01-15-2006, 05:51 AM
Jean-Antoine Abbe Dubois
French missionary in India, b. in 1765 at St. Remèze (Ardèche); d. in Paris, 17 Feb., 1848. The Abbé Dubois was a director of the Seminary of the Foreign Missions, a member of the Royal Societies of Great Britain and Paris, and of the Literary Society of Madras. At the outbreak of the French Revolution he went to India to preach Christianity to the natives, whose favour he soon won by his affability and patience. For their instruction he composed elementary treatises on Christian doctrine which won general commendation. Though he remained thirty-two years in that arduous field, his labours were all fruitless and he returned convinced that the conversion of the Hindus with the deep-rooted prejudices of centuries was impossible under the existing conditions. This opinion which he broached in "Letters on the State of Christianity in India" etc. (London, 1823), was vigorously attacked in England. Two Anglican ministers, James Hough and H. Townley, published, respectively, "A Reply to the Letters of the Abbé Dubois" etc. (London, 1824) and "An Answer to the Abbé Dubois" (London, 1824). "The Friend of India", a journal of Calcutta (1825), contained a refutation of his letters, to which the abbe rejoined in a letter of much gravity and moderation. It found its way into the "Bulletin des Sciences", May, 1825, and the first volume of the "Asiatic Journal" (1841). Besides these letters he wrote: "Description of the Character, Manners and Customs of the People of India, and of their Institutions, religious and civil" (London, 1816). This work was bought by the East India Company for twenty thousand francs and printed at their expense. The author published an enlarged edition in French under the title "Moeurs, institutions, et cérémonies des peuples de l'Inde" (Paris, 1825, 2 vols.), which is considered the best and most complete work on the subject. "Exposé de quelques-uns des principaux articles de la théologie des Brahmes" (Paris, 1825); "Le Pantcha-tantra ou les cinq ruses, fables du Brahme Vichnou-Sarma" (Paris, 1826). Abbé Dubois was one of the collaborators of the "Bulletin Universel des Sciences" of the Baron de Férussac
Mantras of Anti-Brahminism
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Secondly, regarding their secret books, Grant claimed that â[w]ith respect to the real tenets of the Hindusâ¦they are to be taken from their ancient booksâ¦â (cited in Mill 1817: 410 ff). However, when Rammohun Roy later translated the Upanishads a contemporary pundit charged him with having fabricated them himself (Hay 1963: 46 ff). Moreover, on the subject of Bengal, Fitzedward Hall wrote in 1868 that â[u]ntil very recently, the learned Bengali has long been satisfied, substantially, to do without the Vedaâ (cited in Kejariwal 1988: 3). A strange state of affairs, suggesting that brahmins didnât really know what Europeans were talking about when they enquired about their sacred books. Even more, those who did seem to know about the texts didnât seem to understand them. Regarding their secret language, Abbé Dubois, for example, had the following observation to make:
It is trueâ¦that those who devote themselves to the study of these books (the Vedas) cannot hope to extract any instruction from them, for they are written in ancient Sanskrit, which has become almost wholly unintelligible; and such numberless mistakes have been introduced by copyists, either through carelessness or ignorance, that the most learned find themselves quite unable to interpret the original text. Out of 20,000 brahmins I do not believe that one could be found who even partially understood the real Vedas [Dubois 1816: 173-74].
What Dubois saw was not the exception but the rule. When talking of the prayers in the Vedas, Horace Hayman Wilson discovered that they were hardly studied at all. Besides, âwhen they are studied it is merely for the sake of repeating the words; the sense is regarded as a matter of no importance, and is not understood even by the Brahman who recites or chants the expressionsâ (1840: 49).
There were other elements as well that did not fit the picture of a class of priests that controlled the laity through the corruption of original beliefs. Wilson, for example, felt it necessary to nuance Jonesâ views as based on Manuâs text, stating that brahmins were not âin great measure the ghostly advisers of the peopleâ¦This office is now filled by various personsâ¦Many of these are brahmans, but they are not necessarily so, and it is not as brahmans that they receive the veneration of their lay followersâ¦â (1832: 311).
