Abel Bergaigne

Abel Henri Joseph Bergaigne (31 August 1838 – 6 August 1888) was a French Indologist and scholar of Sanskrit. He wrote a
number of books related to religion and philosophy. He published the beginning of a study on grammatical construction, which is
regarded for its historical development. Languages included Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Germanic languages and others.[1]

Contents
Biography
Legacy
Notable works
References

Biography
Born in Vimy, Pas-de-Calais, on 31 August 1838. After his father, he took a job in Registration service; however, his rising
interest in literature and science led him to abandon the job.[2]

In 1867, Bergaigne became a coach in Sanskrit. By 1877, he became a lecturer in Sorbonne, and in 1885, he was appointed as a
professor of Sanskrit and comparative linguistic. Apart from Vedas, he had also translated Bhagavada Gita.[3]

He died on 6 August 1888.[4]

Legacy
His interpretation of Rigveda brought him worldwide fame. He was regarded as the leading Orientalist of France[5] for his period.
His work has influenced people such as Sylvain Lévi, Paul Mus, and others.[6]

One review described his book La Religion Védique D'après Les Hymnes Du Rig-Veda as "an acute, careful, and comprehensive
work by an able scholar."[7]

Notable works
La Religion Védique D'après Les Hymnes Du Rig-Veda, 1878
Inscriptions sanscrites du Cambodge, 1882
La division en adhyayas du Rig-Veda, 1888

References
1. Henri Weil. The Order of Words in the Ancient Languages Compared with that of the Modern Languages (https://
books.google.com/books?id=83zXSvnAPzcC). John Benjamins Publishing. p. 9.
2. François Pouillon, Dictionnaire des orientalistes, Karthala Éditions, 2008, p.|90.
3. Carrie Noland (2010). Agency and Embodiment: Performing Gestures/Producing Culture (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=72pGJBzDiRMC). Harvard University. p. 226. ISBN 9780674054387.
 4. Adalbert Bezzenberger; Walther Prellwitz (1890). Beiträge zur Kunde der Indogermanischen Sprachen ...,
Volume 16. R. Peppmüller. p. 349.
5. Current Literature: Jul.-Dec.1888, Volume 1 (https://books.google.com/books?id=T_ZYAAAAYAAJ). Current
Literature Publishing Company. p. 473.
6. Thomas A. Idinopulos; Edward A. Yonan (1996). The Sacred and Its Scholars: Comparative Methodologies for
the Study of Primary Religious Data (https://books.google.com/books?id=pH3Tb_qYoSAC). Brill. p. 32.
7. Charles Lowe; Henry Wilder Foote; John Hopkins Morison; Henry H. Barber; James De Normandie; Joseph
Henry Allen. The Unitarian Review, Volume 23. p. 558. Originally from University of Michigan

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This page was last edited on 5 June 2019, at 20:47 (UTC).

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