Nalini Balbir (born 1955) is a French

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 ...

who lives in Paris. She is a scholar 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 ...

Prakrit The Prakrits (; sa, prākṛta; psu, 𑀧𑀸𑀉𑀤, ; pka, ) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usu ...

, Pali,

Jainism Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle bein ...

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

and

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

. She was a direct student of Indologist

Colette Caillat Colette Caillat (15 January 1921 – 15 January 2007) was a French professor of Sanskrit and comparative grammar. She was also one of the world's leading Jain scholars. Biography Caillat was born in Saint-Leu-la-Forêt, Seine-et-Oise. She emba ...

. She is known for her work on the publication of the Catalogue of the Jain Manuscripts of the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...

published by the Institute of Jainology.

Biography

Nalini Balbir was born of a French mother and an Indian father. She started her career as a teacher of French, Latin and Greek in secondary schools (1977 to 1980), before completing her PhD in Indian Studies (Études indiennes) with the edition and annotated translation of the ''Danastaka-katha'', a book of Jain narratives in Sanskrit, which was published in 1982. Between 1982-1988 she was a Research scholar in the

Centre national de la recherche scientifique The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,63 ...

, where she completed her DLitt in Indian Studies with a magisterial work on the complex Jaina ''Avasyaka'' literature which was published in 1993 under the title ''Avasyaka Studien''. In recognition of her outstanding contributions to classical and modern Indian philology she became Professor of Indian Studies at the

Sorbonne Nouvelle The New Sorbonne University (french: Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, also known as Paris III) is a public university in Paris, France. It is one of the inheritors of the historic University of Paris, which was completely overhauled and ...

(University of New Sorbonne) in 1988. Dr Balbir is currently Professor for Indian Studies (Études Indiennes) at the Sorbonne Nouvelle (University of Paris-3), and since the year 2000 also Directeur d'Études for Middle-Indian Philology at the

École Pratique des Hautes Études École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

in Paris (Section des Sciences historiques et philologiques). As a trained philologist, her main areas of research are Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit, Theravada Buddhism, Jainism, and Hindi language and literature of the 20th century. She is also a member of Pali text society in London and editor since 1983 of ''Bulletin d'Études Indiennes'', an Indology Journal. p. 208

Publications

*Balbir, N. (1983). ''Prakrit versions of a Pan-Indian tale ; the Monkey and the Tailor-bird, and their use in Jaina Books of discipline.'' OCLC Number: 469255352 *Balbir, N. (1984). "Normalizing trends in Jaina narrative literature." ''Indologica Taurinensia'' 12 (1984): 25-38. OCLC Number: 469255335 *Balbir, N., Oberlies, T., & Leumann, E. (1993). ''Āvaśyaka-Studien. Alt- und neu-indische Studien,'' 45, 1-2. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner. , OCLC Number: 30675632 *Renou, L., Balbir, N., & Pinault, G.-J. (1997). . Védique et sanskrit - 2. Tradition grammaticale Choix d'études indiennes / Louis Renou. Réunis par Nalini Balbir et Georges-Jean Pinault, Tome 1. Paris: École Française d'Extrême-Orient. OCLC Number: 246231389 *British Library (London), & Balbir, N. (2006). ''Catalogue of the Jain manuscripts of the British Library 1 Vol. 1 Introduction, bibliography, appendices, indexes, plates.'' , OCLC Number: 263433372 *Caillat, C., & Balbir, N. (2008). ''Jaina Studies. Papers of the 12th World Sanskrit Conference.'' Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. , OCLC Number: 470840899 *Balbir, N., & Pinault, G.-J. (2009). ''Penser, dire et représenter l'animal dans le monde Indien.'' Paris: Champion. , OCLC Number: 406150083 * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balbir, Nalini 1955 births University of Paris faculty Scholars of Jainism French Sanskrit scholars Indian people of French descent French Indologists French people of Indian descent Living people Place of birth missing (living people)