1. Who was Maxmuller?
Maxmuller was a fugitive from Germany who in his youth was in extreme
difficulty to earn even two square meals for him. (…Had not a penny left, and
that in spite of every effort to make a little money, I should have had to
return to Germany-ref –the life and letters of Maxmuller, vol.1, p.61, London
edn.) He was a scholar extraordinary but his situation made him easy tool in the
hands of Britishers. Maxmuller who had continuously suffered from want and
youthful zeal and an insatiable ambition willingly agreed to prostitute his pen,
intellect and scholarship for the filthy lucre the new job promised him plenty.
(I am to hand over to the company, ready for the press, fifty sheets each
year-the same I had promised to samter in Germany; for this I have asked 200
pounds a year, 4 pounds a sheet- ref. the life and letters of Maxmuller, vol.1,
p.60-61, London edn.) He soon launched himself upon the project with the zeal
and devotion that can be expected only from a religious zealot. He did his best
to equate Hinduism with polytheism even though he had to invent for this purpose
a new Jesuitical definition for the religion of the Rigveda.
2. Boden chair and its motives
Col. Joseph Boden one time Bombay colonel with the army of the east India
Company wanted to do whatsoever lay in his power to help Christian missionaries
to Christianize India in general and the Hindus in particular. So, after his
retirement (in 1807) he donated 25,000 pounds to the university of oxford to
enable it to found a chair of Sanskrit, which the university, justifiably and as
a mark of gratitude, named after him. Boden objective was to enable his
countrymen to proceed in the conversion of the natives of India to the Christian
religion by providing translations of the bible into Sanskrit.
As Christianity is founded upon and wedded to trinitarianism it would not
give up its belief in three gods except at grave peril to its very existence.
The Christian missions wanted therefore as the only other alternative available
to them, to show someone to the world at large that Hinduism was a polytheistic
religious faith. Since the Hindus traced their monotheism back to the Vedas, to
the Rig in particular, it was considered absolutely necessary that the concocted
evidence in order to be readily acceptable to the Hindus must have behind it the
sanction and authority of the Rigveda. Once the decision had been made and the
target fixed the only thing that remained to be done was to find the right
marksman. The search for the right man continued till Maxmuller happened to come
their way. Maxmuller was a German and was not at all well versed with English,
Sanskrit was far off. But he was a youth of 24 and this task assured him bread
and butter for next eight years. In addition he had at his back the combined
might of all those Christian missionaries who wanted to convert the Hindus of
India to Christianity. These missionaries readily and willingly broadcast to the
world whatever Maxmuller said and wrote and this went a long way to enhance
Maxmuller’s prestige as a scholar.
3. Maxmuller meets Macaulay and its impact
Macaulay was born in a Presbyterian family and brought in rigid clapham sect
of Christians so he was having a strong bias in favor of Christianity to the
exclusion of all other religions- a prejudice from which he was not able to free
himself even when he had grown into a matured man of 55 years. He came to India
in 1834 with plans in his mind to introduce European education in combination
with Christian doctrines so that Indians could more easily be made to accept the
religion of Christ.
In feb.1835 he made English language the compulsory medium of instruction in
all Indian schools. Very gleefully he writes to his father in his letter dated
Oct. 12, 1836 “our English schools are flourishing wonderfully. We find it
difficult – indeed, in some places impossible – to provide instructions for all
who want it. At the single town of hoogle fourteen hundred boys are learning
English. The effect of this education on the hindoos is prodigious. No hindoo,
who has received an English education, ever remains sincerely attached to his
religion. Some continue to profess it as a matter of policy; but many profess
themselves pure deists, and some embrace Christianity. It is my firm belief that
if, our plans of education are followed up, there will not be a single idolater
among the respectable classes in Bengal thirty years hence. And this will be
affected without any efforts to proselytize; without the smallest interference
with religious liberty; merely by the natural operation of knowledge and
reflection. I heartily rejoice in the prospects. Ref. the life and letters of
Lord Macaulay, pp. 329-330”
In 1851 Maxmuller met Macaulay for first time for a short while in a party in
London. He met him second time only in Dec. 1855 when he had with him long
interview. In between Maxmuller wrote a pamphlet “suggestions for the assistance
of officers in learning the languages of the seat of war in the east” in which
he had stressed importance of learning oriental languages especially Sanskrit.
Macaulay a mulish Christian and a rabid enemy of oriental languages and
literature did not like the idea of Maxmuller. Maxmuller went to plead Macaulay
the case for oriental studies forgetting the historian fact that it was Macaulay
who had imposed on the Indian people English language with the covert purpose of
language being used as a vehicle for converting people to Christianity.
Maxmuller wrote to his mother about this encounter as “…I made acquaintance this
time in London with Macaulay, and had along conversation with him on the
teaching necessary for the young men who are sent out to India. He is very clear
headed, and extraordinarily eloquent…I went back to oxford a sadder, and, I
hope, a wiser man. Ref. –the life and letters of Maxmuller, vol.1, p.162, London
edn”
Maxmuller profited very little because while he gathered pelf in accepting
the company’s assignment he had, in the bargain, lost his soul. His writings
took a different trend in as much as he became more active and less inhibited in
praise of Christianity; of the bible and of Jesus Christ.
