BIOGRAPHY

After studying Mathematics, Physics, and Astronomy at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam (B.Sc. 1968), he moved to India, where he turned to Sanskrit and Pāli, first at the University of Rajasthan (Jaipur), then the University of Pune (M.A. 1976, Ph.D. 1979). In Pune he read with traditional Sanskrit scholars, specializing in Sanskrit grammar and Indian philosophy. Back in the Netherlands, he did a second doctorate (1980) at the University of Leiden. Having worked for research projects funded by the Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, he was appointed in 1987 to the position of Professor of Sanskrit and Indian studies at the University of Lausanne. He retired in 2011.

Bronkhorst has concentrated on the history of Indian thought and published on a wide range of topics, including indigenous grammar and linguistics, the interaction between Brahmanism, Buddhism, and Jainism and their philosophical schools and religious practices. A key output of this work appeared in his monograph Greater Magadha (2007). The book has been reviewed by several scholars including Jason Neelis and Alexander Wynne. Some of Bronkhort’s publications address larger questions relating to the theory and study of religion. The website of the University of Lausanne provides access to some of his work.

Bronkhorst became a corresponding member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1996.