WERDIN, Johann Philipp.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Systema Brahmanicum First and only edition of this important work, which gives an overview of the Hindu pantheon and its representation in art in the collection of the Museo Borgiano at Velletri, southeast of Rome.The compiler, Johann Philipp Werdin or Wesdin, also known as Paulinus of St. Bartholomew (1748 -1806), was born into a Croat family in lower Austria. He studied at Prague and Rome and in 1774 was sent as a missionary to Malabar. After 14 years at the court of the Maharaja of Travancore he was appointed vicar-general of his order. An accomplished linguist, he was one of the first scholars to note the similarity between Sanskrit and Indo-European languages. Recalled to Rome in 1789 to give an account of the state of the mission he came into contact with Cardinal Stefano Borgia (1731-1804), antiquarian and patron, founder of the Museo Borgiano. Borgia appointed him his private secretary and financed the publication of many works of Indology, including the first European grammar of the Sanskrit language, Sidharubam seu Grammatica Samscrdamica (1790). During the eighteenth century, the Museo Borgiano became a "hub of connectivity" between European antiquarians and collectors: "Here artefacts from all over the world were displayed together … the result of Borgia's ambition to produce a world history of religious practice" (van Eck, p. 83).

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