OmerRobson4867 at 17:30, 7 January 2026

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{{Short description|French historian, Indologist and musicologist (1907–1994)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{infobox writer
| image = Alain Daniélou.jpg
| alt = Alain Daniélou
| caption = Alain Daniélou playing the [[piano]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|1907|10|4|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Neuilly-sur-Seine]], [[French Third Republic|France]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1994|1|27|1907|10|4|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Lonay]], [[Switzerland]]
| occupation = [[Historian]], [[Indologist]], [[musicologist]], [[translator]], [[writer]]
| subject = [[Culture of India]], [[Hindu studies]], [[Indian classical music]], [[Indian philosophy]], [[Shaivism|Shaivite]] [[Hinduism]]
| partner = [[Raymond Burnier]]<ref name="LePoint">{{cite magazine |last=Golliau |first=Catherine |date=28 June 2010 |title=L'affaire Daniélou |url=https://www.lepoint.fr/culture/l-affaire-danielou-24-06-2010-1207334_3.php |magazine=[[Le Point]] |language=fr |location=[[Paris]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120515074640/https://www.lepoint.fr/culture/l-affaire-danielou-24-06-2010-1207334_3.php |archive-date=15 May 2012 |access-date=8 March 2021}}</ref>
| relatives = [[Jean Daniélou]]<ref name="LePoint"/><ref name="LeMonde">{{cite news |last=Catinchi |first=Philippe-Jean |date=8 September 2010 |title="L'Hindouisme traditionnel et l'interprétation d'Alain Daniélou", de Jean-Louis Gabin: Alain Daniélou, revu et corrigé |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/livres/article/2010/09/08/l-hindouisme-traditionnel-et-l-interpretation-d-alain-danielou-de-jean-louis-gabin_1408343_3260.html |work=[[Le Monde]] |language=fr |location=[[Paris]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100909051100/https://www.lemonde.fr/livres/article/2010/09/08/l-hindouisme-traditionnel-et-l-interpretation-d-alain-danielou-de-jean-louis-gabin_1408343_3260.html |archive-date=9 September 2010 |access-date=8 March 2021}}</ref><ref name="Boysson 2008">{{cite book |last=de Boysson |first=Emmanuelle |year=2008 |title=Le cardinal et l'hindouiste: Le mystère des frères Daniélou |language=fr |location=[[Paris]] |publisher=Presses de la Renaissance |series=Petite Renaissance. Spiritualité |isbn=9782750904234}}</ref>
| website = {{url|www.alaindanielou.org}}
| notable_works = * ''Introduction to the Study of Musical Scales'' (1943)<ref>{{cite book |last=Daniélou |first=Alain |year=1943 |title=Introduction to the Study of Musical Scales |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.28938/mode/2up |url-access=limited |location=[[Varanasi|Bénarès]] |publisher=[[The India Society, London]] |isbn=0-8364-2353-4 |s2cid=190774873 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>
* ''The Myths and Gods of India: The Classic Work on Hindu Polytheism'' (1964)<ref>{{cite book |last=Daniélou |first=Alain |year=2017 |orig-year=1964 |title=The Myths and Gods of India: The Classic Work on Hindu Polytheism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OIXtDwAAQBAJ |location=[[Delhi]] |publisher=[[Motilal Banarsidass]] |isbn=978-81-208-3638-9 |oclc=24247413 |s2cid=169604069}}</ref>
* ''Gods of Love and Ecstasy: The Traditions of Shiva and Dionysus'' (1979)<ref>{{cite book |last=Daniélou |first=Alain |year=1984 |orig-year=1979 |title=Gods of Love and Ecstasy: The Traditions of Shiva and Dionysus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QDQK7l13WIIC |location=[[Rochester, Vermont]] |publisher=[[Inner Traditions]] |isbn=0-89281-374-1 |oclc=25281659 |s2cid=191033152}}</ref>
}}

'''Alain Daniélou''' ({{IPA|fr|danielu|lang}}; 4 October 1907 – 27 January 1994) was a French [[historian]], [[Indologist]], [[intellectual]], [[musicologist]], [[translator]], [[writer]] and Western [[Conversion to Hinduism|convert]] to and expert on the [[Shaivism|Shaivite]] branch of [[Hinduism]].<ref>{{cite book |author-last=Aldrich |author-first=Robert |year=2015 |chapter=Sojourners and the Seduction of Ceylon |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rY7ZBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA147 |title=Cultural Encounters and Homoeroticism in Sri Lanka: Sex and Serendipity |location=[[London]] and [[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Routledge]] |edition=1st |series=Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Asia |page=147 |isbn=9781138491502 |oclc=943053586}}</ref>

