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.
John Nicol Farquhar (1861-1929) was a Scottish educational missionary and Orientalist whose scholarly works on Indian religions remain foundational texts in the study of Hinduism and modern Indian religious movements.
Early Life and Education
Born in Aberdeen in 1861, Farquhar initially trained as a draper’s apprentice before returning to formal education at age 21. He attended Aberdeen Grammar School (1882), Aberdeen University (1883), and completed his studies at Christ Church, Oxford, earning his B.A. in 1889. He later received a D.Litt. from Oxford in recognition of his scholarly contributions.
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 CIE (1848-1909) was an Indian civil servant, economic historian, and nationalist leader whose two-volume Economic History of India established the intellectual foundations of Indian economic nationalism.
Career
Born into a distinguished Bengali family, Dutt qualified for the Indian Civil Service in 1869. He became the first Indian appointed as district magistrate (1883) and the first to reach the rank of Divisional Commissioner (1894). His administrative experience managing famines gave him firsthand knowledge of colonial taxation’s impact on rural poverty.