George Frederick William Thibaut (March 20, 1848 – 1914) was an

Indologist 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'') i ...

notable for his contributions to the understanding of

ancient India According to consensus in modern genetics, anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. Quote: "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by ...

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

and

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...

Life

Thibaut was born in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

, worked briefly in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, and then in 1875, was appointed Professor at the Government Sanskrit College, Varanasi in northern India. From 1888 to 1895, he was professor at Muir Central College in

Allahabad Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administra ...

. On 6 November 2014, in its column "100 Years Ago" '' The Statesman'' reprinted the following obituary on the late Dr. Thibaut:

The death is reported at Heidelberg Hospital, Germany of Dr George Thibaut, C.I.E., Ph.D., D.Sc., who recently retired from the Education Service as Registrar of the Calcutta University. Dr. Thibaut who took part in Franco-German War of 1870 as a noncommissioned officer joined the Muir Central College, Allahabad some 22 years ago as Professor of Philosophy. He rose to be the Principal of the College and was appointed Registrar of the Allahabad University, afterwards being transferred to Calcutta. Besides being a well-known student of philosophy Eastern and Western, the late Dr. Thibaut was an eminent Sanskrit scholar.

He was appointed CIE in the

1906 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1906 were appointments by Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death i ...

Works

Between 1875 and 1878 Thibaut published a detailed essay on the '' Śulba sūtras'', together with a translation of the ''Baudhāyana Śulba sūtra''; he later translated the '' Pañca Siddhāntikā'' which he co-edited with Pandit Sudhakar Dwivedi (the latter added a Sanskrit commentary). He also edited and translated the following volumes in

Max Müller Friedrich Max Müller (; 6 December 1823 – 28 October 1900) was a German-born philologist and Orientalist, who lived and studied in Britain for most of his life. He was one of the founders of the western academic disciplines of Indian ...

's ''

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 ...

'': * Vol. 34, '' The Vedanta-Sutras'', vol. 1 of 3, with the commentary of

Sankaracharya Shankaracharya ( sa, शङ्कराचार्य, , " Shankara-''acharya''") is a religious title used by the heads of amnaya monasteries called mathas in the Advaita Vedanta tradition of Hinduism. The title derives from Adi Shankara; te ...

, part 1 of 2. Adhyâya I–II (Pâda I–II). (1890) * Vol. 38, ''The Vedanta-Sutras'', vol. 2 of 3, with the commentary of Sankaracharya, part 1 of 2. Adhyâya II (Pâda III–IV)–IV. (1896) It was one of the earliest translation of the

Brahma Sutras The ''Brahma Sūtras'' ( sa, ब्रह्मसूत्राणि) is a Sanskrit text, attributed to the sage bādarāyaṇa or sage Vyāsa, estimated to have been completed in its surviving form in approx. 400–450 CE,, Quote: "...we c ...

along with the work of

Paul Deussen Paul Jakob Deussen (; 7 January 1845 – 6 July 1919) was a German Indologist and professor of philosophy at University of Kiel. Strongly influenced by Arthur Schopenhauer, Deussen was a friend of Friedrich Nietzsche and Swami Vivekananda. In ...

. * Vol. 48, ''The Vedanta-Sutras'', vol. 3 of 3, with the commentary of Râmânuja. (1904) Thibaut contributed a number of Sanskrit manuscripts to the Department of Oriental Collections,

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the sec ...

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, where they are archived today.

References

External links

* *
The Vedânta-sutras ... translated by George Thibaut (1890)
Thibaut, George Frederick William 1848 births 1914 deaths Hindu astronomy Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire German historians of mathematics University of Calcutta faculty German male non-fiction writers {{Hindu-bio-stub