Vincenc Lesný (3 April 1882, Komárovice – 9 April 1953,

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

professor and research scholar of

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'') is ...

and

Iranian Studies Iranian studies ( '), also referred to as Iranology and Iranistics, is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the research and study of the civilization, history, literature, art and culture of Iranian peoples. It is a part of the wider field ...

Early life

The second son of Baltazar Lesný and Victorie (née Sujerlova), Vincenc was born at Komárovice, then in

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

, now in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

, on 3 April 1882. After graduation, he joined a naval academy at

Pula Pula, also known as Pola, is the largest city in Istria County, west Croatia, and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, seventh-largest city in the country, situated at the southern tip of the Istria, Istrian peninsula in western Croatia, wi ...

between 1901 and 1903. He studied classical

philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

and old Indian culture at

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

between 1903 and 1907. He attended lectures on modern Indian languages in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

and

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

in 1909-1910. On completing his studies, he first taught in schools and then in the university.Ze vzpomínek neurologa prof. MUDr. Ivana Lesného, DrSc., Jemnické listy, leden 2013, s. 29, časopis města Jemnice

Santiniketan

He was a student of Moriz Winternitz. In 1920,

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

met him during his visit to Czechoslovakia. Lesný was an admirer of Tagore's poetry and had translated in 1914, some of his prose and poetry into

and published it - ''Rabindranath Thakur : Ukázky poesie a prosy''. When Winternitz joined Visva Bharati University in 1923 as a visiting professor, Lesný also went to

Santiniketan Shantiniketan (IPA: Help:IPA/Bengali, �antiniketɔn is a neighbourhood of Bolpur town in the Bolpur subdivision of Birbhum district in West Bengal, India, approximately 152 km north of Kolkata. It was established by Maharshi Devendra ...

. He taught German and himself learnt Bengali. He had mastered Sanskrit before going to Santiniketan. Lesný went back after a short time but again returned to Santiniketan in 1928 as a professor.

Later life

At the Charles University in Prague, he became associate professor of Indology in 1924, full professor in 1930 and took over management of the Faculty of Arts in 1937. Since 1945, he was director of the Oriental Institute at Prague. His wife, Milada Krausová-Lesná, was a Czech translator from

Scandinavian languages The North Germanic languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages—a sub-family of the Indo-European languages—along with the West Germanic languages and the extinct East Germanic languages. The language group is al ...

. Their son, Ivan Lensy, was a doctor and a writer.

Works

His book ''Buddhism: Buddha and Buddhism of the Pali Canon'' (1921) was an objective view of Buddhism. His ''Spirit of India ''presented history and religion in India in a historical context. He translated extensively. His later translations of Tagore were the first directly from Bengali to Czech.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lesny, Vincenc 1882 births 1953 deaths Czech orientalists Linguists from Austria-Hungary Linguists from Czechoslovakia Linguists of Sanskrit People from Třebíč District Czech Indologists People associated with Santiniketan Translators from Bengali 20th-century Czech linguists 20th-century Czech translators Charles University alumni