Ezourvedam: A French Veda of the Eighteenth Century
Edited with an Introduction by Ludo Rocher
W. Norman Brown Professor of South Asian Studies, University of Pennsylvania
© 1984 -- John Benjamins B.V.
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Table of Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
o Historical Survey of Ezourvedam Interpretation
Nature and Purpose of the Text
Phase 1 (1760-1782)
Phase 2 (1782-1822)
Phase 3 (from 1822)
o The Author of the Ezourvedam
Early Speculations
Missionaries
Roberto de Nobili
Jean Calmette
Antoine Mosac
Other Missionaries
A New Name: Pierre Martin
Indian Converts
Conclusion
o New Contributions to Ezourvedam Interpretation
The French Original
The Author of the French Ezourvedam
The Title: Ezourvedam
An Evaluation
o The Ezourvedam Manuscripts
The Pondicherry Manuscripts
Voltaire's and Anquetil's Manuscripts
A New Manuscript: BN Fonds Francais 19117
o The edition
o References
• Text
• Index of Indian Terms in the Ezourvedam
Introduction
Historical Survey of Ezourvedam Interpretation
Nature and Purpose of the Text
Phase 1 (1760-1782)
In September or early October 1760 Louis-Laurent de Federbe, chevalier de Maudave, visited Voltaire at his residence in Ferney near Geneva, and presented him with a copy of a French manuscript called Ezourvedam. Maudave was recommended to Voltaire by the famous mathematician and philosopher Jean Le Rond d'Alembert, in a letter dated 10 September 1760, from Paris (Best 8458). He visited Voltaire on his way from Paris to Mahon on the island of Menorca. Voltaire expressed his happiness about the meeting with Maudave in a reply to d'Alembert dated 8 October 1760 (Best 8527).
Voltaire's correspondence in October 1760 and shortly thereafter often refers to Maudave's visit and to the extraordinary book he brought with him. Maudave is described as "the commander of a fortress near the Ganges" (Best 8713), as" an officer who is going to be a commander on the Coromandel coast, and who came to see me on his way there" (Best 8535), or "the commander of a small fortress on the Coromandel coast" (Best 9107, 9262, 8870). He was "a close friend of one of the principal bramins" (Best 8713). This Brahman was a very wise man (Best 8868, 9107), a correspondent of the French Company (Best 9107), who rendered the Company invaluable services (Best 8868). He knew French well (Best 8868, 9107). and made the effort to translate the EzV from Sanskrit into French (Best 8868, 9107, 13667), in Banaras (Best. 9262). He handed it over to Maudave (Best. 9107), who assured Voltaire that the translation "was very faithful" (Best 8713). Voltaire had a copy1 made, "a poor copy made in haste" (Best 9262), and decided to deposit the original of this "unique and strange manuscript" (Best 8886, 9107) at the King's Library in Paris.2 It is now No. 452 of the "Nouvelles acquisitions francaises."3
There is no doubt that Voltaire was deeply impressed by the EzV; again and again he refers to it -- eventually quotes from it -- in his works and correspondence (Pinard de La Boullaye 1922:213n2). I shall only cite a few passages which best illustrate how Voltaire reacted to the text, and how he interpreted its contents.
On 1 October 1761 he wrote (Best. 9262) to his friend Jacob Vernes, who seems to have inquired about the EzV in an earlier letter: "I have been ill and, besides, very busy, dear Father. I regret answering you so late on the Indian manuscript; it is destined to become the sole treasure that will remain of our East India Company. Mr. de la Persiliere has nothing to do with this book;4 it has actually been translated at Benares, by a Bramin, a correspondent of our poor Company, who knows French rather well. And it was Mr. de Modave, the King's commander on the Coromandel coast, who came to see me a few months ago, and presented me this manuscript. It is definitely very authentic and must have been composed long before Alexander's expedition, for not a single name of rivers, mountains, or cities resembles the Greek names which Alexander's companions introduced into the land. One needs a running commentary to know where one is, and whom one is dealing with. The manuscript is called Ezour Vedam, which means: commentary on the Vedam. Another reason why it must be very old is that in it the author combats the beginnings of idolatry. I am convinced that it antedates Pythagoras by several centuries. I have sent the manuscript to the King's Library, where it is preserved as the most precious gem of their collections."