In 1991, he was awarded the [[List of Sangeet Natak Akademi fellows|Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship]], the highest honour conferred by [[Sangeet Natak Akademi]], India's National Academy for Music, Dance, and Drama.<ref name=sna>{{cite web|url=http://sangeetnatak.gov.in/sna/fellowslist.htm |title=SNA: List of Sangeet Natak Akademi ''Ratna Puraskar''winners (Akademi Fellows) |publisher=SNA Official website |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304023617/http://sangeetnatak.gov.in/sna/fellowslist.htm |archive-date=March 4, 2016 }}</ref>

==Early life and education==
His mother, Madeleine Clamorgan, was from an old family of the [[Normans|Norman]] [[French nobility|nobility]]; a fervent [[Roman Catholicism|Roman Catholic]],<ref name="LePoint"/><ref name="LeMonde"/><ref name="Boysson 2008"/> she founded schools and a [[Religious order (Catholic)|religious order]], the Order of Sainte-Marie,<ref name="Boysson 2008"/> for women teachers in civilian costume under the patronage of [[Francis Xavier|St. François-Xavier]]. His father, [[Charles Daniélou]], was an [[Anti-clericalism|anti-clerical]] [[Breton people|Breton]] politician who held numerous national ministerial posts in the [[French Third Republic|Third Republic]]. One of his brothers was the Roman Catholic [[prelate]] and [[Académie Française]] member, [[Jean Daniélou]].<ref name="LePoint"/><ref name="LeMonde"/><ref name="Boysson 2008"/><ref name=independent>{{cite news |last=Kirkup |first=James |author-link=James Kirkup |date=4 February 1994 |title=Obituary: Alain Daniélou |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-alain-danielou-1391815.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140408212754/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-alain-danielou-1391815.html |archive-date=2014-04-08 |url-access=limited |url-status=live |work=[[The Independent]] |location=[[London]] |access-date=8 March 2021}}</ref>

He received his education at the [[Institution Notre-Dame de Sainte-Croix]], [[Neuilly-sur-Seine]], and at [[St. John's College, Annapolis]].<ref name=independent/> The young Daniélou studied [[singing]] under the famous [[Charles Panzéra]], as well as [[Dance|classical dancing]] with [[Nicholas Legat]] (teacher of [[Vaslav Nijinsky]]), and composition with [[Max d'Ollone]]. Subsequently, he performed professionally on stage with dancers such as [[Floria Capsali]] and Marjorie Daw.<ref name=independent/> Growing up, he rebelled against his mother's deep devotion to her faith, but his father remained a positive influence, which helped in developing his musical talent and in coping with his [[homosexuality]].<ref name="Boysson 2008"/> He studied [[piano]] and singing, learning the songs of Duparc and Chausson and the ''[[Song cycle|liederkreis]]'' of Schumann and Schubert. He started writing poems, as acquired proficiency in English and other [[European languages]].<ref name=independent/>

==Career==

===India: 1932–1960===
He and his partner, the Swiss photographer [[Raymond Burnier]],<ref name="LePoint"/> first went to India as part of an adventure trip, and they were fascinated with the [[Indian art|art]] and [[Culture of India|culture]] of the nation. Daniélou and Burnier were among the first Westerners to visit India's famed [[Khajuraho Group of Monuments|erotic Hindu temples]] in the village of [[Khajuraho]] and Burnier's stunning photographs of the ancient temple complex launched the site internationally. The photographs were featured in an exhibition at the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art|New York's Metropolitan Museum]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/pubs/bulletins/1/pdf/3257462.pdf.bannered.pdf |title=Medieval Indian Sculpture |access-date=2013-10-31}}</ref>

In 1932, during his first trip to India, he met one of the great influences poet [[Rabindranath Tagore]].<ref name=independent/> His close association with Tagore lead him to become the director of Tagore's school of music at [[Shantiniketan]] ([[Visva-Bharati University]]).<ref name=hindu/> Subsequently, in 1935, he joined the [[Banaras Hindu University]], where he studied [[Hindu music|Hindustani music]], [[Sanskrit|Sanskrit language]] and [[Sanskrit literature|literature]], [[Hindu philosophy]], and [[Hinduism|Hindu religion]] for the next 15 years of his life. In 1949, he was appointed as a research professor at the University, a post he held until 1953; he also remained the director of the College of Indian Music. In Bénarès (now [[Varanasi]]), he lived in a mansion on the banks of the [[Ganges]], named ''Rewa Kothi''. During these years, he studied [[Indian classical music]] in Bénarès with Shivendranath Basu and played the [[veena]], a classical Indian instrument which he started playing professionally. He also studied [[Hindi]] and [[Sanskrit]] languages, as well as [[Indian philosophy]].

