Maxmuller’s Service to India

He loved India, and its Sanskrit, and its culture. He preferred studies of Sanskrit even suffering abject poverty, to worldly gains. He told Swami Vivekananda that his body was in England but his soul was in India and expressed his deep desire to Swami Vivekananda that his body be cremated in India after his death. It was Fredrich Max Muller the world reknowned Indologist that translated Rig Veda in six volumes, striving hard at Oxford for 30 years.

Max Muller was a man of deep erudition combining in himself the wisdom of the East and the West. He was the foremost pioneer in Sanskrit studies. He translated Rig Veda in six volumes studying the manuscript volumes in Bodlein library. Earlier he translated ‘Hitopadesa’ into English. He became world acclaimed as a great Indologist. Though born in Germany he became a naturalised Englishman. He stated “England is my second home”, as he lived for years at Oxford in London. He was a philogist and learnt new Arabic, Persian, Pali, Bengali and Tamil, besides his first love, Sanskrit.

He joined Leipzing university and obtained a doctorate in Oriental studies at the age of 20 years. At Leipzig he studied under Prof. Roucter and learnt languages of the east, Arabic, Persian ­ Zend and even Tamil and Bengali. Thus he turned out to be a philogist. Prof. Brochaus was his teacher in Sanskrit.

During his studies in Leipzig university Max Muller suffered abject poverty. The scholarship the university gave him was meagre and would last only a few days in a month. He had to sustain himself on “Bread and Butter only”,as revealed through the entries he made in his diary. A few entries read “No dinner to night”. In one of his letters to his mother he wrote “It seems my purse suffers from consumption. But don’t worry mom”. Once he had an urge to see his mother at Dessau. But he had no money and he walked the distance of 36 miles. And he had swollen legs and blisters on his legs. His mother warned Max “never do such a thing”. She applied hot packs to the legs. After studying in the Leipsig university he obtained a ‘doctorate’ in 1843 for his papers depicting his depth of knowledge, in oriental studies.

In those days people in Europe gained an impression that the ancient heritage of India with its Vedas contained an ocean of knowledge and they would stop at that only.And an Indologist like Max Muller was much respected for his in-depth knowledge of the Vedas. His primary object of his Sanskrit studies was neither philology nor literature, but the evolution ofthe religious and philosophical thought. In his pursuit he never allowed the worldly monetary gains to colour his objectives. He declined an assignment at his early age in the Australian Civil service, as it would not be conducive to his objective ofpursuing Vedic lore.

The great turn ofevent in Max Muller’s life came when he was offered Oriental Sub Librarian post at Bodlein. At Oxford he got himself settled and never left it till his end. Here he met English celebrities like Macaulay, Tennyson, Thackeray, Ruskin, Browning Gladstone, Salisbury and Curzon.

An interesting episode of correspondence between Vijayanagaram Maharaja Sri Ananda Gajapathi Raju is worthy of remembrance. The Maharaja of Vijayanagaram, Sri Ananda Gajapathi Maharaj wrote to Max Muller where he could get a copy of his work Rig Veda. And Max Muller wrote in reply that the first edition was sold out and the East India Company that gave monetary help was not ready to bring out further editions. Vijayanagaram Maharaja Sri Ananda Gajapathi  at once met the entire cost of the second edition in four volumes which came out to 4000 English pounds. Max Muller in ecstasy said “Hindus are not merely grandiloquent but they do grand things also when opportunity offers”. Hearing this generous gesture, Surendranath Benerjee called Vijayanagaram Maharaja by the sobriquet, a veritable ‘Bhoja Raja’. Max Muller met several Indian stalwarts in his life time in Paris and London. Kesab Chandra Sen, Trailokyanath Mookherjee, Swami Vivekananda, K.T.Telang, Rajendralal Mitra and Dwarakanath Tagore grandfather of Ravindranath Tagore in Paris.

His writings: “Sacred Books of the East” ran to fifteen volumes. His Rig Veda translation into English in six volumes based on Sayana Acharya’s commentary took nearly thirty years of his life. In philosophy he was aKantian, with his translation of Kant’s “Critique of Pure Reason”. He also leaned to Hegel in his philosophy. His favourite saying was “We all came from East, In going to East everybody ought to feel that he is going to his old home”. But poor man he never visited India in his life time.

During his illness prayers were offered in Pardha Saradhi Temple in Madras. He passed away on October 28, 1900 leaving behind his wife Georgia and his two sons and a lot of wealth of knowledge at the age of 77. He became apart and parcel of Indian heritage, the Vedas. So much so Indians took fancy in Sankritising his name as‘Moksha Muller’ and Germany as ‘Sarmanyavni’. Germany has named its cultural centres in all cities in India as Max Muller Bhavans.

The real rich tribute to be paid to Max Muller the great Indologist, the great lover of Vedas, is to recall his famous quote about India. “If I were asked, under what sky,the human mind has most ful1ydeveloped some of its choicest gifts, has most deeply rendered on the greatest problems of life, and has found, solutions to some of them. I should point to India”.