Friedrich Max Müller was one of the most influential scholars of the 19th century, a towering figure in the fields of comparative philology, mythology, and religion. Though he never visited India, his work did more than perhaps any other single scholar’s to bring Sanskrit literature to Western attention.
The Rig Veda Edition
Müller’s crowning achievement was his critical edition of the Rig Veda with Sayana’s Sanskrit commentary, published in six volumes between 1849 and 1874. This monumental work, sponsored by the East India Company, made the oldest Hindu scriptures accessible to European scholars for the first time in a reliable text.
Kallidaikurichi Aiyah Nilakanta Sastri stands as one of the most distinguished historians of modern India and the preeminent authority on South Indian history. Born in 1892 in Tirunelveli district to a Telugu Niyogi family, Sastri dedicated his life to rigorous historical scholarship, producing works that continue to serve as standard references decades after their publication.
Academic Career
After completing his Master’s degree at Madras Christian College in 1913, Sastri began his teaching career at Hindu College, Tirunelveli. His brilliance soon earned him positions at India’s premier institutions: Banaras Hindu University (1920-1922), Madras University (1922-1946), and University of Mysore (1952-1955). From 1957 to 1972, he directed UNESCO’s Institute of Traditional Cultures of South East Asia, where he fostered international scholarship on Asian civilizations.
Maurice Bloomfield was one of America’s foremost Sanskrit scholars, whose meticulous philological work established lasting standards in Vedic studies. As Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology at Johns Hopkins University for nearly half a century, he trained generations of scholars and produced foundational reference works.
The Vedic Concordance
Bloomfield’s greatest contribution to scholarship was his Vedic Concordance (1897), published as part of the Harvard Oriental Series. This exhaustive index of every phrase in Vedic literature remains an indispensable tool for scholars. The work’s painstaking accuracy and comprehensive coverage exemplified Bloomfield’s exacting scholarly standards.
Romesh Chunder Dutt, C.I.E. (Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire) was a pioneering Indian civil servant, historian, and translator who bridged Eastern and Western cultures through his scholarly work. A barrister-at-law and member of both the Royal Asiatic Society and the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Dutt dedicated his life to making Indian civilization, history, and literature accessible to English readers.
Literary Contributions
Dutt’s most enduring literary achievement is his translation work, which introduced English readers to the wealth of ancient Indian poetry. His Lays of Ancient India (1894) presented carefully selected passages spanning five distinct periods of Indian literary history: