Johannes Bronkhorst
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Johannes Bronkhorst (born 17 July 1946,
Schiedam Schiedam () is a city and municipality in the west of the Netherlands. It is located in the Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area, west of Rotterdam, east of Vlaardingen, and south of Delft. In the south the city is connected with the village ...
) is a
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
Orientalist and
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 ...
, specializing in
Buddhist studies 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 Budd ...
and
early Buddhism The term Early Buddhism can refer to at least two distinct periods in the History of Buddhism, mostly in the History of Buddhism in India: * Pre-sectarian Buddhism, which refers to the teachings and monastic organization and structure, founded by G ...
. He is emeritus professor at the
University of Lausanne The University of Lausanne (UNIL; french: links=no, Université de Lausanne) in Lausanne, Switzerland was founded in 1537 as a school of Protestant theology, before being made a university in 1890. The university is the second oldest in Switzer ...
.


Life

After studying Mathematics, Physics, and Astronomy at the
Vrije Universiteit The Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (abbreviated as ''VU Amsterdam'' or simply ''VU'' when in context) is a public research university in Amsterdam, Netherlands, being founded in 1880. The VU Amsterdam is one of two large, publicly funded research ...
in
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
(B.Sc. 1968), he moved to
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, where he turned to
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
Pāli 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 ...
, first at the
University of Rajasthan University of Rajasthan is a public and state university in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India and is one of the oldest universities in the state. It was set up on 8 January 1947 as the University of Rajputana Rājputana, meaning "Land of the ...
(
Jaipur Jaipur (; Hindi Language, Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Rajasthan. , the city had a pop ...
), then the
University of Pune Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), formerly the University of Poona, is a collegiate public state university located in the city of Pune, India. It was established in 1949, and is spread over a campus in the neighbourhood of Ganeshk ...
(M.A. 1976, Ph.D. 1979). In
Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...
he read with traditional Sanskrit scholars, specializing in Sanskrit grammar and
Indian philosophy Indian philosophy refers to philosophical traditions of the Indian subcontinent. A traditional Hindu classification divides āstika and nāstika schools of philosophy, depending on one of three alternate criteria: whether it believes the Veda ...
. Back in the Netherlands, he did a second doctorate (1980) at the
University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Le ...
. Having worked for research projects funded by the
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek The Dutch Research Council (NWO, Dutch: Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek) is the national research council of the Netherlands. NWO funds thousands of top researchers at universities and institutes and steers the course of ...
, he was appointed in 1987 to the position of Professor of Sanskrit and Indian studies at the University of Lausanne. He retired in 2011.


Work

Bronkhorst has concentrated on the history of Indian thought and published on a wide range of topics, including indigenous grammar and linguistics, the interaction between
Brahmanism The historical Vedic religion (also known as Vedicism, Vedism or ancient Hinduism and subsequently Brahmanism (also spelled as Brahminism)), constituted the religious ideas and practices among some Indo-Aryan peoples of northwest Indian Subco ...
,
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 gra ...
, and
Jainism Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religions, 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 ...
and their philosophical schools and religious practices. A key output of this work appeared in his monograph ''Greater Magadha'' (2007). The book has been reviewed by several scholars including Jason Neelis and Alexander Wynne. Some of Bronkhort's publications address larger questions relating to the theory and study of religion. The website of the University of Lausanne provides access to some of his work. Bronkhorst became a corresponding member of the
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...
in 1996.


