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Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c11.s5: Romantic Shifts in the Debate

Vāda in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c11.s5

Language
English

Romantic Shifts in the Debate

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Sir William Jones (1746-94) came to India in 1783 to assume the charge of a superior judge in Fort William. Jones was a poet, jurist, polyhistoric classicist and indefatigable scholar “whose powers would recommend him to such as Benjamin Franklin, Edmund Burke, William Pitt and Samuel Johnson.”⁴⁹ Before Jones left for India in 1783, he had mastered Arabic, Hebrew and Persian. “The figure of Jones functioned — and continues to function — as a reassuring vindication of British rule.”⁵⁰

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He completed the translation of Kālidāsa’s play *Abhijñānaśākuntala* on 17 August 1788; and in 1789 his edition of *Abhijñānaśākuntala* (*Sacontala or The Fatal Ring: An Indian Drama*) with an English translation was published. The publication heralded the dawn of a new era termed as the “Śakuntalā era” by a French writer, Raymond Schwab in his *Oriental Rennaissance*. It created a furore all over the world and had to be reprinted in five impressions immediately. It is with reference to Jone’s *Sacontala* that Herder wrote to one of his friends:

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Do you not wish with me that instead of these endless religious books of the Vedas, Upavedas, and Upāṅgas, they should give us the more useful and more agreeable works of the Indians, and especially their best poetry of every kind? It is here that the mind and character of a nation is best brought to life before us, and I gladly admit that I have received a truer and more real notion of the manner of thinking among the ancient Indians from this one Śakuntalā, than from their Upāṅgas and Upavedas.⁵¹

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Forster, a political activist, who created the German version of *Abhijñānaśākuntala* on the basis of William Jone’s translation was visualizing a hidden bond between *Śakuntalā* and Europe through his rendering.

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Kālidāsa reached Goethe via William Jones and Forster. Goethe’s enchantment with *Śakuntalā* remained undiminished throughout his life. Forty years after the composition of his poetic tribute to *Śakuntalā*, when the French scholar Chézy sent him his *Editio Princeps of Śakuntalā* (1830) with translation and notes and bearing the citation of Goethe’s poem also, Goethe thanked Chézy and wrote back to him that “*Śakuntalā* has been a start for him that made night more pleasant than day and it had marked an epoch in his life”. *Abhijñānaśākuntala* became an exemplification of new human values and romanticism in France.

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In India, this rediscovery of Kālidāsa did cast an impact on her socio-political fabric. During the one hundred years after the publication of William Jones’ translation of Kālidāsa’s play, the image of Śakuntalā as a lady seeking freedom from age-old inhibitions gets somehow connected to the idea of freedom. On the other hand, performances of *Abhijñānaśākuntala* on Parsi theatre were catering to popular taste. The vulgarity and uncouth nature of these performances generated debates on Indian identity in theatre and performing arts. In northern India, a very significant role in these debates was played by Bharatendu and Jai Shankar Prasad, two eminent figures in India’s literacy history.⁵²

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Sixty years after the publication of *Abhijñānaśākuntala* by Jones, Max Müller started publishing *Ṛgveda* with *Sāyaṇa-bhāṣya* in four volumes (1849-75). Both Jones and Max Müller were drawn towards India with their love for Sanskrit and helped to create a romantic image of India in West and also to stimulate the spirit of Renaissance. Both of them could address the mindset of traditional as well as the modern scholars of Sanskrit in India. If the discovery of Śakuntalā by Jones paved the way for neo-romanticism and Renaissance in India and abroad, the publication of Max Müller’s *Ṛgveda* was an event of much more far-reaching consequences. It has been one of the most significant events in the world history of ideas for having initiated a meaningful dialogue between the East and the West.

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Even traditional Sanskrit *paṇḍits* and *veda-pāṭhins* in India could not remain unaffected by the phenomenon that was Max Müller. In Maharashtra, S.P. Pandit was one of the first savants who appreciated Max Müller’s work. Not only this, he also followed Max Müller’s model when he took up the work of preparing a critical edition of *Atharvaveda*. But S.P. Pandit could achieve something which Max Müller could only dream about — besides manuscripts, he had access to the notice of oral textual traditions and took due notice thereof.

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After Max Müller, Raja Ram Shastri Bodas and Shivaram Shastri Gore also brought out *Ṛgveda* with *Sāyaṇa-bhāṣya*. They followed Max Müller’s edition but also utilized fresh manuscript material. When the Bombay edition of *Ṛgveda* by Raja Ram Shastri Bodas and Shivaram Shastri Gore came out, Max Müller had already issued three volumes of the second edition of his *Ṛgveda*. Hence he could consult this Indian edition only for the last volume of his second edition. But Max Müller thoroughly checked the Indian edition and accepted its readings at four places in the last volume of his second edition of *Ṛgveda*. In this way it was the beginning of an era of correspondence between Sanskrit scholars of India and Europe. The episode of Max Müller’s *Ṛgveda* taken up for correction of its manuscripts by the brāhmaṇas of Pune, but untouched by them and read by a non-brāhmaṇa in an assembly has been recorded by Nirad C. Chaudhury and other biographers of Max Müller. Chaudhury also records that Martin Hague had written a letter to Max Müller apprising him of the proceedings of this assembly. Another assembly was called to pass a resolution of thanks in favour of Max Müller.

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Alfred Ludwig produced a complete German translation of *Ṛgveda* from Prague in six volumes published during 1876-88. Max Müller and Oldenburg also translated selected hymns in Sacred Books of East. The whole discourse of Orientalism found its footing with the publication of *Ṛgveda* with these translations. Debates on translating Vedic texts and discussions on the principles of textual criticism were initiated.

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More than all these, the publication of *Ṛgveda* revolutionized the whole concept of the growth of civilization, the world history and the culture demanding a revision of the prevailing notions and changing perceptions. The concepts of the families of languages such as the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Europeans languages and Indo-Iranian language emerged. In their romantic enthusiasm for that was foreign, unfamiliar and distant, the Germans were particularly attracted to India. India also became synonymous to Oriental wisdom. Some of the Orientalists started using terms like “Indian wisdom”. Friedrich Schlegal became the founder of Indian philology in Germany due to his work *On the Language and Wisdom of Indians: Contributions to the Foundation of Archaeology* published in 1803. (Winternitz, 2003 vol. I: 13). Through the kinship between languages, the world of Orientalists was thrilled at discovering the new facets of relationships between nations and societies in prehistoric times. This also gave rise to the fictitious notion of an “Indo-Germanic race” having far-reaching consequences in world history of nineteenth and early twentieth century. An Indo-Germanic mind started working, leading to a plethora of presumptions. In the manuscript meant to be read out as an academic lecture, Schopenhauer wrote in the beginning:

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The results of what I propose to deliver before you are in agreement with the oldest of all world-views, namely the Vedas.⁵³

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