Kitabı oku: «Truths», sayfa 7
This Dr.Taylor claimed to have made his translation from an original Sanskrit publication of this drama written by one Krishna Misri. And our search to find this Dr. J. Taylor and Krishna Misri in the web search engines does not lead us to anywhere. Instead, we are always referred back to Hermann Brockhaus. We are dumbfounded.
We write the WS 1842/1843. Hermann Brockhaus reads at Leipzig University “History of Indian Literature” and “Probodha Chandrodaya”. To judge what it means we must know about what is current in Europe as “History of Indian Literature” and how this knowledge on Indian literature has travelled from India to Europe. The same procedure is needed concerning “Probodha Chandrodaya”. We leave these issues here as planned items for the next chapter. Presently we take a note that Hermann Brockhaus knows English and we focus on Friedrich Maximilian Müller’s studies at Leipzig.
In the beginning of SS 1843 Friedrich Maximilian Müller is 19 and half years old. There is no indication in “My Autobiography”, nor is there a record at Leipzig University, that he sits in examinations to acquire his first academic degree of “Baccalaureates”. There is no indication whatsoever that he informs his mother that he has not tried even to acquire his first academic degree of “Baccalaureates”. We are apprehensive. What is happening with him? There is no indication whatsoever that he informs the Anhalt-Dessau government authorities on the progress of his studies. He is drawing a scholarship for poor students for a limited period. Has he developed exam anxieties or is he facing difficulties to choose his subjects for exam?
We continue to read in the 45 pages titled “University” in “My Autobiography” written by Max Müller. We remember his two major sufferings: Poverty and chronic headaches. There is not a word on his major handicaps while studying at Leipzig University. As it is in the previous chapters of his autobiography presented by Max Müller, essential and crucial facts about his real life at Leipzig University are almost concealed in the midst of general descriptions. We read, for example, an authentically vivid description that leads us directly to the German educational set up but only indirectly to Friedrich Maximilian as well (p.117-119, “My Autobiography”):
“It is in every respect a great jump from a German school to a German university. At school a boy, even in the highest form, has little choice. All his lessons are laid down for him; he has to learn what he is told, whether he likes it or not. Few only venture on books outside the prescribed curriculum. There is an examination at the end of every half-year, and a boy must pass it well to get into higher form. Boys at public school (gymnasium), if they cannot pass their examination at the proper time, are advised to go to another school, and to prepare for a career in which classical languages are less important.
I must say at once that when I matriculated at Leipzig, in the summer of 1841, I was still very young and very immature. I had determined to study philology, chiefly Greek and Latin, but the fare spread out by the professors was much too tempting. I read Greek and Latin without difficulty; I often read classical authors without ever attempting to translate them; I also wrote Latin easily. Some of the professors lectured in Latin, and at our academic societies Latin was always spoken. I soon became a member of the classical seminary under Gottfried Hermann, and of the Latin Society under Professor Haupt. ... I still have my Collegien-Buch, in which every professor has to attest what lectures one has attended. The number of lectures on various subjects which I attended is quite amazing, and I should have attended still more if the honorarium had not frightened me away. Every professor lectured publice and privatim, and for the more important courses, four lectures a week, he charged ten shillings, for more special courses less or nothing. This seems little but it was often too much for me; and if one added these honoraria to the salary of a popular professor, his income was considerable, and was more than the income of most public servants. I have known professors who had four or five hundred auditors. This gave them 250 Pounds twice a year, and that added to their salary, was considered a good income at that time.”
His sufferings due to poverty and the cute story of his “first love, Sanskrit and the rest” (p.109-111) is catching us up again. Now we read on page 112 in the “My Autobiography”. Highlights by us:
“In spite of the res angusta domi, I enjoyed my student-life thoroughly, while my home was made very agreeable by my mother and sister. My mother was full of resource, and she was wise enough not to interfere with my freedom. My sister, who was about two year older than myself, was most kind-hearted and devoted both to me and to our mother.”
We have read these lines more than once to get the basic trait of the character of Friedrich Maximilian as mediated to us by Max Müller and of course by his educational progress. He is pathologically egoistic. He enjoys his student-life thoroughly. He praises his mother who was full of resource, and she was wise enough not to interfere with his freedom. Does he, at least, report to the mother about the progress in his studies?
Then we read on page 113 in the autobiography: “Of society, in the ordinary sense of the word, I saw hardly anything. I am afraid I was rather a bear, and declined even to invest in evening dress. I joined a student club which formed part of the Burschenschaft, but which in order to escape prosecution adopted the title of Gemeinschaft. I went there in the evening to drink beer and smoke, and I made some delightful acquaintances and friendships.” Later we shall know that he smokes cigars only.
Friedrich Maximilian Müller has obviously raised himself to a master of suppressing things, if we trust Max Müller’s writings on him. We recall his 15 thalers scholarship for poor students and the small pension of his mother Adelheid. We take just one more example to comprehend how light heartedly he shows off. Members of a “Burschenschaft” wear ribbons to show their identity in public. Friedrich Maximilian Müller is once caught by the police wearing Ribbon. We read (p. 115-116, “My Autobiography”):
“I myself got a taste of prison life for the offence of wearing the ribbon of a club which the police regarded with disfavour. I cannot say that either the disagree or the discomfort of my two day’s durance vile weighed much with me, as my friends were allowed free access to me, and came and drank beer and smoked cigars in my cell – of course at my expense – but what I dreaded was the loss of my stipendium or scholarship, which alone enabled me to continue my studies at Leipzig, and which as a rule, was forfeited for political offences. On my release from prison I went to the Rector of the University and explained to him the circumstances of the case – how I had been arrested simply for membership of a suspected club, I assured him that I was innocent of any political propaganda, and the loss of my stipendium would entail my leaving the University.”
Friedrich Maximilian Müller lives his student life, as it is then common at Leipzig. Generally, students then were scions of wealthy people. He has joined a “Burschenschaft”. Members of a “Burschenschaft” learn also duelling. We read on page 116, Autobiography:
“Duelling was then, as it is now, a favourite pastime among students; and though not by nature a brawler, I find that my student days at Leipzig I fought three duels, of two of which I carry the marks to the present day.”
Scar marks on the face are prestigious visible signs of academicians in Germany even today. In the fifth semester, SS 1843, Friedrich Maximilian Müller reduces the numbers of lectures attended to nine. What does it indicate? Resignations? These lectures are:
1 Greek and Latin Seminary Hermann & Klotze
2 History of Greeks and Romans Wachsmuth
3 History of Civilization Wachsmuth
4 History after the Fifteenth Century Flathe
5 History of Ancient Philosophy Niedner
6 Philosophical Society Weisse
7 Philosophical Society Drobish
8 Soma-Deva Hermann Brockhaus
9 Hitopadesa Hermann Brockhaus
“Soma-Deva” is the name of a writer who has retold Indian legends, fairy tales and folk tales originally handed down in the Sanskrit language. “Hitopadesha” is a collection of episodic pieces in the Sanskrit language written in the early centuries. Translations in Arabic, Persian and English are available since the 16th century. We are unable to comprehend how university lectures on publications like these can teach a language like Sanskrit.
For all practical purposes, Friedrich Maximilian Müller has left Leipzig University before the winter term 1843/44 begins. He wished initially to attend only three lectures. We mention them.
1 Greek and Latin Seminary Hermann & Klotze
2 Elementa Persica Fleischer
3 Rig-veda Hermann Brockhaus
Obviously, Friedrich Maximilian Müller is still indecisive. He tends to learn Persian also. Keeping the “cute story” in mind (“first love, Sanskrit and the rest”) we are informed by Max Müller. We read in the autobiography, pages 122 ff:
“Here my Collegien Buch breaks off, the fact being that I was preparing to go to Berlin to hear the lectures of Bopp and Schelling.
It will be clear from the above list (he refers to the list of all lectures he has attended at Leipzig University) that I certainly attempted too much. I ought either to have devoted all my time to classical studies exclusively, or carried on my philosophical studies more systematically. I confess that, delighted as I was with Gottfried Hermann and Haupt as my guides and teachers in classics, I found little that could rouse my enthusiasm for Greek and Latin literature, and I always required a dose of that to make me work hard. Everything seemed to me to have been done, and there was no virgin soil left to the plough, no ruins on which to try one’s own spade. Hermann and Haupt gave me work to do, but it was all in the critical line – the genealogical relation of various MSS, or, again the peculiarities of certain poets, ... ”
A lengthy lecture follows on classical languages, on literature, on philosophers and on philosophy with lots of platitudes and clichés up to the end of the page 141 ff in the autobiography. Thereafter we read:
“For a time I thought of becoming a philosopher, and that sounded so grand that the idea of preparing for a mere schoolmaster, teaching Greek and Latin, seemed to me more and more too narrow a sphere. Soon, however, while dreaming of a chair of philosophy at a German University, I began to feel that I must know something special, something that no other philosopher knew, and that induced me to learn Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian. (...) It was a fortunate coincidence that at that very time, in the winter of 1841, a new professorship was founded at Leipzig and given to Professor Brockhaus. Uncertain as I was about the course I had to follow in my studies, I determined to see what there was to be learnt in Sanskrit. There was a charm in the unknown, and, I must confess, a charm also in studying something which my friends and fellow students did not know.”
It does not sound like a “love for Sanskrit”. Does it? We are again caught up with the cute story of Friedrich Maximilian Müller’s “first love, Sanskrit and the rest” (p.109-111). Anyway, one can read lectures delivered by Max Müller on languages, on Sanskrit, on etymology of words, on ancient gods, on Aryans, and what not. Obviously Friedrich Maximilian Müller could have known nothing of all these from Hermann Brockhaus. We shall have to know how Hermann Brockhaus had learnt his Sanskrit and where and from whom and for how long.
We keep this in our mind. After reading the lecture delivered by Max Müller on languages, on Sanskrit, on etymology of words, on ancient gods, on Aryans, and what not, we reach the page 152 and read:
“He (Professor Gottfried Hermann) by no means discouraged me, nay, he was sorry to lose me, when in my third year I went to Berlin. He showed me great kindness on several occasions, and when the time came to take my degree of M.A. and Ph.D., he, as Dean of the faculty, invited me to return to Leipzig, offering me an exhibition to cover the expenses of the Degree.”
At that time, it was a must to celebrate getting an academic degree. The customs in terms of dress and entertainments are fixed. It is quite expensive. These are documented in the annals of the German universities; Leipzig University included.
Georgina Max Müller quoted in her book a letter written by Friedrich Maximilian Müller to one of his friends who became a known writer in course of time. Theodor Fontane. It is being translated from German. We have not seen the original. We do not know who translated this letter (p. 19). We take it as it is. It is dated September 1843 only, i.e. much before the WS 1843/1884 begins:
“Dear Fontane,—I can well imagine that you have often cursed me not a little as I gave no sign of life for such a long time; but Morbus excusat hominejti, and I will add, Nisi homo excusat morbum I I hope you have carried on your Latin studies so far as to comprehend the deep meaning of these words; and if a human heart still beats in your breast, you must pity me, poor wretch, for having spent nearly the whole vacation in a nervous fever, so that I must stay almost the whole of next term here in Leipzig. It is ill-luck, you will agree. Well, one could almost despair, but where's the good of it? I have quietly unpacked my books and things again, and sit in Reichel's Garden, up three flights, up which I have to climb with many gasps. I am in Leipzig incognito, for I had already paid my farewell visits everywhere, and altogether feel no inclination for society.”
Friedrich Maximilian Müller leaves Leipzig University when he is twenty. He has studied unsystematically different subjects for only two and half years. He does not even try to take an academic degree. He even does not care to take a testified University leaving certificate. We wonder how he could have explained to his mother that he leaves Leipzig University without trying to take a single academic degree. Or did he belie his mother all together?
In SS 1844, he takes admission at the Royal Frederick William University in Berlin, as a student in the Faculty of Theology. Yes, Theology. It is documented. As “the student Friedrich Maximilian Müller”. What does it mean?
We ascertain, Friedrich Maximilian Müller does not acquire any qualification in any subject at the Leipzig University that could be assessed even as average achievement. He misused the scholarship of the Anhalt-Dessau Government for poor students. We are unable to relate his meagrely acquired knowledge to his deliberations of our first Chapter. In our search, we can leave Leipzig behind us. Our attention is focussed now at the Royal Frederick William University in Berlin. He is in search of “virgin soil”. We recall:
“I found little that could rouse my enthusiasm for Greek and Latin literature, and I always required a dose of that to make me work hard. Everything seemed to me to have been done, and there was no virgin soil left to the plough, no ruins on which to try one’s own spade.”
