ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the uniqueness of the Indian influence on the German mind. The British and German approaches to India differed in motivation. If the former’s interest in India was based on colonial practices and public reaction to them, the latter viewed Indian poetry, religions, and philosophies within the context of their own philosophical-religious quests and aspirations. Othmar Frank proclaimed a return to the original Magism/Parsism as the basis for both a religious and national revival of Germany. In this context, he interpreted the biblical tradition as one branch of the original Iran- and India-rooted Lichtreligion. The India-influenced German Romantic nationalism included all the listed components except one – a world of nations within which the German nation should take its place.