However, when Indian intellectuals began to write their own story, they did not start from those experiences. Neither did they try to make them intelligible: India, as they saw it, had its own religion of priests and the hierarchy of caste system was due to priestly despotism. The implication of this account is the unconditional acceptance of Christianityâs theological conception of religion by Indian intellectuals. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->]
IX
<img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4889/319/1600/UndermineCivilizationPg96.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
Origin of Master Aryan Race Theory
(Scanned pages from Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies by Abbe J.A. Dubois
Manuscript first completed in 1806, English translation first published in 1816.)
Dubois: We must undermine Hindu civilization
The OCR of scanned pages 96,97
-
A POLICY OF NON-INTERFERENCE 97
96 TUE HINDUâS INBRED CONSERVATISM
unreclaimed, it is due to the hopeless sterility of the soil, which, even in the best seasons, would never repay the laborer for his trouble, or else because, to yield any profit at all, they would require more capital and more courage than most of the people possess.
It is, to my mind, vain hope to suppose that we can really very much improve the condition of the Hindus, or raise their circumstances of life to the level prevailing in Europe. The efforts of a Government which is humane and generous, as well as just may succeed up to a certain point in lessening some of their hardships; but as long as it is in the nature of the Hindus to cling to their civil and religious institutions, to their old customs and habits, they must remain what they have always been, for these are so many insurmountable obstacles in the path of progress and to the attainment of a new order of things better calculated to bring them happiness. They will continue to grovel in poverty as long as their physical and intellectual faculties continue in the same groove.
Therefore, to make a new race of the Hindus, one would have to begin by undermining the very foundations of their civilization religion, and polity, and by turning them into atheists and barbarians. Having accomplished this terrible upheaval, we might then perhaps offer our services to them as Law givers and religious teachers. But even then our task would be only half accomplished. After dragging them out of the depths of barbarism, anarchy, and atheism into which we had plunged them, and after giving them new laws, a new polity, and a new religion we should still have to give them new natures and different inclinations. Otherwise we should run the risk of seeing them soon relapse into their former state, which would be worse if anything, than before.
Let our theoretical philanthropists, with their mistaken and superficial notions concerning the genius and character of the Hindus and the varied and multitudinous social links that bind them together, exclaim as much as they please in their unreflecting enthusiasm, that nothing has been done for the physical and spiritual improvement of the race. My reply is, âWhy do you expound your shallow theories in Europe. Come and study the question on the spot
Make personal inquiry into the manners and customs of the people; realize for yourselves, whether all possible means have been tried with a view to gaining this desirable end And then, but not till then, make up your minds on the question. Since our European ways, manners, and customs, so, utterly different from theirs, do not allow of our winning their confidence, at least let us continue to earn their respect and admiration by humane examples of compassion, generosity, and well-doing. Let us leave them their cherished laws and prejudices, since no human effort will persuade them to give them up, even in their own interests, and let us not risk making the gentlest and most submissive people in the world furious and indomitable by thwarting them. Let us take care lest we bring about, by some hasty or imprudent course of action, catastrophes which would reduce the country to a state of anarchy, desolation, and ultimate ruin, for, in my humble opinion, the day when the Government attempts to interfere with any of the more important religious and civil usages of the Hindus wiII be the last of its existence as a political power.
CHAPTER VII
The Mythical Origins of the BrahmanasâTheir Name and their Original FoundersâObjections on their True OriginâBuddhist and
Jaina
The real origin of the Brahmins is wrapped in mystery, and one can only hazard conjectures on the subject, or put belief in myths. The story most generally accepted says that they were born from Brahmaâs head, which accounts for their name. One would suppose that as all castes Were born from this same father they would be privileged to bear the same name; but as the Brahmins were the firstborn, and issued from the noblest part of the common parent, they claimed special privileges from which all others were rigorously excluded. They have another theory to bear out the accepted belief that no one else Is entitled to the illustrious name of Brahmana. They say that no one knows anything about Brahmaâs attribute
Dubois says brahmins originated in Caucasus!
Dubois introduces philology and says brahmins are descendents of Japheth!
