Chips from a German Workshop, Volume 5: Miscellaneous Later EssaysMüller, F. Max (Friedrich Max)
Religion
Chips from a German Workshop, Volume 5: Miscellaneous Later Essays
Müller, F. Max (Friedrich Max)
Comparative linguistics; Folklore; Literature -- History and criticism; Mythology; Religions
In K_ri_sh_n_a, the lovely shepherd-god, Sir W. Jones recognizes the
features of Apollo Nomius, who fed the herds of Admetus, and slew the
dragon Python; and he leaves it to etymologists to determine whether
Gopâla—_i. e._, the cow-herd—may not be the same word as Apollo. We are
also assured, on the authority of Colonel Vallancey, that K_ri_sh_n_a in
Irish means the sun, and that the goddess Kâlî, to whom human sacrifices
were offered, as enjoined in the Vedas (?) was the same as Hekate. In
conclusion, Sir W. Jones remarks, “I strongly incline to believe that
Egyptian priests have actually come from the Nile to the Gangâ and Yamunâ,
and that they visited the Sarmans of India, as the sages of Greece visited
them, rather to acquire than to impart knowledge.”
The interest that had been excited by Sir William Jones’s researches did
not subside, though he himself did not return to the subject, but devoted
his great powers to more useful labors. Scholars, both in India and in
Europe, wanted to know more of the ancient religion of India. If Jupiter,
Apollo, and Janus had once been found in the ancient pantheon of the
Brahmans; if the account of Noah and the deluge could be traced back to
the story of Manu Satyavrata, who escaped from the flood, more discoveries
might be expected in this newly-opened mine, and people rushed to it with
all the eagerness of gold-diggers. The idea that everything in India was
of extreme antiquity had at that time taken a firm hold on the minds of
all students of Sanskrit; and, as there was no one to check their
enthusiasm, everything that came to light in Sanskrit literature was
readily accepted as more ancient than Homer, or even than the Old
Testament.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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