1 India as Reflected in Czech Consciousness in the Era of the National Revivalist Movement of the Nineteenth Century (ca. 1800-1848)*

Since the Middle Ages, European peoples have had a particular fascination with India and all things Indian- be it material objects (spices, textiles, curios) or intellectual contributions (religious and philosophical ideas, literary motifs etc.). Their interest was, to a large extent, guided by the current state of their political, social and cultural developments and tended to change with time, place and particular circumstances. The images of the Orient and India constructed by the British, French or German cultural elites have long maintained their position at the center of attention for historians of ideas and have been extensively described and commented upon.1 With the less culturally and politically prominent and powerful European nations and nationalities however, the situation is rather different. In particular, the task of undertaking a comparative study of the images of India produced by small or non-imperial nations of Europe- certainly a fascinating option- is long overdue. Orientalist constructions and attitudes that were developed in the western parts of the continent, and later studied in great depth by oriental scholars and historians of ideas, should not be automatically seen as representative of Europe as a whole. Europe has never been a single entity and when we consider the phenomenon of the exchange of ideas between different cultures or civilizations, that are in themselves internally complex and multi-faceted, it is essential to define as precisely as possible the exact milieu and sets of circumstances which generated this or that particular type o