His interest in the symbolism of [[Hindu architecture]] and sculpture lead him to long trips with Burnier to [[Khajuraho]], [[Bhubaneswar]], and [[Konark Sun Temple|Konarak]], sites located in [[central India]] and [[Rajasthan]].<ref name=hindu>{{cite web | title = Visual flashback| url = http://www.hindu.com/mp/2004/07/19/stories/2004071901220300.htm| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20040909022138/http://www.hindu.com/mp/2004/07/19/stories/2004071901220300.htm| url-status = dead| archive-date = September 9, 2004|date= July 19, 2004| work = [[The Hindu]]| access-date = 2014-04-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = Snapshots of Indian culture|publisher=The Telegraph| url = http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090319/jsp/calcutta/story_10684180.jsp | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090323111608/http://telegraphindia.com/1090319/jsp/calcutta/story_10684180.jsp | url-status = dead | archive-date = 23 March 2009 |date=March 19, 2009|access-date = 2014-04-07 }}</ref> He also translated some works of [[Swami Karpatri]], the ''[[Samnyasa|samnyasin]]'' by whom he was initiated into [[Shaivism]] under the Hindu name ''Shiva Sharan'' ("Protected by Shiva").<ref name=independent/><ref>Rama, Swami (1999) Himalayan Institute, ''Living With the Himalayan Masters'', page 247.</ref> In 1942, he published his translation of the [[Tirukkural]], a Tamil moral literature.<ref>{{cite book | last = Sanjeevi | first = N. | title = ''Bibliography on Tirukkural''. ''In'' First All India Tirukkural Seminar Papers | publisher = University of Madras | date = 1973 | location = Chennai | pages = 146 }}</ref>

In 1953, he joined the [[Adyar Library|Adyar Library and Research Centre]] at the [[Theosophical Society Adyar]] near Madras (now [[Chennai]]), where he was the director of a centre of research into [[Sanskrit literature]] until 1956. In 1959, he became a member of [[French Institute of Pondicherry]], which works in the field of [[Indology]].<ref name=independent/>

===Europe: 1960 onwards===
Upon his return to Europe in 1960, he was appointed an advisor to the [[UNESCO]]'s [[International Music Council]], which led to a number of recordings of traditional music such as ''[[Unesco Collection: A Musical Anthology of the Orient]]'', ''[[Musical Atlas]]'', ''[[Musical Sources]]'', and ''[[Anthology of Indian Classical Music - A Tribute to Alain Daniélou]]''. In 1963, he became the founder and director of the International Institute for Comparative Music Studies and Documentation (IICMSD) in [[West Berlin]], where he remained till 1977; he was also the director of the Istituto Internazionale di Musica Comparata (IISMC) in [[Venice]] from 1969 to 1979.<ref name=independent/>

He worked on [[Indian classical music]]. But his more important contribution to [[Indology]] is his writings on the ancient wisdom of the [[Vedas]], [[Hindu philosophy]], and [[Shaivism]].{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}

He is the author of over thirty books on Indian music and culture. He received several awards for his work on music. He was also a photographer and artist.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}

==Awards and recognition==
Daniélou was an Officer of the [[Légion d'Honneur]], an Officer of the [[Ordre National du Mérite]], and [[Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres|Commander of Arts and Letters]]. He was the director of the [[UNESCO Collection]] series, a series of recordings of traditional [[world music]]. In 1981, Daniélou received the UNESCO/CIM prize for music, and, in 1987 the Kathmandu Medal from [[UNESCO]].

==Legacy==
In 2004, to mark his tenth death anniversary a photo exhibition, "India through the eyes of Alain Danielou (1935-1955)" was hosted at the [[Alliance Française]], Hyderabad.<ref name=hindu/>

