Abstract
Friedrich Max Müller (1823–1900) was one of the leading intellectuals of nineteenth-century Europe. He was a prolific author and was blessed with a long life and sturdy health. His particular specializations were on comparative linguistics, a subject, where he did pioneering work, as well as Indology, where he undertook the monumental task of editing a 50-volume set of English translations of Eastern religious texts.
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Notes
- 1.
Chaudhuri (1974) This book covered the life of Müller with a social backdrop and analysis of his actions as a reigning scholar of his days. The book won the highest literary award, Sahitya Academy award, in India. Chaudhuri, himself an eminent scholar, took this book to pay the homage of many Indians to Müller, who resurrected the ancient texts through his tireless zeal. Chaudhuri traced the journey of Germanic renaissance and how it helped India to connect with European intellect. He described about how Müller, even at Oxford, lived like a hermit studying the earliest civilization traces from India. Indeed, many of his admirers believed that he was previously born in India and made this superhuman effort to finish his incomplete works from previous births!
- 2.
Said (1994) The works of Said, in fact, form a crucial foundation of postcolonial studies, with notable and recent contributions from other scholars, such as Frantz Fanon, Gayatri Spivak and R. Siva Kumar. These views have been influenced by a binary relation of power and knowledge, as advocated by Michel Foucault . This is nicely captured by Rana Kabbani in his book, ‘Imperial Fictions: Europe’s Myths of Orient’, where he wrote ‘The ideology of Empire was hardly ever a brute jingoism; rather, it made subtle use of reason, and recruited science and history to serve its ends’.
- 3.
Molendijk (2016).
- 4.
Trautmann (1997) The arguments in favour and against the racial vs linguistic debate has been deeply explored in this excellent book. The construction of Indian ethnological history significantly shook up European scholarship and kept it open for re-examination. Trautman also included the aftermath of the entire debate, when, in 1920 s the discovery of Indus Valley Civilization showed clearly that the chronological boundaries imposed on the ancient Indian civilization cannot be contained within it anymore. New ideas of racial projection based on biological roots have also emerged.
- 5.
Elst (1999) The most recent and comprehensive update on the Aryan Invasion Theory debate is given by Konrad Elst including works that base their argument on Linguistic, Astronomical and Geographical evidences. He also referred to the astronomical evidences, e.g. the position of Equinox, among others, as noted in Veda and how that significantly predates the ad hoc dating of Vedic antiquity proposed by Max Müller .
- 6.
Stevens (n.d.) The work of John Stevens serves as an excellent reference about the rise of Keshub Chandra Sen , and how the relation between him and the imperialists was crucial to win the support of reformists in India and Christian evangelists in Britain.
- 7.
Raychaudhuri (1988) Raychaudhuri concentrated on the reception of the Aryan theory rather than how their interference shaped the course of it.
- 8.
Kopf (1979) In his book, ‘The Brahmo Samaj and The Shaping of Modern Indian Mind’, Kopf has delved deep into generations of rebels, who took part in the social reformation in India and eventually that sowed the seeds of Indian nationalist movements. Interestingly, Kopf also presented a contrarian view to the ‘anger’ exhibited by Edward Said , in his review of Orientalism , published with the title ‘Review: Hermeneutics versus History’. He mentioned that leaders of independent India, such as Nehru, was impressed with the work of British Orientalists , and used in their own reconstruction of Indian history.
- 9.
Johnston (2003) Johnston nicely portrayed the ambiguity the Missionaries faced while being caught in between the religious and imperial interests. In fact, it is nothing but a shadow of the long-drawn battle fought in Europe. While the missionary practice blended nicely with the colonialism in some parts of the world, it required much more effort, and garnered much less success, in India.
- 10.
May (2012) The ambiguity of missionaries discussed by Anna Johnston, is actually elaborated with a prismic study of Welsh missionaries in North East India by Andrew May. She showed, with evidence, that they did suffer due to the imperial pursuits, too.
- 11.
Powell (2010).
- 12.
Bijker et al. (1987) This book covers the growth of diverse technologies across times and shows how their adoption and eventual success depends on not only the technological advances alone but also their applicability to the contemporary social, political and economical questions.
- 13.
Winner (1993).
- 14.
Koblitz et al. (2011) Popular acceptance of a theory does not necessarily vouch for its veracity. The path of science is often full of serpentine courses as exemplified earlier by the battle of Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler to disprove the geocentric model of cosmology or even in more modern times the errors of Newtonian mechanics pointed out by Einstein. The theory of popular acceptance is even harder to usurp due to the belief system that grows around it over time and the sociopolitical agenda that it serves nicely.
- 15.
Berger and Luckmann (1966).
- 16.
One interesting study of this could be the enforcing of caste system in India, which, according to some studies originated from a division of labour and eventually got ingrained in a complex socio-economic setting over time.
- 17.
Werner and Zimmermann (2006) ‘Histoire croisée’, founded by Michael Werner and Bénédicte Zimmermann, provides a different perspective on transnational history that allows to surpass the shortcomings of the classical comparative history (e.g. the national perspective). History, as well as, literary study benefit from this approach that is not tied to a particular period.
- 18.
Wheeler (1947) In his defence, Wheeler was possibly the most influential person in the uncovering of the evidential history of ancient India, having played a role in the archaeological surveying of Indus Valley, Taxila and showing evidences of Roman trades with ancient India. He fought to increase the budget for his surveys and nurtured fine talents as his students, who rose to become prominent historians. He was present during the sectarian violence that erupted during the partition of India and personally helped many people to escape it.
- 19.
For inquisitive readers willing to find in-depth analysis of the Indo-Aryan invasion debate, an excellent reference is Bryant and Patton (2005).
- 20.
- 21.
- 22.
Randeria (2002).
- 23.
Werner and Zimmermann (2006).
- 24.
Kurlansky (2003, ISBN 0-14-200161-9) In this excellent work of non-fiction, Kurlansky traces the history of trade routes and businesses among early civilizations through the salt. Spice trade, readers will surely recollect, was one of the reasons why European colonists were interested to find a sea route to India.
- 25.
Pocock (1985) Pocock is celebrated for his interpretation of Gibbon’s historical cycle, a battle between ancient virtue and modern commerce; his study on the response and eventual destruction of the political order of Florentines, Americans and British in the modern history.
- 26.
Kelley (2002) This choice of the inquiry method, also known as internalist and externalist, can have serious implications on the outcome. In general, it is important to cover all the perspectives but, it is likely that one of these are prioritized over the others.
- 27.
Bowsma (1981).
- 28.
Gordon (2012).
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Chattopadhyay Banerjee, S. (2019). Introduction. In: The Development of Aryan Invasion Theory in India . Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7755-6_1
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