 | You can helpexpand this article with text translated fromthe corresponding article in French. (October 2020)Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
Jan Gonda | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1905-04-17)17 April 1905 |
| Died | 28 July 1991(1991-07-28) (aged 86) Utrecht, Netherlands |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | Utrecht University |
| Thesis | Δείκνῡμῐ[1] (1929) |
| Doctoral advisor | Carl Wilhelm Vollgraff [fr] |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Indo-European linguistics |
| Sub-discipline | Indology |
Jan Gonda (14 April 1905 – 28 July 1991) was a DutchIndologist and the first Utrecht professor of Sanskrit.[2] He was born inGouda, in theNetherlands, and died inUtrecht.[3][1] He studied withWillem Caland at Rijksuniversiteit, Utrecht (since 1990Universiteit Utrecht) and from 1932 held positions at Utrecht and Leiden. He held the positions of Chair of Sanskrit succeeding Caland from 1929, as well as of Indology from 1932.[2] He published scholarly articles on Indian Sanskrit and Indonesian Javanese texts for sixty years.[2] In 1952, he published his monumental work onSanskrit in Indonesia.[2] His contributions to philology and Vedic literature has been oft-cited.[2]
Gonda is recognized as one of the twentieth century's leading scholars of Asian language, literature and religion, particularly on texts and topics related to Hinduism and Buddhism. He wrote with ease and elegance in Dutch, English and German, and had a breath-taking range of interests from the ancient literature ofIndonesia andIndia tocomparative religion andphilology. Like many Orientalists of the 20th century, Gonda never visited Asia although some of his publications appeared under the auspices of the "Koninklijk Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen", e.g. his comparative study on the Kavi-edition of the "Bhīşmaparwa", printed in Bandung (Java), 1937. However, his lack of field experience was more than compensated for by his encyclopedic knowledge of Indic literature and his profound empathy for the religious culture of Asia. Among his many students wasJ. A. B. van Buitenen who moved to theUniversity of Chicago in 1961, andHenk Bodewitz succeeded Gonda to the chair of Sanskrit at Utrecht in 1976.[4]
Gonda left a bequest toRoyal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, of which he was member since 1957,[2] and in 1992 the Gonda Foundation was set up in his name. The foundation offers publication subsidies and grants to projects relating to Indology, the size of the grants and scope of activities being determined by the return on invested capital. The Gonda Lectures and Gonda Indological Series are also named in his honour.
Gonda died suddenly on 28 July 1991.[3]
Gonda produced a substantial number of books and articles during his long career. The most useful starting point is Jan Gonda,Selected Studies, 6 vols. (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1975–1991). These volumes contain most of his key articles.