The Additions a l'essay sur l'histoire generale (1763), which provides the supplements to the 1756 edition of the Essay, contains (15-24) a chapter entitled: "Des Bracmanes, du Vedam, et de l'Ezourvedam," which is largely based on the EzV. Voltaire proudly quotes a few extracts, and qualifies (22) them as describing "the principal features of the Vedam, a book which was until now unknown in Europe and in nearly the whole of Asia." His comments on "Bramin ritual" are less laudatory: "The Bramins have more and more degenerated. Their Cormoredan,5 which is their ritual, is an assemblage of superstitious ceremonies, at which anyone will laugh if he did not happen to be born on the banks of the Ganges or the Indus, or at least anyone who is not a philosopher and who is amazed at the follies of other Peoples but never at those of his own country. As soon as a child is born, one has to pronounce the word Oum over it. If one fails to do so, it will be forever unhappy. One has to rub its tongue with sacred flour, say prayers over it, and at each prayer pronounce the name of a Deity. Next, the child has to be placed in the open air on the third day of the Moon, its head turned toward the North. The series of minute details is endless. It is a conglomerate of all the follies with which purposeless study of judicial astronomy is able to inspire learned men who are clever but at the same time extravagant or deceitful. A Bramin's entire life is devoted to these superstitious ceremonies. They have them for each and every day of the year. It looks as if in India men have steadily become weaker and more conceited as they were more and more subjugated." And he concludes (23-4) the long passage with a renewed appraisal of the antiquity of the EzV: "This old Commentary on the Vedam, from which I have given extracts, seems to me to have been written before Alexander's conquests; for in it appear none of the names which the victorious Greeks imposed on the rivers, towns, and countries. India is called Zomboudipo; mount Immaus is Merou; the Ganges is called Zanoubi. These ancient names are no longer known, except to the experts of the sacred language."
In La philosophie de l'histoire par feu l'abbe Bazin (1765) the EzV is referred to in the seventeenth chapter: "De l'Inde" (97-110), as follows (104): "The library of Paris has, by a lucky accident, procured an ancient book of the Bramins; it is the Ezourvedam, written before the expedition of Alexander into India, together with a recital of all ancient rites of the Bracmans, entitled the Cormo-Vedam. This manuscript, which has been translated by a Bramin, is not really the Vedam itself, but rather a compendium of the rites and opinions contained in that law."6 This statement is followed (105-10) by examples similar to the ones quoted above.
Finally, in La defense de mon oncle (1767) Voltaire reiterates his ideas on the origin and meaning of the EzV: "Before his death the abbe Bazin sent to the Royal Library the most precious manuscript that exists in the Orient. It is an ancient commentary on the Veidam, i.e. the sacred book of the ancient Bramans, by a Braman called Shumontou. This manuscript undoubtedly belongs to the time when the ancient religion of the gymnosophists had begun to be corrupted; except for our own sacred books, it is the most respectable monument of belief in a single God. It is called Ezour-Veidam; as if one were to say the true Veidam, the Veidam explained, the pure Veidam. There is no doubt that it was written before Alexander's expedition to India, since long before Alexander the ancient bramin or abramin religion, the ancient cult taught by Brama, had been corrupted by superstitions and fables. The same superstitions had penetrated into China at the time of Confutzee, who lived about three hundred years before Alexander. The author of the Ezour-Veidam combats all these superstitions which made their appearance in his time. Now, it must have required a relatively long period of time for them to penetrate from India into China; therefore, if we surmise that this rare manuscript has been written four hundred years before Alexander conquered a part of India, we shall not be far from the truth. Shumontou combats all kinds of idolatry with which the Indians began to be affected at that time; and, what is extremely important, he cites the words of the Veidam itself, of which no one in Europe had come to know a single passage so far."7
Assuredly, Voltaire refers to his EzV manuscript as "a copy of the four Vedams" (Best. 8713) and "the Gospel of the ancient bracmans" (Best. 8870). But the passages which I have just quoted and his correspondence (Best. 8527, 8868, 9107, 13667), make it clear that he became soon convinced that the EzV was not the Veda itself but rather a commentary on the Veda. As to its date, exalted statements such as "the oldest book in the world" (Best 9234) -- except for the Old Testament (Best 8870) -- and a book five thousand (Best. 8713) or three thousand years old (Best 9183), are soon replaced by "before the invasion of Alexander the Great (Best 9107, 13667). The EzV Quotes the real Veda, to combat a number of superstitions which manifested themselves in India at the time when the text was composed. These superstitions penetrated into China three centuries before Alexander; they must have originated in India well before that time. Consequently, the EzV must have been composed at least four centuries before Alexander.
