For non-Indologists, this image is the inside cover of a first edition copy of translations from the Rig Veda, a text whose origins reach even as far as 5,000 tracable years ago. It contains the root ideas and themes of the religion and thought which has shaped India, and influenced the world, for nearly as many years. Frederich Max Muller was one of the first widely-read translators of Vedic materials. With more knowledge about Sanskrit, I settled upon the early developing words used in discussions of the self, or identity, in Vedic Literature. Hypertext seemed a fine way to navigate hundreds of selected passages, and so it all began for me.
Computer technology promises much for humanities research.
In so doing, I am offering the following study as a suggested methodological use of hypertext technology. I include this quotation both as a point of interest, and testimony to the fact that the Vedic tradition nonetheless inspired such awe in one whom modern society has come to regard as destructive. Of course, considering the impact of those studies he DID do, I'm sure some might well be relieved he oriented himself to making the text resources available in the first place.