View source for J. A. B. van Buitenen

{{short description|Dutch indologist}}
{{Infobox person
| name        = J. A. B. van Buitenen
| birth_date  =
| birth_place = [[The Hague]], Netherlands
| death_date  =
| death_place = [[Champaign, Illinois]], U.S.<ref name=knaw>{{cite web|author= |url=http://www.dwc.knaw.nl/biografie/pmknaw/?pagetype=authorDetail&aId=PE00004466 |title=J.A.B. van Buitenen (1928 - 1979) |publisher=Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences |date= |accessdate=24 January 2016}}</ref>
}}
'''Johannes Adrianus Bernardus van Buitenen''' (21 May 1928 – 21 September 1979) was a Dutch [[Indologist]] at the [[University of Chicago]] where he was the [[George V. Bobrinskoy]] Professor of Sanskrit in the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations. He was one of the world's leading Sanskrit scholars.<ref name=":0" /> His interests ranged widely over literature, philosophy and philology, but toward the end of his career he  focused primarily on the ''[[Mahabharata|Mahābhārata]]''.

==Biography==
Van Buitenen studied with [[Jan Gonda]] at the Rijksuniversiteit, Utrecht, Netherlands (since 1990 [[Universiteit Utrecht]]). He received his doctorate, cum laude, on 23 October 1953 and immediately departed for India where he stayed until 1956 as sub-editor of the " Dictionary of Sanskrit on Historical Principles" project at Deccan College, Poona .<ref>Jan Gonda, 'Obituary' in ''Studies in Indian Literature and Philosophy: Collected Articles of J. A. B. van Buitenen'', edited by Ludo Rocher (Delhi, 1988), p. xiii.</ref> From 1959 to 1961 he was Reader in Indian philosophy at Utrecht but found he had little interest in the position or in staying in the Netherlands.<ref>Gonda, 'Obituary' in ''Studies in Indian Literature and Philosophy,'' p. xv.</ref> As a consequence he happily accepted an invitation to take a position at the University of Chicago and remained there until his death in 1979 at the age of fifty-one. He was appointed associate professor in Sanskrit and Indic studies in 1959 and professor in linguistics in Oriental languages in 1964. After a South Asian languages and civilizations department was formed in 1966, he was chairman for 10 years.<ref name=":1">J.A.B. van Buitenen – Authority on Sanskrit &nbsp;Taught at Chicago University – Obituary, &nbsp;New York Times, Sept 22, 1979</ref>

Van Buitenen contributed to the training of several notable scholars in the USA, among them [[James L. Fitzgerald]] ([[Brown University]]), Walter O. Kaelber, Michael D. Willis, Bruce M. Sullivan ([[Northern Arizona University]]) and [[Bruce Lincoln]] ([[University of Chicago]]).<ref name=":0">Richard H. Davis, ''South Asia at Chicago: a history'', foreword by Milton Singer (Chicago: Committee on Southern Asian Studies, University of Chicago, 1985).</ref>

Van Buitenen was on the board of directors of the American Oriental Society <ref name=":1" /> and  became a correspondent of the [[Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1963.<ref name="knaw" />

Amongst many publications he edited and translated the first five books of the Hindu epic, "The Mahabharata". They were published in three volumes by the University of Chicago Press. At the time of his death he was working on the fourth of seven volumes.<ref name=":1" />

