Branko Franolic
Source: www.croatianstudies.org
Filip Vezdin was an Indologist of
Croatian nationality. He was born in 1748 in Hof (Croatian
name Cimov) in Lower Austria, son of Jurje and Helena Bregunic. In the
register
of births, marriages and deaths his surname is spelt 'Vesdin'; Wesdin
and Weszdin are also found; and he was sometimes incorrectly called
Werdin or Weredin 1 He was educated in Sopronj in
Burgenland, and Linz, where he took holy orders (a Discalced Carmelite)
and the name Paulinus a Sancto Bartholomaeo. After that he studied in
Prague, then subsequently he studied oriental languages in Rome. In
1774 he was sent to Malabar as a missionary and became vicar-general on
the Malabar Coast (1776-1789). He returned to Rome in 1789 and was
seven years Professor of Oriental Languages at the Congregatio de
Propaganda Fide. In 1798, under pressure from the French military
authorities, he was forced to move to Vienna. After a period in Vienna
from 1798 to 1800, he returned to Italy and became prefect of studies
at the Propaganda in Rome, where he remained until his death on January
7th, 1806.
On his return from India, Vezdin
published several works relating to that country. His first work was
published in Rome under
the title: Sidharubam2 seu Grammatica Samscrdamica, cui
accedit Dissertatio historicocritica in Linguam Samscrdamicam, Auctore
Fr. Paulino a S. Bartholomaeo. Romae MDCCXC. (Sidharubam or Sanskrit
Grammar Preceded by a Historical Critical Discussion of the Sanskrit
Language, written by Fr. Paulinus a Sancto Bartholomaeo. Rome 1790.)
pp. 188, in 4°. It is the first grammar of Sanskrit printed in
Europe "in which the true condition, origin, excellence, antiquity,
wide distribution and originality of that language are shown, certain
books written in it are critically reviewed, and at the same time
several very old tribal liturgical sermons are briefly described and
explained" (from the title page). "The first Sanskrit grammars printed
in Europe did not come from the English Indic scholars of Calcutta;
rather they are the work of Sancto Bartholomaeo printed in Rome in 1790
and 1804." (R. Schwab, The Oriental Renaissance, Columbia Univ. Press,
New York 1984, p. 32). "The first systematic attempt to impart a more
extended acquaintance with Sanskrit to European students, was the
publication by Paulinus a Bartholomaeo, a German [sic!] missionary of
the name of Wesdin, of a short and imperfect grammar of the language,
to which he gave the title of 'Siddharubam, seu Grammatica
Samscrdamica,' Rome 1790." (H.H. Wilson, A Notice of European Grammars
and Lexicons of the Sanskrit Language, Proceedings of the Philological
Society, Vol. 1, No. 3, Jan. 27, 1843, p. 16).3
Prior to this there had been only
handwritten grammars by missionaries, of which the most important was
compiled by the German missionary, Hanxleden. Vezdin's opponents
claimed that he had merely printed Hanxleden's grammar. Vezdin himself
lists Hanxleden in the references, but in the paper De codicibus
indicis manuseriptis R.P. Joannis Ernesti Hanxleden Epistola (On the
Manuscript Indian Codices of Johann Ernest Hanxleden, Vienna 1799),
where he sets out Hanxleden's bibliography in greater detail, he denies
drawing up his grammar according to Hanxleden's: their affinity,
Paulinus says, stems from the fact that both grammars were
written on the basis of the same Indian philological works. Vezdin
brought back
Hanxleden's manuscript Sanskrit grammar to Rome and made use of part of
it: he pronounced him the best Sanskrit scholar of his time.
"The Jesuit Hanxleden, a resident at the
Malabar mission from 1699 until his death in 1732, may have been the
first European to write, in Latin, a Sanskrit grammar for his own use
and to attempt a dictionary. (It is likely that Roth, who died at Agra
in 1668, had compiled a Sanskrit grammar before Hanxleden: it has never
been found, although it could perhaps be recovered in the Vatican
archives). Hanxleden appended to his work some Christian poetry
composed in Sanskrit by catechumens. The material remained in
manuscript but was useful to Sancto Bartholomaeo." (R. Schwab, The
Oriental Renaissance, 1984, p. 32).
