Peter von Bohlen (9 March 1796 – 6 February 1840) was a German Orientalist and

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 ...

. He was a professor at the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg () was the university of Königsberg in Duchy of Prussia, which was a fief of Poland. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant Reformation, Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke A ...

. He spent the first 20 years of his life in strained circumstances. His talents and perseverance attracted attention, and he obtained admission to the

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 ...

gymnasium. He afterward studied the Eastern languages at Halle and

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

. He then obtained an appointment at Königsberg, first in 1825 as extraordinary, and afterward in 1830 as ordinary professor of oriental literature.

Works

Bohlen has left many works which fully support his title to the high place which he held among Oriental scholars. One of his most important works is entitled ''Das alte Indien'' (Old India, 2 vols., 1830–31). Other publications of his are ''Die Genesis historisch-kritisch erläutert'' (Genesis explained critically and historically, 1835) and Latin translations of Bhartrihari's ''

Śatakatraya The ''Śatakatraya'' (), (also known as , ) refers to three Indian collections of Sanskrit poetry, containing a hundred verses each. The three ''Satakam, śataka's'' are known as the , , and , and are attributed to Bhartṛhari c. 5th century CE. ...

'' (1833) and

Kalidasa Kālidāsa (, "Servant of Kali"; 4th–5th century CE) was a Classical Sanskrit author who is often considered ancient India's greatest poet and playwright. His plays and poetry are primarily based on Hindu Puranas and philosophy. His surviv ...

's '' Ritusamhara'' (1840). The details of Bohlen's life are given with great minuteness and honesty in his ''Autobiography'' (Königsberg, 1841), which is full of interest, and cannot be read without producing a full conviction that he was no less distinguished by his amiability in private life than by his literary acquirements.

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* Balticists 1796 births 1840 deaths German orientalists University of Bonn alumni German Indologists People from Oldenburg (state) Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg alumni Academic staff of the University of Königsberg German male non-fiction writers {{Germany-academic-bio-stub