Herman,
Hmmm.... There is a review/summary of Caul's essay in L'Esprit des Journaux (1791) p. 117, in which the author describes Caul's work as a "translation and running commentary." He makes no mention of Jones. The 1805 French version in Recherches Asiatiques vol. 1, 368ff. merely opens with "Memoire traduit du sanskrit, communique par Goverdhan Kal, avec un court Commentaire." Again, no mention of Jones anywhere, even though he is given credit for a number of the other essays in the same volume.
Thanks for the information on Caul, though. This really helps!
Andrew, thank you so much for locating this passage so quickly. Now I just need to figure out where he got the terms "speculative" and "practical" in the Sanskrit.
Best,
From: Herman Tull [hermantull@gmail.com]
-j
Joseph Walser
Associate Professor
Department of Religion
Tufts University
________________________________
Sent: Monday, August 12, 2013 4:52 PM
To: Walser, Joseph; Indology
Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] "On the Literature of the Hindus" ?
[Inline image 1]
Joseph:
I too recently was looking for information on Caul. The article, according to Rosane Rocher, is written by Caul, with a commentary by JOnes:I found just one reference: "Though he [Jones] obtained from Govardhana Caul, the Kashmiri Brahman newly appointed pandit to the Supreme Court, the brief account "On the Literature of the Hindus," which he presented to the Society on the 4 May 1787, in the longer commentary he [Jones] appended..." (Rocher, ("Weaving Knowledge: Sir William Jones and the Indian Pandits" 1995: 59)
The commentary (Jones's section) begins "The first chapter of a rare Sanscrit Book, entitled VidyAdersa, or a View of Learnings is written in so close and concise a style, that some parts of it are very obscure..."
I presume, then that the title of the book being cited is "Vidyadersa" (perhaps, "Vidya-darsha" but with Jones's odd orthography, which at the time was often based on Bengali pronunciation). He also then quotes the beginning of the text:
(p. 104 of Volume 2, Asiatick Researches, London, 1792 edition)
I have no idea what text this might be, but perhaps others will recognize it.
Some help, I hope...
Herman
On Mon, Aug 12, 2013 at 3:55 PM, Walser, Joseph <Joseph.Walser@tufts.edu<mailto:Joseph.Walser@tufts.edu>> wrote:INDOLOGY@list.indology.info<mailto:INDOLOGY@list.indology.info>
I have been reading the 1791 essay "On the Literature of the Hindus" (sometimes attributed to Wiliam Jones, but seems to be by Govardhan Caul). The first part of it seems to be a translation of a Sanskrit text that, at least in the French version of the same essay, the translator renders "Science universelle pratique & speculative." Does anyone know what text he is translating?
Cheers,
-j
Joseph Walser
Associate Professor
Department of Religion
Tufts University
_______________________________________________
INDOLOGY mailing list