In the discussion of Sanskrit Paulinus
supplies illustrative extracts from various Indian languages and
dialects comprising passages of Indian verse and their Latin
translation. One example is given here in English: "Knowledge is so
infinite that it cannot be acquired in a small number of years, and so
one must separate out and gather together what is essential and what is
better, just as a swan, when swimming in the water, separates out and
drinks the better and more excellent water. " "Power, good counsel, the
expansion of territory, an abundance of fortresses or towns and
military strength, a real friend, and good mutual understanding with
neighbouring kingdoms - these are the seven true supports of a
kingdom." In 1791 Vezdin had his second work published entitled Systema
Brahmanicum Liturgicum, Mythologicum, Civile, ex Monumentis indicis
Musei Borgiani Velitris Dissertationibus historico-criticis illustravit
Fr. Paulinus a S. Bartholomaeo, Carmelita discalceatus. Romae 1791.
(The Brahmanic Liturgical, Mythological and Civil System, According to
the Indian Monuments of the Borgia Museum in Velletri, Explained in
Historic Critical Discourses by Fr. Paulinus a Sancto Bartholomaeo,
Discalced Carmelite, in Rome 1791.) XII, pp. 326, in -4°. Many
consider the Systema Vezdin's most important work. He reconstructs and
interprets the religious and civil organization in Brahmanic India,
adding a list of the manuscript works he used: primarily the dictionary
of Sanskrit, "Amarasinha" (the first part of which, "De Caelo", he
published in 1798 in Rome)4, then the epic poems "Magha"5,
"Bhagavadam", "Ramayanam" and "Yudhisdira", the book on the origin of
the world and the universe, "Sambhavan" or "Puranam", and some other
works. Vezdin divided the Systema into three groups: the Liturgy (the
rendering of sacrifices, the cult of Lingam, the phallus of the god
Shiva, penitence and feasts, and the Creation myth); the Mythology
(Indian gods and the worship of animals, the links between Indian and
other religions); and the Civil System (castes, their relation to
fields of activity, and Indian money).
This work was rendered into German by
Johann Reinhold Forster and published in Gotha in 1797 under the title:
Darstellung der brahmanischindischen Gotterlehre, Religionsgebrauche
und burgerlichen Verfassung. Nach dem lateinischen Werke des Vater
Paullinus a St. Bartholomaeo bearbeitet. Mit dreissig Kupfertafeln.
Gotha 1797. (An Account of the Brahmanic-Indian Teachings on Gods,
Religious Customs and the Civil System, Adapted from the Latin Work by
Fr. Paullinus a St. Bartholomaeo. With thirty copper plates. Gotha
1797.) in - 4°. In the foreword Forster explains why he had to
adapt the work: Paulinus's Latin original was so obscurely written that
it was difficult to understand. Forster illustrates this point,
slightly ridiculing the author.
Vezdin's works enjoyed great popularity
and were translated into many languages. Vezdin's translators were
usually his opponents, or else the irascible missionary made them his
opponents with his caustic remarks. Both Systema and Sidharubam were
published in German in the Abhandlungen uber die Geschichte,
Wissenschaften und Literatur Asiens, Band 4, Riga, 1797, 485 pp. Johan
Friedrich Kleuker supplied comments on some sections of Vezdin's
Sidharubam.
In 1791 the Congregatio de Propaganda
Fide published Vezdin's study of Indian alphabets: Alphabeta Indica, id
est Grenthamicum seu Samscrdamico-Malabaricum, Indostanum sive
Vanarense, Nagaricum vulgare et Talinganicum. Romae 1791. (Indian
Alphabets, that is, the Grantha or Sanskrit-Malabar, Hindustani or
Varanasi, Vulgar Nagari and Telegu Alphabets. Rome 1791.) in -8°,
24 pp.
On pages 8-11 of Alphabeta Indica
(Praecipua Indiae Orientalis Alphabeta inter se collata), the main
alphabets of Eastern India are mutually compared in a synoptic table.
Grantha, which appeared in India about the 5th century AD, is a
literary script of the south Dravidian, variety used by Tamil Brahmans.
"Indostanum" and "Nagaricum" are variants of the script more usually
known as Devanagari, which developed from a variety of Gupta script
through Siddhamatrika, and is the most widespread script for Sanskrit.
However, the Propaganda Fide used Dravidian Grantha (which appears in
the Congregatio's booklet published in 1772). "Talinganicum" is also
Dravidian, having developed out of the early Grantha script, but
adapted to writing on palm leaves. The more usual term for the language
written in this script today is Telegu, spoken principally in the state
of Andhra Pradesh. It is the most widely spoken of the four major
Dravidian languages of Southern India. In the same year, 1791, another
of Vezdin's works appeared, Centum Adagia Malabarica cum textu
originali et versione Latina: nunc primum in lucem edita a Paulino a
Sancto Bartholomaeo. Romae 1791, 12 p., in -4°.
In the following year Vezdin's Examen
Historico-criticum Codicum Indicorum Bibliothecae Sacrae Congregationis
de Propaganda Fide, Romae 1792, 80 p., in -4° was published in
Rome.
In 1793 the Propaganda published Vezdin's
critical analysis of the Indian codices kept in the Borgia Museum in
Velletri: Musei Borgiani Velitris codices Avenses, Peguani, Siamica
Malabarici, Indostani animadversionibus historico-criticis castigati et
illustrate Accedunt Monumenta inedita, et Cosmogonia Indico-Tibetana,
Romae 1793, 266 p., in -4°. The work was dedicated to Cardinal
Stefano Borgia, founder of the Borgia Museum in Velletri. In his
pamphlet Lettera su' Monumenti Indici del Museo Borgiano illustrati dal
Padre Paulino di S. Bartolomeo, 1793, 25 p. in -4°, Count della
Torre di Rezzonico criticised Vezdin for having neglected the influence
of Scythian civilization on the Brahmanic system of mythology and
claimed that Indian temples were of Scythian origin. Vezdin promptly
responded in his Scitismo sviluppato in riposta alla Lettera del Signor
Conte C. della Torre di Rezzonico su' Monumenti Indici del Museo
Borgiano di Velletri (Rome, 1793, 24 p. in -4°), rejecting the
theory of the Scythian origin of Indian civilization.
Both pamphlets were addressed to Cardinal
Stefano Borgia (1731-1804) who as a secretary of the Propaganda Fide
had founded the museum in Velletri which had a vast collection of
oriental, especially Coptic and Kufic manuscripts. It acquired an
international reputation and attracted many scholars, among them the
Danes Georg Zoega, Jakob Adler, Nils Show and Friedrich Munter. Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe visited the museum in 1787. Shortly after S.
Borgia's death in Lyon, 23 November 1804, Vezdin wrote a biography of
the Cardinal's life: Vitae synopsis S. Borgiae S.R.E. Cardinalis, 2
plates, Romae, 1805, 75 p., in -4°. In 1794 Vezdin published: India
Orientalis Christiana, continens Fundationes ecclesiarum, Seriem
episcoporum, Missiones, Schismata, Perscutiones, Reges, Viros
illustres. Auctore P. Paulino a S. Bartholomaeo, Romae 1794. (Christian
Eastern India, Containing the Founding of the Churches, the Sequence of
Bishops, Missions, Schisms, Persecutions, Kings, Illustrious People.
Written by Fr. Paulinus a St. Bartholomaeo, Rome 1794.) XXIII, 280 pp.,
in -4°.
This work, on the first page of which
there is an engraving representing Vezdin, is a survey of the history
of Christianity in India, accompanied by a geographic map of the
Malabar Coast. One of Paulinus's predecessors, the sixth bishop in the
Mogul empire, had been Innocentius a S. Leopoldo, a Discalced Carmelite
himself, "ex illustri de Kollonitz familia", i.e. from the aristocratic
Kolonic family, whose origins were in Croatia and who died in Malabar
in 1735 (cf. p. 54).
In 1795 Antonio Fulgoni published
Vezdin's polemical work De Veteribus Indis dissertatio, in qua
cavillationes auctoris Alphabeti Tibetani (A.A. Giorgi) castigantur.
Romae, 1795. (Dissertation on Old Indians in which are censured the
sophistries of the author [A.A. Giorgi] of the Tibetan Alphabet) 54 p.,
in -4°. The following year Antonio Fulgoni published Vezdin's most
popular work Viaggio alle Indie Orientali, umiliato alla Santita di
N.S. Papa Pio Sesto Pontefice Massimo, da Fra Paolino da S. Bartolomeo,
Carmelito scalzo. Roma 1796. (A Voyage to Eastern India, Submitted to
the Holiness of Our Holy Father Pope Pius the Sixth, the Supreme
Pontiff, by Fr. Paulinus a St. Bartholomaeo, Discalced Carmelite. Rome
1796.) XX, 404 pp., in -4°, with 12 copper plates.
"As these various works of Fr Paulinus
are sought after, on occasions people have paid quite a lot for them,"
says J.-C. Brunet in his "Manuel de Libraire' (Paris, 1863). Viaggio
was Vezdin's most popular work and it was translated into many
languages, German being the first (1798 and 1815): Des Fra Paolino da
S.B. Reise nach Ostindien, mit Anmerkungen von J.R. Forster. (Forster
also adapted Systema). Vezdin says of this translation that it is
"mutilated ( ...) distorted." It was translated, together with the
notes, from German into English by William Johnston (A Voyage to the
East Indies: containing an Account of the Manners, Customs ... of the
Natives, With a Geographical Description of the Country. Collected from
Observations made ... between 1776 and 1789 ... With notes and
illustrations by J.R. Forster ... Translated from the German by W.