4. Maxmuller revealed himself as a Christian zealot
Maxmuller’s encounter with Macaulay left an indelible impact on Maxmuller.
Despite his constant endeavors to hide his moves behind the secular mask of
scholarship he too often gave himself away as a Christian proselytizer and
evangelist. He had written a letter to Bunsen saying- “ …nevertheless I of
course shall be glad if the Rigveda is dealt with in the Edinburgh review, and
if Wilson would write from the standpoint of a missionary, and would show how
the knowledge and bringing into light of the Veda would upset the whole existing
system of Indian theology, it might become of real interest ”(The life and
letters of Maxmuller, vol.1, p. 117, London edn.)
Maxmuller’s hidden mission even received support of influential missionaries
and ecclesiastics like bishop of Calcutta and Dr. Pusey.
Bishop of Calcutta wrote to him (Maxmuller) “I feel considerable interest in
the matter, because I am sure that it is of the greatest importance for our
missionaries to understand Sanskrit, to study the philosophy and sacred books of
the Hindus, and to be able to meet the pundits on their own ground. Among the
means to this great end, none can be more important than your edition and
professor Wilson’s translation of the Rigveda. It would be most fitting in my
opinion for a great Christian university to place in its Sanskrit chair the
scholar who has made the Sanskrit scriptures accessible to the Christian
missionary.”
(The life and letters of Maxmuller, vol.1, p. 236-237, London
edn.)
Dr. Pusey wrote to Maxmuller. “I cannot but think that your lectures on the
Vedas… are the greatest gift which had been bestowed on those who would win to
Christianity the subtle and thoughtful minds of the cultivated Indians.”
(The
life and letters of Maxmuller, vol.1, p. 237-238, London edn.)
Monier-Williams who had become second professor of Boden Sanskrit chair
revealed more in being a proselytizer than a scholar of Sanskrit. In his preface
to a Sanskrit- English dictionary which he compiled he boastfully gave vent to
his christianish zeal and aspirations in these words: ‘in explanation I must
draw attention to the fact that I am only the second occupant of the Boden
chair, and that its founder col. Boden, stated most explicitly in his will that
the special object of his munificent bequest was to promote the translation of
the scriptures into Sanskrit so as to enable his countrymen to proceed in the
conversion of the natives of India to the Christian religion’
Today even people think Maxmuller as friend of Hindus; a scholar
extraordinary in Vedas, the letter of Maxmuller written to his wife in 1866
exposed his aspirations.
“I hope I shall finish that work (translation of Rigveda), and I feel
convinced, though I shall not live to see it, that this edition of mine and the
translation of the Veda will hereafter tell to a great extent on the fate of
India, and on the growth of millions of souls in that country. It is the root of
their religion, and to show them what that root is, I feel sure, is the only way
of uprooting all that has sprung up from it during the last 3000 years”. (The
life and letters of Maxmuller, vol.1, p. 328, London edn.)
“…The missionaries have done far more than they themselves seem to be aware
of, nay, much of the work which is theirs they would probably disclaim. The
Christianity of our nineteenth century will hardly be the Christianity of India.
But the ancient religion of India is doomed- and if Christianity does not step
in, whose fault it be?”
(The life and letters of Maxmuller, vol.1, p.
357-358, London edn.)
Inspite of the fact that the Vedas sings monotheism Christian missionaries
tried to show polytheism in Vedas. Maxmuller wrote, “… When I undertook to
publish for the university press a series of translations of the most important
of these sacred books, one of my objects was to assist missionaries. What shall
we think if a missionary who came to convert us, and who had never read our
bible? …. But, it will be said, you cannot deny that the Hindus are polytheists,
that they worship idols. But let us look at their own bible, at the Veda, older
than any other book in India. No doubt we find there many names for the divine,
many gods, as we are accustomed to say. But there are also passages in which the
oneness of the deity is clearly asserted.”
(The life and letters of
Maxmuller, appendix D p.455, London ed.)
The world at large now knows it too well that this scholar extraordinary who
masqueraded all his lifetime from behind the secular mash of philology was more
a Christian missionary than a scholar of the Vedas.
5. Maxmuller as a scholar of Vedas
Maxmuller is considered as one of the foremost scholar of Vedas worldwide.
But was his level of knowledge in Sanskrit and English (both were not his mother
tongue) sufficient to complete this task. He himself has agreed with Swami
Dayanand that it is not an easy matter to interpret the Vedas. The language is
different from the classical as well as colloquial Sanskrit.
Maxmuller himself was aware of his limits so he started making impressions
that his translations were genuine, flawless and correct. When he revised his
first edition, he reaffirmed that” he believed that the translators (of the
Rig-Veda) ought to be decipherers.( Ref- sacred books of the east, vol. 12
introduction, p.9)” he even confessed his utter failure as translator by saying
“no one who knows anything of the Veda would think of attempting a translation
of it at present. A translation of the Rig-Veda is a task for the next century.