We recall also: “I began to feel that I must know something special, something that no other philosopher knew, and that induced me to learn Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian.”
Well. Apprehensively we raise, to begin with, the question whether there had been facilities to learn “Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian” in Europe in general and at Leipzig in particular. Then we raise the question whether Friedrich Maximilian Müller does learn “Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian” to understand philosophical literatures in these languages at Leipzig University.
As regard to the Sanskrit language, he could not have learnt more than Hermann Brockhaus knew. We leave these two questions unanswered. We leave them here as issues, as noted items, to think about. We shall get back to these questions later.
Presently we just fail to comprehend how modern scholars in Europe always assume and claim that they do learn and gain command over classical languages like Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian in a few months. Why do they fail to remember the years that they needed to learn their Vernacular, their Greek and their Latin? The question remains here again unanswered. We shall not deepen this aspect just here.
It would be beyond our competence to deal with Arabic and Persian. We simply focus on the Sanskrit language. Unless we know more about the language called Sanskrit, how it arrives in Europe, how and when it spreads in Germany and in Europe, we will not be able to assess and judge all those fantastic stories narrated by Max Müller in particular and by “Indologists” and modern scholars in general. Moreover, we will not be able to judge and evaluate what Friedrich Maximilian Müller has factually learnt in general and what kind of Sanskrit language he has learnt in particular. We take a necessary aside after this Chapter: “What does Friedrich Maximilian Müller learn at Leipzig University?” and look into what kind of Sanskrit he could have learnt so far.
CHAPTER 5
LEARNING SANSKRIT IN GERMANY IN GENERAL AND AT LEIPZIG IN PARTICULAR
All students, bright or less bright need orientation in the beginning at universities identifying subjects of interest and identifying sympathetic teachers. The phase of orientation may take even two semesters. In his second semester, Friedrich Maximilian Müller comes to know that Hermann Brockhaus, a new professor at Leipzig, offers Sanskrit Grammar for the very first time at Leipzig University. Before he decides upon his preferences, he attends Hermann Brockhaus as well out of curiosity. Orient, Oriental literature and Oriental languages are progressively becoming attractive not only in Germany. With general “philology”, i.e. Greek and Latin languages, and with German literature he is more or less familiar.
In fact, Friedrich Maximilian Müller could learn only that much of Sanskrit Grammar that Hermann Brockhaus knew and could teach in three months. We did not check whether Hermann Brockhaus ever continued with his grammar course in the following semesters. We know for sure that Friedrich Maximilian Müller’s knowledge of Sanskrit Grammar was restricted to this three-months-course given by Hermann Brockhaus. How many grammar courses do we need learning our vernacular?
From his 3rd. Semester onwards Friedrich Maximilian Müller attended, as dealt in details in the Chapter 4, the following five semester-courses offered by Hermann Brockhaus:
1 Nala Hermann Brockhaus
2 Probodha Chandrodaya Hermann Brockhaus
3 History of Indian Literature Hermann Brockhaus
4 Soma-Deva Hermann Brockhaus
5 Hitopadesa Hermann Brockhaus
It goes without saying that these courses were on narrated episodes and on secondary literature in the Sanskrit language. These courses were at best based on Hermann Brockhaus‘s three-months-grammar-course. And he lectured in the German language. After completing these courses Friedrich Maximilian Müller comes to the conclusion that Hermann Brockhaus’s knowledge was exhausted. In addition, he felt, that was not enough for him. Therefore, he decides to go to Berlin and learn more of the Sanskrit language and more of Sanskrit literature. Franz Bopp happened then to be the topmost Sanskrit scholar, not only in Germany.
Whatever else Max Müller narrates in his autobiography regarding Friedrich Maximilian Müller’s Sanskrit knowledge and love for Sanskrit does not correspond to facts. Moreover, Max Müller contradicts himself. We recall:
“I found little that could rouse my enthusiasm for Greek and Latin literature, and I always required a dose of that to make me work hard. Everything seemed to me to have been done, and there was no virgin soil left to the plough, no ruins on which to try one’s own spade.”