Johnston, pp. XII 478. Vernor and Hood, London, 1800, in -8°).
Johann Reinhold Forster, the German
translator who was a Professor of Natural History in the University of
Halle, says in his Preface: "It is the more valuable, as the author
understood the Tamulic or common Malabar language; and, what is of more
importance, was so well acquainted with the Samscred, (a language
exceedingly difficult,) as to be able to write a Grammar of it. It
appears from some of his quotations, that he understood also the
English and French. His knowledge of the Indian languages has enabled
him to rectify our orthography, in regard to the names of countries,
cities, mountains and rivers. The first European travelers who visited
India were, for the most part, merchants, soldiers, or sailors; very
few of them were men of learning, or had enjoyed the advantage of a
liberal education. These people wrote down the names of places merely
as they struck their ear, and for that reason different names have been
given to the same place in books of travels, maps and military
journals. To this may be added, that the authors were sometimes Dutch,
sometimes French, and sometimes English; consequently each followed a
different orthography, which has rendered the confusion still greater.
The author of the present work thought it of importance to correct
these errors; a task for which he seems to have been well qualified by
his knowledge of the Indian dialects. Thus, for example, he changes the
common, but improper, appellation Coromandel into Ciolamandala,
Pondichery into Puduceri, etc; but the Reader ought to remember, that,
as the author wrote in Italian, his c before e and i must be pronounced
tch, etc. As the changed orthography of the names of countries, cities
and rivers, rendered a Geographical Index in some measure necessary,
one has been added at the end of the work. Readers acquainted with the
tedious labour required to form such a nomenclature, and who may have
occasion to use it, will, no doubt, thank the translator for his
trouble." The first page of Viaggio has a portrait of the author. The
text begins: "L'aimable Nannette, a French ship under the command of M.
Berteaud, sailed to anchorage off Puduceri on the 25th of July 1776.
The arduous sea journey lasting six months and six days had unsettled
our hearts and made fast our desires to the land. Our eyes were fixed
on the coastal beach. No one talked of anything other than disembarking
as soon as possible, when the dusk, which is exceptionally brief in
India, rendered our desires futile and with a dark veil night covered
land and sea." Puduceri is Pondichery, a town under French
administration. At that time the governor of the town was Law de
Lauriston, who had been born there. Vezdin spoke well of him, as a
reasonable and moderate man.6 On pages 327-328 of Viaggio
Vezdin recorded Altro Canto in Lingua malabarica (Another song in the
Malabar language). Viaggio is not merely a travelogue but also a
compendium of geographic and historico-cultural information about the
India that our missionary had got to know. The song in glory of
Krishna, is accompanied by notes. "Oh, you young parrot, crown of
people and its most precious joy. Tell, please tell of the noble deeds
of the god Krishna. With your song bring delight and pleasure to our
hearts. Lift the long suffering from our spirits. Oh, beautiful bird,
so that you should tell of those noble deeds we shall treat you to as
much sweet milk, sugar and bananas as you want. And having made a tasty
meal from all this for yourself, you will sit down and start the
story."
In the note the author explains: "The
parrot is the emblem of the goddess Sarasvati, the protectress of
eloquence."
The French translation from the Italian
came out in 1808: Voyage aux Indes orientales, par le P. Paulin de S.
Bartholemy, Missionaire. Traduit de l'italien par M***, avec les
Observations de Mm. Anquetil-Duperron, J.R. Forster el Silvestre de
Sacy, et une Dissertation de M. Anquetil sur la Propriete individuelle
et fonciere dans l'Inde et en Egypte. A Paris, 1808. (A Voyage to the
East Indies, Written by Fr. Paulinus a St Bartholomaeo, Missionary.
Translated from the Italian
by M***, with Observations by Messrs Anquetil-Duperron, J.R. Forster
and Silvester de Sacy, and a Dissertation by M. Anquetil on Individual
and Land Property
in India and Egypt. Paris, 1808.)
The work was translated by an amateur and
was first known in manuscript. The printed edition includes the notes
supplied by Forster in his German translation. Anquetil says he is not
very happy about undertaking this task as he is in "open war" with the
missionaries in virtually all matters, but he will nevertheless prepare
the work, as he considers that this will be "of use to my homeland".
Both Anquetil and Paulinus were dead before the editing of the French
translation was complete. De Sacy finished it adding a few observations
on Anquetil's commentary and taking at times the side of Paulinus.
