F.B.J. Kuiper, 1907-2003

[Guest guest]

A few days ago, the sad news has reached me of the passing away of my

Leiden colleague, friend, and Guru, F.B.J. Kuiper.

 

Franciscus Bernardus Jacobus Kuiper was born on July 7th, 1907 at 's

Gravenhage (The Hague). He was emeritus professor of Leiden University,

Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion, and Member of the Royal

Academy of Sciences, Amsterdam.

 

He passed away quietly on the morning of November 14th, 2003. He is

survived by wife Mrs. H. Kuiper, three sons, a daughter, and his

grandchildren. The burial, attended by family and few close friends and

colleagues, took place on the19th.

 

With F.B.J. Kuiper one of last great Indologists of his generation has left

us. Kuiper's work spanned a host of fields: from Indo-European linguistics

to Indo-Iranian, Vedic, Skt. drama, Prakrit, Dravidian, Munda, Pan-Indian

linguistics, the Indian Sprachbund, to Indian and Iranian mythology.

 

For a list of Kuiper's publications, spanning seven decades, and a for

discussion of his work, see several lists in his journal, the Indo-Iranian

Journal, as well as in the introduction to his "Ancient Indian Cosmogony"

(ed. J. Irwin, Delhi 1983), T.Ya. Elizarenkova's essay on Kuiper (Trudy po

vedijskoij mifologii = in Engl., Numen 34, 1987, 145-178), and in the

introduction to his "Selected Writings on Indian Linguistics and Philology"

(ed. A. Lubotsky, M.S. Oort, M. Witzel, Amsterdam 1997).

 

To honor his work, it is perhaps best to quote two published estimations:

 

T.Ya. Elizarenkova (Numen): "The activity of Kuiper ... is uncommonly

many-sided. He is not only the author of many articles, which have opened

new perspectives for Indology, but also an active reviewer who quickly

published his reactions to important Indological and Iranistical

publications, a participant in different scholarly discussions." And from

the 1997 linguistic collection: ".. whether he publishes a short note in

IIJ or a monograph, these contributions always contain a new approach to an

old problem, or they deal with a novel topic first discovered and treated

only by him. ... [he] represents the most innovative and at the same time,

lasting work done in our field in the Netherlands during this century."

 

MW.

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Michael Witzel

Department of Sanskrit & Indian Studies, Harvard University

1 Bow Street, Cambridge MA 02138, USA

 

ph. 1- 617-496 2990 (also messages)

home page: http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/mwpage.htm