We recall also: “I began to feel that I must know something special, something that no other philosopher knew, and that induced me to learn Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian.”
All this does not sound like a love for the Sanskrit language. Does it? We are caught up again with the cute story presented by Max Müller regarding Friedrich Maximilian Müller’s “first love, Sanskrit and the rest” (p. 109-111). Friedrich Maximilian could not have “remained true to (his) first love, Sanskrit and the rest” before he ended his third semester for the simple reason that Hermann Brockhaus dealt with a Sanskrit text in Summer 1842 only. And whatever Friedrich Maximilian could know about “Sanskrit and the rest”, it has come to him through Hermann Brockhaus.
In the chapter “University” in “My Autobiography” by Max Müller one can read lectures delivered by Max Müller on languages, on Sanskrit, on etymology of words, on ancient gods, on Aryans, and what not. Obviously Friedrich Maximilian could have known nothing of all these from Hermann Brockhaus. The reason is rather simple. We apologise for looking a little ahead. Hermann Brockhaus himself could not have known all these topics, as we shall know in a while.
We get into the biography of Hermann Brockhaus to trace when, where, from whom and for how long he had learnt his Sanskrit language. He was born in 1806 in Amsterdam. He studied “Oriental languages” at the Universities of Leipzig, Göttingen and Bonn. The Universities of Leipzig and Göttingen did not teach the Sanskrit language at that time. In Bonn he was a student of August Wilhelm von Schlegel (1767–1835), who was holding a professorship for European Literature. Later he was celebrated as the founder of “German Indology”, who is also said to have known the Sanskrit language. Therefore, we shall have to apply the same method as we applied in the previous case. Whatever Hermann Brockhaus could know about “Sanskrit and the rest”, it came to him through August Wilhelm von Schlegel only. We extend our search to check now the ability of teaching the Sanskrit language of Hermann Brockaus’s teacher. There is no other way out.
August Wilhelm von Schlegel is the elder of the Schlegel brothers. He came to Paris while Franz Bopp was learning “Sanskrit” there. It is handed down that Franz Bopp and August Wilhelm von Schlegel learnt the Sanskrit language together in Paris. We look now into his vita.
August Wilhelm von Schlegel is educated at the Hannover Gymnasium and studies philology at the Göttingen University. As a philologist, he gets engaged in an “ardent study of Dante, Petrarch and Shakespeare”. From 1791 to 1795, he is tutor in a Dutch banker's family at Amsterdam. In 1796, soon after his return to Germany, he settles down in Jena, following an invitation of the German poet Friedrich Schiller. He is now 29 years old.
In Jena, he makes critical contributions to Schiller's journal for literature “Horen”. He translates also from Dante and Shakespeare. These works establish his literary reputation and gain for him an “extraordinary professorship” at the University of Jena in 1798 at the age of 31. With his younger brother Friedrich von Schlegel (1772–1829), he founds Athenaeum, the organ of the Romantic School of literature in Germany.
After divorcing his wife Karoline, in 1804, he is now 37, he travels with Madame de Staël as adviser in her literary work in France, Germany, Italy and other countries and as tutor to her sons as well. Until he is 46 years old, he remains adviser to her and tutor to her sons. From 1813 to 1817, he acts as secretary of the Crown Prince of Sweden, through whose influence his family gets back the title “von Schlegel”. In 1817, he is 50 years old.
He joins again the household of Mme. de Staël as advisor until her death in the same year. Thereafter he gets a professorship for Literature at the University of Bonn in 1818, and during the remainder of his life, he is occupied chiefly with oriental studies. So it is said. He happens also to be the founder of a “special printing office for Sanskrit” at Bonn. So it is handed down. We assume that he is credited to have created the first facilities in Germany to print texts in Sanskrit letters. We take liberty to look ahead a little in our documentary narration and assert here that printing facilities of Sanskrit texts were available in Kolkata with the British Kingdom represented by the East India Company even before the end of the 18th century. In addition, August Wilhelm von Schlegel was proficient in English.
As mentioned, it is handed down that Franz Bopp guided August Wilhelm von Schlegel to the study of Sanskrit in Paris. We recall what we have read in the autobiography of Max Müller, p. 122: “Here my Collegien Buch breaks off, the fact being that I was preparing to go to Berlin to hear the lectures of Bopp and Schelling.” This “Bopp” is Franz Bopp who went to Paris to learn “Sanskrit” in 1812.
