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Birth/death place

Latest comment: 1 year ago2 comments2 people in discussion

Shouldn't there be a link to Paris and France under the born and died in the infographic? 24.249.20.223 (talk) 16:40, 2 January 2025 (UTC)Reply

Done by User:Rasnaboy. Deor (talk) 13:32, 3 January 2025 (UTC)Reply

Religious and philosophical views, "rise from an incestuous..."

Latest comment: 1 year ago2 comments2 people in discussion

This quote is currently not verifiably attributable to Voltaire by Wikipedia's standards. It appears to derive from a chain of citations that ultimately traces back to Richard Holmes’s essay "Voltaire’s Grin" in "Sidetracks" (2000). A third-hand source is citing Holmes — as if quoting Voltaire. As it currently stands, this is misleading and violates Wikipedia's Verifiability. Unless a primary source in Voltaire’s original French text can be found for this quotation, it should be removed. 2600:1700:B5D0:9980:EEB8:A9:8F55:4061 (talk) 11:24, 13 May 2025 (UTC)Reply

I think Holmes's essay in the 2000 book is a reprint of a 1995 essay in The New York Review: https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1995/11/30/voltaires-grin/. DrKay (talk) 16:56, 13 May 2025 (UTC)Reply

Semi-protected edit request on 28 July 2026

Latest comment: 10 days ago1 comment1 person in discussion

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Hinduism

In 1760, Voltaire received the book Ezourvedam for learning the "true meaning" of the Hindu Vedas.^[1]^[2] However, by 1761, Voltaire treated Ezourvedam to be a mere commentary on the Vedas.^[3]

Voltaire, a supporter of animal rights and a vegetarian,^[4] used the antiquity of Hinduism to land what he saw as a devastating blow to the Bible's claims and acknowledged that the Hindus' treatment of animals showed a shaming alternative to the immorality of European imperialists.^[5]

Voltaire received another text, Cormovedam, which he regarded as a summary of opinions and rites found in the Vedas. He cited this text mainly for showing how the Brahmins and the Vedas had degenerated.^[3] He described it thus in 1761: "[T]heir [i.e., the Brahmins'] ritual, is a bunch of superstitious ceremonies that make anybody who is not born on the banks of the Ganges or Indus laugh—or rather, anyone who, not being a philosophe, is surprised about the stupidities of other peoples and not amazed at those of his own country".^[6]

To:

Hinduism

In 1760, Voltaire received the book Ezourvedam for learning the "true meaning" of the Hindu Vedas.^[1]^[2] However, by 1761, Voltaire treated Ezourvedam to be a mere commentary on the Vedas.^[3]

Voltaire, a supporter of animal rights and a vegetarian,^[7] used the antiquity of Hinduism to land what he saw as a devastating blow to the Bible's claims and acknowledged that the Hindus' treatment of animals showed a shaming alternative to the immorality of European imperialists.^[8] In the 18th century, Voltaire wrote:

I am convinced that everything has come down to us from the banks of the Ganges, – astronomy, astrology, metempsychosis, etc... It is very important to note that some 2,500 years ago at the least Pythagoras went from Samos to the Ganges to learn geometry...But he would certainly not have undertaken such a strange journey had the reputation of the Indians' science not been long established in Europe.^[9]

He regarded Hindus as "a peaceful and innocent people, equally incapable of hurting others or of defending themselves."^[10]

Voltaire received another text, Cormovedam, which he regarded as a summary of opinions and rites found in the Vedas. He cited this text mainly for showing how the Brahmins and the Vedas had degenerated.^[3] He described it thus in 1761: "[T]heir [i.e., the Brahmins'] ritual, is a bunch of superstitious ceremonies that make anybody who is not born on the banks of the Ganges or Indus laugh—or rather, anyone who, not being a philosophe, is surprised about the stupidities of other peoples and not amazed at those of his own country".^[6] TheAnonymousPriest (talk) 01:56, 28 July 2026 (UTC)Reply

1 2 Burke, Tony (2017). Fakes, Forgeries, and Fictions: Writing Ancient and Modern Christian Apocrypha: Proceedings from the 2015 York Christian Apocrypha Symposium. Wipf and Stock Publishers. ISBN 978-1-5326-0373-0. Retrieved 29 May 2025.
1 2 Kochhar, Rajesh (2021). Sanskrit and the British Empire. Taylor & Francis. p. 8. ISBN 978-1-000-43553-5. Retrieved 29 May 2025.
1 2 3 4 Figueira, Dorothy M. (2012). Aryans, Jews, Brahmins: Theorizing Authority through Myths of Identity. State University of New York Press. pp. 12–13. ISBN 978-0-7914-8783-9.
↑ Pensées végétariennes, Voltaire, éditions Mille et une nuits.
↑ "Meaty arguments". The Guardian. 21 August 2006.
1 2 App, Urs (2011). The Birth of Orientalism. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-0-8122-0005-8. Retrieved 29 May 2025.
↑ Pensées végétariennes, Voltaire, éditions Mille et une nuits.
↑ "Meaty arguments". The Guardian. 21 August 2006.
↑ Voltaire (15 December 1775). Lettres sur l'origine des sciences et sur celle des peuples de l'Asie (first published Paris, 1777).
↑ Chatterjee, Ramananda, ed. (1922). "Review and Notices of Books: Hindu Culture". The Modern Review. 32: 183.

[m762-1] 1 2 Burke, Tony (2017). Fakes, Forgeries, and Fictions: Writing Ancient and Modern Christian Apocrypha: Proceedings from the 2015 York Christian Apocrypha Symposium. Wipf and Stock Publishers. ISBN 978-1-5326-0373-0. Retrieved 29 May 2025.

[w971-2] 1 2 Kochhar, Rajesh (2021). Sanskrit and the British Empire. Taylor & Francis. p. 8. ISBN 978-1-000-43553-5. Retrieved 29 May 2025.

[k133-3] 1 2 3 4 Figueira, Dorothy M. (2012). Aryans, Jews, Brahmins: Theorizing Authority through Myths of Identity. State University of New York Press. pp. 12–13. ISBN 978-0-7914-8783-9.

[4] Pensées végétariennes, Voltaire, éditions Mille et une nuits.

[5] "Meaty arguments". The Guardian. 21 August 2006.

[d119-6] 1 2 App, Urs (2011). The Birth of Orientalism. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-0-8122-0005-8. Retrieved 29 May 2025.

[7] Pensées végétariennes, Voltaire, éditions Mille et une nuits.

[8] "Meaty arguments". The Guardian. 21 August 2006.

[9] Voltaire (15 December 1775). Lettres sur l'origine des sciences et sur celle des peuples de l'Asie (first published Paris, 1777).

[10] Chatterjee, Ramananda, ed. (1922). "Review and Notices of Books: Hindu Culture". The Modern Review. 32: 183.

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