Anquetil was one of the few people who knew how to write the
missionary's surname in the correct original form, i.e. Vesdin. In the
editor's foreword to Voyage it is stated that "The Voyage by Fr.
Paulinus (... ) was translated into several languages and enjoyed great
fame in the whole of Europe. However, so far we have not had a French
translation, and this apparent neglect of an interesting and
instructive travelogue
should undoubtedly be ascribed to the political events of which France
was the scene at the time of that work's publication."
On Page III of Voyage, Anquetil gives his
opinion of Vezdin's comparativist work. Anquetil queries the
reliability and accuracy of the forms and meanings supplied by
Paulinus, observing that not even his teachers had been reliable.
("This is a simple critical observation"). In the same note he
reproaches Vezdin for his comparativist work, which is precisely what
makes us view Vezdin today as especially important: "Instead of wasting
time by providing 24, 30, 100 pages and so on, which prove little or
nothing, instead of comparing 100, 200 words of various languages, the
missionary would have done better to enrich the public with a good and
complete translation of 'Amarasinha' or publish Hanxleden's and
Biscoping's dictionaries." After these sometimes very caustic critical
observations Anquetil ends in a conciliatory and friendly tone: II it
is amusing to see two almost decrepit old men ending up by wearing
themselves out for the progress of Indian literature, while a
thousand strong, fresh and well-fed young people, having lolled around
in bed,
go off to pester India just to pile up the rupees."
In 1798 Vezdin published his comparative
study De Antiquitate et Affinitate Linguae Zendicae, Samscrdamicae, et
Germanicae Dissertatio. Auctore P. Paulino a S. Bartholomaeo, Patavii
1798-99, pp. 56, in -4°. (Dissertation on the Antiquity and
Affinity of the Zend, Sanskrit and German Languages. By Fr. Paulinus a
St. Bartholomaeo, Padua, 1799.) This work was
dedicated to Stefano Borgia who was at that time Prefect of the
Congregatio de
Propaganda Fide.
This is the first methodical study of the
affinity of Indo-European languages. In it Vezdin displays a sound
knowledge of previous theories concerning the emergence and affinity of
languages. The assertion that there was an affinity between Old Persian
and Sanskrit had been made before by William Jones (1746-1794), but, as
Paulinus says, "nulla suae assertionis produxisset documenta", he did
not set out any evidence to support his assertion. On page LIII of De
Antiquitate (Vocabula.) we find an example of how Vezdin compares words
from different languages, in this case, Sanskrit and German. For the
moment Latin is merely for elucidation. For German words Paulinus also
took pains to find the oldest forms he could and always referred to
dictionaries. The words are predominantly German, but there are also
Gothic ones.
Vezdin identifies the importance of
comparing terms belonging to the "original link of mutual
communication", and in his analysis strives to find the oldest possible
recorded forms. "Pliny, in Historia naturalis, book VI, chapter 17,
says: 'The Indians are virtually the only nation never to have moved
out of their country.' We must, then, determine the ancient period in
which foreign (externa) words were added to the Sanskrit language, and
if I am not mistaken, many words common to several languages should be
attributed to that first period spent together by the nations in the
Sennar plain and to the original link in mutual communication which
existed before the nations scattered, because these same words do not
denote skills or mutual trading affairs, or unusual foreign things, but
rather what is basic to human need. There are not so many of these
foreign words, nor are they so significant, for anyone to claim on the
basis of them that these languages are somehow derived from the
Sanskrit tongue; because of the few nouns, the roots of which cannot be
shown, no intelligent person will say that one language is a dialect of
another tongue or claim that they are akin, especially as there is no
or hardly any affinity between the verbs and particles. The German,
Slav, Greek and Latin languages are thus compared with Sanskrit; but
the same does not hold true for Zend, which agrees with Sanskrit in
nouns, verbs and particles. It remains for us to show the antiquity and
affinity of the Zend and Sanskrit languages on the basis of old words
brought down by the ancient Greek and Latin writers for our
dissertation to be clearer and more certain." (p. XXXVI). Vezdin was
among those who first, in the 18th century, noted in detail the
striking similarity of Sanskrit to Latin and Greek. Thus were set in
motion the investigations that led to the discovery of the
interrelationship of all the Indo- European languages, which in turn
laid the foundation of modern comparative and historical linguistics.
