[INDOLOGY] Johannes Bronkhorst gone

Thu May 15 06:33:32 UTC 2025

Johannes was exquisitely learned, and driven by a seemingly boundless
intellectual curiosity. As so many have noted, he was also a delightfully
warm person who could make younger scholars feel instantly at ease in his
towering presence. He will be sorely missed.
Isabelle Ratié

Le jeu. 15 mai 2025 à 06:35, Borayin Larios via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> a écrit :

> This morning I woke up to the shock of the passing of Professor Johannes
> Bronkhorst. A towering figure in our field whose erudition was matched only
> by his sharp wit and humor.
>
> I had the privilege to study under Johannes in Lausanne, where he taught
> me Sanskrit and Indology. His classes were never dull—always infused with
> the excitement of his ongoing research, his relentless curiosity, and his
> insistence that no academic or religious tradition should ever be taken for
> granted. As a teacher, he was tough, especially when it came to Sanskrit,
> but also profoundly generous. I was not especially close to him, perhaps
> because I admired him too much, and because I was never quite the
> Sanskritist he might have hoped for in a student. But he taught me more
> than language—he taught me to think critically and carefully, to question
> even the foundations of tradition, and to take ideas seriously.
>
> After my studies in Lausanne, I went on to pursue my PhD in Heidelberg.
> Though my topic—living Vedic traditions—was quite distant from his own
> historical and philological training, he was fascinated by it. And though
> ethnography and the contemporary were not really his cup of tea, he let me
> go my way with curiosity. I still remember how happy he was when I got my
> PhD. It felt like a turning point in our relationship. We always talked at
> conferences and were genuinely happy to see each other. I had even been
> thinking of finding a way to get him to Vienna this fall—something I now
> regret deeply. I wish I had reached out sooner.
>
> Johannes leaves behind a prolific and provocative body of work, spanning
> Vyākaraṇa, Vedic and Buddhist studies, Vaiśeṣika, Mīmāṃsā, Sāṅkhya,
> Vedānta, Jainism, and Ājīvikism. He never saw his life as important outside
> of his scholarship, but through that scholarship—and the uncompromising
> integrity with which he pursued it—he offered us a vision of intellectual
> rigor and personal courage that is deeply inspiring.
>
> Today, we mourn a teacher, a scholar, and a friend. But more than that, we
> celebrate a life lived with deep thought, with honesty, and with joy.
> Johannes has left us with his work—work that continues to teach, provoke,
> and illuminate. And he has left us with the memory of a master who, even in
> his final moments, was curious, generous, and fully alive.
>
> Thank you also Vincent for sharing so vividly about your last encounter
> with him, it was very moving.
>
> May he be remembered with love and respect.
>
> Borayin Larios
>
> On Thu, May 15, 2025, 04:17 Smith, Frederick M via INDOLOGY <
> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
>> Dear Indology-janāḥ,
>>
>>
>>
>> I met Johannes in 1973 in Pune. I was just beginning my MA in Sanskrit at
>> the Centre for Advanced Study in Sanskrit (CASS) at (then) Poona
>> University. I believe he was finishing up that year, after migrating to
>> Pune from Jaipur a couple of years earlier to study vyākaraṇa, as was
>> most fitting for Pune. I was  much closer to a beginner than I should have
>> been at the time, and quite out of my element in the MA classes on the
>> Siddhāntakaumudī taught by SD Joshi (a required course in the curriculum),
>> in which Johannes excelled. Dr. Joshi paced rapidly and non-stop from one
>> end of the room to the other, like a caged animal, for the entire hour of
>> every class, never referring to a book or a text; such was his
>> extraordinary pāṇḍitya and energy. The only time he would stop would be to
>> ask, usually once or twice in every class, “Bronkhorst, what question do
>> you have?” Johannes would almost always have a question, usually quite a
>> penetrating one, to the delight of Dr. Joshi, who would then divert his
>> lecture to answer it fully. Clearly, Dr. Joshi saw that Johannes was a
>> challenging student with a bright future.
>>
>>
>>
>> Like Robert Z, Johannes sent me packets of publications every year until
>> that was superseded by the ease of sending electronic copies, which
>> followed until just a few years ago. The fact that Johannes had initially
>> studied mathematics was, I understood at the time, a close predecessor to
>> his expertise in Sanskrit, in vyākaraṇa, in śāstra. When I was in Pune last
>> November, someone informed me that he was “keeping indifferent health.” He
>> was a highly valued friend and colleague. We were fortunate to have him in
>> our midst for more than half a century.
>>
>>
>>
>> Kind regards
>>
>> Fred Smith
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> *From: *INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info> on behalf of
>> Robert Zydenbos via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>
>> *Date: *Wednesday, May 14, 2025 at 7:36 PM
>> *To: *indology at list.indology.info <indology at list.indology.info>
>> *Subject: *[External] Re: [INDOLOGY] Johannes Bronkhorst gone
>>
>> This is devastating news. I knew Johannes 'only' since 1996 or so; he was
>> a knowledgeable colleague full of humour. I also had the privilege of
>> receiving a parcel with offprints of his most recently published articles
>> once a year for several years, until the sheer output of his gigantic
>> productivity (for those of you who are unaware of that: just have a look at
>> his page at Academia.edu) made him decide to send an email with download
>> links instead. An amazing man and a huge loss to all of us.
>>
>> RZ
>>
>>
>> Harry Falk via INDOLOGY wrote on 14.05.25 20:47:
>>
>> Dear friends and colleagues,
>>
>> I have just received the news that Johannes Bronkhorst left this world
>>
>> today at noon in a controlled manner, as was his custom, together with his
>>
>> beloved wife Joy Manné.
>>
>> He sent the last batch of his papers just a few days ago. He will be
>>
>> remembered as an innovative and inspired scientist, a cheerful person and
>>
>> a true and dear friend.
>>
>> Sadly.
>>
>> Harry Falk
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Prof. Dr. Robert J. Zydenbos / ಪ್ರೊ. ಡಾ. ರೊಬೆರ್ತ್ ಜೆಯ್ದೆನ್ಬೊಸ್ (retd.)
>> Institute of Indology and Tibetology
>> Department of Asian Studies
>> Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (University of Munich – LMU)
>> Germany
>>
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