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59-523: Sir John George Woodroffe (15 December 1865 – 16 January 1936), also known by his pseudonym Arthur Avalon , was a British Orientalist whose extensive and complex published works on the Tantras , and other Hindu traditions, stimulated a wide-ranging interest in Hindu philosophy and yoga . Woodroffe was the eldest son of James Tisdall Woodroffe and his wife Florence, daughter of James Hume. James Woodroffe

118-511: A Regius Professor of Hebrew since 1540 (the fifth-oldest regular chair there), and the university's chair in Arabic was founded in about 1643. Oxford followed for Hebrew in 1546 (both chairs were established by Henry VIII). One distinguished scholar was Edmund Castell , who published his Lexicon Heptaglotton Hebraicum, Chaldaicum, Syriacum, Samaritanum, Aethiopicum, Arabicum, et Persicum in 1669, and scholars like Edward Pococke had traveled to

177-639: A global adversary. The end of the Cold War caused an era that has been marked by discussions of Islamist terrorism framing views on the extent to which the culture of the Arab world and of Islam is a threat to that of the West. The essence of the debate reflects a presupposition for which Orientalism has been criticized by the Orient being defined exclusively by Islam. Such considerations were seen to have occurred in

236-406: A great increase in knowledge of Asia among Western specialists, the increasing political and economic involvement in the region, and particularly the realization of the existence of close relations between Indian and European languages by William Jones , there emerged more complex intellectual connections between the early history of Eastern and Western cultures. Some of the developments occurred in

295-476: A major factor in the relative failure of progress of Eastern societies. The study of Islam was particularly central to the field since most people living in the geographical area that was termed as the Orient were Muslims. The interest in understanding Islam was fueled partly by economic considerations of the growing trade in the Mediterranean region and by the changing cultural and intellectual climate of

354-415: A master themselves. In some guilds, apprentices were not allowed to marry until they had obtained full membership. In its original meaning, the term was generally restricted to tangible objects, but in some cases, where guilds covered the creators of intangible products, the same system was used. The best-known example today is Richard Wagner 's opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1868), where much of

413-482: A set of Aberdeen guild regulations dated to 1579, whereas masterpiece is first found in 1605, already outside a guild context, in a Ben Jonson play. Masterprize was another early variant in English. In English, the term rapidly became used in a variety of contexts for an exceptionally good piece of creative work, and was "in early use, often applied to man as the 'masterpiece' of God or Nature". Originally,

472-423: A variety of means went on display in museums throughout Europe. Modern study was influenced by imperialist attitudes and interests and by the fascination for the "exotic" East for Mediterranean and European writers and thinkers, and was captured in images by artists, which is embodied in a repeatedly-surfacing theme in the history of ideas in the West, called " Orientalism ." Since the 20th century, scholars from

531-474: A wide range of Yoga and Tantra topics. T.M.P. Mahadevan wrote: "By editing the original Sanskrit texts, as also by publishing essays on the different aspects of Shaktism , he showed that the religion and worship had a profound philosophy behind it, and that there was nothing irrational or obscurantist about the technique of worship it recommends." John Woodroffe's Sanskrit tutor and "guru" who he retained in order to study tantra, first insisted that he sleep on

590-755: A writer on an Indian esoteric system taking a name imbued with western esotericism. The name at any rate seems to hint at initiations and the possession of occult secrets. The Arthurian legends are bound up with the story of the Holy Grail and its quest. This was a symbol of esoteric wisdom, especially to Theosophists who appropriated the legend. Anyone who named himself after King Arthur or the mystic isle of Avalon would be thought to be identifying himself with occultism, in Theosophists' eyes." His writings (published under his own name, as well as Arthur Avalon) include: Oriental studies The European study of

649-432: Is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity , skill, profundity, or workmanship . Historically, a "masterpiece" was a work of a very high standard produced to obtain membership of a guild or academy in various areas of the visual arts and crafts. The form masterstik is recorded in English or Scots in

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708-400: Is no longer produced under supervision. In Nuremberg , Germany, between 1531 and 1572, apprentices who wished to become master goldsmith were required to produce columbine cups , dies for a steel seal, and gold rings set with precious stones before they could be admitted to the goldsmiths' guild. If they failed to be admitted, then they could continue to work for other goldsmiths but not as

