THE SCHLEGELS.
Friedrich Schlegel's Weisheit der Indier--Foundation of
Sanskrit Study in Germany.
We have now come to the period of the foundation of Sanskrit philology
in Germany. English statesmanship had completed the material conquest of
India; German scholarship now began to join in the spiritual conquest of
that country. With this undertaking the names of Friedrich and August
Wilhelm Schlegel are prominently identified. The chief work of these
brothers lies in the field of philosophy, translation and criticism, and
is therefore beyond the scope of this investigation. Suffice it to say
that Friedrich's famous little book _Die Weisheit der Indier_, published
in 1808, besides marking the beginning of Sanskrit studies and
comparative grammar in Germany,[125] is also of interest to us because
here for the first time a German version of selections from the
_Mahābhārata_, _Rāmāyaṇa_ and the _Code of Manu_, as well as a
description of some of the most common Sanskrit metres is
presented,[126] and an attempt is even made to reproduce these metres in
the translation. The work of August Wilhelm Schlegel as critic,
translator and editor of important works from Sanskrit literature is too
familiar to need more than mention.[127] It is well known that to his
lectures Heine owed his fondness for the lotus-flowers and gazelles on
the banks of the Ganges.
On the poetry of the Schlegels their Oriental studies exercised very
little influence. Friedrich translated some maxims from the _Hitōpadēśa_
and from Bhartṛhari;[128] August likewise translated from the same
works, as well as from the Epics and Purāṇas.[129] There are only two
original poems of his that have anything to do with India, and both of
these were written before he had begun the study of Sanskrit. The first
is "Die Bestattung des Braminen,"[130] a somewhat morbid description of
the burning of a corpse. It was addressed to his brother Karl August,
who had joined a Hanoverian regiment in the service of the East India
Company. The second of these poems is "Neoptolemus an Diokles" (ii. 13),
written in 1800, and dedicated to the memory of this same brother who
had died at Madras in 1789.[131] As a matter of fact, there is really
nothing Oriental in the spirit of the poem.
Aside from translations, the only poems that are connected with
Schlegel's Sanskrit studies, are the epigrams against his illustrious
contemporaries, Bopp and Rückert. Those against the former (ii. 234) are
of no special interest here. With those against Rückert, however, the
case is different. It is worth while noting that towards the
distinguished scholar-poet Schlegel assumed a patronizing attitude. To
Rückert's masterly renderings from Sanskrit literature he referred
slightingly as "Sanskritpoesiemetriknachahmungen" (ii. 235). But when he
hailed the younger poet as
Aller morgenländ'schen Zäune König,
Wechselsweise zeisigkranichtönig! (ii. 218),
he came much nearer to the truth than he imagined at the time. For,
while it will be conceded that Rückert did not always sing with equal
power, it also is indisputable that he is the leading spirit in the
movement under investigation. But we shall not anticipate a discussion
of this poet's work, which is reserved for a succeeding chapter.
FOOTNOTES:
[125] See Benfey, Gesch. der Sprachwissenschaft und orient. Philologie
in Deutschland, München, 1869, pp. 361-369.
[126] The _ślōka_, the _triṣṭubh_ and the _jagati_ metre are described,
the last two, however, not by name. Nārada's speech, p. 236, is in
_ślōka_, 16 syllables to the line; the first distich, p. 233, is in
_triṣṭubh_, 22 syllables to the line. Quantity of course is ignored.
[127] See Benfey, op. cit. pp. 379-405.
[128] Friedr. Schlegel, Sämmtliche Werke, Wien, 1846. vol. ii. p. 82
seq.
[129] Aug. W. Schlegel, Sämmtliche Werke. Leipz. 1846. vol. iii. p. 7
seq.
[130] Ibid. i. p. 82.
[131] Friedr. Schlegel, Weisheit der Indier, pref. pp. xii, xiii. See
also prefatory remarks to the poem in question.