Hermann Oldenberg (31 October 1854 – 18 March 1920) was a German 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 Professor at

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

(1898) and

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

(1908).

Work

Oldenberg was born in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

. His 1881 study on

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

, entitled ''Buddha: Sein Leben, seine Lehre, seine Gemeinde'', based on

Pāli Pāli (, IAST: pāl̤i) is a classical Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of '' Therav� ...

texts, popularized Buddhism and has remained continuously in print since its first publication. With T. W. Rhys Davids, he edited and translated into English three volumes of

Theravada ''Theravāda'' (; 'School of the Elders'; ) is Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school's adherents, termed ''Theravādins'' (anglicized from Pali ''theravādī''), have preserved their version of the Buddha's teaching or ''Dharma (Buddhi ...

Vinaya The Vinaya (Pali and Sanskrit: विनय) refers to numerous monastic rules and ethical precepts for fully ordained monks and nuns of Buddhist Sanghas (community of like-minded ''sramanas''). These sets of ethical rules and guidelines devel ...

texts, two volumes of the (Vedic) Grhyasutras and two volumes of Vedic hymns on his own account, in the monumental

Sacred Books of the East The ''Sacred Books of the East'' is a monumental 50-volume set of English translations of Asian religious texts, edited by Max Müller and published by the Oxford University Press between 1879 and 1910. It incorporates the essential sacred texts ...

series edited by

Max Müller Friedrich Max Müller (; 6 December 1823 – 28 October 1900) was a German-born British comparative philologist and oriental studies, Orientalist. He was one of the founders of the Western academic disciplines of Indology and religious s ...

. With his ''Prolegomena'' (1888), Oldenberg laid the groundwork to the philological study of the

Rigveda The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' (, , from wikt:ऋच्, ऋच्, "praise" and wikt:वेद, वेद, "knowledge") is an ancient Indian Miscellany, collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canoni ...

. In 1919 he became a foreign member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (, KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed in the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam. In addition to various advisory a ...

. He died in

Selected publications

* Oldenberg, Hermann, ''Die Religion des Veda''. Berlin 1894; Stuttgart 1917; Stuttgart 1927; Darmstadt 1977 * Oldenberg, Hermann, trans. Müller, Max, ed
''Vedic Hymns''
part 2: Hymns to Agni. The

, vol. 46, Oxford, Clarendon Press 1897. Reprint: Low Price Publications 1996, . * Oldenberg, Hermann, trans./ed
"The Dîpavaṃsa
An Ancient Buddhist Historical Record, London: Williams and Norgate 1879. * Oldenberg, Hermann
Buddha: his life, his doctrine, his order
London, Williams 1882. * Oldenberg, Hermann, trans., Max Müller, ed. Sacred Books of the East Vol. XXIX
"The Grihya-sûtras, rules of Vedic domestic ceremonies"
part 1, Oxford, The Clarendon press 1886 * Oldenberg, Hermann, trans. Müller, Max, trans. Sacred Books of the East Vol. XXX
"The Grihya-sûtras, rules of Vedic domestic ceremonies"
part 2, Oxford, The Clarendon press 1892 * Rhys Davids, T. W.; Oldenberg, Hermann, trans. (1881–85). ''Vinaya Texts'', ''Sacred Books of the East'', volumes XIII, XVII & XX, Clarendon/Oxford. Reprint: Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi (Dover, New York
Vol. XIII, Mahavagga I-IVVol. XVII, Mahavagga V-X, Kullavagga I-IIIVol. XX, Kullavagga IV-XII

References

External links

* 1854 births 1920 deaths German Indologists German scholars of Buddhism German male non-fiction writers Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Writers from Hamburg German Sanskrit scholars Pali–English translators Sanskrit–English translators {{Germany-theologian-stub

Work

Selected publications

References

Further reading

External links