Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 50.pdf

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General Index to the Sacred Books of the
East
by Moriz Winternitz
[1910]
The original Sacred Books of the East had 49 volumes. This 683 page master index, arranged as a sort
of thesaurus, was published after Max Müller's death as volume 50. It was prepared by Moriz
Winternitz, and includes a preface by A.A. Macdonell, both students and associates of Müller. Too
unwieldy to proof in its entirety at this time, this etext includes the introductions and other apparatus,
with a list of page headings as a stand-in for the main body of the book.
A GENERAL INDEX
TO THE
NAMES AND SUBJECT-MATTER
OF THE
SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST
COMPILED BY
M. WINTERNITZ
PROFESSOR OF INDIAN PHILOLOGY AND OF ETHNOLOGY IN THE GERMAN UNIVERSITY OF
PRAGUE
WITH A PREFACE BY
A. A. MACDONELL
BODEN PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Oxford, Clarendon Press
[1910]
CONTENTS
PAGE
P
REFACE
I
NTRODUCTORY
N
OTE
L
IST OF
R
ELIGIONS
R
EPRESENTED IN THE
S. B. E.
L
IST OF THE
T
RANSLATORS
K
EY TO
A
BBREVIATIONS
L
IST OF THE
V
OLUMES
O
F
T
HE
S. B. E.
THE INDEX
vii
xi
xv
xv
xvi
xvi
1–683
A
DDENDA AND
C
ORRIGENDA
; N
OTE ON THE
E
DITIONS OF
V
OLS
. 2, 4, 10 684
PREFACE
BY PROFESSOR MACDONELL
T
HE
period covered by the inception, the publication, and the completion of the
Sacred Books
of the East
exactly coincides with the thirty-four years that I have spent in Oxford. When I
matriculated, Professor Max Müller, the editor of the series, was about to begin work on the
first volume, which appeared while I was still an undergraduate. I lost no time in making his
acquaintance, for it was the influence of one of his works that had stimulated me to begin
under Professor Benfey the study of Sanskrit at the University of Göttingen, when I left
school nearly two years before. During my undergraduate days and later I owed much to
Professor Max Müller's advice and encouragement in regard to my studies, which have ever
since followed, as far as Sanskrit is concerned, much the same lines as his. I consequently
always took a lively interest in the
Sacred Books
edited by him as they successively appeared
during the course of a quarter of a century, no fewer than thirty-six volumes having a more or
less direct bearing on my own work, and fourteen of the translators being personally known
to me. Professor Max Muller lived to see all but one of the forty-nine volumes published
under his supervision. Now the fiftieth and concluding volume is at last finished when I
myself have already arrived at advanced middle age. Owing to my early relations with the
editor and my interest in the series ever since, I am glad to have this opportunity of
accompanying with a few words by way of preface the volume that brings the series to an
end.
The
Sacred Books of the East
include all the most important works of the seven non-Christian
religions that have exercised a profound influence on the civilization of the continent of Asia.
Of the Indian religions the Vedic-Brāhmanic system here claims twenty-one volumes,
Buddhism ten, and Jainism two. Eight volumes comprise translations of the
p. viii
sacred books of the Persians. Two volumes represent Islām, and six the two main indigenous
systems of China, Confucianism and Taoism. This great undertaking, planned and edited by
Professor Max Müller, has been carried out by the collaboration of twenty scholars, all
leading authorities in the special departments of Oriental learning to which the works
translated by them belong. By thus rendering these religious systems accessible as a whole to
the Western world in authoritative translations, Professor Max Müller for the first time placed
the historical and comparative study of religions on a solid foundation. But with that large
view of the aims and needs of scholarship which distinguished him, he saw that the
investigation of the vast material here collected could not become thoroughly effective
without the auxiliary aid of a separate index volume presenting that material thoroughly
digested and exhaustively classified. This work he entrusted to Dr. Winternitz, who at that
time was resident in Oxford and had been assisting him in bringing out his second edition of
the
Rigveda
with the commentary of Sāyaṇa. The result, after various unavoidable delays, is
the present volume, in which the end in view has been most successfully accomplished by the
compiler, now Professor of Indian Philology and of Ethnology in the German University of
Prague.
The experience of many years has made me a convinced believer in the great value of full
and comprehensive indexes as aids to the scholar, not only because they save his time, but
because they tend to render his results more comprehensive. This is especially true at the
present time, when the field of research has become so greatly extended in all directions. The
view which prevailed among Oriental scholars in my student days was very different. About
thirty years ago an eminent Sanskrit scholar began the publication of the
editio princeps
of an
important and intricate work, which when completed appeared without an index. The editor
declined to yield to the suggestion that he should supply one, declaring that those who wished
to consult the book on any point ought to be compelled to read it through. I feel convinced
that as a consequence of this attitude, research has been retarded in the
p. ix
branch of learning to which the work in question belongs. Even in recent years I have hardly
ever seen an index to Oriental works that has not seemed to me too meagre and consequently
inadequate as an instrument of research. Very different is the character of the present
substantial volume of 684 pages, which Professor Winternitz has compiled with so much
thoroughness and industry. I feel no hesitation in stating that it is the most comprehensive
work of the kind that has yet been published. For it is not merely a complete index like vol.
xxv of the recently published
Imperial Gazetteer of India.
It also furnishes, in articles of any
length, a scientific classification of the subject under various heads. Thus, in the article on
Agni, the Indian god of fire, the material relating to that deity is arranged under no fewer than
twenty-four subdivisions. Such fullness of treatment saves the book from the inevitable
dryness from which it would otherwise suffer. Indeed, its perusal will, I believe, prove
interesting not only to the expert, but even to the general reader. The volume, in fact,
constitutes a handbook for the study of Oriental religions as far as represented by the
Sacred
Books of the East.
By saving the student of these volumes an immense amount of time, it will
greatly lighten his labours. The methodical arrangement and the co-ordination of the vast and
varied material that they contain are also calculated to stimulate both the historical
investigation of each, and the comparative study of all of the religious systems dealt with in
the series. Hence if I were asked to select any one of the fifty volumes of the
Sacred Books of
the East
as specially useful, I should certainly choose the last. The Delegates are to be
congratulated on rounding off with so valuable an addition a series that reflects so much
lustre on the University Press, and has contributed not a little towards establishing its now
unrivalled position as a centre of Oriental publication.
A. A. MACDONELL.
O
XFORD
,
February,
1910.

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