In 1800 Antonio Fulgoni published
Vezdin's polemical tract Jornandis Vindiciae de Var Hunnorum. Auctore
P. Paulino a S. Bartholomaeo, Romae 1800. (A Search for Justice for
Jornandes in View of the Hunn word "var". Rome, 1800.) pp. 12, in
-4°. This work was again dedicated to Stefano Borgia. Vezdin was
not only an Indologist; he was also intensely interested in linguistic
questions nearer home. In this polemical tract, which though a complete
failure in its ultimate objective is almost similar to more modern
philological dissertations, he endeavors to establish the meaning of
the Hunn term "var" which appears in the sixth-century Alani historian
Jordanis (to whom Vezdin refers by the Gothic form of the name,
Jomandes). Vezdin identifies this word with the Hungarian "var" and
erroneously translates it as "river", which does not fit in with the
Hungarian.
On the first page of the tract Vezdin
writes: "Even today the Slavs, Bulgars and Croats call the Magyars
Ugrians," the name which starts with the specifically Croat form
"Ugri". It is interesting to note that Vezdin was familiar with
Sajnovics's work on
the genetic affinity of the Hungarian and Lapp languages, which was one
of the
first methodical comparative studies.7 Our missionary says
that "even as a lad I worked through it with admiration" (he would have
been at least 22 years old). This reading obviously spurred him on to
further comparativist work. He also refers to S. Gyarmathi's Affinitas
Linguae Hungaricae8 to support his argument.
In 1802 Antonio Fulgoni published
Vezdin's dissertation De Latini Sermonis Origine el cum Orientalibus
Linguis Connexione Dissertatio. F. Paulini a S. Bartholomaeo, Romae
1802. (Dissertation on the Origin of the Latin Language and its
Connection with the Oriental Languages. By Fr. Paulinus a St.
Bartholomaeo. Rome, 1802.) pp. 8 + 24, in -4°. While in the
dissertation on the affinity of Zend and Sanskrit he expressed his
ideas cautiously, he is much bolder when talking about the connection
between Latin and Sanskrit and explains that the two oriental
languages, and especially Sanskrit, in the majority of their words "so
happily and precisely accord with the Latin terms and so similarly
alter their verbs that two peas in a pod are barely more alike. " He
reiterates that they correspond precisely in basic expressions. All
this leads him to believe that the ancient Hindus and Latins were one
stratum of people in ancient times (unus stirpis homine fuisse), and he
calls the original language "unus primordialis Samscrdamicus sermo" (p.
10); the proto-language was a cruder, primordial Sanskrit. Vezdin leads
the
field with his detailed and well-argued discussion of the connection
between
these languages and in the way he proves that connection. However, J.F.
Kleuker,
who published his philological studies in Riga and knew Vezdin's
Sanskrit work,
had already been pondering the common root of German, Greek and Latin
with Sanskrit (as our missionary asserts, cf. p. 10- 11), while setting
out the affinity
between the first three of these.9
On pages 15-22 of De Latini Sermonis
Origine, Vezdin compares Sanskrit and Latin words. Despite his listing
the pairs of words without any particular order, he nevertheless
demonstrates their affinity quite convincingly. Talking about the
difficulty of reconstructing the original form from the final one, he
provides a particularly interesting example on page 18: "From Anna we
have derived (apud nos factum est) Anicka, Ance, Ancza, Anka, Nanka,
Nanna, Nannetta, Nanenka." Obviously, these are all Slav or Slavicized
diminutives. There is no doubt as to what he means by "we" (apud nos),
as is seen from the work to which he directs us in connection with
these different forms of the name "Ana": "Beitrag zur praktischen
Diplomatik fur Slaven (Contribution to a Practical Study of Slav
Documents, Vienna, 1801, p. 118). The author, Fr. Caroli Alter,
custodian of the Vienna University library and reviewer of many of
Vezdin's dissertations, talks in "Beitrag" about the notation of time
in Slav documents and, in this connection, about religious holidays and
proper names.
In 1804 the Propaganda Fide printed
Vezdin's Vyacarana seu Locupletissima Samscrdamicae Linguae Institutio,
in usum Fidei Praeconum in India Orientali, et Virorum Litteratorum in
Europa adornata a P. Paulino a S. Bartholomaeo, Carmelita Discalceato,
Collegii Urbani S. Congr. de Prop. Fide Studiorum Praefecto, S. Congr.
Indicis Consultore, Mission. Oo. Syndico, Academiarum Veliternae, R.
Neapolitanae, Caesaro-Regiae Patavinae Socio, et Galliae Scientiarum
Instituto Correspondente. Romae 1804. (Vyakarana or the Most Ample
Arrangement of the Sanskrit Language for the Use of Messengers of the
Faith in Eastern India and Literary Men in Europe, Embellished by Fr.
