2022, Vol. 8, Issue 2, Part B

author(s)
Dr. Chirashree Mukherjee

abstract
German comparative philologist, and Indologist Friedrich Max Müller (1823 – 1900) was one of the founders of the science of religion. His works on Indology were both scholarly and popular. His connections with the East India Company and with the Sanskrit scholars at Oxford University led to a career in Britain where he became the leading commentator on the culture of India. Intellectual discourse and exchanges between him and the intellectual elite of India led to the reformation of the evil customs of child marriage and sati. Müller believed that the study of a language was tied to the belief system of that culture. Müller was deeply influenced by Kant’s transcendental model of spirituality and published a translation of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason. Müller was opposed to Darwin’s theory of evolution. His rich legacy endures in the learning and research in all matters relating to language, literature, and religion.