Heinz Bechert (26 June 1932,

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

– 14 June 2005,

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The ori ...

) was a German

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'') i ...

and

Buddhologist Buddhist studies, also known as Buddhology, is the academic study of Buddhism. The term ''Buddhology'' was coined in the early 20th century by the Unitarian minister Joseph Estlin Carpenter to mean the "study of Buddhahood, the nature of the Bud ...

Life

The son of lawyer Rudolf Bechert and his wife, Herta ( Bade), from 1965 to 2000, Heinz Bechert held the Chair of Indology at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

. In 1971, on his initiative, the former "Indological Seminar" was renamed "Seminar for Indology and Buddhist Studies". Bechert's research focused on

Indology 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'') i ...

and

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

with a focus on Theravada Buddhism in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

and

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...

. In addition, he dealt with Buddhist Sanskrit tradition in Central Asia as well as the political and social significance of the Buddhist religious community up to the present day. His language skills included

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

, Middle Indian languages (

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'' Buddh ...

, several

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 ...

s),

Lhasa Tibetan Lhasa Tibetan (), or Standard Tibetan, is the Tibetan dialect spoken by educated people of Lhasa, the capital of the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China. It is an official language of the Tibet Autonomous Region. In the traditional "three-branc ...

, the

Sinhala language Sinhala ( ; , ''siṁhala'', ), sometimes called Sinhalese (), is an Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken by the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka, who make up the largest ethnic group on the island, numbering about 16 million. Sinhala is also s ...

and the

Burmese language Burmese ( my, မြန်မာဘာသာ, MLCTS: ''mranmabhasa'', IPA: ) is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Myanmar (also known as Burma), where it is an official language, lingua franca, and the native language of the Burmans, the coun ...

. Bechert published numerous scientific papers and works. Together with

Ernst Waldschmidt Ernst Waldschmidt (July 15, 1897, Lünen, Province of Westphalia – February 25, 1985, Göttingen) was a German orientalist and Indologist. He was a pupil of German indologist Emil Sieg. He taught at Berlin University and began teaching at the ...

, he was editor of the '' Sanskrit-Wörterbuch der buddhistischen Texte aus den Turfan-Funden'' ("Sanskrit dictionary of Buddhist texts from the Turfan finds").

Memberships

* Académie royale de Belgique in Brussels * Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademie (Royal Swedish Academy) *

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europea ...

(Cambridge) * Membership in the board of trustees for the Institute for Cultural and Intellectual History of Asia of the Austrian Academy of Sciences * Royal Asiatic Society, Sri Lanka Branch (Colombo) *

Siam Society The Siam Society Under Royal Patronage ( th, สยามสมาคมในพระบรมราชูปถัมภ์) was established in 1904 with a mission to promote knowledge of the culture, history, arts, and natural sciences of Thai ...

(Bangkok) * International Institute of Tamil Studies (Chennai) * Maha Bodhi Society (Kolkata) * Tokai Association of Indian and Buddhist Studies (Nagoya)

Bibliography

* *

External links

Literature by and about Heinz Bechert
in the

German National Library The German National Library (DNB; german: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek) is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its task is to colle ...

catalogue
Works by and about Heinz Bechert
in the ''

Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek The ''Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek'' ("German Digital Library") or DDB is a virtual library in the German language which networks 30,000 cultural and research institutions and aims to make them freely accessible to the public using a common platfo ...

'' 1932 births 2005 deaths Buddhist studies scholars German Sanskrit scholars Members of Academia Europaea University of Göttingen faculty Members of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities {{Germany-academic-bio-stub