Colette Caillat (15 January 1921 – 15 January 2007) was a
French professor of
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
and
comparative grammar
Comparative linguistics, or comparative-historical linguistics (formerly comparative philology) is a branch of historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages to establish their historical relatedness.
Genetic relatedness ...
. She was also one of the world's leading
Jain
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...
scholars.
Biography
Caillat was born in
Saint-Leu-la-Forêt
Saint-Leu-la-Forêt () is a Communes of France, commune in the Val-d'Oise department, in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris.
History
In 1806, the commune of Saint-Leu-la-Forêt merge ...
,
Seine-et-Oise
Seine-et-Oise () was the former department of France encompassing the western, northern and southern parts of the metropolitan area of Paris.Classical Latin
Classical Latin is the form of Literary Latin recognized as a literary standard by writers of the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire. It was used from 75 BC to the 3rd century AD, when it developed into Late Latin. In some later periods ...
and
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
, focusing on their literary and grammatical aspects. This led her to the study of Sanskrit under
Louis Renou Louis Renou (; 26 October 1896 – 18 August 1966) was the pre-eminent French Indologist of the twentieth century.
Education and Career
After passing the ''agrégation'' examination in 1920, Louis Renou taught for a year at the ''lycée'' in Rouen. ...
and
Jules Bloch Jules Bloch (May 1, 1880 in Paris – November 29, 1953) was a French linguist who studied Indian languages, and was also interested in languages in their cultural and social contexts.
Doctor of Letters in 1914, he was director of studies at the ...
, who replaced Renou who was visiting India. Bloch played a key role in exposing his students to Indian classical languages such as
Pali
Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or ''Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhism ...
,
Prakrit
The Prakrits (; sa, prākṛta; psu, 𑀧𑀸𑀉𑀤, ; pka, ) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usu ...
and
Apabhramsha as well as modern
Indo-Aryan languages
The Indo-Aryan languages (or sometimes Indic languages) are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. As of the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily ...
. Encouraged by the strong presence of Indian students in his class, Bloch taught his students various details of Indian life.
After clearing the French “
Agrégation
In France, the ''agrégation'' () is a competitive examination for civil service in the French public education system. Candidates for the examination, or ''agrégatifs'', become ''agrégés'' once they are admitted to the position of ''professe ...
” civil service examination, Caillat taught at various secondary schools, until she found a post at the
Centre national de la recherche scientifique
The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science
Basic research, also called pure research o ...
. She was then free to devote all her time to Indian studies, starting with a mémoire on nominal derivation in
Middle Indo-Aryan
The Middle Indo-Aryan languages (or Middle Indic languages, sometimes conflated with the Prakrits, which are a stage of Middle Indic) are a historical group of languages of the Indo-Aryan family. They are the descendants of Old Indo-Aryan (OIA; ...
which led her to read
Jain texts
Jain literature (Sanskrit: जैन साहित्य) refers to the literature of the Jain religion. It is a vast and ancient literary tradition, which was initially transmitted orally. The oldest surviving material is contained in the ca ...
under the supervision of
Walther Schubring Walter Schubring (10 December 1881 – 13 April 1969) was a German Indologist who studied Jain canons written in Prakrit and wrote several major translations. Earlier western works on Jainism had mostly examined later texts in Sanskrit.
Schubring w ...
in
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
. Schubring led Caillat firmly on the path of
Jain
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...
studies and encouraged her to participate in the Critical Pali Dictionary.
Caillat first visited India in 1963 and remained a regular visitor to India throughout her life. In India, she developed close contact with A.N. Upadhye, Pandit D.D. Malvania, H.C. Bhayani,
Pandit Sukhlalji and Muni Punyavijayaji. She stayed and worked several times in Mysore and Ahmedabad.
Caillat first taught Sanskrit and Comparative Grammar at the
University of Lyon
The University of Lyon (french: Université de Lyon), located in Lyon and Saint-Étienne, France, is a center for higher education and research comprising 11 members and 24 associated institutions. The three main universities in this center are: ...
from 1960 to 1966. She was appointed to the
Sorbonne University
Sorbonne University (french: Sorbonne Université; la Sorbonne: 'the Sorbonne') is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sorbon ...
