Indology list ,Hinduja

[ACHARB at MSUVX1.MEMPHIS.EDU]

Mr. Peter Gaeffke wrote on the stipulations of the Boden Chair:
>Out of these sentences some members of the List draw solace and confidence 
>about the horrible West and thoses who follow its traces  even now.
>

I for one do not draw any solace, nor do I think that the whole west is
horrible. I only feel sorry and hurt that wrong ideas about Hinduism have been
propagated because of ignorance or prejudice of one kind or another. I try in
my own inadequate way to point out them.

He further writes:

>But the actual issue is another one: Since the establishment of Western
>Universities State and Church were the overlords. However, and differently
>from the Muslim madrasas, the Western professors formed corporations and
>negotiated charters which slowly provided this "freedom of teaching" we
>cherish so much. But still in the 18th century Oxford asked his
>professors to adhere to Christian teachings. Therefore it is not
>surprising that the Boden bequests was accepted by the Christian regents
>and Wilson argued in a Christian way. 
>

Certainly, we have to thank those pioneers for raising the flag of intellectual
freedom.

But, when he writes
>........................................... nor the edition of the
>Rgveda by Max Mueller and his book about India and what it can teach us,
>helped the expansion of Christianity very much. On the contrary, 
>despite the official restrictions, some useful work was done in Oxford. 
>
I must again quote, this time Max Mueller himself:

" Large number of Vedic hymns are childish in the extreme;tedious, low
commonplace"  in "chips from a german workshop", p 27 (1866)

" nay, they contain, by the side of simple, natural, childish thoughts, many
ideas which to us sound modern, or secondary and tertiary" in "India, what it
can teach us" p 118, (1882)
 
" 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 sprung from it during the last three thousand years." in a letter to his
wife written in 1866; Life and letters of Max Mueller vol I, ch XV, p 346.

"The ancient religion of India is doomed and if Christianity does not step in,
whose fault will it be?" in a letter to Duke of Argyl, 16 Dec. 1868.

He arbitrarily fixed the date of the Vedas much against the objections of
Wilson.

Monier-Williams declared "Brahmanism, therefore, must die out.  In point of
fact,false ideas on the most ordinary scientific subjects are so mixed up with
its doctrines..". in "Modern India and the Indians" 1879, p 261

But, it was then. According to Mr. Gaeffke:
 
>Now there is no state and religious authority who sets the framework for 
>scholarly activities, Unfortunately, scholars themselves, voluntarily 
>negotiate the  strings for the money they accept and live happily ever after.
>

With the intellectual freedom they enjoy, it is up to the unbiased scholars to
reexamine many wrong statements which have been made against Hinduism.

With the best regards,perhaps not qualified to be a member of the list,
_ Narahari Achar