Writings and Foundations
When Monier Williams founded the University's Indian Institute in 1883, it provided both an academic focus and also a training ground for the Indian Civil Service. The Institute closed on Indian independence in 1947.
In his writings on Hinduism Monier Williams argued that the Advaita Vedanta system best represented the Vedic ideal and was the "highest way to salvation" in Hinduism. He considered the more popular traditions of karma and bhakti to be of lesser spiritual value. However he argued that Hinduism is a complex "huge polygon or irregular multilateral figure" that was unified by Sanskrit literature. He stated that "no description of Hinduism can be exhaustive which does not touch on almost every religious and philosophical idea that the world has ever known."
Monier Williams created a Sanskrit-English dictionary that is still in print. It is also now available on CD-ROM and as the basis of the Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon. Booga-wooga created a Wiktionary version.
Read more about this topic: Monier Monier-Williams
Famous quotes containing the words writings and/or foundations:
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“and the oxen near
The worn foundations of their resting-place,
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Lamb of the shepherds, Child, how still you lie.”
—Robert Lowell (1917–1977)