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 Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...

. He then took a sabbatical, read the works 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 ...

scholars and attended the classes of

Antoine Meillet Paul Jules Antoine Meillet (; 11 November 1866 Moulins, France – 21 September 1936 Châteaumeillant, France) was one of the most important French linguists of the early 20th century. He began his studies at the Sorbonne University, where he was ...

. Henceforth he opted exclusively for the study of Sanskrit. He attended the lectures of

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 � ...

at the ''École des hautes études''. The work he did at this time gave rise to ''Les maîtres de la philologie védique'' (1928). His doctoral thesis, submitted in 1925, was ''La valeur du parfait dans les hymnes védiques''. After a short time at the ''Faculté de lettres'' in Lyon, he moved to ''L'École des hautes études'' and then to the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

where he succeeded

Alfred A. Foucher Alfred Charles Auguste Foucher (1865–1952), was a French scholar, who argued that the Buddha image has Greek origins. He has been called the "father of Gandhara studies", and is a much-cited scholar on ancient Buddhism in northwest Indian subconti ...

. In 1946 he was elected to the

Académie des Inscriptions An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

. In the following years he undertook three journeys: India in 1948-1949, Yale University in 1953, and Tokyo in 1954-1956 where he was director of the ''Maison franco-japonaise''. He hardly travelled after this. He had settled on his line of study early on and never wrote about any subject other than India. He left to one side archaeology, political history and Buddhism and concentrated firmly on the tradition that, beginning with the Rig Veda, runs through all aspects of belief and practice right up to the present. For forty years he regularly published articles and books that were often voluminous, were based on original research, and are of considerable merit. The study of the Indian theory of grammar lies at the heart of his work. This can be seen in the ''Études védiques et paninéennes'' published between 1955 and 1966. The ''Études'' consist of more than two thousand pages of translation and commentary of Vedic hymns. The ''Études'' covered two thirds of the

Rig Veda The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' ( ', from ' "praise" and ' "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts (''śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only one Sh ...

by the time of his death. He, in his 1953 lectures on the religions of India, observe that "the

Jaina JAINA is an acronym for the Federation of Jain Associations in North America, an umbrella organizations to preserve, practice, and promote Jainism in USA and Canada. It was founded in 1981 and formalized in 1983. Among Jain organization it is ...

movement presents evidence that is of great interest both for the historical and comparative study of religion in ancient India and for the history of religion in general. Based on profoundly Indian elements, it is at the same time a highly original creation, containing very ancient material, more ancient than that of Buddhism, and your highly refined and elaborated." Louis Renou was director of the ''Institut de civilisation indienne'' and attended regularly meetings of the ''Académie'' and the ''Societé Asiatique''. He died in 1966.

Published work

;In English *''Religions of Ancient India'', 1968, Schocken Books, *''History of Vedic India''. New Delhi, Sanjay Prakashan, 2004, xi, 216 p., *''Hinduism'', 1961, George Braziller, *''A History of Sanskrit Language'' (translated by Balbir, Jagbans Kishore), 2003, ;In French (selected publications only) *''L’Inde classique : manuel des études indiennes'', with Jean Filliozat, Paris : Payot, 1947 *''L’Inde classique : manuel des études indiennes'', with Jean Filliozat, vol. II (with Paul Demiéville, Olivier Lacombe and Pierre Meile), Paris : Imprimerie Nationale, 1953 *''Aṣṭādhyāyī. La grammaire de Pāṇini'', Paris : École française d’Extrême-Orient, 1966 *''L'Inde fondamentale'', Hermann, Collection Savoir, c. 1978. . *'' Louis Renou : choix d'études indiennes'' (2 volumes), Paris : École française d'Extrême-Orient, 1997 *''Notes sur la version « Paippalada » de l'Atharva-veda'', Paris : imprimerie nationale, 1964 *''Sur le genre du Sutra dans la littérature sanskrite'', Paris : imprimerie nationale, 1963 *''Littérature sanskrite'', A. Maissonneuve, 1946 *''Grammaire et Vedanta'', Paris : imprimerie nationale, 1957 *''Fragments du Vinaya Sanskrit'', Paris : imprimerie nationale, 1911 *''Études védiques'', Paris : imprimerie nationale, 1952 *''Études védiques et paninéennes'' (2 volumes), Paris: imprimerie nationale, 1980-1986 *''Anthologie sanskrite'', Paris : Payot, 1961

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Renou, Louis Scientists from Paris 1896 births 1966 deaths University of Paris faculty French Indologists French Sanskrit scholars Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres