Robert J. Zydenbos (born 1957) is a

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scholar who has doctorate degrees in

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n philosophy and Dravidian studies. He also has a doctorate of literature from the

University of Utrecht Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Zydenbos also studied Indian religions and languages at the South Asia Institute and at the

University of Heidelberg } 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, ...

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. He taught

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 ...

at the University of Heidelberg and later taught Jaina philosophy at the

University of Madras The University of Madras (informally known as Madras University) is a public state university in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and among the most prestigious universities in India, incorporated by an a ...

. Zydenbos later taught Sanskrit,

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, and South Asian religions at the

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. He was the first western scholar to write a doctoral thesis on contemporary Kannada fiction. R. Zydenbos is a strong opponent to some writers, like

Koenraad Elst Koenraad Elst (; born 7 August 1959) is a Flemish right wing Hindutva author, known primarily for his support of the Out of India theory and the Hindutva movement. Schola ...

or N. S. Rajaram, about the controversies pertaining to the

Aryan Invasion Theory The Indo-Aryan migrations were the migrations into the Indian subcontinent of Indo-Aryan peoples, an ethnolinguistic group that spoke Indo-Aryan languages, the predominant languages of today's North India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lank ...

, which Zydenbos sees as driven by political motives. Zydenbos wrote review articles in the ''Journal of the American Oriental Society''. Moreover, he has written the first comprehensive Western history of Kannada literature and translated Kannada literature into both

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and

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. He also translated Dvaitin, Virasaiva, and Jaina writings from Sanskrit. He has lived in

Mysore Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...

, India for 17 years. Zydenbos was born in ,

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

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, Canada.

Books

*''Mokṣa in Jainism, according to Umāsvāti'' (Steiner, 1983) *''The Calf Became an Orphan: A Study in Contemporary Kannada Fiction'' (Institut Français de Pondichéry, 1996) *''Jainism Today and Its Future'' (Manya, 2006)

References

External links

Robert Zydenbos (Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zydenbos, Robert J. 1957 births Living people Canadian Indologists Dutch Indologists Religion academics Philosophy academics Academic staff of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich University of Toronto faculty Scholars of Jainism Dutch Sanskrit scholars Canadian expatriates in India Utrecht University alumni Linguists from Canada Sanskrit scholars