Gustav Salomon Oppert
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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'') is ...
and Sanskritist. He was a professor of
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
and Comparative Philology, Presidency College,
Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...
, a
Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...
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 (, ; ), 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 ...
on 30 July 1836 and counted Julius Oppert and Ernst Oppert 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. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...
in
Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
, England. He also took a similar post at
Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a List of British royal residences, royal residence at Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, about west of central London. It is strongly associated with the Kingdom of England, English and succee ...
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 Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...
.


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 are a language family, family of languages spoken by 250 million people, primarily in South India, north-east Sri Lanka, and south-west Pakistan, with pockets elsewhere in South Asia. The most commonly spoken Dravidian l ...
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 commonly known as Valluvar, was a Tamil poet and philosopher. He is best known as the author of the '' Tirukkuṟaḷ'', a collection of couplets on ethics, political and economic matters, and love. The text is considered an e ...
, who wrote the ''Thirukkural'', and Avvaiyar, 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, Germany. In German. URL last accessed April 27, 2019.


References


Further reading

* 1836 births 1908 deaths People from the Madras Presidency Expatriates in British India German Indologists Jewish orientalists 19th-century German Jews Writers from Hamburg German male non-fiction writers University of Bonn alumni Leipzig University alumni University of Halle alumni Berlin University of the Arts alumni Academic staff of the Berlin University of the Arts Academic staff of Presidency College, Chennai People associated with the Bodleian Library German librarians {{Germany-academic-bio-stub