The most important point was that, via Maudave and the EzV, Voltaire "could now communicate with a Brame from India" (Best. 8535), and that he and his readers finally obtained first-hand information on the mysterious Indian Veda. Moreover, this Veda contained a real surprise; its precepts were very close to the basic principles of Christianity. Voltaire was happy to conclude that many so-called Christian concepts were, therefore, not exclusively Christian; they existed elsewhere in the world long before the birth of Christ. "Who are we, who owe the sacrement of baptism to nothing else than the customs of the Gangarids, which were passed on to the Arabs and sanctified by our Lord J.C., -- who are we to argue against the antiquity of those who have provided us with pepper throughout Ancient Times!" (Best. 8713). As Debidour (1924:40) puts it: "If he appears anxious to propagate the knowledge of the Ezour Veidam, it is because this book shows that the story of Adam and Eve does not originally belong to the Bible."
The EzV was used, as early as 1762, by Voltaire's faithful nephew, the abbe Mignot (ca. 1725/30-1790/91). In his Quatrieme memoire sur les anciens Philosophes de l'Inde he refers (1762a:247) to "the Ezour Vedam, a commentary on the Vedam in the Samscretan language, the recent French translation of which was communicated to me by Mr. Capperonnier;" he also quotes the EzV on the characteristics and duration of the four yugas (254-5), and comments: "I shall not elaborate on these imaginary calculations which lack all solid foundation, which the author of the Ezour Vedam agrees to be pure fiction, and which do not deserve any attention." In the Cinquieme memoire he again quotes (1762b:263) the EzV, to show that god rules the world: "In the Ezour Vedam the Indians address God with the words, 'you are the savior, the father, and the lord of the world; you see everything, you know everything, you rule over everything.'"
Perhaps the most important name connected with the EzV in this early period is that of Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil Duperron (1731-1805), who quotes a long passage from it in the "Discours Preliminaire" to his Zend-Avesta (1771:1, I. lxxxiii-lxxxvii). Anquetil adds the interesting remark, that "the manuscript brought back to France by Mr. de Modave [and delivered to Voltaire] originally comes from the papers of Mr. Barthelemy,8 second of the Council at Pondicherry, who probably had the original translated by the Company's interpreters under his orders."
Anquetil possessed his own copy of the EzV; it is No. 20 of the Fonds Anquetil, now No. 8876 of the "Nouvelles acquisitions francaises" at the National Library in Paris.9 This copy is evidently more complete than Voltaire's; the supplementary final section (fol. 55 recto) is introduced: "from the copy of Mr. Tessier de la Tour, nephew of Mr. Barthelemy, a member of the Council at Pondicherry." Folio 2 recto contains a note, in Anquetil's handwriting, in which he mentions the name of the person who introduced him to Tessier's copy: Antoine Court de Gebelin,10 and in which he also speculates on the origin of Maudave's manuscript. "On August 27, 1766, a Swiss (Mr. Court de Gebelin, of Geneva) came to see me. He told me about the Ezour-Vedam which had been brought back from Pondicherry by Mr. Tessier, the nephew of Mr. Barthelemy, second in rank in that town. It had been found in the papers of that councilman who, as reported by Mr. Tessier, had also other Indian books translated. It is probably from there that Mr. de Maudave had derived his. This Swiss has in the meanwhile confirmed that it is the same work and that Mr. Tessier's copy contains one more chapter at the end. Or else, Mr. de Maudave has obtained his from Mr. Porcher, the commander at Carical whose daughter he had married." I shall come back to the manuscripts of the EzV, their origin and mutual relationship, later in this volume.