767-403: Is the oldest school of Sinology and Oriental Studies of Continental Europe . The late 18th century saw the start of a great increase in the study of the archaeology of the period, which was to be an ever-more important aspect of the field in the next century. Egyptology led the way and, as with many other ancient cultures, provide linguists with new material for decipherment and study. With

826-848: The Calcutta High Court . He was soon made a Fellow of the Calcutta University and appointed Tagore Law Professor. He collaborated with Ameer Ali in a widely used textbook, Civil Procedure in British India . He was appointed Standing Counsel to the Government of India in 1902, and in 1904 was raised to the High Court Bench. He served there for eighteen years, becoming Chief Justice in 1915. After retiring to England he served as Reader in Indian Law to

885-672: The Crusades produced relatively little in the way of scholarly interchange, the eruption of the Mongol Empire had strategic implications for the Crusader kingdoms and for Europe itself, which led to extended diplomatic contacts . During the Age of Exploration , European interest in mapping Asia , especially the sea routes, became intense, but most was pursued outside the universities. University Oriental studies became systematic during

944-602: The Eastern Roman Empire (the remaining enemies of the Germanic ) has become an umbrella term for all peoples in the world considered “non-Western”, including peoples who were not even from the circum-Mediterranean culture, such as the Sinosphere and Indosphere . The Greeks , despite being former Eastern Romans and Eastern Orthodox , came to be considered “Westerners” from the 19th century onwards thanks to

1003-532: The Greek translations to Arabic was an important factor in the Middle Ages . Linguistic knowledge preceded a wider study of cultures and history, and as Europe began to expand its influence in the region, political, and economic factors, that encouraged growth in its academic study. In the late 18th century, archaeology became a link from the discipline to a wide European public, as artefacts brought back through

1062-526: The Oriens - and Occidens -divided administration of Roman Emperor Diocletian in the late 3rd century AD, and the division of the Roman Empire into portions that spoke Latin and Greek . The classical world had an intimate knowledge of its Ancient Persian neighbours (and usually enemies) but very imprecise knowledge of most of the world farther east, including the " Seres " (Chinese). However, there

1121-632: The Philhellenists and the London Conference of 1832 (which put a Germanic monarchy to rule the Greeks without their permission). In most North American and Australian universities, the field of Oriental studies has now been replaced by that of Asian studies . In many cases, the field has been localised to specific regions, such as Middle Eastern or Near Eastern studies, South Asian studies, and East Asian Studies. That reflects

1180-760: The Renaissance , with the linguistic and religious aspects initially continuing to dominate. There was also a political dimension, as translations for diplomatic purposes were needed even before the West engaged actively with the East beyond the Ottoman Empire . A landmark was the publication in Spain in 1514 of the first Polyglot Bible , containing the complete existing texts in Hebrew and Aramaic, in addition to Greek and Latin. At Cambridge University , there has been

1239-524: The University of Oxford . He died on 18 January 1936 in France. Woodroffe was married to the concert pianist Ellen Elizabeth Grimson from 1902. John Woodroffe's interest in tantra was sparked due to a court case, in which he felt he suddenly could not focus on the facts of the case. After mentioning this to his assistant, he was informed that a "tantrik sadhu" had been hired to perform a mantra outside

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1298-451: The "true practise of the Art & Mystery of Goldsmithry is not only grown into great decays but also dispersed into many parts, so as now very few workmen are able to finish & perfect a piece of plate singularly with all the garnishings & parts thereof without the help of many & several hands...". The same goldsmithing organization still requires the production of a masterpiece but it

1357-463: The 11th century, such contacts became rarer in Spain. Chairs of Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic were briefly established at Oxford and in four other universities after the Council of Vienne (1312). There was a vague but increasing knowledge of the complex civilisations of China and of India from which luxury goods (notably cotton and silk textiles as well as ceramics ) were imported. Although

1416-525: The 17th century, the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths , for instance, required an apprentice to produce a masterpiece under their supervision at a "workhouse" in Goldsmiths' Hall . The workhouse had been set up as part of a tightening of standards after the company became concerned that the level of skill of goldsmithing was being diluted. The wardens of the company had complained in 1607 that

