[INDOLOGY] Teun Goudriaan and Max Sparreboom

Tue Sep 20 12:15:07 UTC 2016

small addition to bibliography of Teun Goudriaan showing, I think, his
mature approach to present an Indian "classic" to the wider public:

Bhagavad Gita: het klassieke boek van inzicht en bezinning

[Met metrische vertaling in het Nederlands door]

Guus Nooteboom

bewerkt door Kuuk Nooteboom

[Met "Ten Geleide" door Teun Goudriaan]

Derde Druk [Met "voorwoord bij de derde druk" door Jan Houben]

Utrecht: Skandalon, 2013 (Eerste Druk: Deventer: Ankh Hermes, 1989)

TEN GELEIDE door Teun Goudriaan [Utrecht, 1989]

De Bhagavadgītā is zonder twijfel het meest bekende geschrift van het
hindoeïsme. Het werk dateert van ongeveer het begin van onze jaartelling en
is opgenomen in het reusachtige Sanskriet-epos Mahābhārata. Ook veel
niet-hindoes zijn er door geïnspireerd. Nog steeds wordt er in de meest
verschillende contexten naar verwezen. Men kan zich afvragen waaraan deze
tekst zijn grote populariteit te danken heeft. In elk geval niet aan het
sensationele karakter van de inhoud. De Gītā is niet meer en niet minder
dan een ethisch-religieuze beschouwing in versvorm (grotendeels geschreven
in niet-rijmende disticha, śloka's genaamd). De lezer wordt geconfronteerd
met een ernstige, wel verheven maar toch rustige, betoogtrant. Hij wordt
niet gepaaid met mooie verhalen of andere literaire kunstgrepen. Het is
waarschijnlijk deze simpele waardigheid en directheid die de tekst heeft
doen aanslaan bij miljoenen bewonderaars.

Centraal staat voor dé Gita de vraag hoe wij in alle aardse verwarring een
rustpunt in onszelf kunnen vinden en ongeschonden bewaren. Dit wordt
mogelijk ais wi j ons toevertrouwen aan het Hoogste Wezen (identiek met de
spreker zelf, Krisjna, maar de naam doet er minder toe), en werken aan een
toenemende realisatie van dit Wezen in onszelf.

Talloze malen is de Gîta binnen en buiten India geïmiteerd, bewerkt,
becommentarieerd en vertaald. Er wordt gezegd dat ze na de bijbel het meest
vertaalde boek ter wereld is. En inderdaad: de actualiteit van de boodschap
is nog steeds zodanig dat het de moeite loont om de inhoud voor iedere
nieuwe generatie opnieuw toegankelijk te maken.

De hier voor het eerst uitgegeven vertaling van Guus Nooteboom voegt aan de
interpretatie nog een extra element toe, namelijk dat van de herschepping.
De vertaler was tevens een dichter, voor wie de inhoud pas volledig ging
leven doordat ze in een weliswaar secundair, maar toch authentiek
scheppingsproces werd omgezet in een 'eigentaalse' en eigentijdse
kunstuiting. Men mag hierbij overigens niet vergeten dat het manuscript
reeds een aantal decennia geleden werd afgesloten [net vóór de tweede
wereldoorlog, JH].

Het verdient stellig waardering dat de zoon van de vertaler, Kuuk
Nooteboom, zich grote moeite heeft gegeven het werk van zijn vader alsnog
te doen publiceren [samen met de Sanskriet tekst in Devanāgarī en in
transscriptie en voorzien van talrijke verklarende voetnoten, JH].

