Kamil Václav Zvelebil (November 17, 1927 – January 17, 2009) was a Czech scholar in Indian

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to ...

and

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Ling ...

, notably

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, na ...

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 ...

, Dravidian

and literature and

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as ...

Life and career

Zvelebil studied at the

Charles University in Prague ) , image_name = Carolinum_Logo.svg , image_size = 200px , established = , type = Public, Ancient , budget = 8.9 billion CZK , rector = Milena Králíčková , faculty = 4,057 , administrative_staff = 4,026 , students = 51,438 , under ...

from 1946 to 1952 where he majored in

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 ...

, English, literature and philosophy. After obtaining his PhD in 1952 and until 1970 he was a senior research fellow in Tamil and Dravidian linguistics and literature at the Oriental Institute of the

Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences The Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (Czech: ''Československá akademie věd'', Slovak: ''Česko-slovenská akadémia vied'') was established in 1953 to be the scientific center for Czechoslovakia. It was succeeded by the Czech Academy of Scienc ...

. He held the role of associate professor of Tamil and Dravidian at Charles University in Prague until 1968, when he and his family (including his son, the later archaeologist, Marek Zvelebil) were forced to flee after the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. They fled to the United States at first, but later settled in the Netherlands. During the late 1960s, he made many field trips including those to South India. From 1965 to 1966, he was a temporary professor in Dravidian studies at the University of Chicago in the United States and was a visiting professor at

Heidelberg University } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

between 1967 and 1968. Furthermore, he is very well known among the scholars in Tamil Nadu and has earned a permanent place in the educational syllabus of the Dravidian states. In 1970, after more time at the University of Chicago, he was a visiting professor at the Collège de France in Paris. After more travel through European universities he became the professor of Dravidian linguistics and South Indian literature and culture at Utrecht University until his retirement in 1992. Zvelebil also made the only known translation of the '' Tirukkuṛaḷ'' into Czech. It included some selections that appeared in ''Novy Orient'', a Czech journal, during 1952–54.

Books

He has authored numerous books and articles on Dravidian linguistics and literature. Some of them are: *''Comparative Dravidian Phonology'', Published by Mouton, ASIN: B0006BZAIK *''Dravidian Linguistics: An Introduction'', PILC (Pondicherry Institute of Linguistics and Culture), 1990 *''Tamil Literature'', E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1975, *''Companion Studies to the History of Tamil Literature'', Handbuch Der Orientalistik Series, Brill Academic Publishers, *''The Smile of Murugan: On Tamil Literature of South India'', , Brill Academic Publishers (not to be confused with Michael Wood's book "The smile of Murugan: a south Indian journey") *''The Poets of the Powers: Magic, Freedom, and Renewal'', *''Literary Conventions in Akam Poetry'' *''Two Tamil Folktales: The Story of King Matanakama, the Story of Peacock Ravana'', UNESCO Collection of Representative Works: Indian Series, *''Lexicon of Tamil Literature'', , Handbuch Der Orientalistik, Brill Academic Publishers *''Nilgiri areal studies'', Acta Universitatis Carolinae, Charles University in Prague, Karolinum Press, 1st ed edition (2001), *''Introducing Tamil literature'', ASIN: B0007JK3TC *''Ananda-tandava of Siva-sadanrttamurti: The development of the concept of Atavallan-Kuttaperumanatikal in the South Indian textual and iconographic tradition'', Institute of Asian Studies; 1st ed edition (1985), ASIN: B0006EL29I *''Introduction to the Historical Grammar of the Tamil Language'', Oriental Institute in Academia (1970), ASIN: B0006CIL44 *''The Irulas of the Blue Mountains'', Foreign & Comparative Studies (June 1988), *'' Tamulica et Dravidica: A Selection of Papers on Tamil and Dravidian Linguistics'', Prague: KAROLINUM/CHARLES UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1998

Bibliography

Kamil Zvelebil has authored more than 500 bibliographic items including books, articles and reviews and translations.

References

External links

Prof. Dr. Kamil Vaclav Zvelebil
(tamilnation.org bio)

(marketaz.co.uk bio)
Bibliography of Prof. Dr. K.V. Zvelebil
(digilib.phil.muni.cz) *https://www.dutchstudies-satsea.nl/deelnemers/zvelebil-kamil-veith/ *https://data.bnf.fr/en/12026532/kamil_zvelebil/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Zvelebil, Kamil 1927 births Linguists from the Czech Republic Czech philologists Dravidologists 2009 deaths Tamil scholars of non-Tamil background Charles University alumni Tamil–Czech translators Czech Indologists Translators of the Tirukkural into Czech 20th-century linguists 20th-century philologists 20th-century translators Tirukkural translators

Life and career

Books

Bibliography

See also

References

Further reading

External links