Zvelebil studied at theCharles University in Prague from 1946 to 1952 where he majored inIndology, English, literature and philosophy. After obtaining his PhD in 1952 and until 1970 he was a senior research fellow in Tamil and Dravidian linguistics and literature at theOriental Institute of theCzechoslovak Academy of Sciences. He held the role of associate professor of Tamil and Dravidian at Charles University in Prague until 1968, when he and his family (including his son, the later archaeologist,Marek Zvelebil) were forced to flee after theWarsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. They fled to the United States at first, but later settled in the Netherlands.
During the late 1960s, he made many field trips including those to South India. From 1965 to 1966, he was a temporary professor in Dravidian studies at theUniversity of Chicago in the United States and was a visiting professor atHeidelberg University between 1967 and 1968. Furthermore, he is very well known among the scholars in Tamil Nadu and has earned a permanent place in the educational syllabus of the Dravidian states.
In 1970, after more time at theUniversity of Chicago, he was a visiting professor at theCollège de France in Paris. After more travel through European universities he became the professor of Dravidian linguistics and South Indian literature and culture atUtrecht University until his retirement in 1992.[1]
Zvelebil also made the only known translation of theTirukkuṛaḷ intoCzech. It included some selections that appeared inNovy Orient, a Czech journal, during 1952–54.[2][3]
Companion Studies to the History of Tamil Literature, Handbuch Der Orientalistik Series, Brill Academic Publishers,ISBN90-04-09365-6
The Smile of Murugan: On Tamil Literature of South India,ISBN90-04-03591-5, Brill Academic Publishers (not to be confused withMichael Wood's book "The smile of Murugan: a south Indian journey")
The Poets of the Powers: Magic, Freedom, and Renewal,ISBN0-09-115901-6
Lexicon of Tamil Literature,ISBN90-04-10072-5, Handbuch Der Orientalistik, Brill Academic Publishers
Nilgiri areal studies, Acta Universitatis Carolinae, Charles University in Prague,Karolinum Press, 1st ed edition (2001),ISBN80-7184-945-6
Introducing Tamil literature, ASIN: B0007JK3TC
Ananda-tandava of Siva-sadanrttamurti: The development of the concept of Atavallan-Kuttaperumanatikal in the South Indian textual and iconographic tradition, Institute of Asian Studies; 1st ed edition (1985), ASIN: B0006EL29I
Introduction to the Historical Grammar of the Tamil Language, Oriental Institute in Academia (1970), ASIN: B0006CIL44
The Irulas of the Blue Mountains, Foreign & Comparative Studies (June 1988),ISBN0-915984-91-1
Tamulica et Dravidica: A Selection of Papers on Tamil and Dravidian Linguistics, Prague: KAROLINUM/CHARLES UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1998