Dubois says Hinduism is just allegories
Max Muller's prefatory note to Dubois' book
French missionary in India, b. in 1765 at St. Remèze (Ardèche); d. in Paris, 17 Feb., 1848. The Abbé Dubois was a director of the Seminary of the Foreign Missions, a member of the Royal Societies of Great Britain and Paris, and of the Literary Society of Madras. At the outbreak of the French Revolution he went to India to preach Christianity to the natives, whose favour he soon won by his affability and patience. For their instruction he composed elementary treatises on Christian doctrine which won general commendation. Though he remained thirty-two years in that arduous field, his labours were all fruitless and he returned convinced that the conversion of the Hindus with the deep-rooted prejudices of centuries was impossible under the existing conditions. This opinion which he broached in "Letters on the State of Christianity in India" etc. (London, 1823), was vigorously attacked in England. Two Anglican ministers, James Hough and H. Townley, published, respectively, "A Reply to the Letters of the Abbé Dubois" etc. (London, 1824) and "An Answer to the Abbé Dubois" (London, 1824). "The Friend of India", a journal of Calcutta (1825), contained a refutation of his letters, to which the abbe rejoined in a letter of much gravity and moderation. It found its way into the "Bulletin des Sciences", May, 1825, and the first volume of the "Asiatic Journal" (1841). Besides these letters he wrote: "Description of the Character, Manners and Customs of the People of India, and of their Institutions, religious and civil" (London, 1816). This work was bought by the East India Company for twenty thousand francs and printed at their expense. The author published an enlarged edition in French under the title "Moeurs, institutions, et cérémonies des peuples de l'Inde" (Paris, 1825, 2 vols.), which is considered the best and most complete work on the subject. "Exposé de quelques-uns des principaux articles de la théologie des Brahmes" (Paris, 1825); "Le Pantcha-tantra ou les cinq ruses, fables du Brahme Vichnou-Sarma" (Paris, 1826). Abbé Dubois was one of the collaborators of the "Bulletin Universel des Sciences" of the Baron de Férussac
Mantras of Anti-Brahminism
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Secondly, regarding their secret books, Grant claimed that â[w]ith respect to the real tenets of the Hindusâ¦they are to be taken from their ancient booksâ¦â (cited in Mill 1817: 410 ff). However, when Rammohun Roy later translated the Upanishads a contemporary pundit charged him with having fabricated them himself (Hay 1963: 46 ff). Moreover, on the subject of Bengal, Fitzedward Hall wrote in 1868 that â[u]ntil very recently, the learned Bengali has long been satisfied, substantially, to do without the Vedaâ (cited in Kejariwal 1988: 3). A strange state of affairs, suggesting that brahmins didnât really know what Europeans were talking about when they enquired about their sacred books. Even more, those who did seem to know about the texts didnât seem to understand them. Regarding their secret language, Abbé Dubois, for example, had the following observation to make:
It is trueâ¦that those who devote themselves to the study of these books (the Vedas) cannot hope to extract any instruction from them, for they are written in ancient Sanskrit, which has become almost wholly unintelligible; and such numberless mistakes have been introduced by copyists, either through carelessness or ignorance, that the most learned find themselves quite unable to interpret the original text. Out of 20,000 brahmins I do not believe that one could be found who even partially understood the real Vedas [Dubois 1816: 173-74].
What Dubois saw was not the exception but the rule. When talking of the prayers in the Vedas, Horace Hayman Wilson discovered that they were hardly studied at all. Besides, âwhen they are studied it is merely for the sake of repeating the words; the sense is regarded as a matter of no importance, and is not understood even by the Brahman who recites or chants the expressionsâ (1840: 49).
There were other elements as well that did not fit the picture of a class of priests that controlled the laity through the corruption of original beliefs. Wilson, for example, felt it necessary to nuance Jonesâ views as based on Manuâs text, stating that brahmins were not âin great measure the ghostly advisers of the peopleâ¦This office is now filled by various personsâ¦Many of these are brahmans, but they are not necessarily so, and it is not as brahmans that they receive the veneration of their lay followersâ¦â (1832: 311).