Paulinus a St. Bartholomaeo, Discalced Carmelite, Learned Prefect of
the Collegium Urbanum of the Holy Congregation for the Promotion of the
Faith, Counsel for the Index of the Holy Congregation, Principal for
Eastern Missions, Member of the Velletri, Royal Neapolitan and Imperial
Royal Paduan Academies, and Corresponding Member of the French Academy
of Sciences. Rome, 1804.) p. 333, in -4°. This Sanskrit grammar
also was dedicated to Cardinal Stefano Borgia. On page VI Vezdin lists
the books dedicated to Cardinal S. Borgia by various scholars. Paulinus
dedicated the majority of his works to Cardinal Borgia, who gathered
around himself a number of researchers.10
In writing his Vyacarana, Vezdin had to
tackle many difficult problems; he was committed to presenting the
grammatical characteristics of Sanskrit from the point of view of
Latin. In this respect, he was following a tradition: Renaissance
grammarians and scholars continued, in the manner of Donatus (mid-4th
century AD) and Priscian (about 500 AD), to impute Latin grammatical
traits to non-Latin idioms, and grammars of European vernaculars were
cast almost entirely in the Roman mould. This approach which rests upon
disclosing and studying similarities between the two languages,
inevitably leads to the discovery of differences
in the structures of the two languages and the outline of a contrastive
analysis.
Vyacarana is divided into seven chapters.
In the first chapter, the sounds and the script of Sanskrit are
analysed (p. 1-19). In the second and third chapters the declension of
nouns ending in a vowel (p. 20-38) or a consonant (p. 39-54) are
presented. Vezdin gives a rather clear and complete description of the
system of the inflection of Sanskrit nouns. In the third chapter Vezdin
also
deals with personal, demonstrative and relative pronouns (p. 54-59),
with grammatical
gender (p. 60-63), adverbs and prepositions (p. 64-65); and conversion
of substantives into adjectives and vice versa (p. 69-70). In chapter
four, the conjugation
of different kinds of verbs is systematically presented (p. 72-122).
Vezdin deals with the morphology of the verb extensively, trying to
find a Sanskrit equivalent for every Latin conjugational pattern.
In chapter five, the syntactic function
of different inflexional endings (noun cases) is exposed (p. 125-139).
Chapter six deals
with vowel mutation in compound nouns (p. 140-146), with adverbs (p.
146-151), supines, participles and gerundives. Vezdin tries to provide
some analogical forms in Sanskrit which would correspond to Latin
supines and gerundives. The last chapter (Nomenclator
Latino-Samscrdamicus) gives Sanskrit equivalents of various Latin terms
and vice versa (p. 154-221). Pages 222-298 (Sankirnavargga, classis
miscellanea variorum vocabulorum ordine alphabetico) contain a
Sanskrit-Latin dictionary. Pages 299-307 contain a list of Nanartha
vargga (group of antonyms), i.e. Sanskrit nouns and verbs which
have opposite meanings and Latin adjectives which have two or more
semantic equivalents in Sanskrit. Sanskrit cardinal and ordinal numbers
are summarily dealt with
on page 326.
As one can appreciate from the foregoing,
Vezdin is the author of many learned books on the East, which were
highly valued in their day and have contributed much to the study and
knowledge of Indian literature and Indian life. Although we are
indebted to him for the first printed Sanskrit grammar, he seems
somehow to have fallen into oblivion. "Between 1780 and 1800 the
conscientious research of Anquetil and Sancto Bartholomaeo coincided
with the scientific foundations being laid in Calcutta." (R. Schwab,
op. cit. p. 134-135). After his return from India, Vezdin had twenty
books published in Europe, dealing with Sanskrit and Indian
civilization. All were written in Latin, except Viaggio (1790) and
Scitismo svilupato (1793). Little is known about his grammars
Sidharubam (1790) and Vyacarana (1804) and they do not seem to have had
any direct bearing on the origins of Indology. However, "Paulinus a
Sancto Bartholomaeo collected some important materials as much
linguistic as theological in nature." (R, Schwab, op. cit., p. 32).
Therefore, the entire opus of this forgotten pioneer of Indic studies
deserves to be critically examined and in the light of this analysis,
Vezdin's contribution to Indic studies. rightly acknowledged.
NOTES
1 I. Slamnig, Filip Vezdin
(1748-1806) pionir evropske indologije, Rad, JAZU, Vol. 350 (1968), p.
550-554.