Bhagavad Gita: het klassieke boek van inzicht en bezinning

[Met metrische vertaling in het Nederlands door]

Guus Nooteboom

bewerkt door Kuuk Nooteboom

Derde Druk

Utrecht: Skandalon, 2013 (Eerste Druk: Deventer: Ankh Hermes, 1989)

PREFACE by Teun Goudriaan [Utrecht, 1989; my transl. into English]

The Bhagavadgītā is without doubt the best known scripture of Hinduism. The
work dates from about the beginning of our era and is included in the
gigantic Sanskrit epic Mahābhārata. It has inspired also many non-Hindus.
Even now reference is made to it in the most diverse contexts. One may
wonder to what it is that this text owes its great popularity. In any case,
not to the sensational nature of its content. The Gītā is nothing more and
nothing less than a moral-religious philosophy in verse (written largely in
non-rhyming couplets, called ślokas). The reader is confronted with a
serious, elevated but still calm style of argumentation. He is not placated
with beautiful stories or other literary artifices. It is probably this
simple dignity and straightforwardness which have made it catch on with
millions of admirers.

What is central for the Gītā is the question how in all earthly confusion
we can find a haven within ourselves and preserve it intact. This becomes
possible if we entrust ourselves to the Supreme Being (identical with the
speaker himself, Krishna, but the name is less important), and work towards
a growing realization of this Being within ourselves.

Countless times the Gītā has been imitated within and outside India,
edited, commented and translated. It is said that it is the world's most
translated book after the Bible. And indeed, the actuality of the message
is still such that it is worthwhile to make its content accessible for each
new generation.
The translation by Guus Nooteboom, published here for the first time, adds
an extra element to the interpretation, that of the re-creation. The
translator was also a poet, for whom the content became only fully alive
when it was transformed through an, albeit secondary, yet authentic
creative process into a contemporary artistic expression in one’s own
language. One should not forget, incidentally, that the manuscript of this
metric translation into Dutch was closed several decades ago [just before
WWII, JH]. It certainly deserves appreciation that the son of the
translator, Kuuk Nooteboom, took great efforts to get the work of his
father now for the first time published [together with the Sanskrit text in
Devanāgarī and transliteration, and richly annotated, JH].

*Jan E.M. HOUBEN*

Directeur d’Études

Sources et histoire de la tradition sanskrite

*École Pratique des Hautes Études*

*Sciences historiques et philologiques *

54, rue Saint-Jacques

CS 20525 – 75005 Paris

johannes.houben at ephe.sorbonne.fr

https://ephe-sorbonne.academia.edu/JanEMHouben

www.ephe.fr

On 20 September 2016 at 14:02, Jan E.M. Houben <jemhouben at gmail.com> wrote:

