PERCEPTION OF INDIA IN CHINA AND GERMANY

Abstract

Due to the spread of Buddhism and Buddhist culture to the East, Chinese travellers and pilgrims started visiting India in pursuit of Buddhist scriptures and learning of Buddhist philosophy as early as the first half of the first millennium of Common Era. These pilgrims and travellers also left the description of their travel. In the medieval and modern period also Chinese travellers, diplomats and scholars continued their journey towards India. However, the situation and perception both were different in these two periods from previous ancient era. German travellers to India started with the participation of the German soldiers in the British East India Company from the army of the Electorate of Hanover in 1782. The German nationalism grew as a reaction to the political and cultural domination of France and Britain. In their quest to find the roots of their language, they started looking at Sanskrit, Indian philosophy and culture. During the early 19th Century several German Romantics and scholars showed interest in Sanskrit literature. Some of the prominent names among them are Friedrich and August Wilhelm Schlegel, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Max Müller, Alexander and Wilhelm von Humboldt and Johann Gottfried Herder. Friedrich von Schlegel studied Sanskrit for over forty years and in 1808 he published the book Über die Sprache und Weisheit der Indier, wherein he argued that the prototypical “Aryans” founded the ancient European civilizations. With August Wilhelm Schlegel, the first Indology chair was started in the University of Bonn in 1819. Karl August Schlegel, the elder brother of Friedrich and August Wilhelm Schlegel prepared a military survey of southern India for the East India Company which proved very useful.