to show them what the root is, I feel
sure, is the only way of uprooting all that has spring from it during the
last three thousand years.'(Vol. 1., Ch. XV, Page 346.).
(b) In another letter he writes to his son:
'Would you say that any one sacred book is superior
to all others in the world? ........I say the New Testament, after that,
I should place the Koran, which in its moral teachings, is hardly
more than a later edition of the New Testament. Then would follow according
to my opinion the Old Testament, the Southern Buddhist Tripitaka, the Tao-te-king
of Laotze, the Kings of Confucius, the Veda and the Avesta.'(Vol. II, Ch.
XXXII., page 339.).
(c) On 16th December 1868 A.D. (Samvat 1925) he writes
to Duke of Argyle, the Minister for India:
'The ancient religion of India is doomed and if
Christianity does not step in, whose fault will it be?'(Vol. I., Ch. XVI.,
page 378.)
(d) On 29th January 1882 (Samvat 1939) he wrote to Sri
Bairamji MALABARI:
'I wanted to tell.......what the true historical
value of this ancient religion is, as looked upon, not from a n exclusively
European or Christian, but from a historical point of view. But discover
in it 'steam engines and electricity and European philosophy and morality,
and you deprive it of its true character.'(Vol. II, Ch XXV., pages 115-116.)
(e) Max Muller grew so insolent and audacious that he
started to challenge Indians in a direct foolhardy manner. It is clear
from a letter written by him to N.K. Majumdar:
'Tell me some of your chief difficulties that prevent
you and your countrymen from openly following Christ, and when I write
to you I shall do my best to explain how I and many who agree with me have
met them and solved them........ From my point of view, India, at least
the best part of it, is already converted to Christianity. You want no
persuasion to become a follower of Christ. Then make p your mind to work
or yourself. Unite your flock - to hold them together and prevent them
from straying. The bridge has been built for you by those who came before
you. STEP BOLDLY FORWARD, it will break under you, and you will find many
friends to welcome you on the other shore and among them none more delighted
that you old friend and fellow labourer F. Max-Muller.'(Vol. II., Ch. XXXIV.,
pages 415-416.)
Herein Max Muller claims to know 'the true historical value' of Vedic religion, but our history is going to expose the hollowness of the learning and scholarship which he and his colleagues boast of possessing.
V. WEBER'S BIAS: At the time when Max Muller was busy
besmirching the glory of Bharatiya literature and religion in England,
Albert Webber was devoting himself to the same ignominious task in Germany.
We have already referred to the unstinted praise of the Bhagavad Gita by
Humboldt. Weber could not tolerate this. He had the temerity to postulate
that the Mahabharata and Gita were influenced by Christian thought. Mark
what he writes:-
'The peculiar colouring of the Krsna Sect, which
pervades the whole book, is noteworthy: Christian legendry matter and other
Western influences are unmistakably present........
The view of Weber was strongly supported by two
other Western scholars, Lorinser and E. Washburn Hopkin.
Yet the view was so blatantly absurd that most of the professors in European
universities did not accept it in spite of their Christian leanings. But
the propagation of this wrong view played its mischief and was mainly responsible
for the hesitation of the Western scholars (including the antagonists)
to assign to the Mahabharata a date, earlier that the Christian era.
WEBER AND BANKIM CHANDRA: I am not alone in holding this view.
This is what Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyaya, the well known
Bengali scholar, has to say about Weber in his Krishnacharita, 4th chapter:-
'The celebrated Weber was no doubt a scholar but
I am inclined to think that it was an unfortunate moment for India when
he began the study of Sanskrit. The descendants of the German savages of
yesterday could not reconcile themselves to the ancient glory of India.
It was therefore, their earnest effort to prove that the civilisation of
India was comparatively of recent origin. They could not persuade themselves
to believe that the Mahabharata was composed centuries before Christ was
born'.
WEBER AND GOLDSTUCKER: Weber and Boehtlingk prepared a
dictionary of the Sanskrit language called the 'Sanskrit Worterbuch. Prof.
Kuhn was also one of their assistants. Being mainly based on the wrong
and imaginary principles of philology, the work is full of wrong meanings
in many places and is, therefore, unreliable and misleading. It is a pity
that so much labour was wasted on account of sheer prejudice. Th dictionary
was subject of severe criticism by Prof. Goldstuker which annoyed the two
editors. Weber was so much upset that he stooped to use abusive language
of the coarsest kind against Prof. Goldstucker. He said that the
views of Prof. Goldstucker about the Worterbuch showed 'a perfect derangement
of his mental faculties', since he did not reject the authority
of the greatest Hindu scholars freely and easily. Replying to their undignified
attacks Prof. Goldstucker exposed the conspiracy of Professors Roth, Boehtlingk,
Weber and Kahn which they had formed to undermine the greatness of ancient
Bharatvarsha. He wrote:
'It will, of course, be my duty to show, at the
earliest opportunity, that Dr. Boehtlingk is incapable of understanding
even easy rules of Panini, much less those of Katyayana and still less
is he capable of making use of them in the understanding of Classical texts.
