Sanskrit and indology in Brussels

[Jean-Michel Delire]

Dear Friends of the Indology list, 
> 
It has now been confirmed that two (and a half) courses devoted to Sanskrit and Indian civilization will disappear at the Université de Bruxelles. Two annual 24h-courses entitled "Sanskrit" will shrink to a 24h-course "Sanskrit et Vieux Perse", and one biennial 24h-course entitled "Civilisation indienne" will simply be suppressed. The last Sanskrit teacher, Francine Mawet who is now retiring, is essentially a comparatist  and, hence, might not been known to you since she did not participate to any World Sanskrit Conference or any large meeting devoted to Sanskrit  researches. But, though she didn't contribute to Sanskrit studies, she has  been the successor in Brussels of some famous Sanskrit specialists, like Ludo Rocher (1959-1966), or Jean Naudou (1967-1976). Suzanne Rocher made also her researches in Brussels before leaving Belgium for Pensylvania University, and Janine Schotmans, a pupil of Ludo Rocher, was the curator of the Indian section at the Musée Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire. Since 1992, Claudine Bautze-Picron (C.N.R.S., UMR 7528, Paris), a student of Jean Naudou, has been teaching an annual 24h-course on Indian History of Art. It is also during F.Mawet's professorship, but mostly under the supervision of Pierre-Sylvain Filliozat, that I wrote my thesis on the Baudhaayana "Sulbasuutra and its commentaries (with a new edition and translation). Some of you must know me, as I participate in several WSC (in 1997, 2000 and 2003) and did sojourn in India for more than one and a half year, in order to collect the manuscripts I needed for my edition. That is why, as a mathematician trained in Sanskrit wanting to develop research about the fascinating and very promising field of Indian mathematics, astronomy and science in general, I am kindly requesting you to write a letter (with a copy for me) asking the Recteur (vice-chancellor) of the Université Libre de Bruxelles not to ratify this drastic reduction of the already small Sanskrit related activities in his University. 
> 
> Address : 
> M. Philippe Vincke 
> Recteur de l'Université Libre de Bruxelles 
> 50, avenue F.D.Roosevelt 
> 1050 Bruxelles 
> BELGIUM 
> Email (but a letter would be more efficient) : pvincke at ulb.ac.be

Best regards,

Jean Michel Delire
Doctor in Philosophy and Letters
Master in Mathematics
Secretary of the Altaïr Centre for History of Science (University of Brussels)