> Very sad to read about the passing away of Teun Goudriaan (on 28 august
> 2016) and Max Sparreboom (on 30 august 2016).
>
> Bio-bibliographical details on Teun Goudriaan can be found at:
> http://dutchstudies-satsea.nl/auteur/69/Teun-Goudriaan.html
>
> on Max Sparreboom:
> http://dutchstudies-satsea.nl/auteur/206/MarcusMax-Sparreboom.html
>
> The overview on Teun Goudriaan adds some publications not mentioned by
> Asko Parpola, whereas the latter's references contain valuable information
> not mentioned in the online overview.
>
> Teun Goudriaan was not only an excellent scholar to whom we owe several
> monumental contributions to indology, he was also an excellent teacher at
> Utrecht University having the rare skill not only to give the correct
> construction of a difficult sentence and explain it in masterly fashion: he
> had also a remarkable skill to understand empathically why the student
> occasionally arrived at another, seemingly correct but ultimately untenable
> solution. I still must have somewhere my course notes of his courses on the
> Bhagavata Purana.
> Although this was much before my time, he was also known to have been an
> excellent student of Prof. Jan Gonda in the late 1950s - early 1960s.
> According to anecdote, his notes of Prof. Gonda's courses, showing a
> profound grasp and exceptionally rich in detail, aquired a fame on their
> own and circulated among fellow students under the name "Gondriaan".
>
> Belated condolences to Teun Goudriaan's and Max Sparreboom's family and
> friends.
>
> Jan Houben
>
>
>
> On 1 September 2016 at 13:00, <asko.parpola at helsinki.fi> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> I was really sad to hear about the passing of Teun Goudriaan and Max
>> Sparreboom, who were my friends for decades, Teun Goudriaan since the
>> 1960s. While I have nothing to add to Herman Tieken's list of publications
>> by Max Sparreboom, there is quite a lot to cover Teun's indological
>> publications. As my farewell I list the following.  With regards, Asko
>> Parpola
>>
>>
>> Goudriaan, Teunis, 1965. Kāśyapa's Book of wisdom. (Disputationes
>> Rheno-Traiectinae, 10.) The Hague: Mouton & Co. 341 pp. (Ph.D. thesis,
>> Utrecht 1965.) This is an annotated translation of an important Vaikhānasa
>> text.
>>
>> Goudriaan, Teunis, 1970. Vaikhânasa daily worship. Indo-Iranian Journal
>> 12: 161-215.
>>
>> Goudriaan, T., and C. Hooykaas, 1971. Stuti and stava (Bauddha, Śaiva and
>> Vaiṣṇava) of Balinese Brahman priests. (Verhandelingen der Koninklijke
>> Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam, Afdeling Letterkunde,
>> N.R. 76) Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company. 609 pp., 8 ill.
>>
>> Goudriaan, Teun, 1973. Tumburu and his sisters. WZKSA 17: 49-95.
>>
>> Goudriaan, T., 1973. Deities of the tree-cutting ceremony in Vaikhānasa
>> Āgama. The Adyar Library Bulletin 37: 75-86.
>>
>> Goudriaan, Teun, 1977. Khaḍga-Rāvaṇa and his worship in Balinese and
>> Indian Tantric sources. WZKSA 21: 143-169.
>>
>> Goudriaan, Teun, 1978. Māyā divine and human: A study of magic and its
>> religious foundations in Sanskrit texts, with particular attention to a
>> fragment on Viṣṇu's Māyā preserved in Bali. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
>> xiv, 516 pp.
>>
>> Goudriaan, Teun, and Sanjukta Gupta, 1981. Hindu Tantric and Śākta
>> literature. (A history of Indian literature, ed. Jan Gonda, 2:2.)
>> Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.
>>
>> Goudriaan, Teun, 1985. The Vīṇāśikhatantra: A Śaiva Tantra of the left
>> current. Edited with an introduction and a translation. Delhi: Motilal
>> Banarsidass. viii, 162 pp.
>>
>> Goudriaan, T., and J.A. Schoterman, 1988. The Kubjikāmatatantra,
>> Kulālikāmnāya version: Critical edition. (Orientalia Rheno-Traiectina, 30.)
>> Leiden: E.J. Brill. xii, 571 pp.
>>
>> Goudriaan, T. (ed.), 1990. The Sanskrit tradition and tantrism. (Panels
>> of the VIIth International Sanskrit Conference, Vol. 1.) Leiden: E.J.
>> Brill. vii, 121 pp.
>>
>> Goudriaan, Teun, 1990. The Ātman as charioteer: Treatment of a Vedic
>> allegory in the Kulālikāmnāya. Pp. 43-55 in: T. Goudriaan (ed.), The