The errors in his department of the Dictionary are so numerous........
that it will fill every serious Sanskritist with dismay, when he calculates
the mischievous influence which they must exercise on the study of Sanskrit
philology'.
He further remarks: '....that questions which ought to have been decided with the very utmost circumspection and which could not be decided without very laborious research have been trifled with in the Worterbuch in the most unwarranted manner.'
Goldstucker was called upon by one of Boehtlingk's men
not only to have respect for 'the editor of Panini.....'(i.e. Boehtlingk)
but even for the hidden reasons for foisting on the public his blunders
of ever kind.
We know that there were no other 'hidden reasons'
than their Christian and Jewish bias which impelled them to suppress the
correct information of the Hindu grammarians and underrate and vilify Aryan
civilisation and culture, and at the same time to serve as tools of the
British Government towards the same end.
Professor Kuhn, who 'gave his opinion on the Worterbuch'
was 'an individual whose sole connection with Sanskrit studies consisted
in handling Sanskrit books to those who could read them, a litery naught,
wholly unknown, but assuming the airs of a quantity, because it had figures
before it that prompted it on, a personage who, according to his own friends,
was perfectly ignorant of Sanskrit'.
Provoked by the unwarranted flouting of the authentic
Hindu tradition, Professor Goldstucker was compelled to raise his 'feeble
but solitary voice' against the coterie of mischievous propagandists masquerading
under the garb of 'scientific' scholars. He concludes his laborious work
with the following significant remarks:
'When I see that the most distinguished and most
learned Hindu scholars and divines - the most valuable and sometimes the
only source of all our knowledge of ancient India - are scorned in theory,
mutilated in print, and, as consequence, set aside in the interpretation
of Vaidik texts; .......when a clique of Sanskritists of this description
vapours about giving us the sense of the Veda as it existed at the commencement
of Hindu antiquity; ......when I consider that those whose words apparently
derive weight and influence from the professional position they hold; ........then
I hold that it would be a want of courage and a dereliction of duty, if
I did not make a stand against these Saturnalia of Sanskrit Philology.
VI. MONIER-WILLIAMS: who revealed the real object of the
purpose of the establishment of the Boden chair, thus delivers himself:-
'Brahmanism, therefore, must die out. In point
of fact, false ideas on the most ordinary scientific subjects are so mixed
up with its doctrines that the commonest education - the simplest lesson
in geography - without the aid of Christianity must inevitably in the end
sap its foundations.'
'When the walls of the mighty fortress of Brahmanism
are encircled, undermined, and finally stormed by the solders of the cross,
the victory of Christianity must be signal and complete.'
Therefore we are justified in drawing the conclusion
that his book, 'The Study of Sanskrit in Relation to Missionary work in
India' (1861 A.D. London) was written with the sole object of promoting
Christianity and ousting Hinduism. Inspite of this some of our Indian Sanskrit
scholars call these Europeans scholars, unbiased students of Sanskrit literature,
whose sole aim has been to aquire knowledge for its own sake.
Again, expressing his deep rooted veneration for
the Bible, Monier-Williams writes:- '....the Bible, though a true revelation.'
VII. RUDOLF HOERNLE: Rudolf Hoernle was the Principal
of Queen's College, Banaras, in Samvat 1926. At that time Swami Dayananda
Saraswati, who later on founded the Arya Samaja happened to reach Banaras
for the first time for the propagation of his mission. Dr. Hoernle met
Swami Dayananda on several occasions. He wrote an article on /Swamiji
from which the following extract is noteworthy, because it reveals the
real intention of many European scholars who take to study of Sanskrit
and ancient scriptures of Bharatvarsha. Hoernle says:-
'.......he (Dayananda) may possibly convince the
Hindus that their modern Hinduism is altogether in the opposition to the
Vedas....... If once they became thoroughly convinced of this radical
error, they will no doubt abandon Hinduism at once...... They cannot go
back to the Vedic state; that is dead and gone, and will never revive;
something more or less new must follow. We hope it may be Christianity,.......'
VIII RICHARD GARBE: was a German Sanskritist, who edited many Sanskrit works. Besides these, in 1914 he wrote a book for the missionaries, entitled 'Indien und das Christentum'. His religious bias is quite evident in the book.
