Hermann Oldenberg

Hermann Oldenberg ( born October 31, 1854 in Hamburg, † March 18, 1920 in Göttingen ) was a German Indologist, made ​​the pioneering work in the field of Buddhist Studies and the Veda.

Life

Hermann Oldenberg studied classical philology and Indology at the Georg -August- University of Göttingen, Friedrich- Wilhelms- University of Berlin. There he received his doctorate in 1875 Dr. phil .. 1878 was followed by a PhD degree in Sanskrit.

In 1889 he became professor at the Christian- Albrechts- University of Kiel, of which he was Rector 1906/ 07. In 1908 he moved to Göttingen. 1912 and 1913 he was on trials in India.

The Dipterologe Lorenz Oldenberg (1863-1931) and the jurist Karl Oldenberg (1864-1936) were his brothers.

Research

Oldenberg devoted himself mainly to the study of Indian religions, first of Buddhism. 1879-1883 he was the Vinayapitaka out an important document with rules for living in Buddhist monasteries, which he later published in English translation in the Sacred Books of the East. His book entitled " Buddha, His life, His teachings, His church " was for decades a classic of literature, which was, Russian and English translated into French. Oldenberg based on sources in Pali and showed that the Buddha was a historical figure.

Many of his studies focused on Rigveda, his book The Religion of the Veda (1894 ) was an important publication. During his studies he spent not only linguistic methods, but also attracted the Ethnology added as an auxiliary science for his interpretations. He tried to reconstruct the original text of the Rigveda, which had been handed down orally from priestly families for many generations before being written down. In further studies, Oldenberg employed with the Upanishads, the Brahmanas and the Mahabharata. His title The literature of ancient India was published in 1903.

Awards

Works

  • "Buddha: his life, his teaching, his community," publisher Wilhelm Hertz, Berlin, 1881.
  • The hymns of the Rigveda. Vol 1: Metric and textual history Prolegomena. Berlin 1888; Reprints: Wiesbaden 1982, ISBN 3-515-03800-0
  • "The Grihya - sûtras, rules of Vedic domestic ceremonies ", Vol.1, Oxford, The Clarendon press 1886
  • "The Grihya - sûtras, rules of Vedic domestic ceremonies ", Vol.2, Oxford, The Clarendon press 1886
  • "The doctrine of the Upanishads and the beginnings of Buddhism ", Göttingen, Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht 1915.
  • Vedaforschung. Stuttgart, Berlin 1905 ( djvu )
  • Rigveda. Text -critical and exegetical notes. Part 1: Berlin 1909 Part 2: Berlin 1912 (. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Sciences in Göttingen, hist phil. - class, NF 11.5 and 13.3 )
  • The religion of the Veda. Berlin 1894; 2nd edition, Stuttgart, Berlin 1917
  • Small fonts. 2 parts. Stuttgart 1967 ( Glasenapp Foundation 5.1 2)
  • Small fonts. Part 3 Stuttgart 1993 ( Glasenapp Foundation 34), ISBN 3-515-06122-3
  • Goethe 's and Carlyle 's correspondence ( ed. ), Berlin, 1887
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