Gustav Solomon Oppert, (30 July 1836 – 1 March 1908) was a German

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 ...

and Sanskritist. He was a professor of

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

and Comparative Philology, Presidency College,

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

, a

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode ...

translator to government, and a curator in the Government Oriental Manuscripts Library. He was a professor in Madras from 1872 to 1893. He was also editor of the ''Madras Journal of Literature and Science'' from 1878 to 1882. After traveling in north India from 1893 to 1894, he returned to Europe in 1894.

Early life

Oppert was born in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

on 30 July 1836 and counted Julius Oppert and

Ernst Oppert Ernst Jakob Oppert (5 December 1832 – 19 September 1903) was a Jewish businessman from Germany best known for his unsuccessful attempt in 1867 to remove the remains of the father of regent Yi Ha-eung from their grave in order to use them to b ...

among his eleven siblings. He obtained a PhD in 1860, having attended four universities - Bonn, Leipzig, Berlin and Halle - and in 1866 became an assistant librarian at the

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 ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, England. He also took a similar post at

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original c ...

for

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

Orientalist

In 1872, Oppert was appointed professor of Sanskrit at the Presidency College in Madras. He stayed in that post until 1893, when he left to conduct a tour of north India, China, Japan and the United States before returning to Berlin to become privat-docent in

Dravidian languages The Dravidian languages (or sometimes Dravidic) are a family of languages spoken by 250 million people, mainly in southern India, north-east Sri Lanka, and south-west Pakistan. Since the colonial era, there have been small but significant im ...

at the university. Oppert's significant writings are ''On the classification of languages'' (1879), ''On the weapons, army, organisation and Political Maxims of the ancient Hindoos'' (1880), ''Lists of Sanskrit manuscripts in Southern India'' (2 Vol. 1880-1885), ''Contributions to the history of Southern India'' (1882), and ''On the original inhabitants of Bharatavarsha of India'' (1893). In the last of these, Oppert used extensive philological research to support the idea of the Dravidians as the original inhabitants of India. Among popular Dravidians, Oppert counts

Thiruvalluvar Thiruvalluvar (Tamil: திருவள்ளுவர்), commonly known as Valluvar, was a celebrated Tamil poet and philosopher. He is best known as the author of the ''Tirukkuṟaḷ'', a collection of couplets on ethics, political and ...

, who wrote the ''Thirukkural'', and

Avvaiyar Avvaiyar ( Tamil: ஔவையார்) was the title of more than one female poet who were active during different periods of Tamil literature. They were some of the most famous and important female poets of the Tamil canon. Abidhana Chint ...

, the Tamil poet saint. He edited the book entitled '' Ramarajiyamu or Narapativijayamu'' written in Telugu by Venkayya, when he was working ay Presidency College. It was published by

Vavilla Ramaswamy Sastrulu and Sons Vavilla Ramaswamy Sastrulu and Sons (Telugu: వావిళ్ల రామస్వామి శాస్త్రులు అండ్ సన్స్) is a 150-year-old Indian publishing house. It was started by Vavilla Ramaswamy Sastrulu ...

in 1923.

Death

Oppert, who was unmarried and childless, died in Berlin on 1 March 1908. He was buried there at the Weissensee Jewish cemetery.Pelger, G.:
Deutsch-jüdische Gelehrte zwischen Tradition und Emanzipation: das Beispiel des Indologen Gustav Salomon Oppert
', University of

Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hal ...

, Germany. In German. URL last accessed April 27, 2019.

Early life

Orientalist

Death

References

Further reading