German Indologist (1850?1937)
Hermann Jacobi
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Born
| (
1850-02-11
)
11 February 1850
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Died
| 19 October 1937
(1937-10-19)
(aged 87)
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Occupation
| Indologist
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Hermann Georg Jacobi
(11 February 1850 ? 19 October 1937) was an eminent German
Indologist
.
Education
[
edit
]
Jacobi was born in
Koln
(Cologne)
[1]
on 11 February 1850. He was educated in the
gymnasium
of Cologne
[2]
and then went to the
University of Berlin
, where initially he studied mathematics, but later, probably under the influence of
Albrecht Weber
, switched to
Sanskrit
and comparative linguistics, which he studied under Weber and
Johann Gildemeister
.
[1]
He obtained his
doctorate
from the
University of Bonn
. The subject of his thesis, written in 1872, was the origin of the term
"hora"
in Indian astrology.
Jacobi was able to visit London for a year, 1872?1873, where he examined the Indian manuscripts available there. The next year, with
Georg Buehler
, he visited
Rajasthan
,
India
, where manuscripts were being collected.
[3]
At
Jaisalmer Library
, he came across
Jain
manuscripts, which were of abiding interest to him for the rest of his life. He later edited and translated many of them, both into German and English, including those for
Max Mueller
's
Sacred Books of the East
.
Academic appointments
[
edit
]
In 1875, he became a
docent
in Sanskrit at Bonn; from 1876-85 was
professor
extraordinarius of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology at
Munster
, Westphalia; in 1885, he was appointed professor ordinarius of Sanskrit at
Kiel
; and in 1889 was appointed professor of Sanskrit at Bonn.
[1]
[2]
He served as professor in Bonn until his retirement in 1922. After his retirement, Jacobi remained active, lecturing and writing till his death in 1937.
Work
[
edit
]
Apart from Jaina studies, Jacobi was interested in Indian mathematics, astrology and the natural sciences, and using astronomical information available in the
Vedas
, he tried to establish the date of their composition. Like
Alexander Cunningham
before him he tried to systematise how, from the evidence available in inscriptions, a true local time could be arrived at.
[
citation needed
]
Jacobi's studies in astronomy have regained importance today in the context of the
Out of India theory
, because his calculations led him to believe that the hymns of the
Rigveda
were to be dated as early as 4500 B.C. Thus he is the only renowned Western Indologist whose research supports the claim of the proponents of the theory that the Vedas are to be dated back much earlier than the first half of the second millennium B.C. According to mainstream Indology, the
Indo-Aryan Migration
took place during this period of time and the Vedas were only composed after the migration. When Jacobi published his views in an article on the origin of Vedic culture in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1908), he therefore triggered off a major controversy in Indology.
[
citation needed
]
In his later life, Jacobi interested himself in Ppoetry, epics, and philosophy, particularly the school of Nyaya-Vaisheshika.
[
citation needed
]
It is said that Jacobi was greatly influenced by
Jain philosophy
and wished to be a Jain in his next life.
[
citation needed
]
Honors
[
edit
]
Among the honours he received were a doctorate from the
University of Calcutta
where he had gone in the winter of 1913-14 to lecture on poetics, while the Jain community conferred the title Jain Darshan Divakar ? Sun of the Jain doctrine ? upon him. He became an international honorary member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
in 1909.
[4]
Publications (selection)
[
edit
]
- Zwei Jainastotras
(1876)
- Jaina Sutras, Part I
(1884) (
?k?r??ga S?tra
and
Kalpa S?tra
)
- Jaina Sutras, Part II
(1895) (
Uttar?dhyayana
and
S?trakrit??ga
)
- Ausgewahlte Erzahlungen in Maharashtri
(i.e. Selected tales of the Maharashtri, 1886)
- The Computation of Hindu Dates in the Inscriptions
(1892)
- Das Ramayana, Geschichte und Inhalt nebst Concordanz nach den gedruckten Rezensionen
(1893)
- Compositum und Nebensatz, Studien uber die indogermanische Sprachentwicklung
(1897)
- On the Antiquity of Vedic Culture
(1908)
- Schriften zur indischen Poetik und Asthetik
(i.e. Writings on Indian poetics and aesthetics, 1910)
- Die Entwicklung der Gottesidee bei den Indern und deren Beweise fur das Dasein Gottes
(i.e. The development of the Indians' idea of God and their proofs for God's existence, 1923)
- Uber das ursprungliche Yogasystem
(i.e. About the original system of Yoga, 1929 / 1930)
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
Gilman, D. C.
; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905).
"Jacobi, Hermann Georg"
.
New International Encyclopedia
(1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
- ^
a
b
Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920).
"Jacobi, Herman Georg Jakob"
.
Encyclopedia Americana
.
- ^
Kristi L. Wiley (2004),
Historical dictionary of Jainism
, Rowman & Littlefield, p. 99,
ISBN
978-0-8108-5051-4
- ^
"Member Directory"
.
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
. Retrieved
7 October
2022
.
External links
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