1475-489: The East and wrote on the modern history and society of the Eastern peoples. The University of Salamanca had Professors of Oriental Languages at least in the 1570s. In France, Jean-Baptiste Colbert initiated a training programme for Les jeunes de langues (The Youth of Languages), young linguists in the diplomatic service, like François Pétis de la Croix , who, like his father and his son, served as an Arabic interpreter to

1534-440: The East with the concept of "the East" itself. The terms Oriental/Eastern and Occidental/Western are both inclusive concepts that usefully identify large-scale cultural differences. Such general concepts do not preclude or deny more specific ones. Masterpiece A masterpiece , magnum opus , or chef-d'œuvre ( French for 'master of work'; pl.   chefs-d'œuvre ; French: [ʃɛ.d‿œvʁ] )

1593-722: The King. The study of the Far East was pioneered by missionaries, especially Matteo Ricci and others during the Jesuit China missions , and missionary motives were to remain important, at least in linguistic studies. During the 18th century, Western scholars reached a reasonable basic level of understanding of the geography and most of the history of the region, but knowledge of the areas least accessible to Western travelers, like Japan and Tibet , and their languages remained limited. The Enlightenment thinkers characterized aspects of

1652-521: The context of Franco–British rivalry for the control of India. Liberal economists, such as James Mill , denigrated Eastern civilizations as static and corrupt. Karl Marx , himself of Jewish origin, characterized the Asiatic mode of production as unchanging because of the economic narrowness of village economies and the state's role in production. Oriental despotism was generally regarded in Europe as

1711-607: The courthouse to "cloud his mind" in favor of the defendant. A constable was dispatched who chased the sadhu away. John Woodroffe said that his mind instantly cleared when the sadhu was stopped. This event sparked a lifelong interest in tantrik and yoga studies. Alongside his judicial duties he studied Sanskrit and Hindu philosophy and was especially interested in Hindu Tantra . He translated some twenty original Sanskrit texts and, under his pseudonym Arthur Avalon , published and lectured prolifically on Indian philosophy and

1770-467: The fact that sensitivity to the term "Oriental" has been heightened in a more politically correct atmosphere, although it began earlier: Bernard Lewis' own department at Princeton University was renamed a decade before Said wrote his book, a detail that Said gets wrong. By some, the term "Oriental" has come to be thought offensive to non-Westerners. Area studies that incorporate not only philological pursuits but identity politics may also account for

1829-517: The fact that the Orient is not a single monolithic region but rather a broad area, encompassing multiple civilizations . The generic concept of Oriental studies has to its opponents lost any use that it may have once had and is perceived as obstructing changes in departmental structures to reflect actual patterns of modern scholarship. In many universities, like the University of Chicago , the faculties and institutions have been divided. The Biblical languages may be linked with theological institutes, and

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1888-536: The floor, or he would be unable to pronounce the Sanskrit properly, due to over-relaxing of the neck. He promptly had his bed removed, and replaced it with a thin mat. John Woodroffe's Sanskrit studies led him to become even more precise in his Sanskrit than most native speakers, leaving him in a position to translate the most difficult Sanskrit texts. Woodroffe was initiated into a yoga lineage similar to that of Lahiri Mahasay, now publicized as kriya yoga. Woodroffe

1947-698: The former Faculty of Oriental Studies as the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies . Elsewhere, names have remained the same, as in the Chicago , Rome , and the London (only now referred to only by the acronym "SOAS"), and in other universities . Various explanations for the change to "Asian studies" are offered; a growing number of professional scholars and students of Asian Studies are themselves Asian or from groups of Asian origin (like Asian Americans ). This change of labeling may be correlated in some cases to

2006-418: The hesitation to use the term "Oriental". Supporters of "Oriental Studies" counter that the term " Asian " is just as encompassing as "Oriental," and may well have originally had the same meaning, were it derived from an Akkadian word for "East" (a more common derivation is from one or both of two Anatolian proper names). Replacing one word with another is to confuse historically objectionable opinions about

2065-513: The name from the noted incomplete magnum opus , the painting ' Arthur's Sleep in Avalon ' by Burne-Jones . Moreover, Taylor (2001: p. 148) conveys the salience of this magical literary identity and contextualises by making reference to western esotericism , Holy grail , quest , occult secrets , initiations and the Theosophists : "This is quite important to know, for here we have

