First Vedic scholars did not form a unified political or academic party; they were variously conservative, liberal, and radical. Sir William Jones, the first Britisher to master Sanskrit and study the Vedas, drew fire from the eminent British historian James Mill for his "hypothesis of a high state of civilization."1 Typically, Mill believed that the people of India never had been advanced and that therefore their claim to a glorious past (which some of the early Indologists supported) was historical fantasy. At any rate, by translating the Vedas for the Western reader and thus evincing the ancient Vedic genius, the scholars increased India's prestige in the West. On the other hand, as Aubrey Menen has said, "It should be remembered that they [the English of the seventeenth century] were not the almost pagan English of today. Every man was a Christian, and it was a Christian's duty to wash the heathen in the blood of the lamb."2
Nonetheless, some of the early scholars rather admired the Vedic culture they were investigating, even though they initially conceived of themselves as bearers of Christian light to the sacred darkness of the heathens.
Sir William Jones (1746-1794), Charles Wilkins (1749-1836), and Thomas Colebrooke (1765-1837) are considered the fathers of Indology.3 Jones was educated at Oxford and there began his studies in Oriental and other languages; he is said to have mastered a total of sixteen. In addition, he wrote a Persian grammar, translated various Oriental literatures, and also practiced law. After his appointment as judge of the Supreme Court, Sir William went to Calcutta, in 1783. There he founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal and was its president throughout his life. He translated a number of Sanskrit works into English, and his investigations into languages mark him as one of the most brilliant minds of the eighteenth century. Sir William was not prone to invective against another's religion, particularly the Vedic, which he admired. In his view the narratives of the East, like those of Greece and Rome, could enrich both the English tradition and the human mind. Notwithstanding, Sir William's stance was that of "a devout and convinced Christian."4 Thus, he described the Bhagavata Purana as "a motley story,"5 and he speculated that the Bhagavata came from the Christian gospels, which had been brought to India and "repeated to the Hindus, who ingrafted them on the old fable of Ce'sava [Kesava, a name for Krsna], the Apollo of Greece."6 Of course, this theory has been discredited since records of Krsna worship predate Christ by centuries.7
H. H. Wilson ( 1786-1860), described as "the greatest Sanskrit scholar of his time,"8 received his education in London and journeyed to India in the East India Company's medical service. He became secretary of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (1811-1833), and medical duties notwithstanding, he published a Sanskrit-English dictionary. He became Boden Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford in 1833, librarian of the India House in 1836, and director of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1837. Titles credited to his name include Visnu Purana, Lectures on the Religious and Philosophical Systems of the Hindus, and Rg Veda, among others. Also, he helped Mill's History of India and edited several other translations of Eastern literatures. He also proposed that Britain restrain herself from forcing the Hindus to give up their religious traditions. Compared to the evangelists, he appears to have been a champion of the preservation of Vedic ideas. Yet we may be a little startled by his stated motives:
From the survey which has been submitted to you, you will perceive that the practical religion of the Hindus is by no means a concentrated and compact system, but a heterogeneous compound made up of various and not infrequently incompatible ingredients, and that to a few ancient fragments it has made large and unauthorized additions, most of which are of an exceedingly mischievous and disgraceful nature. It is, however, of little avail yet to attempt to undeceive the multitude; their superstition is based upon ignorance, and until the foundation is taken away, the superstructure, however crazy and rotten, will hold together.9
Ultimately, Wilson felt that the Christian culture should simply replace the Vedic culture, and he believed that full knowledge of the Indian tradition would help effect that conversion. In his modulated conservatism he seemed to echo the East India Company. Aware that the people of India would not easily give up their tradition, he made this shrewd commentary:
The whole tendency of brahminical education is to enforce dependence upon authority-in the first instance upon the guru, in the next upon the books. A learned brahmana trusts solely to his learning; he never ventures upon independent thought; he appeals to memory; he quotes texts without measure and in unquestioning trust. It will be difficult to persuade him that the Vedas are human and very ordinary writings, that the Puranas are modern and unauthentic, or even that the tantras are not entitled to respect. As long as he opposes authority to reason, and stifles the workings of conviction by the dicta of a reputed sage, little impression can be made upon his understanding. Certain it is, therefore, that he will have recourse to his authorities, and it is therefore important to show that his authorities are worthless.10
Wilson also warned that the Vedic adherents were likely to show "tenacious obstinacy" about their "speculative tenets ... particularly those regarding the nature and condition of the soul."11 But he was hopeful that by inspired, diligent effort the "specious" system of Vedic thought would be "shown to be fallacious and false by the Ithuriel spear of Christian truth."12 As the first holder of Oxford's Boden Chair for Sanskrit, H. H. Wilson delivered public lectures to promote his cause. He intended that the lectures "help candidates for a prize of two hundred pounds ... for the best refutation of the Hindu religious system."13 Wilson's writings are full of similar passages, including a detailed method for exploiting the native Vedic psychology by use of a counterfeit guru-disciple relationship. Now, in Wilson's case, the charge of bias has become aggravated by charges of invalid scholarship. Recently, Natalie P. R. Sirkin presented documented evidence that betrays Wilson as a plagiarist: his most important publications were collected manuscripts by deceased authors whose works he credited to himself, as well as works done without research. "He wrote an analysis of the Puranas without reading them."14
Another renowned pioneer Indologist was F. Max Muller (1823-1900), born at Dessau and educated in Leipzig. He learned Sanskrit and translated the ancient Hitopadesa before coming to England, in 1846. Comissioned by the East India Company to translate the Rg Veda, he lived at Oxford and wrote many books on mythology and comparative religion. Muller is best known for his series Sacred Books of the East, a fifty-volume work which he devoted himself to editing in 1875.
