Sylvain Lévi (; March 28, 1863 – October 30, 1935) was an influential French intellectual and author whose specialities were

oriental studies Oriental studies is the academic field that studies Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology. In recent years, the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Middle Eastern studie ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. He taught Sanskrit and Indian religions at the

École pratique des hautes études The (), abbreviated EPHE, is a French postgraduate top level educational institution, a . EPHE is a constituent college of the Université PSL (together with ENS Ulm, Paris Dauphine or Ecole des Mines). The college is closely linked to É ...

in Paris, France. One of his notable students was

Paul Pelliot Paul Eugène Pelliot (28 May 187826 October 1945) was a French sinologist and Orientalist best known for his explorations of Central Asia and the Silk Road regions, and for his acquisition of many important Tibetan Empire-era manuscripts and ...

. Lévi's book ''Théâtre Indien'' is an important work on the subject of Indian performance art, and Lévi also conducted some of the earliest analysis of Tokharian fragments discovered in

Western China Western China ( zh, s=中国西部, l=, labels=no or zh, s=华西, l=, labels=no) is the west of China. It consists of Southwestern China and Northwestern China. In the definition of the Chinese government, Western China covers six provinces ...

. Lévi exerted a significant influence on the life and thought of

Marcel Mauss Marcel Israël Mauss (; 10 May 1872 – 10 February 1950) was a French sociologist and anthropologist known as the "father of French ethnology". The nephew of Émile Durkheim, Mauss, in his academic work, crossed the boundaries between sociolo ...

, the nephew of

Émile Durkheim David Émile Durkheim (; or ; 15 April 1858 – 15 November 1917) was a French Sociology, sociologist. Durkheim formally established the academic discipline of sociology and is commonly cited as one of the principal architects of modern soci ...

. Sylvain Lévi was a co-founder of the École française d'Extrême-Orient in

Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

. According to the

Universal Jewish Encyclopedia Isaac Landman (October 24, 1880 – September 4, 1946) was an American Reform rabbi, author and anti-Zionist activist. He was editor of the ten-volume ''The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia''. Biography Landman was born in Russia on October 4, 1880, t ...

, Lévi was (one of the) founder(s) of the École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO) (French School of the Far East) in Hanoi. The École française d'Extrême-Orient's website notes that the school was founded in Hanoi in 1902. One of his students, Suzanne Karpelès, the first female member of EFEO, joined him there in 1922 and remained in

French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China), officially known as the Indochinese Union and after 1941 as the Indochinese Federation, was a group of French dependent territories in Southeast Asia from 1887 to 1954. It was initial ...

until 1941.

Opinions

He was also an early opponent of the traditionalist author

René Guénon René Jean-Marie-Joseph Guénon (15 November 1886 – 7 January 1951), also known as Abdalwahid Yahia (; ), was a French intellectual who remains an influential figure in the domain of metaphysics, having written on topics ranging from esoterici ...

, citing the latter's uncritical belief in a "

Perennial philosophy The perennial philosophy (), also referred to as perennialism and perennial wisdom, is a school of thought in philosophy and spirituality that posits that the recurrence of common themes across world religions illuminates universal truths about ...

", that a primal truth revealed directly to primitive humanity, based on an extreme reductionist view of Hinduism, which was the subject of Guénon's first book, ''L'Introduction générale a l'étude des doctrines hindoues''. That was a thesis delivered to Lévi at the Sorbonne and rejected.