== Works ==
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=6pRe5Ta1W1YC While the Gods play, Shaiva Oracles and Predictions on the Cycles of History and Destiny of Mankind]'' ({{langx|fr|La Fantaisie des Dieux et L'Aventure Humaine}}, 1985)
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=QDQK7l13WIIC Gods of Love and Ecstasy, The Tradition of Shiva & Dionysus, Omnipresent Gods of Transcendence]''
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=09qUXlCkyVIC The Hindu Temple; Deification of Eroticism]''
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=J61zQgAACAAJ Music and the Power of Sound]''
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=xlwoDwAAQBAJ A Brief History of India]''published by [[Inner Traditions]]
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=vvhKXwAACAAJ The complete Kâma Sûtra]'' The first unabridged translation.
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=IMSngEmfdS0C Virtue, success, pleasure & liberation: the four aims of life in the tradition of ancient India]''
* ''Ragas of North Indian Classical Music''
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=GCOewSVrf2sC The Way to the Labyrinth: An Autobiography]'' published by [[New Directions Publishing|New Directions]].
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=1HMXN9h6WX0C The Myths and Gods of India, Hindu Polytheism]''
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=NeHwPQAACAAJ Yoga: the Method of Reintegration]''
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=n7XOnIkBQ0QC Yoga, Mastering the Secrets of Matter and the Universe]''
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=6p8dAQAAIAAJ Fools of God]''
* ''Song-poems - Rabindranath Tagore, Texts in English, French and Bengali & Melodies''
* ''The Congress of the World With miniatures of tantric cosmology''
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ez8YAQAAIAAJ Sacred Music, its Origins, Powers and Future, Traditional Music in Today's World]''
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=aTguAAAAMAAJ The Situation Of Music And Musicians In The Countries Of The Orient]''
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=4OBguwEACAAJ Introduction to The Study of Musical Scales]''
* ''Northern Indian Music: Vol. One, Theory, History and Technique''
* ''Northern Indian Music: Vol. Two, The Main Ragas''
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=mFwoDwAAQBAJ The Phallus, Sacred Symbol of Male Creative Power]''
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ua6yuxBPQdQC India, a civilization of differences: the ancient tradition of universal tolerance]''
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=VlwoDwAAQBAJ Shiva And The Primordial Tradition: From the Tantras to the Science of Dreams]''
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=wl7T45yhh1sC Manimekhalaï, The Dancer With The Magic Bowl]'' Translation by Alain Daniélou
* ''Shilappadikâram, The Ankle Bracelet''
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ez8YAQAAIAAJ Sacred Music, Its Origins, Powers And Future]''
* ''A Descriptive Catalogue Of Sanskrit Manuscripts in Alain Daniélou's Collection at the Giorgio Cini Foundation''

== Discography ==
* ''[[Unesco Collection: A Musical Anthology of the Orient]]''
* ''[[Anthology of Indian Classical Music - A Tribute to Alain Daniélou]]''
* ''Musiciens et Danseurs de la caste des Ahirs'' (1951)
* ''Religious Music of India (1952)''
* ''[[Musical Atlas]]''
* ''[[Musical Sources]] (Philips, Holland)''
* ''Anthology of North Indian Classical Music - (Bärenreiter-Musicaphon, Kassel)''

== Filmography ==

* 2023: ''Alain Daniélou, l'esprit libre'', a documentary by [[:fr:Joël Farges]], Kolam, 77', ISAN 0000-0006-EA8A-0000-F-0000-0000-T.
* 2017: ''Alain Daniélou - The Way to the Labyrinth'', a documentary by Riccardo Biadene, KAMA Productions.

== See also ==
{{Portal|France|Hinduism|India|Literature|Music|Poetry|Tamils}}
* [[Michel Danino]]
* [[Jean Filliozat]]
* [[Francois Gautier]]
* [[Louis Renou]]
* [[Tirukkural translations into French]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=GCOewSVrf2sC The Way to the Labyrinth: An Autobiography by Alain Danielou]''
* [https://www.alaindanielou.org/ Official web site of Alain Danielou (English)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060326200043/http://www.hinduismtoday.com/archives/1995/10/1995-10-05.shtml Article on Daniélou]
* Exhibition catalogue of Khajuraho photographs, Metropolitan Museaum of Art [http://www.metmuseum.org/pubs/bulletins/1/pdf/3257462.pdf.bannered.pdf]
{{SangeetNatakAkademiFellowship}}
{{Modern Hindu writers}}
{{Portalbar|Hinduism|India}}
{{Tirukkural}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Danielou, Alain}}
[[Category:1907 births]]
[[Category:1994 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century French historians]]
[[Category:20th-century French male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century French musicologists]]
[[Category:20th-century French philosophers]]
[[Category:20th-century French translators]]
[[Category:20th-century Hindu philosophers and theologians]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Banaras Hindu University]]
[[Category:Breton musicians]]
[[Category:Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres]]
[[Category:Converts to Hinduism from Christianity]]
[[Category:Former Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:French expatriates in India]]
[[Category:French expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:French former Christians]]
[[Category:French gay writers]]
[[Category:French Hindus]]
[[Category:French historians of philosophy]]
[[Category:French historians of religion]]
[[Category:French Indologists]]
[[Category:Hindu studies scholars]]
[[Category:Historians of India]]
[[Category:Historians of South Asia]]
[[Category:Indian musicologists]]
[[Category:LGBTQ Hindus]]
[[Category:Matriarchy]]
[[Category:People from Neuilly-sur-Seine]]
[[Category:French recipients of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Ordre national du Mérite]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship]]
[[Category:Sanskrit–English translators]]
[[Category:Shaivites]]
[[Category:Tamil–French translators]]
[[Category:Tirukkural translators]]
[[Category:Translators of the Tirukkural into French]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Visva-Bharati University]]
[[Category:Winners of the Prix Broquette-Gonin (literature)]]

Alain Daniélou - Revision history

OmerRobson4867 at 17:30, 7 January 2026