[INDOLOGY] Marianne Oort (1935-2026)

[Donald R Davis]

Dear Joel,

I was so sorry to hear about Marianne. She was a good soul and such a wonderful person to meet at the AOS every year. Plus, she knew surprising stuff! She was very kind to me on several occasions early on and I will never forget her for that. I think you two were close. Anyway, just marking her passing with someone else who admired her.

Best, Don

On Mar 12, 2026, at 7:31 PM, Jan E.M. Houben via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info> wrote:


On 26 February Dr Marianne Oort passed away one week and a few days before her 91st birthday. Many may know her as a very regular participant at Indological events  such as the meetings of the American Oriental Society and World Sanskrit Conferences. She was one of the last living students of Prof. F.B.J. Kuiper at Leiden University and among the earliest generations of student-members of the Indological study association at Leiden University which  since Kuiper's time carries the name "Hertjes". Witzel explained this name in his obituary of F.B.J. Kuiper as follows (IIJ 47, p. 175):
   Kuiper was well liked by his many students who called themselves, after a
   Classical verse, the Hertjes (‘deer’, mṛgāḥ) wishing to be protected from the
    lion of Sanskrit grammar by Kuiper as their Guru (vyākaraṇasiṁhabhītā
    apaśabdamṛgāḥ kva vicareyuḥ ?).
Otherwise she was also widely known for almost two decades (1978-1997) as the very helpful assistant librarian of the Kern Institute Indological Library -- into which the Indological Library of the Institute of Oriental Languages (founded by J. Gonda) of Utrecht University had been integrated in 1992, and which is now, since ca. 2003, integrated into the general Library of Leiden University.
In addition, she was for many years an active participant in the reading group on the Paippalaada-Samhita organized by Alexander Lubotsky at Leiden University.
See further: https://www.dutchstudies-satsea.nl/deelnemers/oort-marianne-stazie-lissy/
Condolences to her family and friends.

J.H.

--

Jan E.M. Houben

Directeur d'Études, Professor of South Asian History and Philology

Sources et histoire de la tradition sanskrite

École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE, Paris Sciences et Lettres)

Sciences historiques et philologiques

Groupe de recherches en études indiennes (EA 2120)

johannes.houben [at] ephe.psl.eu<mailto:johannes.houben at ephe.psl.eu>

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

https://www.classicalindia.info<https://www.classicalindia.info/>

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