==Publications==

===Books===

* {{Cite book|display-translators=0|translator-first=J. A. B. van |translator-last=Buitenen |translator-link=J. A. B. van Buitenen |date=1956 |title=Rāmānuja's  Vedārthasangraha |series=Deccan College Monograph Series |volume=16 |url=https://archive.org/details/ramanujasvedarth0000rama |url-access=registration |location=Poona |publisher=Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute}}
* {{Cite book|display-translators=0|translator-first=J. A. B. van |translator-last=Buitenen |translator-link=J. A. B. van Buitenen |date=1959 |title=Tales of Ancient India |url=https://archive.org/details/talesofancientin00buit |url-access=registration |location=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press}}
* {{Cite book|display-authors=0|first=J. A. B. van |last=Buitenen |author-link=J. A. B. van Buitenen |date=1962 |title=The Maitrāyaṇīya Upaniṣad: A Critical Essay, with Text, Translation and Commentary |location=The Hague}}
* {{Cite book|display-translators=0|translator-first=J. A. B. van |translator-last=Buitenen |translator-link=J. A. B. van Buitenen |date=1968 |title=Two Plays of Ancient India: The Little Clay Cart and the Minister's Seal |url=https://archive.org/details/twoplaysofancien0000unse |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Columbia University Press}}
* {{Cite book|display-authors=0|first=J. A. B. van |last=Buitenen |author-link=J. A. B. van Buitenen |date=1968 |orig-year=1953 |edition=Second |title=Rāmānuja on the Bhagavadgītā: a condensed rendering of his Gītābhāṣya with copious notes and an introduction |url=https://archive.org/details/saql_ramanuja-on-the-bhagavad-gita-by-van-buitenen-motilal-banarasidas |location=Delhi |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass }}
* {{Cite book|display-translators=0|translator-first=J. A. B. van |translator-last=Buitenen |translator-link=J. A. B. van Buitenen |date=1968 |title=Yāmuna's Āgama Prāmāṇyam; or, Treatise on the Validity of Pañcarātra |url=https://archive.org/details/yamunasagamapramanyamjabvanbuitenen1971 |url-access=registration |location=Madras |publisher=Ramanuja Research Society}}
* {{Cite book|display-translators=0|translator-first=J. A. B. van |translator-last=Buitenen |translator-link=J. A. B. van Buitenen |date=1971 |title=The Mahabharata: Book 1: The Book of the Beginning |location=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press}}
* {{Cite book|display-translators=0|translator-first=J. A. B. van |translator-last=Buitenen |translator-link=J. A. B. van Buitenen |date=1975 |title=The Mahabharata: Book 2: The Book of Assembly Hall; Book 3: The Book of the Forest |url=https://archive.org/details/mahabharata02buit |url-access=registration|location=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press}}
* {{Cite book|display-translators=0|translator-first=J. A. B. van |translator-last=Buitenen |translator-link=J. A. B. van Buitenen |date=1978 |title=The Mahabharata: Book 4: The Book of the Virata; Book 5: The Book of the Effort |url=https://archive.org/details/mahabharata03buit |url-access=registration |location=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press}}
* {{Cite book|display-translators=0|translator-first=J. A. B. van |translator-last=Buitenen |translator-link=J. A. B. van Buitenen |date=1981 |title=The Bhagavadgītā in the Mahābhārata |url=https://archive.org/details/bhagavadgitaint00buit |url-access=registration |location=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press}}

===Selected articles===
* {{Cite journal|display-authors=0|first=J. A. B. van |last=Buitenen |author-link=J. A. B. van Buitenen |date=Jul-Sep 1956 |title=Studies in Sāṃkhya (I) |jstor=596286 |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=76 |number=3 |pages=153-157 |doi=10.2307/596286}}
* {{Cite journal|display-authors=0|first=J. A. B. van |last=Buitenen |author-link=J. A. B. van Buitenen |date=Jan-Mar 1957 |title=Studies in Sāṃkhya (II) |jstor=594871 |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=77 |number=1 |pages=15-25 |doi=10.2307/594871}}
* {{Cite journal|display-authors=0|first=J. A. B. van |last=Buitenen |author-link=J. A. B. van Buitenen |date=Apr-Jun 1957 |title=Studies in Sāṃkhya (III) |jstor=594919 |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=77 |number=2 |pages=88-107 |doi=10.2307/594919}}
* {{Cite journal|display-authors=0|first=J. A. B. van |last=Buitenen |author-link=J. A. B. van Buitenen |date=Winter 1962 |title=The Name "Pañcarātra" |jstor=1062057 |journal=History of Religions |volume=1 |number=2 |pages=291-299}}

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120925002514/http://www.uchicago.edu/index.shtml The University of Chicago]
*[http://salc.uchicago.edu/ South Asian Language and Civilizations at The University of Chicago]
*[https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/scrc/findingaids/view.php?eadid=ICU.SPCL.BUITENEN Guide to the J. A. B. van Buitenen Papers 1946-1978] at the [https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/scrc/ University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center ]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buitenen, J. A. B. Van}}
[[Category:1928 births]]
[[Category:1979 deaths]]
[[Category:Dutch Indologists]]
[[Category:Dutch Sanskrit scholars]]
[[Category:Utrecht University alumni]]
[[Category:Utrecht University faculty]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Writers from The Hague]]
[[Category:Sanskrit–English translators]]
[[Category:20th-century translators]]