2124-826: The pagan East as superior to the Christian West in Montesquieu 's Lettres Persanes and Voltaire 's ironic promotion of Zoroastrianism . Others, like Edward Gibbon , praised the relative religious tolerance of the Middle East over what they considered the intolerant Christian West. Many, including Diderot and Voltaire, praised the high social status of scholarship in Mandarin China. The Università degli Studi di Napoli "L'Orientale" (English: University of Naples "L'Orientale"), founded in Naples in 1732,

2183-466: The plot is concerned with the hero's composition and performance of a "masterpiece" song, to allow him to become a meistersinger in the (non-commercial) Nuremberg guild. This follows the surviving rulebook of the guild. The practice of producing a masterpiece has continued in some modern academies of art, where the general term for such works is now reception piece . The Royal Academy in London uses

2242-591: The region formerly known as "the Orient " had primarily religious origins, which have remained an important motivation until recent times. That is partly since the Abrahamic religions in Europe (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) originated in the Middle East and because of the rise of Islam in the 7th century. Consequently, there was much interest in the origin of those faiths and of Western culture in general. Learning from medieval Arabic medicine and philosophy and

2301-525: The region itself have participated on equal terms in the discipline. The original distinction between the "West" and the "East" was crystalized by the Greco-Persian Wars in the 5th century BC, when Athenian historians made a distinction between their " Athenian democracy " and the Persian monarchy. An institutional distinction between East and West did not exist as a defined polarity before

2360-546: The scholars Eugene Burnouf and Max Müller . The academic study of Islam also developed, and by the mid-19th century, Oriental studies had become a well-established academic discipline in most European countries, especially those with imperial interests in the region. Although scholastic study expanded, so did racist attitudes and stereotypes of Asian peoples and cultures, however, which frequently extended to local Jewish and Romani communities since they were also of Oriental origin and widely recognized as such. Scholarship often

2419-457: The sense used by Edward Said in his book of the same name in scholarship on the Middle East was seen to have re-emerged and risen in prevalence again after the end of the Cold War . It is contended that was partly a response to "a lacuna" in identity politics in international relations generally and within the 'West' particularly, which was brought about by the absence of Soviet communism as

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2478-587: The study of ancient civilizations in the region may come under a different faculty from that of the studies of modern periods. In 1970, the Faculty of Oriental Studies at the Australian National University was renamed the Faculty of Asian Studies. In 2007, the Faculty of Oriental Studies at Cambridge University was renamed the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, and the University of Oxford followed suit in 2022, also renaming

2537-602: The ten Mahavidyas as within other tantrik systems. Woodroffe translated the Mahānirvāṇatantraṃ from the original Sanskrit into English under his pen name , Arthur Avalon: a play on the magical realm of Avalon and the young later-to-be, King Arthur , within the story-cycle of tales known generally as King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table ; specifically according to Taylor (2001: p. 148), Woodroffe chose

2596-728: The term Orient , Orientalism is a term that derives from the Latin word oriens (rising) and, equally likely, from the Greek word ('he'oros', the direction of the rising sun). "Orient" is the opposite of Occident , a term for the Western Roman Empire , which later had its identity appropriated by the Barbarian Kingdoms (such as the Holy Roman Empire ). The “east” which until then was used to refer to

2655-516: The term masterpiece referred to a piece of work produced by an apprentice or journeyman aspiring to become a master craftsman in the old European guild system. His fitness to qualify for guild membership was judged partly by the masterpiece, and if he was successful, the piece was retained by the guild. Great care was therefore taken to produce a fine piece in whatever the craft was, whether confectionery, painting, goldsmithing , knifemaking , leatherworking, or many other trades. In London, in

2714-445: The term " diploma work " and it has acquired a fine collection of diploma works received as a condition of membership. In modern use, a masterpiece is a creation in any area of the arts that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or to a work of outstanding creativity, skill, profundity, or workmanship. For example, the novel David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

2773-474: The term often implies prejudiced outsider-caricatured interpretations of Eastern cultures and peoples. That viewpoint was most famously articulated and propagated by Edward Said in his Orientalism (1978), a critical history of that scholarly tradition. In contrast, the term has also been used by some modern scholars to refer to writers of the colonial era who had pro-Eastern attitudes, as opposed to those who saw nothing of value in non-Western cultures. Like