Anquetil's interpretation of the EzV and its dialogue between Biache and Chumontou is shown most clearly in a handwritten marginal note in his manuscript (fol. 8 verso). On Chumontou's statement (Text p. 116) that the common interpretation of the terms choto, rozo, and tomo is wrong and ought to be replaced by his own, Anquetil comments: "This is how the Br[ahman] Chumontou proceeds. Later in this treatise he refutes the legends told by Biache, either because they are contrary to good sense, or because they are not found in the ancient books, and he provides a moralistic explanation for those that are based on facts which he agrees to. However, these legends are accepted throughout India (see Abrah. Roger), and Chumontou does no more than confront them with the doubts of a philosopher which cannot be held to represent the religion of India. To prove that they are, he ought to combat authority by authority."
In the same year in which Anquetil published his Zend-Avesta Jean Rudolphe Sinner, Seigneur de Balaigues (1730-1787), refers to the EzV in his Essai sur les Dogmes de la Metempsychose e du Purgatoire enseignes par les Bramins de l'Indostan. He alludes (1711:59n) to Mignot mentioning the EzV, but mainly impresses upon his readers to give due consideration to what Voltaire has to say about it. "The illustrious author of the Philosophie de l'histoire tells us, in the chapter on India, that this book reached the King's Library by a happy coincidence. What is most peculiar is that the French translation was made in India, by a Bramin who was connected with the French India Company. One should also read very carefully what the same Author-Philosopher tells us about the Sacred Books of the Bramins in various chapters of his Essai sur l'histoire generale, and especially in the chapter on India included in the Supplement. There he speaks of the Ezour Vedam, and adds that it was he who deposited the copy in the King's Library, together with one of the Cormo Vedam which is a ritual book of the Bramins."11 Sinner had not seen the EzV personally, but the fact that he is able (1771:128-30) to add a few data on the manuscript and its content via "un Homme de Lettres" in Paris, shows that the EzV was read by the intelligentsia in the French capital, and that those who did not live in Paris were anxious to hear about it.
Guillaume Emmanuel Joseph Guilhem de Clermont Lodeve, baron de Sainte-Croix (1746-1809),12 used the EzV in a communication to the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres on the life of Alexander the Great, in 1772. The dissertation was published in 1775, and translated into English in 1793. Sainte-Croix repeatedly refers to the EzV.13 He calls it "an ancient commentary of the Vedam, written in the Sanscreet language and translated by a Brahmin of Benares,"14 a passage to which he appends15 an interesting note: "The Ezour-Vedam, which should not be confused with the Esrou-Vedam, according to the spelling adopted by the Indian translator of the Bhagavadam, or IssoureWedam, according to that of Abraham Roger, one of the four Vedams, is only a commentary on these books, or rather an explanation of the doctrine contained in them. This book is, therefore, later than the Vedams." One of Sainte-Croix' friends16 informs us that already at that time he had decided to become the editor of the EzV.
In 1776 another friend of Voltaire, Paul Philippe Gudin de la Brenellerie (1738-1812), lists among the "progres des Arts & de l'Esprit humain, sous le regne de Louis XV," paragraph "Erudition Asiatique," the surprising fact that "Mr. de Voltaire had a Brame, right in the heart of India, translate a commentary of the Veidam, called Ezour-Veidam." We are told (NBG 22, 1858, 347) nonetheless that "Voltaire was very favorably impressed" by Gudin's book!
