A History of Indian Literature Buddhist and Jaina Literature

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Winternitz's major work was Geschichte der Indischen Literature (History of Indian Literature). The first volume was published in two parts parts in 1905 and 1908. It dealt with vedic literature, the epics and the Puranas. The second volume on Buddhist and Jain literature appeared in two parts, in 1913 and 1920. In the last volume, Kavya literature and scientific literature found a representation. A bird's eye view of the varnacular literature of modern India completed the volume published in 1922. The value of the work was enhanced bu copious notes. The English translation was revised by Winternitz himself. The first volume was published in Calcutta in 1927, the second in 1933. The treatment of Buddhist Sanskrit literature in English translation represented a new edition. Winternitz died before the third volume could be revised.

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MAURICE WINTERNITZ : (December 23, 1863 - Janauary 9, 1937) was a German Orientalist, who received the Ph.D. in 1886 from the University of Vienna. In 1888 he went to Oxford, where until 1892 he assisted for the preparation of the second edition of the Rg-Veda (4 vols., Oxford, 1890-92), collating manuscripts and deciding on the adoption of many new readings. Winternitz remained in Oxford until 1898, acting in various educational capacities, such as German lecturer to the Association for Promoting of Higher Education of Women (1891-98), librarian to the Indian Institute at Oxford (1895), and frequently as examiner in German and Sanskrit both for the university and for the Indian Civil Service.

In 1899 he went to Karl-Ferdinands-Universitat in Prague as privatdozent for Indology and general ethnology, and in 1902 was appointed to the professorship of Sanskrit and of ethnology.

In addition to the valuable contributions on Sanskrit and ethnology to various scientific journals, Winternitz edited the Apastambiya Grhyasutra (Vienna, 1887) and the Mantrapatha or the prayer book of the Apastambins (Part I, Oxford, 1897); translated Mullers's Anthropological Religion and his Theosophy, or Psychological Religion into German (Leipzig, 1894-95; and published Das Allindische Hochzeitsrituell (Vienna, 1892), which also contains valuable ethonological material; A Catalogue of South Indian Manuscripts Belonging to the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Bretain and Ireland (London, 1902).

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