If the poems discussed in the preceding pages were found to be largely didactic and gnomic in character, the great collection called Die Weisheit des Brahmanen is entirely so. The poems composing this bulky work appeared in installments during the period 1836-1839, and, while many of them, as will be shown below, are the outcome of Rückert's Oriental studies, the majority simply embody general reflections on anything and everything that happened to engage the poet's attention. "Es muss alles hinein, was ich eben lese: vor acht Wochen Spinoza, vor vierzehn Tagen Astronomie, jetzt Grimms überschwenglich gehaltreiche Deutsche Mythologie, alles unter der nachlässig vorgehaltenen Brahmanenmaske...."[187] These are the author's own words and render further detailed characterization of the work superfluous. It is well known that the sources for the great didactic collection, even for that part of it which is not composed of reflections on matters of contemporary history, politics and literature, or relating to questions of family and friendship, are more Occidental than Oriental.[188] In fact, the Brahmanic character of the wisdom here expounded consists mainly in the contemplative spirit of reposeful didacticism which pervades the entire collection. Nor is there anything Oriental about the form of the poems,—the rhymed Alexandrine reigning supreme with wearisome monotony.
A detailed discussion of the Weisheit, therefore, even if it were possible within the limits of this dissertation, will not be attempted; the less so, as such a discussion, so far as the Oriental side, at least, is concerned, would be very much of the same nature as that given of the Brahmanische Erzählungen. A general Oriental influence, especially of the Bhagavadgītā-philosophy or of Rūmī's pantheism, is noticeable enough in many places,[189] but particular instances of such influence are not hard to find. We shall adduce only a few, taken from the fifth division or Stufe, called Leben. Of these there are taken from the Hitōpadēśa Nos. 25 (Hit. i. couplet 179; tr. Hertel, 141), 26 (ib. i. 178; tr. Hertel, 140), 111 (ib. i. couplet 80; Wilkins' tr. p. 56). From the Gulistān are taken Nos. 290 (Gul. i. 13; K.S. dist. p. 42), 326 (ibid. vii. 20; K.S. dist. p. 230), 366 (ibid. vii. 20; K.S. p. 232). No. 60 was probably suggested by the fable of the ass and the camel in Jāmī's Bahāristān (tr. K.S. p. 179). No. 476 draws a moral from the fact that the Persian title mīrzā means either "scribe" or "prince," according to its position before or behind the person's name. In No. 201 we recognize a Persian proverb: بزک ممير که بهار میآيد يونجه ميخوری "little goat, do not die; spring is coming, you will eat clover." No. 364:
"Herr Strauss, wenn ein Kameel du bist, so trage mir!"
Ich bin ein Vogel. "Flieg!" Ich bin ein Trampeltier
is also a Persian proverb and is absolutely unintelligible, unless one happens to know that the Persian word for "ostrich" is شترمرغ, literally "camel-bird."
Again, to cite from other Stufen, Firdausī's lines, already used by Goethe in his Divan (see p. 25 above), furnish the text for a moral poem, p. 487 (18). The Persian notion of the peacock being ashamed of his ugly feet (cf. Gul. ii. 8, qiṭʻah) is put to a similar use on p. 463 (162). Some poems are moralizingly descriptive of Indic customs, e.g., p. 157 (11), where reverence for the guru or "teacher" is inculcated (cf. Manu ii, 71, 228) and pp. 10, 11 (18, 19), where the conditions are set forth under which the Vēdas may be read (cf. Manu iv. 101-126, or Yājñ. i. 142-151). A comparison is instituted between the famous court of Vikramāditya and his seven gems, of which Kālidāsa was one, and that of Karl August of Weimar and his poetic circle, p. 148 (39).
Trivial and empty rhyming is of course abundant in such an uncritical mass of verse, and we also meet with insipid puns, like that on the Arabic word dīn, "religion," and the German word dienen, p. 498 (48).
These examples, we believe, will suffice for our purpose. With the philosophical part of the Weisheit we are not here concerned.
A great many Oriental poems are scattered throughout the collection which bears the title of Pantheon (vol. vii.). We may mention "Die gefallenen Engel," p. 286, the legend of Hārūt and Mārūt, "Wischnu auf der Schlange," p. 286, "Die nackten Weisen," p. 287, and others. Some poems in this collection are in spirit akin to the Östliche Rosen, e.g. "Becher und Wein," p. 291, "Der Traum," p. 283, and the "Vierzeilen," pp. 481, 482. Besides this, the γazal-form occurs repeatedly, e.g. "Frühlingshymne," p. 273. So fond does Rückert seem to have been of this form, that he employs it even for a poem on such an unoriental subject as Easter, p. 189 (2).
This collection is furthermore of interest from the biographical side, as often giving us Rückert's opinions. Thus we find evidence that he was by no means onesidedly prejudiced in favor of things Oriental. Referring to the myth of fifty-three million Apsarases having sprung from the sea,[190] he states (p. 24), that if he were to be the judge, these fifty-three million nymphs bedecked with jewels would have to bow before the one Aphrodite in her naked glory. And again in "Rückkehr," p. 51, the poet confesses that having wandered to the East to forget his misery and finding thorns in the rose-gardens of Persia, and demons, misshapen gods and monkeys acting the parts of heroes in India, he is glad to return to the Iliad and Odyssey (cf. also "Zu den östlichen Rosen," p. 153).