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{{short description|British judge and linguist in India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2018}}

[[File:10 Merchiston Avenue, Edinburgh.jpg|thumb|350px|10 Merchiston Avenue, Edinburgh]]
[[File:The grave of John Muir, Grange Cemetery, Edinburgh.jpg|thumb|The grave of John Muir, Grange Cemetery, Edinburgh]]
Dr '''John Muir''' [[Order of the Indian Empire|CIE]] [[FRSE]] [[Doctor of Civil Law|DCL]] [[LLD]] (5 February 1810 – 7 March 1882) was a British [[Sanskrit language|Sanskrit]] scholar, [[Indologist]] and judge in [[India]].

==Biography==
Muir was born in [[Glasgow]], the son of William Muir (1783–1820), a merchant of Kilmarnock and magistrate of Glasgow, and Helen Macfie (1784–1866). He was the elder brother of the Indian administrator and principal of the [[University of Edinburgh]], [[William Muir|Sir William Muir]].<ref>{{Cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-19497|title=Muir, John (1810–1882), Sanskritist|last=Powell|first=Avril A.|date=2004-09-23|volume=1|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/19497}}</ref>

He was educated at [[Irvine, North Ayrshire|Irvine]] Grammar School in [[Ayrshire]], then studied in the [[University of Glasgow]], and the [[East India Company College]] near [[Hertford]]. He arrived in [[India]] with the [[East India Company]] in 1829 as a civil servant, working first in [[Bengal]], and served in various offices, as assistant secretary to the board of revenue, [[Allahabad]], as collector at Azamgarh and as civil and session judge at [[Fatehpur district|Fatehpur]]. In 1844, he was appointed to be the first principal of Victoria College, [[Benaras]], that later evolved into the [[Sampurnanand Sanskrit University]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120429105357/http://ssvv.up.nic.in/historyweb.htm History of Sampurnanand Sanskrit University]</ref> From 1842 to 1853 he was a Session Judge in the court at [[Futtehpore]]. During this period he was awarded an honorary doctorate in civil law (DCL) by the [[University of Oxford]] a second honorary doctorate (LLD) from the [[University of Edinburgh]] and a third from the [[University of Bonn]] (PhD).<ref name=":0">{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf}}</ref>

He left the [[Indian Civil Service]] in 1853 and returned to [[Edinburgh]]. In 1861 he was elected a Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]] his proposer being [[John Hutton Balfour]].<ref name=":0" />

In 1862 he endowed the chair of Sanskrit in the [[University of Edinburgh]], and was the main agent in founding the Shaw fellowship in moral philosophy. He was a [[Doctor of Civil Law|DCL]] of [[University of Oxford|Oxford]], [[Doctor of Laws|LLD]] of Edinburgh and PhD of [[University of Bonn|Bonn]], and was one of the first to receive the distinction of [[Order of the Indian Empire|Companion of the Indian Empire]].<ref name=":0" />

Muir died unmarried, on 7 March 1882, at 10 Merchiston Avenue, Edinburgh.{{sfn|Bendall|1894}}

He is buried in the [[Grange, Edinburgh|Grange Cemetery]] against the western wall of the original cemetery, adjacent to the entrance to the 20th century extension.

==Work==
Muir's main work is ''Original Sanskrit texts on the origin and history of the people of India, their religion and institutions'' (1852–1870), a study of the most important source texts of Indian cultural and religious history, with English language translation. In 1858 the first volume of his Original Sanskrit Texts (2nd ed., 1868) was published; it was on the origin of [[Indian caste system|caste]], an inquiry intended to show that it did not exist in the [[Vedic age]]. The second volume (1st ed., 1860; 2nd, 1871) was concerned with the origin and racial affinities of the Hindus, exhibiting all the then available evidences of their connection, their linguistic, social and political kinship, with the other branches of the Indo-European stock. The third volume (1st ed., 1861; 2nd, 1868) was on the [[Vedas]], a full inquiry as to the ideas of their origin, authority and inspiration held both by the Vedic and later Indian writers. Volume four (1st ed., 1863; 2nd, 1873) was a comparison of the Vedic with the later representations of the principal Indian deities, an exhibition of the process by which three gods hardly known to the Vedic hymns became the deities of the former Hindu [[Trimurti]]. The fifth and final volume was published in 1870 and was on the Vedic mythology. Muir was also the author of a volume of metrical translations from the Sanskrit, an anonymous work on inspiration, several works in Sanskrit, and many essays in the Journal of the [[Royal Asiatic Society]] and elsewhere.<ref>{{cite DNB|wstitle=Muir, John|first=Cecil|last=Bendall|volume=39}}</ref>

In 1839, Muir published ''Matapariksa: Sketch of the Argument for Christianity and against Hinduism'', a work that, in contrast to the vitriolic missionary tracts prevalent at that time, presented Hinduism in empathetic tone and depicted Christianity and Hinduism as more or less compatible, although Christianity was clearly depicted as superior. However while sensitive to "Hindu genius" Muir advanced miracles, moral excellence, and universality as three basic arguments in favour of Christianity. The work was controversial in India and helped launch a counter-[[apologetics|apologetic]] movement among Hindu scholars.<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Podgorski |first1=Frank R. |date=October 1983 |title= review of 'Resistant Hinduism: Sanskrit Sources on Anti-Christian Apologetics in Early Nineteenth-Century India' by Richard Fox Young|journal=Philosophy East and West |volume=33 |issue=4 |pages=417–418 |doi= 10.2307/1398604 |publisher= Philosophy East and West, Vol. 33, No. 4 |last2= Young |first2= Richard Fox |jstor=1398604}}</ref>

==Bibliography==
*{{Cite journal |last=Muir |first=John |title=Original Sanskrit Texts on the Origin and Progress of the Religion and Institutions of India |year=1861 |publisher= Williams and Norgate|url=https://archive.org/details/originalsanskri04muirgoog }}

==References==
<references />
;Attribution
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Muir, John}}
* {{DNB|wstitle=Muir, John|first=Cecil|last=Bendall|volume=39}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|author=Avril A. Powell|title=Scottish orientalists and India: the Muir brothers, religion, education and empire|year=2010|publisher=Boydell & Brewer|isbn=978-1-84383-579-0}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Muir, John}}
[[Category:1810 births]]
[[Category:1882 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Glasgow]]
[[Category:Scottish Indologists]]
[[Category:Scottish scholars and academics]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Sanskrit–English translators]]
[[Category:People from Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:University of Bonn alumni]]
[[Category:Scottish translators]]
[[Category:People from Irvine, North Ayrshire]]
[[Category:Scottish civil servants]]
[[Category:19th-century Scottish people]]
[[Category:19th-century British translators]]

John Muir (indologist) - Revision history

>Devasheesh.dubey: minor grammatical correction