2 According to Michael
O'Keefe, Sidharubam is a garbled version of the Sanskrit siddha rupa
'correct form'. It probably comes via the Malayalam language spoken in
Kerala. I have traced a small Sanskrit grammar bearing the title:
Siddha-rupa (Paradigms of Sanskrit grammar. Followed by the Ganashtaka,
Vagisi-stava, and Mukundashtaka hymns), pp. 45, VII, Kottakal, 1920.
3 "This first grammar of the
Sanskrit language, being a translation of an original work, is
accurate, although not comprehensive. It is printed with Roman letters
in all except the first section, in which the Sanskrit words are
expressed in the characters of the Tamil alphabet, of very indifferent
typographic execution. The Roman representation of the words in
accordance with the original Tamil, is disfigured by corruptions
derived from the peculiar pronunciation of the natives of that part of
the Peninsula of which Tamil is the vernacular idiom, by whom soft
labials are substituted for hard, and soft dentals or semivowels for
hard dentals, in certain situations. Thus Someba is written for Somapa,
and bhavadi for bhavati, and vrikshal for vrikshat. With respect also
to the Roman orthography, a most barbarous-looking equivalent is not
unfrequently given for the original, depending partly upon German and
partly upon Italian pronunciation, and which it often requires some
consideration to identify; kashtasrita is not at once recognisable in
kaszdaschrida. The grammar is followed by two vocabularies, one Latin
and Sanskrit, arranged according to the analogous senses of the words;
the other, Sanskrit and Latin, arranged alphabetically. " (H.H. Wilson,
Ibid., p. 16.)
4 Amarasimha was the
earliest and the best known Sanskrit lexicographer. He was the author
of the famous lexicon Amarakosa and his name became an eponym for a
Sanskrit dictionary, just as Calepin, the Latin Dictionary of the 16th
century was named after Ambrosio Calepino. Amarasimha was a Buddhist
and may have lived in the 5th century AD or even earlier. By tradition,
he was a contemporary of Kalidasa, the greatest poet and dramatist in
Sanskrit literature.
5 Vezdin possessed a
fragment of the book of Magha, the 7th century poet who wrote a long
poem on an incident in the life of Krishna.
6 It was his son, Jacques
Law de Lauriston, who commanded the French troops who took Dubrovnik on
the 26th of May 1806 during Napoleon's campaigns in Croatia. Law de
Lauriston was a descendant or relation of the Law who made himself
known by his speculations under the regency of the Duke of Orleans.
7 Joannes Sajnovics,
Demonstratio Idioma Ungarorum et Lapponum idem esse ... Hafniae anno
1760. Hafniae (Copenhagen) [1770]. Tyrnaviae (Bratislava) 1772.
8 Samuel Gyarmathi,
Affinitas Linguae Hungaricae cum Linguis Fennicae originis gramatice
demonstrata; nec non vocabularia dialectorum Tataricum et Sclavicarum
cum Hungarica comparata. Gottingae, 1799.
9 "It is easy to tell from
the existing [Sanskrit] pronouns that German, Greek and Latin are
contained in them, only for words of that kind, i,e. pronouns, for
which a linguistic basis and origin need be proved, does it follow that
the last named languages share a common distant source in Sanskrit."
Kurzer Auszug aus des Fr. Paullinus a S. Bartholomaeo Sidharubam oder
Samskrdamischen Grammatik mit einigen Bemerkungen uber einzelne Punkte
des Inhalts der genannten Schrift von J.F. Kleuker in the Abhandlungen
uber die Geschichte ... Wissenschaften und Literatur Asiens, Bd 4, Riga
1797 (p. 307-308).
10 The circle of S. Borgia's
admirers included the Makarska vicar-general, Ivan Josip Pavlovic Lucic
(Paulovichius Lucichius, 1755-1818), who was quite a prolific writer in
Latin, Croatian and Italian. On page VII of Vyacarana Vezdin also cites
one of Pavlovic's works, (De Theologo Episcopi Epistola, Rhagusii
(Dubrovnik), 1801, in -8°), and in general mentions him in
favourable terms in his prefaces. A book with a dedication to Borgia,
which was known to Vezdin, also came from the apostolic vicar in
Turkish Bosnia, Grgur Vareski ("Vrhu kraljevstva Marijina govorenja"
-To the Head of the Kingdom of Mary's Words, Dubrovnik, 1799. This is a
translation of the work Regno di Maria by A. Borgia).
The above text was published in:
Branko Franolic, Filip Vezdin's Contribution to Indic Studies in
Europe at the Turn of the 18th Century. Paris: Nouvelles Editions
Latines, 1991. 22p.
Filip Vezdin or Wesdin, pioneer of European Indology
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