Works

* ''Le Théâtre Indien'', Deuxième tirage, 1963, Publié à l'occasion du centenaire de la naissance de Sylvain Lévi, Bibliothèque de l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes, IV^e section, 83^e Fascicule, Paris, Distributeur exclusif: Librairie Honoré Champion. * Lévi, S. 1898. ''La doctrine du sacrifice dans les Brâhmanas'', Paris : Ernest Leroux, Bibliothèque de l’École des Hautes Études-Sciences religieuses BÉHÉ-SR vol. 11. * Lévi, S. 1966. Id., avec une préface de L. Renou, 2e éd., Paris : Presses Universitaires de France, BÉHÉ-SR, vol. 73. * Lévi, S. 2003. Id., réimpr. de Lévi 1966, avec une postface inédite de Ch. Malamoud, Brepols : Turnhout, BÉHÉ-SR, vol. 118. * ''Le Népal: Étude historique d’un royaume hindou'', Sylvain Lévi, 3 vol. 1905–08, Paris * ''Nepal: Historical study of a Hindu kingdom'', Sylvain Levi,
Ancient Nepal
', 44 installments, 1973–90. * ''Asvaghosa, le sutralamkara et ses sources'', S. Lévi, JA, 1908, 12, p. 57-193 * ''Autour d'Asvaghosa'', Sylvain Lévi, JA, Oc-Déc. 1929, p. 281-283 * ''Kanishka et Satavahana'', Sylvain Lévi, JA, Jan–Mars 1936, p. 103-107 * ''Le Bouddhisme et les Grecs'', S. Lévi, R.H.R. 23 (1891), p. 37 * ''L'énigme des 256 nuits d'Asoka'', Sylvain Lévi, JA 1948, p. 143-153 * ''Les études orientales'', par Sylvain Lévi, Annales du musée Guimet numéro 36, Hachette 1911, ANU DS1.P32.t36 * ''Les grands hommes dans l'histoire de l'Inde'', par Sylvain Lévi, Annales du musée Guimet numéro 40, Hachette 1913, ANU A DS1.P32.t40 * ''Les seize Arhats protecteurs de la loi'', Sylvain Lévi et Édouard Chavannes, JA 1916, vol. II, p. 204-275 * ''Le sutra du sage et du fou'', Sylvain Lévi, JA, Oc-Déc. 1925, p. 320-326, ANU pBL1411.A82.L4 * ''L'inde civilisatrice, aperçu historique'', S. Lévi, Paris 1938 * ''L'Inde et le Monde'', par Sylvain Lévi, Honoré Champion 1926, ANU G B131.L4 * ''Madhyantavibhangatika'', tr. S. Lévi ?, ANU BQ2965.Y3 * ''Mahayanasutralamkara, exposé de la doctrine du Grand Véhicule selon le système Yogachara'', tr. française Sylvain Lévi, Librairie Honoré Champion, 5 Quai Malaquais, Paris 1911, réimpression Rinsen Book Co. Kyoto 1983 () ANU BQ3002.L48.1983.t2 * ''Maitreya, le consolateur'', S. Lévi, Mélanges Linossier, II, pp. 362–3 & pp. 355–402
''Matériaux pour l'étude du système Vijnaptimatra''
Sylvain Lévi, Paris Chanmpion 1932 * ''Nairatmyapariprccha'', Sylvain Lévi, JA, Oct-Déc. 1928, p. 209-215 * ''Notes indiennes'', Sylvain Lévi, JA, Janv. Mars 1925, p. 26-35 * ''Notes sur les manuscrits sanscrits provenant de Bamiyan et de Gilgit'', S. Lévi * ''Observations sur une langue précanonique du bouddhisme'', S. Lévi, JA Nov-Déc. 1912, p. 511 * ''Sur la récitation primitive des textes bouddhiques'', Sylvain Lévi, JA, Mai-Juin 1915, p. 401-407 * ''Une langue précanonique du bouddhisme'', S. Lévi, JA 1912, p. 495-514 * ''Vijnaptimatratasiddhi'', Sylvain Lévi, Paris 1925, ANU AA BL1405.B8 * ''Vimsika-Vimsatika de Vasubandhu'', tr. S. Lévi, Bibliothèque de l'École des Hautes Etudes fascicule 245-1925 et 260-1932 Paris *JA = Journal Asiatique

References

Sources

* Louis Renou (1996). Mémorial Sylvain Lévi. Éd. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. * Lyne Bansat-Boudon; Roland Lardinois; Isabelle Ratié (2007), Sylvain Lévi (1863-1935) : études indiennes, histoire sociale: actes du colloque tenu à Paris les 8-10 octobre 2003, Turnhout: Brepols * Goloubew, Victor (1935)
Sylvain Lévi et l'Indochine
Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient 35 (1), 550-574 * Bloch, Jules (1937)
Sylvain Lévi
École pratique des hautes études, Section des sciences historiques et philologiques 70 (1), 39-43

External links

Biography
Jewish Encyclopedia {{DEFAULTSORT:Levi, Sylvain 1863 births 1935 deaths French scholars of Buddhism French Indologists 19th-century French Jews Jewish Nepalese history Jewish Vietnamese history Linguists from France Members of the Société Asiatique Newar studies scholars People associated with Santiniketan Academic staff of the University of Paris Himalayan studies