Selected publications

*''How the Brahmins Won'' From Alexander to the Guptas. Brill. 2016. *''Rites without symbols'' Method & Theory in the Study of Religion. In press. *''Buddhism in the Shadow of Brahmanism''. Leiden – Boston: Brill. (Handbook of Oriental Studies 2/24.). 2011. *''Language and Reality: On an episode in Indian thought''. Leiden - Boston: Brill. 2011. *"Archetypes and bottlenecks: Reflections on the text history of the Mahābhārata." ''Pūrvāparaprajñābhinandanam''. East and West, Past and Present. Indological and Other Essays in Honour of Klaus Karttunen''. Ed. Bertil Tikkanen & Albion M. Butters. Helsinki: Finnish Oriental Society. 2011. (Studia Orientalia 110, 2011.) pp. 39–54. *"The spread of Sanskrit." ''From Turfan to Ajanta. Festschrift for Dieter Schlingloff on the Occasion of his Eightieth Birthday''. Ed. Eli Franco and Monika Zin. Lumbini International Research Institute. 2010. Vol. 1. pp. 117–139. *"Ritual, holophrastic utterances, and the symbolic mind." ''Ritual Dynamics and the Science of Ritual''. Volume I: Grammar and morphologies of ritual practices in Asia. Ed. Axel Michaels and Anand Mishra. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. 2010. pp. 159–202. *"What did Indian philosophers believe?” ''Logic and Belief in Indian Philosophy''. Ed. Piotr Balcerowicz. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. 2009 010 (Warsaw Indological Studies, 3.) pp. 19–44. *''Buddhist Teaching in India''. Boston: Wisdom Publications. 2009. *"Udbhaṭa, a grammarian and a Cārvāka.” ''Linguistic Traditions of Kashmir. Essays in memory of paṇḍit Dinanath Yaksha''. Ed. Mrinal Kaul and
Ashok Aklujkar Ashok Aklujkar is a Sanskritist and Indologist. He is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia. There he taught courses in Sanskrit language and in the related mythological and philosophical l ...
. New Delhi: D. K. Printworld. 2008. pp. 281–299. *''Greater Magadha. Studies in the culture of early India''. Leiden – Boston: Brill. 2007. (Handbook of Oriental Studies, Section 2 South Asia, 19.) *"Vedānta as Mīmāṃsā.” ''Mīmāṃsā and Vedānta: Interaction and Continuity''. Ed. Johannes Bronkhorst. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. (Papers of the 12th World Sanskrit Conference, 10.3.) 2007. pp. 1–91. *''Modes of debate and refutation of adversaries in classical and medieval India: a preliminary investigation.'' Antiqvorvm Philosophia 1 (“Forme di dibattito e di confutazione degli avversari nel pensiero antico”), 2007, 269-280. *“Systematic philosophy between the empires: some determining features.” ''Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE''. Ed.
Patrick Olivelle Patrick Olivelle is an Indologist. A philologist and scholar of Sanskrit Literature whose work has focused on asceticism, renunciation and the dharma, Olivelle has been Professor of Sanskrit and Indian Religions in the Department of Asian Studi ...
. Oxford etc.: Oxford University Press. 2006. pp. 287–313. *''William James et son darwinisme religieux.'' Archives de psychologie 72, 2006, 33-48. *''Bhaṭṭoji Dīkṣita on sphoṭa.'' Journal of Indian Philosophy 33(1), 2005, 3-41. *“Ājīvika doctrine reconsidered.” ''Essays in Jaina Philosophy and Religion''. Ed. Piotr Balcerowicz. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. 2003. (Lala Sundarlal Jain Research Series, 20.) pp. 153–178. *''Sylvain Lévi et les origines du théâtre indien.'' Asiatische Studien/Études Asiatiques 57(4), 2003, 793-811. *''Literacy and rationality in ancient India.'' Asiatische Studien/Études Asiatiques 56(4), 2002, 797-831. *"Discipliné par le débat." ''Le disciple et ses maîtres. Pour Charles Malamoud. Under the direction of Lyne Bansat-Boudon and
John Scheid John Scheid (born 1946 in Luxembourg under the first name Jean) is a French historian. A specialist of ancient Rome, he has been a professor at the Collège de France since 2001. Biography After his secondary studies in Luxembourg, John Scheid ...
''. Paris: Éditions du Seuil. 2002. (Le genre humain, 37.) pp. 207–225. *''Pāṇini and Euclid: reflections on Indian geometry.'' Journal of Indian Philosophy 29 (1-2; Ingalls Commemoration Volume), 2001, 43-80. *"The perennial philosophy and the law of karma." ''Aldous Huxley between East and West''. Ed. C. C. Barfoot. Amsterdam - New York, N.Y.: Rodopi. 2001. (Studies in Comparative Literature, 37.) pp. 175–189. *''Etymology and magic: Yāska's Nirukta, Plato's Cratylus, and the riddle of semantic etymologies.'' Numen 48, 2001, 147-203. *"Abhidharma and Jainism." ''Abhidharma and Indian Thought. Essays in honor of Professor Doctor Junsho Kato on his sixtieth birthday''. Ed. Committee for the Felicitation of Professor Doctor Junsho Kato's Sixtieth Birthday, Nagoya. Tokyo: Shuju-sha. 2000. pp. 598–581 ( 3 0.


References


External links


Johannes Bronkhorst at the University of Lausanne
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bronkhorst, J 1946 births Buddhist studies scholars Dutch historians of philosophy Dutch Indologists Dutch Sanskrit scholars Leiden University alumni Living people Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Pali scholars People from Schiedam University of Lausanne faculty Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam alumni