Dear Evgenia, 
Please have a closer look at the history of your beautiful city. 
Tsar Peter the Great kept good scientific and cultural contacts with the Netherlands (at that time the Dutch Republic) and for some period -- especially when the forefathers of  Böhtlingk relocated there -- only or especially Dutch were allowed to settle in the newly founded St. Petersburg, originally named, in Dutch style, Sankt-Pieter-Burkh.
"Otto B. came from a respected and wealthy German merchant family who - coming from Lübeck - had already settled in the northern residence when Petersburg was founded" ("Otto B. entstammte einer angesehenen und begüterten deutschen Kaufmannsfamilie, die -- aus Lübeck kommend -- sich schon bei der Gründung Petersburgs in der nordischen Residenz ansässig gemacht hatte", Biographisches Jahrbuch). 
A massive presence of Germans and the existence of a German Lutheran congregation in St. Petersburg in the later18th and early 19th centuries can of course not be doubted by anyone. 
I did not write or think that Otto Böhtlingk was Dutch, but that his forefathers adopted, formally or administratively, the Dutch nationality in order to settle in the Russian empire. That is not the same.
And in any case, as we have seen, even if they perhaps did not apply this administrative device (although it seems likely at that time that they did), Böhtlingks' forefathers belonged for some time to the Dutch merchant community in St. Petersburg. 
And in any case, my main point with regard to Pāṇini is that his first successful European interpreter, Otto Böhtlingk, had, just as apparently Pāṇini himself, a strong merchant community background, whether or not this merchant community was (originally) Dutch-Republican and (later on, gradually more and more predominantly) Prussian.  
All best, 
Jan

On Wed, 15 Sept 2021 at 21:28, Evgeniya Desnitskaya <khecari@yandex.ru> wrote:
Dear Jan,
 
One can hardly doubt the existence of a German Lutheran congregation in St. Petersburg in 18th-early 19th centuries. Given the number of Germans in Russia of that time I wonder why do think that only Dutch were allowed to settle in Russia. Cf. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geschichte_der_Russlanddeutschen#Vorgeschichte_%E2%80%93_Deutsche_in_russischen_St%C3%A4dten
Among numerous Lutheran churches in Saint Petersburg some were definetely German.  E.g. St.-Annen-Kirche was built in 1770-th for German Lutherans. http://www.encspb.ru/object/2804010164?lc=en
As for Böhtlingk,it is usually believed that he belonged to a German family from Lübeck that settled in Russia  in 1713. What are the reasons to think he was Dutch?
 
-- 
Evgeniya Desnitskaya
Institute of Oriental Manuscripts
Russian Academy of Sciences
 
 
 
15.09.2021, 18:57, "Jan E.M. Houben via INDOLOGY" <indology@list.indology.info>:
Dear Roland, 
What remains is that Böhtlingk's family belonged to the Dutch merchant community in St. Petersburg. 
Whether or not his forefathers had adopted the Dutch nationality which at that time was practically the only way to be officially allowed to settle in the Russian empire depends on the archival evidence that can be found, minus coverup attempts that may have followed... There were very old Lutheran congregations in the Dutch republic preaching since the 16th century in 'Nederduits' -- grammatically standardized several centuries before 'Hochdeutsch' -- so the religious or even religious-linguistic affiliation need not be a decisive factor. 
N.B. the existence of a German Lutheran congregation in St. Petersburg in the early and mid-19th century should not be construed according to the political situation of middle Europe in the late 19th century, post-Bismarck. 
Best,
Jan Houben 
 
 
On Wed, 15 Sept 2021 at 13:43, Roland Steiner via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
> Otto Böhtlingk, whose forefathers adopted the Dutch nationality
> in order to be able to settle as merchants in the Russian Empire.

According to the research of Agnes Stache-Weiske, this claim, which 
can be found in various places (e.g. Windisch, Kern, Mylius), is not 
true. It is correct that Böhtlingk's father belonged to the Dutch 
merchant community in St. Petersburg, but according to Stache-Weiske 
this says nothing about his nationality. A relatively sure indication, 
however, is the religious affiliation of the family, which from the 
beginning belonged to the German Lutheran congregation in St. 
Petersburg and not to the Dutch Reformed Church.

Böhtlingk's father only acquired Russian citizenship shortly before 
his death, but only for himself and not for his family. It was only 
when he was awarded the title of nobility that Otto Böhtlingk himself 
became a Russian citizen in 1888.

Compare Agnes Stache-Weiske: "... für die Wißenschaft, der ich von 
ganzer Seele lebe", Otto Böhtlingk (1815-1904): ein Gelehrtenleben, 
rekonstruiert und beschrieben anhand seiner Briefe, Wiesbaden: 
Harrassowitz 2017,, p. 12 f.

Best,
Roland Steiner



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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

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

https://www.classicalindia.info

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et transformations d'un savoir scientifique

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