Indian Antiquary Vol 59

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 60

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[MARCH, 1930
uninspiring oanto xii as being the very acme of Gită poetry, while the sublime canto xi appears to him to be quite miserable trash. We feel sorry to admit that in this case Professor Winternitz's arguments seem to us just as little conclusive and convincing as those proffered by Garbe himselt.
However, Garbe's theory did not meet with acceptance from all sides. Opposition came from scholars of very great authority, such as Oldenberg and Professor Jacobi, an opposition upon which we shall shortly dwell.
Oldenberg, in an article called Bemerkungen zur Bhagavadgita, 14 somewhat strongly criticised the theories of Garbe from two different points of view. He himself, like some other scholars, 15 has made it highly probable that there existed once an older seśvara sāmkhya, which did not deny the existence of brahman, the Universal Soul. The argumentation of Oldenberg as usual shows his brilliant sens commun, and we cannot abstain from quoting the following words, which ought to be carefully borne in mind by every echolar concerned with Indian modes of thought : "Trifft dies18 zu, so entfällt damit die Möglichkeit, aus dem Durcheinandergehen von Äusserungen, welche die charakteristische Sprache des Samkhya reden und von Bekenntnissen zum Brahman auf Ubereinanderlagerung verschiedener Schichten zu schliessen. Wer diesen Schluss sicht, scheint mir allzuschr in den Anschauungen der groesen klassischen Lehrtexte und der Polemiken, die in späterer Zeit zwischen Sãmkhya and Vedanta hin und her gingen, befangen zu sein, das fertig entwickelte in die Zeit, wo die Entwicklung noch im Fliessen war, zu übertragen." Oldenberg also emphasizes the need of carefulness in suggesting the existence of an original niristara yoga. We should like to add that the very nature of the Yoga appears to us totally to preclude such a supposition.'
However, Oldenberg also attacked Garbe's theories in detail, proving by numerous examples that the verses rejected by this scholar did often destroy the connection of ideas pervading different cantos, and that consequently this method of rejecting all the verses savouring of Vedānta could only lead to further confusion 18 It seems to the present writer that everyone who carefully reads through the original text together with Garbe's translation can only whole-heartedly subscribe to this criticism by Oldenberg. To quote only one instance which has been partly touched upon by Oldenberg ; Gerbe rejects the verse iv, 24 :
brahmärpanam brahma havir brahmägnau brahmanā hutam |
brahmaiva tena gantavyam brahmakarmasa madhina but wants to keep the following one (iv, 25);
dairam eväpare yajram yoginah paryupäsate
brahmägnäv apare yajian yajñenaivopajuhvati | This, of course, is pure assumption ; but it becomes even worse when we find that in the translation the first brahmägnau is rendered by: "das Brahman ist im Opferfeuer," while the second one is said to mean : "in dem Feuer der Heiligkeit"! The following verses (iv, 2630), which describe various kinds of sacrifices, are all preserved by Garbe, who, however, rejects the concluding one (iv, 32):
evam bahuvidha yajšā vitată brahmaņo mukhe
karmajan viddhi tan sarvan evam jnätvā vimoyase 1 A method which operates in this way seems to me worse than no method at all. 16 Nachrichten d. Ges. d. Wiss. zu Gottingen, phil-hish. Klasse, 1919, p. 321 f.
15 Op. Oldenberg, Die Lehre der Upanischaden, p. 206 1.; Nachrichten d. Ges. d. Wiss. zu Gottinger, phil-mist. Klases, 1917, p. 218 f., as well as Dahlmann, Die Samkhya-Philosophie, p. 5, and Edgerton, 4. J. Phi., xlv, p. 71.
16 Viz., the ruggostod existence of the Soluara Samkhya. 17 Cp. also Jacobi, Deutsche Lit Zeit, 1921, 721 f.
18 Oldenberg admits that the vv. iii, 9-18, which contain the general theory of sacrifice, may possibly be an interpolation. This may be pomiblo, or even probable, but not on the grounds adduced by Garbo. Cp. alao Jacobi, Deutsche Lit. Zeit., 1921, 720 f.