[INDOLOGY] Paul Dundas (1952-2023)

[Fitzgerald, James]

Another sad departure! Paul was a great scholar, a great person and a good
friend. His death is a painful loss to us all.

Jim Fitzgerald

On Mon, Apr 10, 2023 at 5:50 AM peter bisschop via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> Dear members of the list,
> It is with profound sadness that we, his former Sanskrit colleagues at the
> University of Edinburgh, have to share the news of the passing of Paul
> Dundas on Wednesday 5 April at the age of 70.
> Paul started studying Sanskrit and Prakrit as an undergraduate at the
> University of Edinburgh with Michael Coulson and had a short period as a
> postgraduate at the University of Cambridge with among others, John Brough
> and K.R. Norman, before accepting the post in Sanskrit at Edinburgh in
> 1976, where he continued to teach and research throughout his entire career
> until his retirement as reader only a few years ago. He was a member of the
> Council of the Pali Text Society, and the recipient of the Prakrit
> Jñānabhāratī International award in 2019. Paul was a towering figure in the
> field of Jain and Prakrit studies and will be known to most scholars and
> students as the author of *The Jains*, of which the first edition
> appeared in 1992 and which continues to be the most reliable introduction
> to Jainism to the present day. From his many other publications in the
> field we would like to single out *History, Scripture and Controversy in
> a Medieval Jain Sect*, published in 2007, a book of vast and penetrating
> learning with a relevance far beyond that of medieval Jainism alone. But
> Paul also had a great passion for all things Sanskrit, reading across the
> entire spectrum of Sanskrit literature. Testimony to this is his wonderful
> translation of Māgha's *Śiśupālavadha*, published in the Murty Classical
> Library of India in 2017, the first complete English translation of this
> truly difficult Sanskrit Mahākāvya. His latest publication appeared in
> 2022, in the Eivind Kahrs felicitation volume *Jñānapraśaṃsā*: “Sectarian
> Confrontation as Theatrical Diversion: Observations on Yaśaścandra’s
> *Mudritakumudacandraprakaraṇa* and the Jain Debate at Aṇahillapaṭṭana”.
> Paul was still actively engaged in several other projects. His death is a
> great loss to the field.
> Paul was one of the most learned and well read persons we have known. He
> was also most generous and kind, and we will sorely miss his presence and
> humour.
> Our thoughts are with his partner, Rowan Flett.
> Peter Bisschop, Leiden
> John Brockington, Kidlington
>
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