Writing between 1793-1796, A H L Heeren, Professor of History in the University of Goettingen, says :
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The general opinion of ancient as well as of modern times is unanimous in considering the <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Hindus as one of the earliest, if not in fact the oldest, civilized nation in the world</span>. The critical enquirer however has an undoubted right to demand upon what foundation this universal opinion of the high antiquity of the Hindus rests; and whether the bare assertion of the natives themselves be equivalent to an absolute verification of the fact? Or, have not we also good reasons for being incredulous in an equal ratio to their own exaggerated accounts of their antiquity, particularly as it appears more and more evident that India is the last place to look to for any thing like authentic systems of chronology? To this question however we shall only be able to furnish a decisive answer in the sequel of our enquiry.
In the mean time it will merely be necessary at the outset to define with somewhat more precision the rather vague acceptation of the words 'high antiquity.'Â Allowing as we do to Hindus to be a most ancient people, we are not therefore obliged to appeal to their chronlogical series of years reckoned by the million, nor indeed with several English writers, need we go so far back even as the deluge, at which period acording to their calculations, the fourth age of the Hindus, the age of corruption, began.Â
Under the title of 'high antiquity' we generally comprehend that space of time <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>which extends to the tenth century before the Christian era. The historic records of no other people, if we except the Jews, reaches beyond this point.</span> All that goes further back is concealed beneath the clock of tradition and hieroglaphics.
<span style='color:red'>Whether the civilization of India reaches back to one thousand years before the Christian era, as is pretty certain, or even to two, which is not improbable, can never be a question altogether devoid of interest.</span>
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So, this idea has already settled in:
- Hindus are very old people. But when deciding the time frame,
- 'except the jews' - should not affect the antiqueity of Jews as the original people.
- 'Christian Era' and what Bible has said.
About AHL Heeren
Historical researches into the politics, intercourse, and trade of the principal nations of antiquity
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The general opinion of ancient as well as of modern times is unanimous in considering the <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Hindus as one of the earliest, if not in fact the oldest, civilized nation in the world</span>. The critical enquirer however has an undoubted right to demand upon what foundation this universal opinion of the high antiquity of the Hindus rests; and whether the bare assertion of the natives themselves be equivalent to an absolute verification of the fact? Or, have not we also good reasons for being incredulous in an equal ratio to their own exaggerated accounts of their antiquity, particularly as it appears more and more evident that India is the last place to look to for any thing like authentic systems of chronology? To this question however we shall only be able to furnish a decisive answer in the sequel of our enquiry.
In the mean time it will merely be necessary at the outset to define with somewhat more precision the rather vague acceptation of the words 'high antiquity.'Â Allowing as we do to Hindus to be a most ancient people, we are not therefore obliged to appeal to their chronlogical series of years reckoned by the million, nor indeed with several English writers, need we go so far back even as the deluge, at which period acording to their calculations, the fourth age of the Hindus, the age of corruption, began.Â
Under the title of 'high antiquity' we generally comprehend that space of time <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>which extends to the tenth century before the Christian era. The historic records of no other people, if we except the Jews, reaches beyond this point.</span> All that goes further back is concealed beneath the clock of tradition and hieroglaphics.
<span style='color:red'>Whether the civilization of India reaches back to one thousand years before the Christian era, as is pretty certain, or even to two, which is not improbable, can never be a question altogether devoid of interest.</span>
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
So, this idea has already settled in:
- Hindus are very old people. But when deciding the time frame,
- 'except the jews' - should not affect the antiqueity of Jews as the original people.
- 'Christian Era' and what Bible has said.
About AHL Heeren
Historical researches into the politics, intercourse, and trade of the principal nations of antiquity