The text of the EzV was published in 1778: L'Ezour-Vedam /Ou / ncien Commentaire / Du / Vedam / Contenant l'exposition des opinions reli- /gieuses & philosophiques des Indiens. / Traduit du Samscretan / par un Brame. / Revu &- publie avec des observations prelimi- / naires. des notes &- des eclaircissemens, two volumes in-12, 17 Yverdon, at the press of Mr. De Felice. The edition is anonymous, but we know from other sources18 that the editor was the baron de Sainte-Croix. Sainte-Croix used Voltaire's manuscript, but, since it was incomplete, he supplemented the final section from Anquetil's copy "which he was kind enough to communicate" (ix-x). The editor's evaluation of the EzV is clear from the Preface (vii-viii): "How grateful we would be to Mrs. Holwell & Dow, if they had given us, without prejudice, a precise survey of the philosophical opinions of the Indians, and a faithful picture of their religion! The author of the Ezour-Vedam, which is published in this volume, seems to have had this goal in mind, and he has lived up to our expectations." More specifically, Sainte-Croix' interpretation of the EzV combines acceptance of Anquetil's handwritten note in the margin of his EzV manuscript (see p. 8) with his readings on the philosophy of the Indian "Ganigueuls." He quotes some of La Croze's statements on these philosophers, and subsequently (1.147-8) analyzes the dialogue between Biache and Chumontou as follows: "A man shrouded in the darkness of idolatry reports, under the name of Biache, the fables that are most highly sanctioned in India, and exhibits the whole array of popular theology of that country. The philosopher Chumontou rejects this mythology as contrary to good sense, or because he has not read it in the ancient books, and he gives moralistic explanations for the fabulous stories that are based on facts which he has to admit. In his answers to Biache's questions the Ganigueul philosopher teaches his own beliefs on the unity of God, creation, the nature of the soul, the dogma of suffering and reward, the worship that is due to the Supreme being, the duties of all ranks, etc. He pays special attention to those absorbed in pure contemplation; in this respect his principles are in perfect agreement with those of the Samanaeans and the ancient sectarians of Budda." Sainte-Croix is much more critical of Voltaire. He quotes long passages from him, and comments on them. His main point of disagreement is (1.150) that. since the EzV opposes the teachings of the Ganigueuls to present beliefs of the Indian people, "it certainly cannot be very old."19
Johann Samuel Ith (1747-1813), a friend of Sinner's and Sainte-Croix', refers ("Vorrede" 25-6) to his correspondence with the latter about the EzV and to its evaluation by "as untrustworthy an author as Voltaire," in 1778. He subsequently translated Sainte-Croix' book into German, with an interesting Preface, containing valuable information on the early reception of the EzV in Europe.20
The works of Joseph de Guignes (1721-1800) are a case in point to show how much the EzV had been accepted as a reliable source book on Indian religion in the seventies of the eighteenth century. De Guignes refers to it and quotes from it without hesitation or justification. For instance, his statement "In the Ezour-Vedam four states are mentioned, that of marriage, that of celibacy, that of the Sanjassis, and that of the Oudoutas or Bikouk" (1776:198), is followed by a supporting quotation from the text (199). However, de Guignes also introduces a new and far reaching element. In his earlier communication (1772:31) he says: "Viassen wrote down the four Vedams, and added to these books the one called Baradam, as if to make it into a fifth Vedam. He taught the first Vedam, called Roucou, to Baylen; the second called Yesrou, to Vayssam-baijen; the third called Samam, to Saymien; & the fourth. called Adarbanam, to Soumanden. We know these books under the names of Roucou-vedam, Ezour-vedam, Sama-vedam, & Adarvana-vedam." In other words, de Guignes identifies the EzV with one of the four Vedas mentioned in Mariyadas Pillai's Bhagavadam, transliterated there as Yesrou.21 The same idea appears again four years later (1776:205): "We do not have an exact and precise idea of the books which, in India, are regarded as their sacred religious books, namely the Vedes. Abraham Roger makes all four Vedes into a single doctrinal corpus: 'the first or Rogou-vedam ... The second or Ezour-vedam deals with superiors or governors to whom they attribute sovereignty over everything ...' According to Father Pons ... those Brahmes are divided into four sects, each of which has its own laws: the Roukou-vedam, or, according to the Indian pronunciation, Rec-bed, & the Yajour-vedam (i.e. the Ezour-Vedam of Abraham Roger),... " In reality, Rogerius22 does not use the term Ezour-vedam. He says: "This Vedam is divided into four parts: the first part is called Rogowedam; the second Issourewedam; the third Samawedam; the fourth Adderawanawedam ... The second part treats of the Regents to whom they attribute sovereignty over everything." Once again, the identification: Ezourvedam = Issourewedam, is de Guignes'!