Why to Paris? For how long does Franz Bopp stay in Paris? From whom does he learn Sanskrit and when does he guide August Wilhelm von Schlegel to the study of the Sanskrit language? It must have been before August Wilhelm von Schlegel starts acting as the secretary of the crown prince of Sweden in 1813. So, August Wilhelm von Schlegel could have learnt the Sanskrit language in Paris together with Franz Bopp at best for months only, between 1812 and 1813. Thereafter he had no opportunity to learn Sanskrit. Now we shall have to see how and how much Sanskrit Franz Bopp could have learnt before 1813 ended and then evaluate the quality of his guidance for August Wilhelm von Schlegel. In addition, we have to ascertain to whom Franz Bopp could have guided August Wilhelm von Schlegel to learn the Sanskrit language. Who was the teacher in Paris? Therefore, we are compelled to focus now on Franz Bopp.
*****
For a few years (1808–1814) Aschaffenburg was seat of a university, though not with all faculties, but with history, philology and philosophy. At the age of eighteen, Franz Bopp took up the two years’ “philology course” in 1808 at the Karls–University in Aschaffenburg. This was mainly a study of languages: the Greek, Latin, English, French and Italian. He was said to have been good in his studies, but not good enough. Though at the end of this two years’ “philology course” in 1810 he stood once first and once second in the class, he was unable to earn a “doctor’s degree”. He stood twice as “Defendant” (defender of his dissertation), but the doctor’s degree in philosophy was denied to him finally, unlike the later bishop of Speyer and Augsburg, Richarz, as it is documented. Does it sound like the beginning of an outstanding “scholar”?
His academic teacher Carl Joseph Hieronymus Windischmann, a professor of philosophy and history, encouraged his son and Franz Bopp to study “linguistics” at some other University, whatever “linguistics” might then have been. In our simplicity of mind, we first assumed that “linguistics” is a science-based post-philology discipline. Then we looked into the eventual meaning of the word to comprehend that “linguistics” has to do with languages only. Then why cover it with a Latin word? Is it also a deceptive package like “philology”?
Then we started consulting books of reference. The result is enlightening for us. It is a relatively new deceptive package. We won’t go deep into it just now. Only this much here. It is rooted, so it is maintained, in the Sanskrit language and its grammar. Modern scholars of languages have discovered relatively recently that sound and meaning of words are interrelated. The demigods of this discovery are William Jones, Wilhelm von Humboldt, Franz Bopp, Noam Chomsky, etc.. We shall have to deal with the first three demigods later in due course because of their claims of knowing the Sanskrit language.
Now we get back to Carl Joseph Hieronymus Windischmann and to his advising Franz Bopp to study “linguistics” after he failed finally to earn the doctor’s degree at the University of Aschaffenburg. Probably Professor Windischmann was fulfilling his dreams projected in the next generation. Why his dreams? Almost 80 years later Salomon Lefmann (1831–1912), professor of Indology at Heidelberg University, is to hit the nail on the head describing the spirit of that time, which had led to dreams, writing these lines in his book “Franz Bopp, his life and his science, Berlin 1891–1897", (p. 11–12):
“While princes and peoples anxiously following the current events were directing their eyes to France, where a powerful war lord, having taken possession of the inheritance of the revolution, had thence seized power over Germany and Europe, the philosophers and scholars were looking at a Far East and at a far away past. All wisdom and all sciences, all art and culture, had emerged there, there in the Orient, where the cradle of mankind had been. One had to take up oriental issues, study oriental antiquity, oriental philosophy, oriental languages – Hebrew, Arabic, Persian and – was anything impossible – the culture of Egypt, the language and literature of ancient India.
Beside the wonderland Egypt, brought nearer through Napoleon’s campaign, its mysterious priestly wisdom and picture scripts, indeed even more than this and more than any other country of the world India captured the fantasy. What one knew was little, the more what one did believe, both was, however, enough to push the devote enthusiasm of that time and of people to a climax. With the light of dawn, which had then just risen there, a cheerful morning was already shining to them promising the fulfilment of the most beautiful dreams and sentiments.