He further added “not only shall we have to wait till the next century for such
a work, but I doubt whether we shall ever obtain it ”(Ref- sacred books of the
east, vol. 12 introduction, p.9)”.
Maxmuller was even unaware of Panini grammar who was constantly referred to
by Sayana in his commentary of the rig-Veda .He writes in his autobiography,
p.94 that “he (boehtling) could have done the whole work himself, in some
respect better than I, because he was my senior, and besides, he knew Panini,
the old Indian grammarian who is constantly referred to in Sayana’s commentary,
better than I did)”. Maxmuller admitted his shortcomings as a scholar of Vedic
Sanskrit as “over and over again was I stopped by some short enigmatical
reference to Panini’s grammar or Yasaka’s glossary, which I could not
identify…how often I was in prefect despair, because there was some allusion in
Sayana which I could not make out, and which no other Sanskrit scholar, not even
Bournouf or Wilson could help me to clear up. It often took me whole days, nay
weeks, before I saw light” (ref- my autobiography, p.108-109).
Maxmuller played another plank by saying that “the great difficulty in all
discussions of this kind arises from the fact that we have to transfuse though
from ancient into modern forms. In that process some violence is inevitable
(ref- lectures of the origin and growth of religion, p.245, fifth Hibbert
lecture)”
It’s not uneasy to understand that violence was inevitable because all the
while Maxmuller had been pre-resolved to translate the rig from the standpoint
of a missionary. And a Christian missionary’s standpoint is, nearly always, only
to denounce and denigrate every other religious faith except his own brand of
Christianity.
6. Maxmuller and Swami Dayanand
Great Vedic scholar Swami Dayanand Saraswati in Satyarth Prakash p.278 as
“the impression that the Germans are the best Sanskrit scholars, and that no one
has read so much of Sanskrit as Prof Maxmuller, is altogether unfounded exposed
Maxmuller. Yes, in a land where lofty trees never grow, even recinus communis or
the castor oil plant may be called as oak…. I came to learn from a letter of a
principal of some German university, that even men learned enough to interpret a
Sanskrit letter are rare in Germany. I have also learnt from the study of
Maxmuller’s history of Sanskrit literature and his comments on some mantras of
the Veda, that prof. Maxmuller has been able to scribble out something by the
help of the so-called tikas or paraphrases of the Vedas current in India” Swami
Ji was supported in his view by famous German scholar Schopenhauer that our
Sanskrit scholars do not understand their text much better than the higher class
boys their Greek or Latin.
In the context of the commentary/translation of the Vedas by Max Muller, it
will be relevant to point out the opinion of Mr. Boulanger, the editor of
Russian edition of The Sacred Books of the East Series as follows:
“What
struck me in Maxmuller’s translation was a lot of absurdities, obscene passages
and a lot of what is not lucid”.
“As far as I can grab the teaching of the
Vedas, it is so sublime that I would look upon it as a crime on my part, if the
Russian public becomes acquainted with it through the medium of a confused and
distorted translation, thus not deriving for its soul that benefit which this
teaching should give to the people”.
Swami Dayanand translation of Vedas is based on Yasaka’s, Nirukta and Panini
Ashtadhyyayi that have been considered and accepted throughout the ages and
throughout the world as indispensable for correct comprehension. He specially
elaborated spiritual meaning of Vedas
Maxmuller with fear of being exposed started attacking swami Dayanand not
through the way as scholar does but like a shrewd clever mind after his death.
He write to malabari that he had “wished to warn against two dangers, that of
undervaluing or despising the ancient natural religion, as is done so often by
your half-Europeanized youths, and that of overvaluing it, and interpretating it
as it was never meant to be interpreted, of which you may see a painful instance
in Dayanand Saraswati’s labors on the Veda. (Ref- the life and letters of
Maxmuller, vol. 2, p.115, newyork edn).” He thought Dayanand had interpreted the
Veda ought to have been interpreted. That the interpretation had to be from the
standpoint of a missionary so that the translation would be of help in uprooting
Hinduism and in the conversion of the Hindus to Christianity. He like a coward
tried to smear Dayanand’s name after his death in these words “…but he indulged
for a time in the use of bhang, hemp, which put him into a state of reverie from
which he found it difficult to rouse himself”(ref- chips from a German workshop,
vol.2, p.178). In a postscript Maxmuller added “from what has come to light
after Dayanand Saraswati’s death, I am afraid that he was not simple-minded and
straightforward on his work as a reformer as I imagined” ”(ref- chips from a
German workshop, vol.2, p.182)
Though Christian missionary backed government of India purposefully to ignore
Swami Dayanand in his times but it did not deter the lion-hearted Dayanand from
his mission of reviving the Vedic dharma.
It’s very clear that Maxmuller was a Christian missionary but only in secular
garb of a philologist whose main aim was to denounce the Vedas to clear way for
Christian missionaries. Maxmuller masqueraded all his lifetime from behind the
mask of literature and philology and mortgaged his pen, intellect and
scholarship to wreck Hinduism but Swami Dayanand exposed his cruel plans.
