J. A. B. van Buitenen

Johannes Adrianus Bernardus van Buitenen (21 May 1928, The Hague, Netherlands – 21 September 1979, Champaign, Illinois, US)[1] was a Dutch Indologist at the University of Chicago where he was the George V. Bobrinskoy Professor of Sanskrit in the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations. He was one of the world's leading Sanskrit scholars.[2] His interests ranged widely over literature, philosophy and philology, but toward the end of his career he focused primarily on the Mahābhārata.

J. A. B. van Buitenen
Born21 May 1928 
Died21 September 1979  (aged 51)
LanguageEnglish language 

Biography

Van Buitenen studied with Jan Gonda at the Rijksuniversiteit, Utrecht, Netherlands (since 1990 Universiteit Utrecht). He received his doctorate, cum laude, on 23 October 1953 and immediately departed for India where he stayed until 1956 as sub-editor of the " Dictionary of Sanskrit on Historical Principles" project at Deccan College, Poona .[3] From 1959 to 1961 he was Reader in Indian philosophy at Utrecht but found he had little interest in the position or in staying in the Netherlands.[4] As a consequence he happily accepted an invitation to take a position at the University of Chicago and remained there until his death in 1979 at the age of fifty-one. He was appointed associate professor in Sanskrit and Indic studies in 1959 and professor in linguistics in Oriental languages in 1964. After a South Asian languages and civilizations department was formed in 1966, he was chairman for 10 years. [5]

Van Buitenen contributed to the training of several notable scholars in the USA, among them James L. Fitzgerald (Brown University), Walter O. Kaelber, Michael D. Willis, Bruce M. Sullivan (Northern Arizona University) and Bruce Lincoln (University of Chicago).[2]

Van Buitenen was on the board of directors of the American Oriental Society [5] and became a correspondent of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1963.[1]

Amongst many publications he edited and translated the first five books of the Hindu epic, "The Mahabharata". They were published in three volumes by the University of Chicago Press. At the time of his death he was working on the fourth of seven volumes.[5]

Publications

Books
  • Rāmānuja’s  Vedārthasangraha, Translated by J. A. B. van Buitenen, India, 1956
  • Tales of Ancient India Translated by J. A. B. van Buitenen. Chicago, 1959
  • The Maitrāyaṇīya Upaniṣad: A Critical Essay, with Text, Translation and Commentary. The Hague, 1962
  • Two Plays of Ancient India: The Little Clay Cart and the Minister's Seal New York, 1968
  • Rāmānuja on the Bhagavadgītā: a condensed rendering of his Gītābhāṣya with copious notes and an introduction Delhi, 1968. (Previously published in 1953 as the author's proefschrift, Utrecht Rijksuniversiteit)
  • Yāmuna’s Āgamaprāmāṇya: or, Treatise on the Validity of Pañcarātra Madras, 1971
  • The Mahabharata, Volume 1, Book 1: The Book of the Beginning Translated by J. A. B. van Buitenen. Chicago, 1973
  • The Mahabharata, Volume 2, Book 2: The Book of Assembly; Book 3: The Book of the Forest Translated by J. A. B. van Buitenen. Chicago, 1975
  • The Mahabharata, Volume 3, Book 4: The Book of the Virata; Book 5: The Book of the Effort Translated by J. A. B. van Buitenen. Chicago, 1978
  • The Bhagavadgita in the Mahabharata Translated by J. A. B. van Buitenen, edited by James L. Fitzgerald. Chicago, 1981

Selected articles
  • ‘Studies in Sāṃkhya (I)’. JAOS 76, 1956. pp. 153–57.
  • ‘Studies in Sāṃkhya (II)’. JAOS 77. 1957. pp. 15–25.
  • ‘Studies in Sāṃkhya (III)’. JAOS 77, 1957. pp. 88–107.
  • ‘The Name “Pañcarātra”’. History of Religions 1, 1962. pp. 291–99.
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References
  1. "J.A.B. van Buitenen (1928 - 1979)". Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  2. Richard H. Davis, South Asia at Chicago: a history, foreword by Milton Singer (Chicago: Committee on Southern Asian Studies, University of Chicago, 1985).
  3. Jan Gonda, 'Obituary' in Studies in Indian Literature and Philosophy: Collected Articles of J. A. B. van Buitenen, edited by Ludo Rocher (Delhi, 1988), p. xiii.
  4. Gonda, 'Obituary' in Studies in Indian Literature and Philosophy, p. xv.
  5. J.A.B. van Buitenen – Authority on Sanskrit  Taught at Chicago University – Obituary,  New York Times, Sept 22, 1979
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