16th century European contacts with Hinduism

[Valerie J Roebuck]

Dear List Members

Thank you for the astonishing range of references, which I'm now trying to
follow up.

It's certainly starting to look as though 16th century European knowledge
of Hinduism can *almost* entirely be accounted for through contacts in the
Classical period, which were much more extensive than I had supposed.

I say *almost* because of the following doubt: what words and categories
*could* 15th-16th century Europeans have used in talking about the ideas
of, for example, Pico's 1494 visitor.  Surely they would have had to use
words like "gymnosophists", "metempsychosis" etc while trying to get to
grips with them?  Is it significant that Bruno coined a new term,
"metemphysicosis", for his distinctive view of reincarnation?  (Will check
reference--I think it's in the Cabala del Cavallo Pegaseo, 1585.)

Someone has asked me: what language would Pico and his visitor have used to
talk to one another?

One theme that seems worthy of exploration is use of the word
brahman/brahmin, and its various spellings, to represent brAhmaNa, and the
ideas with which its associated.

The ancient world used Greek "brachmanes" and variants of this (e.g.
brachamae in Latin).  For English,the OED doesn't note "brahmin" until
1835, or "brahman" till 1842.  Previously, they think, it was always
Brachman, Bragman, or Braman.  They miss the works of Sir William Jones (d.
1794), who uses Brahmen both as sg. and pl.  In any case, the 'h' spellings
seem to denote direct contact with India, and knowledge of the languages.

A scholar who contacted Steve Farmer through the Renaissance List has
pointed out the following:

>      After 1585, of course, but the inimitable Sir Thomas Browne in
> Hydriotraphia (source Nicholas of Damascus, Greek historian, 1st century
> B.C.E. (?) as reported by Perucci):
>
>    The Indian Brahmans seemed too great friends unto fire, who burnt
> themselves alive, and thought it the noblest way to end their dayes in fire;
> according to the expression of the Indian, burning himself at Athens, in his
> last words upon the pyre unto the amazed spectators, Thus I make my selfe
> Immortall.

I've not yet been able to confirm whether this spelling of "brahman" is
Browne's or an editor's.  The story is the popular one of Calanus, brought
to the West by Alexander.

On another point, Vidyasankar Sundaresan writes:

>Look at it this way. It is an unfounded myth, that the Buddhists just packed
>their bags and left India for good, after Sankara's time. There is much
>evidence for the continued presence of Buddhists in many parts of India,
>down to the 13th century or so.

Much later than this in the South.  At NAgapaTTiNam in Tamil Nadu, metal
images of Buddhist subjects continued to be made into the 16th century or
even later.  See T. N. Ramachandran, The NAgapaTTiNam and Other Buddhist
Bronzes in the Madras Museum, Bulletin of the Madras Government Museum, New
Series--General Section, Vol. VII, No. 1, Government of Madras, 1965.  I
agree with the author (p. 54, no. 47) that the Bodhisattva figure (Pl.
XVIII no. 1) "can be ranked as a late specimen perhaps of the 17th century
A.D.".  In any case, many of the works illustrated are clearly no earlier
than 14th-16th century.

Valerie J Roebuck
Manchester, UK