A History of Sanskrit Literature: Classical Period, Vol. I c3.1

c3.1

The first information regarding the existence of Sanskrit and the literature of the Upaniṣads was carried to the West by the Latin translation, by Anquetil Duperron, of the 50 Upaniṣads from the Persian translation of Dara Shiko which at once elicited the highest approbation of Schopenhauer. There was a time when it was openly doubted in Europe whether there was any genuine Sanskrit language and the distinguished English philosopher Dugald Stewart (1753-1828) in one of his papers described Sanskrit as a forgery of the Brahmins. But the indefatigable work of Sir William Jones, Colebrooke and others made Sanskrit known to the Western world. It was then recognised that the Sanskrit language with its old and modern descendants represents the easternmost branch of the Indo-Germanic Aryan stock of speech. Numerous special coincidences of language and mythology between the Vedic Aryans and the people of Iran also prove incontestably that these two members of the Indo-Germanic family must have lived in close connection for some considerable period after the others had separated from them.