Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c11.s1.2

c11.s1.2

Dara Shikoh’s translations of the Upaniṣads in Persian were translated into Latin in the beginning of the nineteenth century by a French Scholar Anquetil-Duperron under the title *Oupnekhat* and published from Paris in 1801-02 in two volumes. Duperon’s work created ripples that lasted for a century. It was also meant as an appeal to the “followers and opponents of profound Kant” to study the teachings of the *Oupanekhat* from a philosophical angle. These volumes were partly translated into German in 1808 by Th.A. Rixner.⁷ Through the Latin translation and the German renderings, German philosophers like Schelling and Schopenhauer were drawn to the Upaniṣads. Schopenhauer declared them as “the product of the highest human wisdom”. He used to worship the book of *Oupnekhat* before going to bed. He said: