Knowra Max Müller Max Müller Friedrich Max Müller (1823–1900) was a German-born philologist and Orientalist whose Sanskrit scholarship and comparative study of religion shaped European understandings of Indian texts and religions.
Friedrich Schlegel : A German Romantic writer and critic whose 1808 book helped introduce Sanskrit and comparative language study to European scholarship. Schlegel’s Sanskrit studies helped establish the intellectual tradition Müller later developed.
Sanskrit : An ancient Indo-Aryan language of South Asia, preserved in a large body of religious, philosophical, and literary texts. Müller’s most consequential textual work depended on his study of Sanskrit.
Sacred Books of the East : A fifty-volume English translation series of Asian religious texts edited by Max Müller and published between 1879 and 1910. This series was Müller’s largest editorial project and extended beyond his own translations.
August Schleicher : A German linguist who proposed a biological model of language development and reconstructed Proto-Indo-European. Schleicher’s evolutionary metaphors differed from Müller’s account of language and its relation to myth.
Comparative religion : The academic comparison of religious traditions, texts, practices, and institutions across cultures and history. Müller’s lectures helped establish comparison as a proposed method for studying religion.
Theodor Benfey : A German philologist whose work on Sanskrit and comparative linguistics influenced nineteenth-century language scholarship. Benfey belonged to the German philological world in which Müller trained and worked.
Comparative linguistics : The study of languages through systematic comparison of their structures, histories, and relationships. Müller used comparison among Indo-European languages to reconstruct linguistic history.
Rig-Veda-Sanhita : Max Müller’s critical edition of the Rigveda, published in six volumes between 1849 and 1874. The edition established a major scholarly basis for studying the Rigveda in Europe.
William Dwight Whitney : An American Sanskritist and linguist known for historical grammar and criticism of speculative language theories. Whitney challenged Müller’s claims about language, mythology, and the scientific study of religion.
Orientalism : A body of Western scholarship and representation that constructed knowledge about Asian and Middle Eastern societies. Müller’s textual scholarship formed part of the European knowledge tradition now examined through this concept.
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