(then University of Paris-3) in 1967, as the successor of Louis Renou who had died suddenly, where she remained until retirement in 1988. She died on January 15, 2007. Her academic tradition is continued by her students, included among whom is
Nalini Balbir.
Awards and honors
Caillat was a commander of the
Légion d'honneur
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
, commander of
Ordre national du Mérite
The Ordre national du Mérite (; en, National Order of Merit) is a French order of merit with membership awarded by the President of the French Republic, founded on 3 December 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle. The reason for the order's esta ...
, and commander of the
Ordre des Palmes Académiques
A suite, in Western classical music and jazz, is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral/concert band pieces. It originated in the late 14th century as a pairing of dance tunes and grew in scope to comprise up to five dances, sometimes with ...
. She was elected a member of the
Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
The Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the Institut de France. The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions ( epig ...
in 1987, and was a member of several other academies and scholarly associations.
Academic publications
Her contribution to the field of Jain studies and Middle Indo-Aryan linguistics is manifold. Apart from a number of articles, her main books are the following:
* 1965 ''Les expiations dans le rituel ancien des religieux Jaina'', Paris, 1965 (D.Litt. thesis), translated into English as ''Atonements in the Ancient Ritual of the Jaina Monks'', Ahmedabad, 1975 (L.D. Series 49).
* 1966 ''Drei Chedasûtras des Jaina-Kanons - Ayâradasâo, Vavahâra, Nisîha''. Bearbeitet von Walther Schubring. Mit einem Beitrag von Colette Caillat, Hamburg, 1966.
* 1971 ''Candâvejjhaya, La Prunelle-cible''. Introduction, Edition critique, Traduction, Commentaire, Paris, 1971.
* 1974-75 C. Caillat, A.N. Upadhye and
Bal Patil
Bal Patil (Marathi: बाळ पाटील; 1932–2011) was a Jain scholar, journalist, social activist and Jain minority status advocate from Mumbai, Maharashtra. He was appointed as a member of State Minority Commission by the Govt. of M ...
, ''Jainism'', Delhi, 1974–75. New edition, 2006.
* 1981 ''La cosmologie jaina''. Présentation de Colette Caillat d'après les documents recueillis par Ravi Kumar, Paris, 1981. ''The Jain Cosmology''. English rendering by K.R. Norman, New Delhi; revised and enlarged edition, New Delhi, 2004.
* 1985 Edition of Recueil d'articles de Jules Bloch 1906–1955, Paris, 1985.
* 1999 ''Yogîndu, Lumière de l'Absolu.'' Traduit de l'apabhramsha par
Nalini Balbir et Colette Caillat, Paris, Payot, Rivages, 1999.
* 2007 co-edition, with Nalini Balbir, of the volume ''Jaina Studies, Proceedings of the World Sanskrit Conference, Helsinki'', 2003 (in press).
*In 1981, Mme Caillat, who was the head of the research group "Equipe de Philologie Bouddhique et Jaina", organised in Strasbourg the first International Jain Symposium outside India. The Proceedings were published in 1983 (Indologica Taurinensia, Vol 11).
*In 1988, a Felicitation volume was offered in her memory (published as Indologica Taurinensia, Vol 14).
*In 2007, 1000 copies of Acarya Joindu's ''Yogasara'' were distributed free of cost in her memory (published as Pandit Nathuram Premi Research Series, Vol 10).
*In 2011 the Pali Text Society published ''Caillat's Selected Papers'' (Oxford, ).
References
*
* {{Cite web, url=http://www.springerlink.com/index/N4854KM4400016P5.pdf , title=Colette Caillat , publisher=Springer
* {{Cite web, url=http://www.editionsducerf.fr/html/fiche/ficheauteur.asp?n_aut=7144 , title=COLETTE CAILLAT , publisher=Éditios du cerf
* {{Cite web, url=http://pustakalaya.wordpress.com/2007/02/04/colette-caillat-1921-2007 , title=Indologische Neuigkeiten aus aller Welt, date=4 February 2007, language=fr
{{Modern Jain writers, state=expanded
{{Jainism topics
{{authority control
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caillat, Colette
1921 births
2007 deaths
University of Lyon faculty
Scholars of Jainism
French Indologists
Officiers of the Légion d'honneur
Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
Commandeurs of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques
French Sanskrit scholars