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@ephe.sorbonne.fr

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

www.ephe.fr


On 20 September 2016 at 14:02, Jan E.M. Houben <jemhouben@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: 

on Max Sparreboom: 

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@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@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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