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was not all. Jones also stressed the similarities between Vedanta
and European philosophy. It was not possible for him, he said, "to
read the Vedanta, or the many fine compositions in illustration of
it, without believing that Pythagoras and Plato derived their
sublime theories from the same fountain with the sages of
India". Pieces of Sanskrit literature accessible to him,
the six schools of Hindu philosophy and the laws of Manu, the
religious myths and symbols and various cultural and architectural
remains all testified for him to a "people with a fertile
and inventive genius", who "in some early
age...were splendid in arts and arms, happy in government; wise in
legislation, and eminent in various knowledge...".5
The role of Sir William Jones as the
father of comparative mythology is less well known among non
specialists. But it is equally significant. He compared the Gods of
India, Greece and Italy. Thus, he found Janus similar to Ganesa;
Saturn to Manu or Satyavrata; Jupiter to Indra; Hermes to Narada;
and Ceres, daughter of Saturn, to Lakshmi. He also gave arguments to
show that a group of Egyptian priests had settled down in India and
borrowed much from it. He was certain that the connection between
the two civilizations existed before Moses. This point has since
been accepted, but not widely enough, and it also remains open to
question whether Egypt communicated its knowledge of the arts and
sciences to India, or vice versa.
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