The immediate impact of Sainte-Croix' edition on the study of Indian religions in Europe is also visible, for instance, in Christoph Meiners' (1747- 1810) fourth section: "On the religions of the Indians and the teachings of the Brachmans" (1780:91-140). The professor of philosophy at the Georg August University in Gottingen evidently acquired the EzV edition after the main body of his work had been written. But, on at least five occasions (115, 127, 131, 135, 130), he inserts references to Sainte-Croix' preface and edition in his footnotes.
Phase 2 (1782-1822)
The second phase in the history of EzV interpretation begins in 1782, with the publication of Pierre Sonnerat's (1749-1814) Voyage aux Indes Orientales. Sonnerat informs us (1.7) that he has been fortunate enough to gather information on the true nature of India's mysterious Veda; and he owes this new information at least indirectly to the EzV. "I had in my possession a copy of the so-called translation of the Ezour-Vedam preserved at the Royal Library. I showed it to a learned but fanatic Bramin; and, since this book did not at all correspond to the impression he wanted to give me of his religion, he felt obliged to initiate me into its mysteries." Sonnerat's principal statement (1.215) on the nature of the EzV, which has been used again and again by modern scholars, deserves to be cited in full. "One ought to guard oneself against including among the canonical books of the Indians the Ezourvedam, of which there is a so-called translation in the Royal Library, and which has been published in 1778. It is definitely not one of the four Vedams, notwithstanding its name. It is a book of controversy, written by a missionary at Masulipatam. It contains a refutation of a number of Pouranons devoted to Vichenou, which are several centuries later than the Vedams. One sees that the author has tried to reduce everything to the Christian religion; he did introduce a few errors, though, so that one would not be able to recognize the Missionary under the disguise of a Bramin. Anyhow, Mr. Voltaire and a few others were wrong, when they gave this book an importance which it does not deserve, and when they regarded it as canonical." Sonnerat made it clear, for the first time, that the EzV was a Christian rather than a Hindu document. Voltaire had been misled, even though he too had noticed the close connection with Christianity. On 1 October 1761 he wrote (Best. 9262) to his friend Jacob Vernes: "You would be surprised to find in this manuscript some of your own opinions, but you would also see that the ancient Brachmans who thought like you and your friends were more courageous than you."
Notwithstanding Sonnerat's discovery a number of European writers seem to have remained unaware of the controversy raised by the EzV, and they continue to regard it as an authentic document. In 1792 the French encyclopedist philosopher Jacques-Andre Naigeon (1738-1810) reprints Sainte-Croix' edition in its entirety in his Philosophie ancienne et moderne, as the sole - lengthy - "addition" to Diderot's - short- article on the philosophy of the Indians; it is labeled: "Exposition des opinions religieuses & philosophiques des Indiens." More than ten years later Carl Christian Schmidt, "minister of the counts of Leiningen-Westerburg and consistorial," inserts (1803: 19-47) in his Repertorium fur die Literatur der Bibel a whole chapter with "Passages from the Ezour-Vedam, compared with passages from the Old and New Testaments." He believes (20) that "the Commentary on the Vedam cannot have been composed without written or oral familiarity on the part of its author with the Bible and the teachings of Christianity." To be sure, it is difficult to recognize Christ under the disguise of Chrixnou; "Christ is described in a most frightful manner, partly under influence of the teachings of Christianity themselves, partly because of the attitude of the priests who did not look favorably upon the introduction of a foreign religion." Also (19), "Voltaire and others went too far; by trying to make the book more ancient than the Bible. Voltaire has made it a target of hate, with the result that people refuse to find anything worthwhile in the Commentary on the Vedam." The time has come now objectively to compare the EzV with the Bible; hence Schmidt quotes forty-four passages, via Ith's German translation, and provides references to parallel passages from both Testaments. Bohlen (1830:135) describes Schmidt as an example of those who "attack the antiquity of the Pseudo-Vedas and, through it, of Sanskrit literature generally, without however in any way questioning