AbbieLongoria3 at 22:38, 6 November 2025

2025-11-06T22:38:32Z

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{{Infobox person
| name = Gerrit Jan Meulenbeld
| image = Meulenbeld2009.jpg
| caption=Gerrit Jan Meulenbeld in 2009
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1928|05|28}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2017|03|26|1928|05|28}}
| death_place = Groningen
| citizenship = Dutch
| occupation = University professor of Sanskrit and psychiatrist
| known_for = Historian of medicine
| notable_works = A History of Indian Medical Literature (1999-2002)
}}

'''Gerrit Jan Meulenbeld''' (28 May 1928 – March 26, 2017<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://ugp.rug.nl/eJIM |title=Announcements – Gerrit Jan Meulenbeld, psychiatrist and Sanskritist, passed away on March 26th 2017 at the age of 88 |date=3 April 2017 |website=eJournal of Indian Medicine |access-date=2017-12-18}}</ref>) was a physician-scholar who taught and published major works of research in [[Indology]]. He specialized in the history of Indian medicine ([[Ayurveda]]). Throughout his scholarly career he also maintained a practice as a psychiatrist.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dutchstudies-satsea.nl/deelnemers/meulenbeld-gerrit-jan/|title=Meulenbeld, Gerrit Jan - Home of Dutch Studies|website=www.dutchstudies-satsea.nl|date=26 January 2017 |language=nl|access-date=2017-06-23}}</ref>

== Education and professional life ==
Meulenbeld was born in [[Borne, Overijssel]]. He studied medicine, and Indology under [[Jan Gonda]], at [[Utrecht University]]. From 1954 he worked as a psychiatrist. At the end of the nineteen-sixties he returned to Indology. Immediately after receiving his doctorate in [[Sanskrit]], Meulenbeld began to write the historical overview of the Indian medical literature. From 1978 he worked as associate professor of Indology at the [[University of Groningen]] and as a psychiatrist at the [https://www.vanmesdag.nl/ Van Mesdagkliniek] also in Groningen. In 1986 accepted a full-time job at the Van Mesdagkliniek when the Institute of Indic Languages and Cultures of the University of Groningen was closed as part of a Dutch policy of retrenchment in the study of Asian cultures.. He worked at the Van Mesdagkliniek until his retirement in 1988.

A detailed obituary by Hans Bakker appeared in the ''Indo-Iranian Journal'' (2018).<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bakker|first=Hans|date=2018-01-25|title=Obituary of Gerrit Jan Meulenbeld: Borne, 28 May 1928 * – Bedum, 26 March 2017 †|url=https://brill.com/view/journals/iij/61/1/article-p97_3.xml|journal=Indo-Iranian Journal|language=en|volume=61|issue=1|pages=97–100|doi=10.1163/15728536-06101002|issn=0019-7246|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

==Awards==
In 1990, Prof. Meulenbeld received the Basham Medal from the [https://iastam.org International Association for the Study of Traditional Asian Medicine] The medal is awarded "in recognition of special contributions by IASTAM members to promoting the Association’s goals, such as outstanding studies in the social and cultural history of traditional Asian medicine."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://iastam.org/?page_id=532|title=IASTAM Awards|website=IASTAM|access-date=23 June 2017}}</ref>

In 2002, Prof. Meulenbeld was made a Knight of the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands. With this award, the Dutch Crown honoured his lifelong contributions to the medical [[history of India]], and the publication of the final volume of his ''History of India Medical Literature,'' that was presented at the award ceremony at the University of Groningen.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Das|first=Rahul Peter|date=July 2002|title=G. J. Meulenbeld Honoured|url=https://www.iastam.org/newsletters/24_iastam_newsletter_jul-02.pdf|journal=IASTAM Newsletter|volume=July/August 2002|pages=7}}</ref>

In 2011 the [http://www.avpayurveda.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=47&Itemid=87 Arya Vaidya Pharmacy], a leading centre of ayurvedic practice, education and industry, bestowed the title ''Yavanacharya of Ayurveda'' on Prof. Meulenbeld on the occasion of an International Grand Centennial Convention.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110904201210/http://www.ayurvedaconvention.com/Convention/Awards_2.html http://www.ayurvedaconvention.com/Convention/Awards_2.html]</ref>

==Works==

Meulenbeld's book-length monographs include:

