hermann oldenberg and the historical imperative: writing a biography of gautama buddha from nineteenth-century germany

In the second half of the nineteenth century Buddhism was well known as a religion among academic and literary circles in Europe. However, the variety of doctrinal versions and texts from different Buddhist schools posed a dilemma for the pioneering scholars in the field: which one was the real history and teaching of the Buddha? Although there were numerous studies and biographical versions of the life of Buddha, the one written by German Orientalist Hermann Oldenberg is noted for its historicist reconstruction and its claim to have used the original source. This article discusses how Oldenberg’s work represented an effort to reconstruct a hagiography through the lens of a modern rational society that demanded consistency with respect to religious events, imposing a holistic perspective to a heterogeneous material which in itself is fragmented, and thus contributing to the “construction” of the life of Gautama Buddha as a coherent whole.