the authenticity of the dubious book." Another case in point is the French philosopher Felicite-Robert de Lamennais (1782- 1854), who wrote his Essai sur l'indifference en matiere de religion between 1817 and 1821. He repeatedly refers to Sainte-Croix' EzV (131, 155, 243-6 with long quotations, 300-1), without insisting on its authenticity but also without in the least doubting it. Schwab wonders (1950:168) that, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, one goes on quoting a text which by then had been totally discredited; but he adds: "at least, when it happens with the pen of a man such as Lamennais, one can say that a book, meant for missionary work, reverts to its natural usage." A similar case is reported by Soderblom (1926:330): "In the 'Samling af de alste folkslagens religionsurkunder ofver deras religiongsbegrepp och mysterier: published anonymously by C. M. Schoerbing in Stockholm 1820, there is also the translation of a passage from the 'Ezur Veda;' in this book it ranks first among the sources of Indian literature which are reproduced in it."
The staunchest champion of the authenticity of the EzV was -- and remained -- Anquetil Duperron. Although he "had passed many years of his life in India and professed a profound knowledge of its religion, antiquities and literature" (Ellis 1822:3), he refused to be convinced by the arguments put forth by Sonnerat and, later, Paulinus a Sancto Bartholomaeo. In Oupnek'hat (1801-02:1.xviii n) the EzV still figures among the source materials to be consulted on Indian philosophy. And in his notes to the French translation of Paulinus' Voyage to the East Indies (1808:3.120-2) there is a long passage in which he attacks Sonnerat "whose magisterial assertions cannot be trusted when it comes to erudition about India," and Paulinus to whom he applies the Latin maxim: plus negaret asinus quam probam philosophus" an ass can deny more than a wise man can prove."
We also know that the editor of the EzV, the Baron de Sainte-Croix, remained unaffected by the attacks until the time of his death. Silvestre de Sacy (1809:xiii) informs us: "Mr. de Sainte-Croix abandoned the idea to bring out a second edition of the Ezour-Vedam, and to enrich his notes with the help of the works of the English scholars. He did have the intention to reply to the very harsh criticisms of the Missionary (i.e. Paulinus a Sancto Bartholomaeo], but did not have the time to realize this project." Sacy himself remained faithful to Sainte-Croix, and again defended him in 1817. When Sainte-Croix (1778:2.95) uses the EzV to show that in India too the phallus cult is considered something horrible, Sacy notes (1817:2.68n) that Sonnerat and Paulinus deny the authority of the EzV and maintain that it was written by a missionary. Yet, "one might ask, I think, whether Sonnerat and Father Paulinus, when they advance such a paradox, have actually read the Ezour-Vedam. Whatever the learned missionary may say, this book, which is directed against the idolatrous cult of the Indians, would be a very strange catechism of the Christian religion."
However, the stubborn defense by Anquetil and Sainte-Croix, together with the innocent quotations by authors such as Lamennais, are now the exceptions. Rarely has the EzV been recognized as an authentic document, after 1782. One scholar even claims to have discovered the forgery independently of Sonnerat. Gottfried Less' Geschichte der Religion (1884) deals at great length with the EzV in the chapter on "The Sacred Books of the Indians" (1886:416-24). The author stresses three points. First, much in the EzV reminds us of the Bible, and must have been taken from that source. Second, passages of Pure Religion alternate with superstition, errors, and ignorance of the worst kind. Third, both in content and expression many things are European, specifically French. "If we add all this up together, I cannot help considering the book as the fabrication of some European and French missionary. A missionary such as there are many among the perfidious writers of the Lettres edifiantes! Either this missionary has contrived it in its entirety, probably with the same goal with which the Sibylline Books were once composed, in order to convert the Indian pagans to Christianity without their realizing it. Or in his translation he has changed and recast a true Indian book in such a way that one can no longer separate the author from the translator, which means that it is of no use whatever." Less finally points out that, after he had written these pages, he was confirmed in his opinion by Sonnerat, whose travel account appeared two years earlier.