* ''Mahādevadeva’s Hikmatprakāśa: a Sanskrit treatise on Yūnānī medicine.'' [https://rjh.ub.rug.nl/eJIM/article/view/24744 Part I: text and commentary of Section I with an annotated English translation]; [https://rjh.ub.rug.nl/eJIM/article/view/24745 Part II: selected passages from text and commentaries of Section II with an annotated English translation]. ''eJIM'' 5,2. Groningen, 2012. [https://rjh.ub.rug.nl/eJIM/article/view/24749 Part III: text and commentary of selected verses from Section III with an annotated English translation]. ''eJIM'' 6,2. Groningen, 2013.
* ''[https://rjh.ub.rug.nl/eJIM/issue/view/3275 The śītapitta group of disorders (urticaria and similar syndromes) and its development in Āyurvedic literature from early times to the present day]'', Eelde-Groningen (Supplements to eJIM 3), Groningen, 2010. URL
* ''[https://rjh.ub.rug.nl/eJIM/issue/view/3268 The trees called śigru (Moringa sp.), along with a study of the drugs used in errhines]'', Eelde-Groningen (Supplements to eJIM 1), Groningen, 2009.
* ''History of Indian Medical Literature,'' Groningen Oriental Studies No.15, Vol.1-3, Groningen, 1999–2002.
* ''Madhavanidāna: English translation with principal commentaries chapters 1-10''; Leiden: Brill, 1974. [http://mlbd.com/BookDecription.aspx?id=12614 Reprinted Delhi, 2008] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160708130018/http://www.mlbd.com/BookDecription.aspx?id=12614 |date=2016-07-08 }}
and his publications also extend over [https://www.dutchstudies-satsea.nl/deelnemers/meulenbeld-gerrit-jan/ many scholarly articles].

Meulenbeld's doctoral thesis under Prof. [[Jan Gonda]] was a translation of the first ten chapters of the ''Madhavanidāna'', Sanskrit treatise on nosology, together with its Sanskrit commentaries, the ''Madhukośaṭīkā'' and the ''Āṭaṅkadarpaṇa''. It was published in 1974, and reprinted in Delhi in 2008. The index of technical terms appended to ''Madhavanidāna'' translation is one of its unique features.

Meulenbeld also created and maintained the online [https://indianmedicine.eldoc.ub.rug.nl/ Annotated bibliography of Indian Medicine].

===A History of Indian Medical Literature===
His major work, the five-volume publication ''[https://www.brill.com/history-indian-medical-literature-5-vols The History of Indian Medical Literature]'' (Groningen, 1999–2002) is of foundational value for scholars of Ayurveda as well as those studying Sanskrit, Indian philosophy, anthropology and medical history. It has transformed the study of Indian medical history, placing it on a more secure historical basis than ever before and bringing into critical view thousands of medical treatises that were formally unknown to historical scholarship.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Wujastyk|first=Dominik|date=2004|title=Review of A History of Indian Medical Literature|jstor=4145810|journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London|volume=67|issue=3|pages=404–407|doi=10.1017/S0041977X0430025X}}</ref> Meulenbeld began work on his ''History'' at the invitation of his professor, Jan Gonda, who sought his work as a contribution to the books he was commissioning and editing for the multi-volume ''[https://www.worldcat.org/title/history-of-indian-literature/oclc/476419491/editions?editionsView=true&referer=br A History of Indian Literature].'' Gonda imposed strict page limits on his contributors. When Meulenbeld's work began to exceed these limits, his friends and colleagues, especially Prof. [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/emmerick-ronald-eric-scholar Ronald E. Emmerick], encouraged Meulenbeld to continue writing and to ignore the limits of the Gonda series. This he did, and three decades later his monumental work was published in the Groningen Oriental Series.<ref>Anecdotal memory from conversations with Dominik Wujastyk</ref>

The volumes cover a time-frame of over two millennia, from the [[Vedic period]] to the early twentieth century. The work covers Sanskrit treatises as well as Pali and Prakrit works by Buddhists and Jains. It also covers some of the recent works in Hindi and also the Ayurvedic tradition of nearby island nation, [[Sri Lanka]].

== Personal life ==
Jan Meulenbeld was married to Hannie Zwaan (1933-2019), to whom he dedicated the volumes of his ''History of Indian Literature'' with the affectionate phrase in English, Latin and Sanskrit: "To Hannie uxori carae पतिव्रतायै".[https://www.online-familieberichten.nl/pers/1714674/Hannie-Zwaan-1933-2019]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* https://web.archive.org/web/20070818123218/http://indianmedicine.ub.rug.nl/
* http://www.indianmedicine.nl
* https://www.dutchstudies-satsea.nl/deelnemers/meulenbeld-gerrit-jan/
* "A Walking Ayurvedic Encyclopedia - Dr G. J. Meulenbeld" [https://ayurkairaly.blogspot.ca/ Ayurkairaly blog post, 2007]. Consulted 21 June 2017.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Meulenbeld, Gerrit Jan}}
[[Category:1928 births]]
[[Category:2017 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Borne, Overijssel]]
[[Category:Dutch Indologists]]
[[Category:Dutch medical writers]]

Gerrit Jan Meulenbeld - Revision history

AbbieLongoria3 at 22:38, 6 November 2025