ABSTRACT
We present here a mostly unknown Nietzsche with deep marks of an Eastern culture that occupied his spirit and his writings. India, its thinking and what was taken of it to Germany until Nietzcshe’s time were not a simple adventure or curiosity in Nietzsche, neither became one, but it was rather a fruitful cultural shock, mixed with a charm of systematic thinking, new perspectives, and boldness. New perspectives here mean to say: outside European borders, outside morals and erudition (optimism of modern reasoning). Nietzsche delights in it, feels comfortable, finds himself and yearns for it -as he himself expresses- more and more often. India suits him well, very well, way beyond good and evil. A singular India that, in addition to being a point of reference for his comparisons with Christianity, served as a bridge or an inspiration to go “beyond man”. Here we show this gathering of ideas, and we present two examples of how the philosopher seized them, especially in relation to Manu-saṁhitā and Buddhism, which he approaches with “a kind of growing thirst”, using them in comparisons.
Keywords:
Nietzsche; India; Manu-saṁhitā; buddhism; modernity