However, when Indian intellectuals began to write their own story, they did not start from those experiences. Neither did they try to make them intelligible: India, as they saw it, had its own religion of priests and the hierarchy of caste system was due to priestly despotism. The implication of this account is the unconditional acceptance of Christianityâs theological conception of religion by Indian intellectuals. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->]
IX
<img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4889/319/1600/UndermineCivilizationPg96.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
Origin of Master Aryan Race Theory
(Scanned pages from Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies by Abbe J.A. Dubois
Manuscript first completed in 1806, English translation first published in 1816.)
Dubois: We must undermine Hindu civilization
The OCR of scanned pages 96,97
-
A POLICY OF NON-INTERFERENCE 97
96 TUE HINDUâS INBRED CONSERVATISM
unreclaimed, it is due to the hopeless sterility of the soil, which, even in the best seasons, would never repay the laborer for his trouble, or else because, to yield any profit at all, they would require more capital and more courage than most of the people possess.
It is, to my mind, vain hope to suppose that we can really very much improve the condition of the Hindus, or raise their circumstances of life to the level prevailing in Europe. The efforts of a Government which is humane and generous, as well as just may succeed up to a certain point in lessening some of their hardships; but as long as it is in the nature of the Hindus to cling to their civil and religious institutions, to their old customs and habits, they must remain what they have always been, for these are so many insurmountable obstacles in the path of progress and to the attainment of a new order of things better calculated to bring them happiness. They will continue to grovel in poverty as long as their physical and intellectual faculties continue in the same groove.
Therefore, to make a new race of the Hindus, one would have to begin by undermining the very foundations of their civilization religion, and polity, and by turning them into atheists and barbarians. Having accomplished this terrible upheaval, we might then perhaps offer our services to them as Law givers and religious teachers. But even then our task would be only half accomplished. After dragging them out of the depths of barbarism, anarchy, and atheism into which we had plunged them, and after giving them new laws, a new polity, and a new religion we should still have to give them new natures and different inclinations. Otherwise we should run the risk of seeing them soon relapse into their former state, which would be worse if anything, than before.
Let our theoretical philanthropists, with their mistaken and superficial notions concerning the genius and character of the Hindus and the varied and multitudinous social links that bind them together, exclaim as much as they please in their unreflecting enthusiasm, that nothing has been done for the physical and spiritual improvement of the race. My reply is, âWhy do you expound your shallow theories in Europe. Come and study the question on the spot
Make personal inquiry into the manners and customs of the people; realize for yourselves, whether all possible means have been tried with a view to gaining this desirable end And then, but not till then, make up your minds on the question. Since our European ways, manners, and customs, so, utterly different from theirs, do not allow of our winning their confidence, at least let us continue to earn their respect and admiration by humane examples of compassion, generosity, and well-doing. Let us leave them their cherished laws and prejudices, since no human effort will persuade them to give them up, even in their own interests, and let us not risk making the gentlest and most submissive people in the world furious and indomitable by thwarting them. Let us take care lest we bring about, by some hasty or imprudent course of action, catastrophes which would reduce the country to a state of anarchy, desolation, and ultimate ruin, for, in my humble opinion, the day when the Government attempts to interfere with any of the more important religious and civil usages of the Hindus wiII be the last of its existence as a political power.
CHAPTER VII
The Mythical Origins of the BrahmanasâTheir Name and their Original FoundersâObjections on their True OriginâBuddhist and
Jaina
The real origin of the Brahmins is wrapped in mystery, and one can only hazard conjectures on the subject, or put belief in myths. The story most generally accepted says that they were born from Brahmaâs head, which accounts for their name. One would suppose that as all castes Were born from this same father they would be privileged to bear the same name; but as the Brahmins were the firstborn, and issued from the noblest part of the common parent, they claimed special privileges from which all others were rigorously excluded. They have another theory to bear out the accepted belief that no one else Is entitled to the illustrious name of Brahmana. They say that no one knows anything about Brahmaâs attribute
Dubois says brahmins originated in Caucasus!
Dubois introduces philology and says brahmins are descendents of Japheth!
Dubois says Hinduism is just allegories
Max Muller's prefatory note to Dubois' book