>> Sanskrit tradition and tantrism. (Panels of the VIIth International
>> Sanskrit Conference, Vol. 1.) Leiden: E.J. Brill.
>>
>> Goudriaan, Teun (ed.), 1992. (Ed.) Ritual and speculation in early
>> Tantrism: Studies in honor of André Padoux. (SUNY series in Tantric
>> studies.) Albany: State University of New York Press. xv, 359 p., ill.,
>> index. Reprinted, (Sri Garib Dass Oriental Series, 163), Delhi: Sri Satguru
>> Publications, 1993. CONTENTS:
>> Goudriaan, Teun, 1992. Preface. Pp. vii-xi. Goudriaan, Teun, 1992.
>> Publications by André Padoux. Pp. xii-xv. Brunner, Hélène, 1992. Jñāna and
>> kriyā: Relation between theory and practice in the Śaivāgamas. Pp. 1-59.
>> Bühnemann, Gudrun, 1992. On puraścaraṇa: Kulārṇavatantra, chapter 15. Pp.
>> 61-106. Davis, Richard H., 1992. Becoming a Śiva, and acting as one, in
>> Śaiva worship. Pp. 107-119. Dviveda, Vrajavallabha, 1992. "Having become a
>> god, he should sacrifice to the gods." Pp. 121-138. Goudriaan, Teun, 1992.
>> The stages of awakening in the Svacchanda-Tantra. Pp. 139-173. Gupta,
>> Sanjukta, 1992. Yoga and antaryāga in Pāñcarātra. Pp. 175-208. Hara,
>> Minoru, 1992. Pāśupata studies (1). Pp. 209-226. Muller-Ortega, Paul E.,
>> 1992. Tantric meditation: Vocalic beginnings. Pp. 227-245. Rastogi,
>> Navjivan, 1992. The Yogic disciplines in the monistic |aiva* Tantric*
>> traditions of Kashmir: Threefold, fourfold, and six-limbed. Pp. 247-280.
>> Sanderson, Alexis, 1992. The doctrine of the Mālinīvijayottaratantra. Pp.
>> 281-312. Schoterman, Jan A., 1992. The Kubjikā Upaniṣad and its
>> Atharvavedic character. Pp. 313-326.  Torella, Raffaele, 1992. The
>> pratyabhijñā and the logical-epistemological school of Buddhism. Pp.
>> 327-345. Index of Sanskrit terms. Pp. 347-351. Index of names and subjects.
>> Pp. 352-359.
>>
>> Goudriaan, Teun, 1992. Preface. Pp. vii-xi in the above work.
>>
>> Goudriaan, Teun, 1992. Publications by André Padoux. Pp. xii-xv in the
>> above work.
>>
>> Goudriaan, Teun, 1992. The stages of awakening in the Svacchanda-Tantra.
>> Pp. 139-173 in the above work.
>>
>> Goudriaan, Teun, 1992. The pluriform ātman. Wiener Zeitschrift für die
>> Kunde Südasiens 36.
>>
>> Goudriaan, Teun, 1993. Obituary: Jan Gonda (14/4/1905 - 28/7/1991).
>> Newsletter of the International Association of Sanskrit Studies 4: 18-20.
>> Stockholm & Torino: CESMEO.
>>
>> Goudriaan, Teun, and Jan A. Schoterman, 1994. The Kubjikā Upaniṣad,
>> edited with a translation, introduction, notes and appendices. (Groningen
>> Oriental Studies, 10.) Groningen: Egbert Forsten. viii, 180 pp.
>>
>> Goudriaan, Teun, 2002. Imagery of the self from Veda to Tantra. Pp.
>> 171-192 in: Katherine Anne Harper and Robert L. Brown (eds.), The roots of
>> Tantra. (SUNY Series in Tantric Studies.) Albany: State University of New
>> York Press.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Quoting "Tieken, H.J.H." <H.J.H.Tieken at hum.leidenuniv.nl>:
>>
>> Dear list members, it is a sad week for Dutch indology. On the 28th of
>>> August Teun Goudrian (Māyā Divine and Human, Vināśikhatantra) has died at
>>> the age of 77, and on the 30th Max Sparreboom (Chariots in the Veda, The
>>> Ritual setting up of the Sacrificial Fires According to the Vādhūla School)
>>> at the age of 65. Max and I started our studies together in 1970 with Henk
>>> Bodewitz and Jan Heesterman. After temporary jobs at the Kern Institute Max
>>> worked for NWO, a Dutch funding organisation, was Dean of the Faculty of
>>> Humanities at the Erasmus Universiteit (Rotterdam), was Director of the
>>> IIAS in Leiden and Director of the Premium Erasmianum. Soon after his
>>> retirement in August last year he was diagnosed long cancer (he had stopped
>>> smoking some 40 years ago). In addition to his indological work Max
>>> published widely on salamanders. Recently a voluminous standard work on
>>> salamanders by him has appeared. His work on a book on salamaders in art
>>> was interrupted by his death.
>>> Herman
>>>
>>> Herman Tieken
>>> Stationsweg 58
>>> 2515 BP Den Haag
>>> The Netherlands
>>> 00 31 (0)70 2208127
>>> website: hermantieken.com<http://hermantieken.com/>
>>>
>>
>>
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