In 1876, Muller wrote to a friend, "India is much riper for Christianity than Rome or Greece were at the time of Saint Paul."15 He added that he would not like to go to India as a missionary, because that would make him dependent on the government. His preference was this: "I should like to live for ten years quite quietly and learn the language, try to make friends, and then see whether I was fit to take part in a work, by means of which the old mischief of Indian priestcraft could be overthrown and the way opened for the entrance of simple Christian teaching."16 Muller regarded Vedic philosophy as "Aryan legend" and "myth," and he believed that Aryan civilizations had simply helped bring about the evolution of Christianity. "History seems to think that the whole human race required gradual education before, in the fullness of time, it could be admitted to the truths of Christianity."17 Muller added, "The ancient religions of the world may have but served to prepare the way of Christ by helping through its very errors."18
H. H. Wilson's successor in Oxford's Boden Chair was Sir Monier Monier-Williams (1819-1899). Born in Bombay, Monier-Williams attended the East India Company's college and later taught there. After his appointment as a professor of Sanskrit at Oxford, in 1870, he delivered an inaugural lecture entitled "The Study of Sanskrit in Relation to Missionary Work in India." Monier-Williams also wrote a book called Hinduism (1894), which was published and distributed by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. He is best known to twentieth-century Indology students for his Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Also, he dedicated twenty-five years to founding an institution at Oxford for disseminating information about Indian literature and culture. He succeeded, and the Indian Institute formally opened in 1896. Monier-Williams disapproved of Muller's evolution-to-Christianity view of the Vedic sastra:
There can be no doubt of a greater mistake than to force these non-Christian bibles into conformity with some scientific theory of development and then point to the Christian's Holy Bible as the crowning product of religious evolution. So far from this, these non-Christian bibles are all developments in the wrong direction. They all begin with some flashes of true light and end in utter darkness.19
Monier-Williams further wrote, "It seems to me that our missionaries are already sufficiently convinced of the necessity of studying these works, and of making themselves conversant with the false creeds they have to fight against. How could an army of invaders have any chance of success in an enemy's country without a knowledge of the position and strength of its fortresses, and without knowing how to turn the batteries they may capture against the foe?"20
Another early Indologist was Theodore Goldstucker (1821-1872), born at Konigsberg and educated there and at Bonn, where he studied Sanskrit, philosophy, and Oriental languages. After settling in England, in 1850, he received appointment as a professor of Sanskrit at London's University College; he held this post until his death. Goldstucker wrote a number of books on Sanskrit literature and founded the Society for the Publication of Sanskrit Texts. He also participated in many writing and research projects concerning India. The Dictionary of Indian Biography describes him as an authority on ancient Hindu literature.21 Goldstucker regarded the people of India as being burdened by Vedic religion, which had only brought them worldwide "contempt and ridicule." Thus, he proposed to reeducate them with European values. Goldstucker wrote, "The means for combating that enemy is as simple as it is irresistible: a proper instruction of the growing generation in its ancient literature."22 In his book Inspired Writings of Hinduism, Goldstucker assailed the validity of Vedic literature. His aim was to demonstrate to the new generation of Vedic followers that he had scholastically annihilated their scripture and that they should show their appreciation by adopting European values and improving their character.
It is lamentable that this sectarian raison d'etre clouded the early study of Vedic literature. At any rate, when reading the theories or analyses of these early Indologists, the student would do well to bear in mind the bias behind the brilliant scholarship.

1- Majumdar, History and Culture, p. 338.
2 - Aubrey Menen, The Mystics, p. 118.
3 - A.L. Basham, The Wonder That Was India, p. 5.
4 - "Jones Tradition in British Orientalism," Indian Arts and Letters 20 (1946): 10.
5 - Sir William Jones, The Works of Sir William Jones, p. 395.
6 - Ibid.
7 - Richard Garbe, India and Christendom: The Historical Connection Between Their       Religions, trans. Lydia J. Robinson, pp. 214-217.
8 - C.E. Buckland, Dictionary of Indian Biography, p. 455.
9 - H.H. Wilson, Works, vol. 2, pp. 79-80.
10 - Ibid., pp. 80-81.
11 - Ibid., p. 114.
12 - Ibid., p. 115.
13 - "Horace Hayman Wilson," Emminent Orientalists, pp. 71-72.
14 - " H.H. Wilson and Gamesmanship in Indology," Asian Studies 3 (1965): 303.
15 - Nirad C. Chaudhuri, Scholar Extraordinary, p. 325.
16 - Ibid.
17 - Vivekenanda Rock Memorial Committee, India's Contribution to World Thought and Culture, pp. 167-168.
18 - Ibid.
19 - Sir Monier Monier-Williams, Religious Thought and Life in India, p. 10.
20 - Ibid.
21 - Buckland, Dictionary, p. 169.
22 - Theodore Goldstucker, Inspired Writings of Hinduism, p. 115.