Jim Benson new Sanskrit Lecturer at Oxford

[ucgadkw at ucl.ac.uk]

The result of the appointment to the lectureship in Sanskrit at Oxford
University is now public.  Dr James Benson has been elected to the
post, which is held at Wolfson College.  He succeeds Alexis Sanderson,
who was recently elected to the Spalding Chair in Eastern Religions and
Ethics at All Souls College, following the death of Professor Bimal
Matilal.  The lecturer before Alexis was Richard Gombrich, now Boden
Professor of Sanskrit at Balliol College.  Jim was at Oxford for much
of the 80s, on a succession of fellowships and grants, teaching and
doing research for his Stanford doctorate.  This work was published as
his book on Patanjali's treatment of the Paninian notion of anga in the
Mahabhasya.

Jim comes to Oxford from Harvard, where he went from Oxford two (or
three?) years ago.  He has been teaching Sanskrit in the department of
Sanskrit and Indian Studies under Prof. Michael Witzel.

Presumably a Sanskrit lectureship will be advertised at Harvard in the near
future.

Dominik