HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Ludo Rocher (1926–2016) was an eminent Sanskrit scholar, and the W. Norman Brown Professor Emeritus of South Asia Studies at the
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...
.


Biography

Ludo Rocher was born in
Hemiksem Hemiksem (, historical spellings ''Heymissen'' and ''Hemixem'') is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality only comprises the town of Hemiksem proper. In 2021, Hemiksem had a total population of 11,722. The tot ...
in the province of
Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,
,
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...
on 25 April 1926. He became a U.S. citizen in 1972. Rocher received his MA (summa cum laude) in Classics with a minor in
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 ...
in 1948 from the
University of Ghent Ghent University ( nl, Universiteit Gent, abbreviated as UGent) is a public research university located in Ghent, Belgium. Established before the state of Belgium itself, the university was founded by the Dutch King William I in 1817, when the ...
. Subsequently, he was awarded two doctorates by the same university – a JD (
Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...
) in 1950 and a PhD (also summa cum laude) in 1952. His principal teacher at the university was Adriaan Scharpé. He also studied ''Veda'' with Jan Gonda at the University of Utrecht, as well as ''Mīmāṃsā'', ''Nyāya'', and ''Vyākaraṇa'' privately with Barend Faddegon, then Emeritus Professor of the University of Amsterdam. He spent a post-doctoral semester at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, where he studied Sanskrit with C.A. Rylands, Hindi with John Burton-Page, and Hindu law and the Indian Constitution with Alan Gledhill. From 1953 to 1955, he conducted research in manuscript collections in India. Primarily based at the Deccan College, Pune, he also studied with Pandit T.S. Śrīnivāsa Śāstrī. He was a Research Fellow of the Belgian National Science Foundation from 1952 to 1958. After obtaining his
Habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including ...
in 1956, he served as Professor of Comparative Philology and Sanskrit at the University of Brussels from 1959 to 1966. He was also the founding Director of the Center for Study of South and Southeast Asia at the University of Brussels from 1961 to 1967. At the invitation of Prof. W. Norman Brown, Rocher then moved to Philadelphia, where he was appointed Professor of Sanskrit at the
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...
. From 1966 to 2002, with interruptions, he was the Chair of the Department of Oriental Studies (renamed Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies in 1991). He was also a Visiting Professor of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, in 1965, and at the University of Leuven, Belgium, in 1976. Rocher was President of the
American Oriental Society The American Oriental Society was chartered under the laws of Massachusetts on September 7, 1842. It is one of the oldest learned societies in America, and is the oldest devoted to a particular field of scholarship. The Society encourages basi ...
in 1985–1986, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the American Institute of Indian Studies in 1984–1985. He was elected a Member of the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
and of the Royal Academy of Overseas Sciences (Belgium). He was also elected a Fellow of the
Asiatic Society The Asiatic Society is a government of India organisation founded during the Company rule in India to enhance and further the cause of "Oriental research", in this case, research into India and the surrounding regions. It was founded by the p ...
(Calcutta) where he frequently conducted research. Rocher was the author of over twenty books. In addition, he published numerous articles on legal and other branches of Sanskrit literature. He was an authority on
Dharmaśāstra ''Dharmaśāstra'' ( sa, धर्मशास्त्र) is a genre of Sanskrit texts on law and conduct, and refers to the treatises ( śāstras) on dharma. Unlike Dharmasūtra which are based upon Vedas, these texts are mainly based on ...
and
Hindu Law Hindu law, as a historical term, refers to the code of laws applied to Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs in British India. Hindu law, in modern scholarship, also refers to the legal theory, jurisprudence and philosophical reflections on the nat ...
. He lived with his wife Rosane Rocher in Philadelphia and died, at the age of 90, on 2 November 2016.