IX WINTERNITZ: The pride of the superiority of their
own philosophy and religion and of the infallibility of their own conclusions
has become so ingrained in the above-mentioned type of Western Sanskrit
scholars that they feel no hesitation in giving expression to it brazen-facedly
before the public. Reverent admiration of the philosophy of the Upanishads
by Schopenhauer, often quoted by Bharatiya writers, ranked in the heart
of the Europeans, and as late as A.D. 1925 Prof. Winternitz thought it
incumbent on him to denounce the sincere and heartfelt views of Schopenhauer
in the following words:-
'Yet I believe, it is a wild exaggeration when
Schopenhauer says that the teaching of the Upanishads represents 'the fruit
of the highest human knowledge and wisdom' and contains 'almost superhuman
conceptions the originators of which can hardly be regarded as mere mortals.......'
Not content with his invective against the Upanishads
he had the audacity to deprecate even the greatness of the Vedas by saying:-
'It is true, the authors of these hymns rise but
extremely seldom to the exalted flights and deep fervour of, say, religious
poetry of the Hebrews.'
This vilification did not remain confined to Sanskrit
scholars alone, but through them it percolated into the field of Science.
Not knowing a word of the exact and multifarious scientific knowledge of
the ancient Hindus, Sir William Cecil Dampier writes:
'Perhaps the paucity of Indian contribution to
other sciences (the Philosophy and Medicine) may in part be due to the
Hindu religion.
The climax of hatred against Hinduism is seen in
the highly mischievous and provoking remarks like the following even in
popular literature:-
(a) 'The curse of India is the Hindoo religion. More than two hundred million people believe a monkey mixture of mythology that is strangling the nation.' 'He who yearns for God in India soon loses his head as well as his heart.'
(b)Prof. McKenzie, of Bombay finds the ethics of India defective, illogical and anti-social, lacking any philosophical foundation, nullified by abhorrent ideas of asceticism and ritual and altogether inferior to the 'higher spirituality' of Europe. He devotes most of his book 'Hindu Ethics' to upholding this thesis and comes to the triumphant conclusions that Hindu philosophical ideas, 'when logically applied leave no room for ethics'; and that they prevent the development of a strenuous moral life.'
It is a matter of serious mistake on the part f a Government
which is anxious to win the friendship and sympathy of Bharat to allow
such heinous type of literature as Ripley's to be published. And again,
it is a matter of regret that such books, whether published in India or
abroad, are not taken notice of by our politicians and have not been banned
by our National Government. Not only is our Government indifferent to the
interdiction of such slanderous literature, but even our Universities not
only prescribe but recommend for higher study books on Bharatiya history
and culture written by foreign scholars who lose no opportunity of maligning
our civilisation openly or in a very subtle way.
Remarks like those of McKenzie on the ethics of
a country from whose Brahmanas the whole world learnt its morality and
rules of conduct, are nothing short of blasphemy and national insult.
The irony of the situation is that, instead of being condemned such persons
receive recognition and honour from our educationists and political leaders.
MOST BHARATIYA SCHOLARS AND POLITICIANS ARE UNAWARE OF THIS BIAS: We have sufficiently exposed the mentality of this type of Western scholars. They received enormous financial aid from their Governments and also from the British Government in India, which they freely used in writing articles, pamphlets and books propagating their reactionary views in a very subtle and disguised manner. It was their careful endeavour not to give themselves away and to mislead the world and the people of Bharatvarsha under the cloak of scholarship and impartiality. They might have pretty well succeeded in their work had not their apple-cart been upset by Swami Dayananda Saraswati, who ruthlessly exposed their nefarious designs. Swamiji was a man of unique personality, indomitable courage, keen intellect and far-reaching vision and imagination. He had come in contact with many European scholars of his time. He had met George Buhler, Monier Williams, Rudolf Hoernle, Thibaut and others who had worked with Christian zeal in the field of Sanskrit research. He was the first man whose penetrating eye could not fail to see through the ulterior motives of their research work, although the common run of people in Bharatvarsha and even most of the learned men in the employ of the Government here had permitted themselves to be deluded by their so-called profound scholarship, strict impartiality, scientific and liberal outlook. Hr gave a timely warning to the people of his country and to a great extent succeeded in saving them from the clutches of these pseudo-scholars and clandestine missionaries.
We have studied almost the entire literature produced
by generations of Western scholars and have thoroughly examined it with
an open mind. We have arrived at the conclusion that there is a definite
tinge of Christian prejudice in the writings of most of these scholars,
which is responsible for discrediting all that is great in Bharatvarsha.
The ultimate aim of the writers seems to be the proselytization of the
people of this land to Christianity by instilling into their head in a
subtle manner the inferiority of their indigenous religion and culture.
But truth can never remain hidden for long. Now
some modern scholars of Bharatvarsha have also begun to see to some extent,
though not thoroughly, through the thin veneer of European scholarship,
e.g.:-
1/. Prof. Rangacharya writes:-
'Incalculable mischief has been done by almost
all the English and American scholars in assuming arbitrarily the earliest
dates for Egypt or Mesopotamia - dates going back to B.C. 5000 at least
- and the latest possible dates for Ancient India on the ground that India
borrowed from them.'
2/. Sri Nilakantha Shastri, the Head of History Department of Madras University, although a supporter of many untenable Western theories, had to write:-
'What is this but a critique of Indian society and Indian history in the light of the nineteenth century prepossessions of Europe? This criticism was started by the English administration and European missionaries and has been nearly focussed by the vast erudition of Lassen; the unfulfilled aspirations of Germany in the early nineteenth century, doubtless had their share in shaping the line of Lassen's thought.'
3/. Sri C. R. Krishnamacharlu, Ex-Epigraphist to the Government
of India, having realised the ulterior motives of European writers, has
expressed his views more strongly. He writes:-
'These authors, coming as they do from nations
of recent growth, and writing this history with motives other than cultural,
which in some cases are apparently racial and prejudicial to the correct
elucidation of the past history of India, cannot acquire testimony for
historic veracity of cultural sympathy.'
4/. Prof. R. Subba Rao, M.A., L. T., in his
Presidential Address, (Sectional), Sixteenth Session of Indian History
Congress, Waltair, (29th December, 1953.) writes:-
'Unfortunately, the historicity of Puranas and
their testimony has been perverted by certain Western scholars who stated
rather dogmatically that the historical age cannot go back beyond 2000
B. C., and that there is no need for fixing the Mahabharata war earlier
than 1400 B.C. They accused the Brahmins of having raised their antiquity
and questioned the authenticity of the Hindu astronomical works.'
Conclusion
In short, the foregoing pages make it clear that
it was this Christian and Judaic prejudice which:-
(a) .....did not allow the real dates of ancient Bharatiya history to be accepted by the occidental scholars, who were always reluctant to give the Vedas a higher antiquity than the earliest portion of the Old Testament and place them beyond 2500 B.C.
Even the school of Paul Deussen, A.W. Ryder and H. Zimmer, which followed Schopenhauer in the appreciation of ancient Indian intellect, but which did not work directly on chronology, could not throw off the burden of these extremely unscientific, fictitious dates.
(b) ......gave rise to the two interrelated diseases of Western Indologists; firstly the disease of myth, mythical and mythology, according to which Brahma, Indra, Vishnu, Parvat, Narada, Kashyapa, Pururavas, Vasishta and a host of other ancient sages have been declared as mythical. Nobody ever tried to understand their true historical character apprehending that the dates of Bharatiya history would go to very ancient periods; and secondly, as a corollary to the above, the disease of 'attribution' and 'ascription', under which the works of these and other sages have been declared to be written by some very late anonymous persons who are said to have ascribed or attributed them to those 'mythical' sages.
(c) ......brought to the fore-front, the most fanciful and groundless theory of the migration of the Aryans into India, according to which the very existence of Manu, the first Crowned King of Bharat, Egypt etc., Ikshvaku, Manu's glorious son; Bharata Chakravarti, the glorious son of Shakuntala; Bhagiratha, who changed the course of the Ganga; Kuru, after whom the sacred sacrificial land is called Kurukshetra:; Rama, the son of Dasaratha and a number of other kings is being totally denied.
(d) ....was responsible for the altogether wrong translations of Vaidika (Vedic) works, and misrepresentation of the Vaidika culture.
(e) .....did not allow the acceptance of Sanskrit, as being the mother language of at least the Indo-European group; as at first very ably propounded by Franz Bopp, and often mentioned by ancient Indian authors.
We are not sorry for all this, for, nothing better could be expected from such biased foreign pioneers of Sanskrit studies.
With these brief remarks we earnestly pray that the light of truth may dawn on every thinking and learned man of Bharatvarsha, so that in these days of political and individual freedom he may shake off the yoke of intellectual slavery of the West."(Pt. Bhagavan Dutt. A Review Of "Beef In Ancient India". pages 17-38.)
See more pages on Vedik perspectives here: .......Even the Pope's apology for what Christian missionaries did......
Lord McCauley in his speech of Feb 2, 1835, British Parliament
The plan of British
Raj to destroy spiritual basis of India so they could dominate its resources:
Read this article - How British Misguided World on Vedic History
British role in planning the ruin of india
How the Indian mutiny was a religious war - http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/5312092.stm
The Colonial Native Vs The Hindu - The Hindu Psyche - Dr. David Frawley (September 2, 2013)
An Example of Atheism Being Defeated by Theism