I do not know whether other arguments have been added to those of Sonnerat and Less. Anyhow, as early as 1786. August Hennings no longer hesitates to write (373) that "today no one believes any longer in the authenticity of the Ezurvedam, which he [i.e. the editor] claimed to be authentic."
In the nineties the Carmelite missionary Paulinus a Sancto Bartholomaeo (1749-1806) attacked the authenticity of the EzV in his own characteristic way in at least four of his works. The most severe and substantial attack came in 1791, in Systema Brahmanicum (315-7). "The Ezourvedam is the notorious gift from the most learned prince of philosophers, Voltaire who, because of his zeal to promote Indian arts and sciences -- a zeal with which the good man was inflamed -- presented it to the Royal library in Paris. But does Voltaire really know what the Ezourvedam is? Does he know what is in the book? Does he know its author? Has he read the book? Did he make sure that this is an authentic book? The Yajiurvedam, not the Ezourvedam, contains the Samscrdamic Brahmanic precepts that teach how to perform the yagam, i.e. the sacrifice to the sun, ... The Ezourvedam, Voltaire's notorious gift that found its way into the Royal library in Paris, or rather which he pressed upon them to use it as the foundation for his own philosophical superstructure, is a manuscript composed by a missionary in India, at Masulipatam on the Coromandel coast, against the gentiles, and in which the author refutes the pagan religion of the Indians. For it to be read more eagarly by the gentiles, and in order that they be confused by reading it, he called it with a false name: Ezourvedam. See Sonnerat vol. 2, book 3, page 41. A copy of this manuscript was presented, by whom I do not know, to Mr. Voltaire, and he gave it to the Royal library. And what do modern European scholars do with it? With singular zeal and effort they scrutinize the Brahmanic law, i.e. the Ezourvedam; they comment on it, interpret it, build philosophical structures on it, and, like bags inflated and distended by the wind, with rattling cheeks, knitting their eye-brows, they educate the people and the king alike.23 But behold! one gust of wind, and the whole structure of the building lies in ruin! The book falsely called Ezourvedam, is a Christian book, which refutes the superstitions of the Brahmans in the Tamil language, and, as such, goes against the Brahmanic law. See La guida Scientifica, p. 460, note 1. 24 The author says: Si veda l'istesso Ezourvedam, ove si combattono ancora varie sorti d'Indiane superstizioni. So, the Ezourvedam goes against the Brahmanic books and the Indian pagans; and it is this book that is thrust upon us as the law, as the true source of Indian religion, from which we ought to derive a knowledge of things Indian. What shall we conclude from all this? That our philosophers are either dumb idiots, or in fact remarkable impostors. The best solution for the dilemma may well be to call them both. Their immense debates and their differences of opinion on foreign peoples clearly show that they have little if any knowledge of Indian chronology, religion, and philosophy, and that, without any basis, out of their fiery heads, they just try to deceive the imbecile and the ignorant." In Examen Historico-criticum (1792:42) the EzV is again called "not an authentic Indian work, but a spurious, supposititious, and contemptible book." Paulinus sets forth a number of criteria which help determine whether or not a particular text is a genuine Sanskrit book, and he quotes the EzV as an example to show that a text is spurious. The Museum Borgianum (1793) casually refers to "the author of the preliminary remarks on the spurious Ezourvedam" (151), and "the author of the spurious book entitled Ezourvedam" (243). The Viaggio alle Indie Orientali (1796:66) contains the remark: "the Ezour-Vedam ... , a book composed by a missionary, and falsely attributed to the Brahmins" (1808: 1.170), which provoked the above mentioned criticism by Anquetil Duperron.