Awards

Ludo Rocher and Rosane Rocher were jointly awarded the 2015 prize of the Fondation
Colette Caillat Colette Caillat (15 January 1921 – 15 January 2007) was a French professor of Sanskrit and comparative grammar. She was also one of the world's leading Jain scholars. Biography Caillat was born in Saint-Leu-la-Forêt, Seine-et-Oise. She emba ...
of the
Institut de France The (; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the Académie Française. It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institut ...
for their "two joint books, ''The Making of Western Indology: Henry Thomas Colebrooke and the East India Company'' (2012) and ''Founders of Western Indology: August Wilhelm von Schlegel and Henry Thomas Colebrooke 1820–1837'' (2013), and for their lifelong, signal contributions to Sanskrit studies and the history of Indology".


Select bibliography

*''Vyavahārasaukhya: The Treatise on Legal Procedure in the Ṭoḍarānanda composed at the instance of Ṭoḍaramalla during the reign of Akbar'' (Florence: Società Editrice Fiorentina, 2016). *''Founders of Western Indology : August Wilhelm Von Schlegel and Henry Thomas Colebrooke in Correspondence 1820-1837'', co-authored with Rosane Rocher, (Wiesbaden : Otto Harrassowitz, 2013). *''Studies in Hindu law and Dharmaśāstra'', edited with a foreword by Donald R. Davis, (London ; New York : Anthem Press, 2012). *''The making of western Indology : Henry Thomas Colebrooke and the East India Company'', co-authored with Rosane Rocher, (Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York : Routledge, 2012). *''Jīmūtavāhana's Dāyabhāga : the Hindu law of inheritance in Bengal'' (Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2002). *''Studies in Indian literature and philosophy : collected articles of J.A.B. van Buitenen'' (Delhi : American Institute of Indian Studies : Motilal Banarsidass, 1988). *''The Purāṇas'' (Wiesbaden : O. Harrassowitz, 1986). *''Ezourvedam : a French Veda of the eighteenth century'' (Amsterdam ; Philadelphia : J. Benjamins, 1984). *''Dissertation on the Sanskrit language by Paulinus a S. Bartholomaeo : with an introductory article, a complete English translation, and an index of sources,''(Amsterdam : Benjamins, 1977). *''Smṛticintāmaṇi of Gaṅgāditya'' (Baroda : Oriental Institute, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, 1976). *''Le problème linguistique en Inde'' (Bruxelles : Académie royale des sciences d'outre-mer, 1968). *''Droit hindou ancien'' (Bruxelles : Éditions de l'Institut de sociologie, Université libre de Bruxelles, 1965). *''The theory of proof in ancient Hindu law'' (Bruxelles : Librairie Encyclopédique, 1964). *''De Katha-Upanishad'' (Antwerpen : Ontwikkeling, 1964). *''Leerboek van het moderne Hindi. Manual of Modern Hindi'' (Gent : University, 1958). *''Preemtsjand: Novellen. Uit het Hindie vertaald tories of Premchand, translated from Hindi into Dutch' (Antwerpen: De Nederlandse Boekhandel, 1958). *''Vācaspati Miśra : Vyavahāracintāmaṇi. A Digest on Legal Procedure'' (Gent: University, 1956). ;
Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the ...
*''Festschrift for Professor Ludo Rocher'' (editors Richard W. Lariviere and Richard Salomon), (Madras : Adyar Library and Research Centre, The Theosophical Society, 1987).


Legacy

His notable students include, *Prof. Rosane D. Rocher (University of Pennsylvania), *Prof. Madhav Deshpande (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor), *Prof. Robert P. Goldman (University of California, Berkeley), *Prof. Richard G. Salomon (University of Washington), *Prof. J.
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 Stu ...
(University of Texas), *Dr. Richard W. Lariviere (President, The Field Museum, Chicago), *Prof. Mitchell G. Weiss (University of Basel), *Prof. Frederick M. Smith (University of Iowa), *Prof. Xinru Liu (Institute of World History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences), *Prof. Signe M. Cohen (University of Missouri). *Prof. John Nemec (University of Virginia).


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rocher, Ludo American Sanskrit scholars American Indologists Translators to Sanskrit University of Pennsylvania faculty Members of the American Philosophical Society