One of the most distinctive aspects when dealing with religious history from a transnational and transcultural perspective is the history of translations of religious texts. Particularly core texts of religious traditions were often in the centre of activities to present them in a different language from the original and in differing cultural contexts, either for the purpose of communicating its content to prospective new believers or to get first-hand access to a “foreign” religious tradition and its content. The present talk is dealing with two famous cases of the second kind, namely the first translations and interpretations of the Indian Upanishads in a Muslim and a Christian cultural setting. Both enterprises are closely related to each other by a fascinating history of textual transmission. The first case is the Persian treatise Sirr-i akbar (literally, “the greatest secret”) which was initiated and supervised by the ill-fated Mughal prince Dārā Shukūh (1615–1659). It formed the basis of the first translation of the Upanishads into a European language, namely the famous Oupnek’hat, which was composed by the eminent philologian and “first Orientalist” Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron (1731–1805). The talk will provide an in-depth analysis of the two approaches by comparing the respective “introductions” to these translations (the dībācha, “preamble”, in the case of the Persian text, and the dissertatio, “treatise”, of the Oupnek’hat). Although raised and educated in different cultural contexts both interpreters were motivated by a common search for a “lost book” that would convey the ultimate expression of religious truth or the idea of the absolute “oneness” of the first principle, viz. “Allah” or “God”. Their quest found its peak in the “discovery” of the Upanishads.
Monday, 22 November 2021
Searching for the hidden “One”: Muslim and early European interpretations of the Upanishads
