Gaston-Laurent Coeurdoux (; french: Cœurdoux ; 18 December 1691,

Bourges Bourges () is a commune in central France on the river Yèvre. It is the capital of the department of Cher, and also was the capital city of the former province of Berry. History The name of the commune derives either from the Bituriges, t ...

, France – 15 June 1779, Pondicherry,

French India French India, formally the ( en, French Settlements in India), was a French colony comprising five geographically separated enclaves on the Indian Subcontinent that had initially been factories of the French East India Company. They were ''de ...

) was a French

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

missionary in South India and a noteworthy

Indologist Indology, also known as South Asian studies, is the academic study of the history and cultures, languages, and literature of the Indian subcontinent, and as such is a subset of Asian studies. The term ''Indology'' (in German, ''Indologie'') is o ...

Early training

Cœurdoux entered the novitiate of the Jesuits in 1715, was ordained in 1725, and made his final religious profession as a Jesuit in 1731, at Orléans. Shortly afterwards he left for India, arriving at the Madurai Mission (now in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

in southern India) in 1732.

Career as a missionary and religious superior

Cœurdoux first studied

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

, a major language of the Dravidian group, in order to work in the region of present

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

, in particular Krishnapuram, Bukkapuram, and Darmavaram Madigubba (1736 to 1737). In 1737, for health reasons, he had to return and remain in Pondicherry. He was the superior of the mission at

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

from 1744 to 1751 while he was serving the 4,000 Catholic Tamils in Pondicherry. As superior, he was obliged, against his own inclinations, to enforce the very restrictive decree of

Pope Benedict XIV Pope Benedict XIV ( la, Benedictus XIV; it, Benedetto XIV; 31 March 1675 – 3 May 1758), born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 17 August 1740 to his death in May 1758.Antipope ...

(12 September 1744 ) on the "

Malabar rites Malabar rites is a conventional term for certain customs or practices of the natives of South India, which the Jesuit missionaries allowed their Indian neophytes to retain after conversion but which were afterwards prohibited by Rome. The mission ...

". Convinced of the importance of the contemplative life, he brought together a number of Tamil girls and founded a

Carmelite , image = , caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites , abbreviation = OCarm , formation = Late 12th century , founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel , founding_location = Mount Car ...

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

with them in 1748.

Contributions to Indology

Cœurdoux is best known today as an Indologist. Talented at languages, he composed a Telugu–French–Sanskrit dictionary which is still authoritative. A disciple of the Jesuit philologist

Jean Calmette Jean Calmette (5 April 1693, Rodez, France - February 1740, Chikkaballapur, India) was a French Jesuit missionary and an Indologist assigned in South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peni ...

, whom he knew personally in India, he was particularly interested in

comparative linguistics 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 ...

Max Müller Friedrich Max Müller (; 6 December 1823 – 28 October 1900) was a German-born philologist and Orientalist, who lived and studied in Britain for most of his life. He was one of the founders of the western academic disciplines of Indian ...

called him the father of

comparative philology 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 i ...

. He was in contact with the French Indologists

Anquetil Duperron Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron (7 December 173117 January 1805) was the first professional French Indologist. He conceived the institutional framework for the new profession. He inspired the founding of the École française d'Extrême-Orien ...

and Joseph Nicolas de l'Isle. In a ''Mémoire'' sent to the '' Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres'' (France) in 1767, he demonstrated the similarity between the

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 ...

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, Greek, and even

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

and Russian. His observations were later compiled and published by others in Europe. He never returned to his homeland. Anquetil Duperron published a whole chapter after the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

. Abbé Dubois also used them, passing them off to the British East India Company in Madras as his own work (1808). It was only in the late 20th century, thanks to the work of J.J. Godfrey and Sylvia Murr (see Bibliography), that Cœurdoux's role in the discovery of the relationship between Sanskrit and the ancient languages of Europe had been re-established. Richard De Smet, Review of Sylvie Murr, Vol. 1: ''Mœurs et coutumes des Indiens (1777): Un inédit du père G.-L. Cœurdoux, S.J. dans la version de N.-J. Desvaulx''. Vol. II: ''L’indologie du père Cœurdoux'' (Paris: Ecole française d’extrême-orient, 1987), ''Indian Theological Studies'' 27 (1990) 371–373.

Bibliography

* ''Mœurs et coutumes des Indiens.'' Ed. N.-J. Desvaulx. 1777.

Early training

Career as a missionary and religious superior

Contributions to Indology

Bibliography

References

Further reading

See also