2832-679: The time. During the course of the century, Western archeology spread across the Middle East and Asia, with spectacular results. In the 1850s, for example, the French government was determined to mount large-scale operations in Assyria and Mesopotamia to showcase its dominance in the region. An archaeological team, led by Victor Place , excavated the palace of the Assyrian King Sargon II in Khorsabad (formerly Nineveh ), which

2891-725: The translators of the Qur'an . The earliest translation of the Qur'an into Latin was completed in 1143, but little use was made of it until it was printed in 1543. It was later translated into other European languages . Gerard of Cremona and others based themselves in Andalusia to take advantage of its Arabic libraries and scholars. However, as the Christian Reconquista in the Iberian Peninsula began to accelerate in

2950-482: The wider context of the way in which many Western scholars responded to international politics after the Cold War, and they were arguably heightened by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 . Symbolic of that type of response to the end of the Cold War was the popularization of the clash of civilizations thesis. That particular idea of a fundamental conflict between East and West was first advanced by Bernard Lewis in his article "The Roots of Muslim Rage", which

3009-700: Was Advocate-General of Bengal and Legal Member of the Government of India, a Justice of the Peace , and a Knight of St. Gregory . John was educated at Woburn Park School and the University College, Oxford , where he took second classes in jurisprudence and the Bachelor of Civil Law examinations. He was called to the Bar by the Inner Temple in 1889, and in the following year was enrolled as an advocate of

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3068-686: Was a substantial direct Roman trade with India , unlike that with China, during the Roman Empire. The spread of Islam and the Muslim conquests in the 7th century established a sharp opposition or even a sense of polarity in the Middle Ages between European Christendom and the Islamic world , which stretched from the Middle East and Central Asia to North Africa and Andalusia . Popular medieval European knowledge of cultures farther east

3127-642: Was also a wish to understand Arabic works on medicine , philosophy , and science . That effort, also called the Studia Linguarum , existed sporadically throughout the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance of the 12th century witnessed a particular growth in translations of Arabic and Greek texts into Latin , with figures like Constantine the African , who translated 37 books, mostly medical texts, from Arabic to Latin, and Herman of Carinthia , one of

3186-425: Was believed by his "guru" to be the reincarnation of two somewhat famous persons from Indian history. His choice of the name Arthur Avalon was due his initiation into the western equivalent of eastern tantra, the secretive Celtic religion which worships in secret within many British Churches, which has Arthur, with the nine sisters of Avalon in place of the ten incarnations of Vishnu, the nine incarnations of Durga, or

3245-502: Was intertwined with prejudicial racist and religious presumptions to which the new biological sciences tended to contribute until the end of the Second World War . The participation in academic studies by scholars from the newly-independent nations of the region itself inevitably changed the nature of studies considerably, with the emergence of post-colonial studies and Subaltern Studies . The influence of Orientalism in

3304-410: Was poor and depended on the widely-fictionalized travels of Sir John Mandeville and the legends of Prester John , but the equally-famous account by Marco Polo was much longer and was more accurate. Scholarly work was initially largely linguistic in nature, with primarily a religious focus on understanding both Biblical Hebrew and languages like Syriac with early Christian literature , but there

3363-471: Was taken on more famously by Samuel P. Huntington in his 1993 article in Foreign Affairs , "The Clash of Civilizations?" The term Orientalism has come to acquire negative connotations in some quarters and is interpreted to refer to the study of the East by Westerners who are shaped by the attitudes of the era of European imperialism in the 18th and the 19th centuries. When used in that sense,

3422-481: Was the first systematic excavation of the site. The expedition resulted in a pioneering publication, Ninevah and Assyria , which jointly authored by Victor Place and Felix Thomas and was published around 1867. New national museums provided a setting for important archaeological finds, most of which were then bought back to Europe, and they put Orientalists in the public spotlight as never before. The first serious European studies of Buddhism and Hinduism were by

3481-404: Was written in 1990. Again, that was seen as a way of accounting for new forms and lines of division in international society after the Cold War. The clash of civilizations approach involved another characteristic of Orientalist thought: the tendency to see the region as being one homogenous civilization, rather than as comprising various different and diverse cultures and strands. It was an idea that

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