Johannes Bronkhorst


Johannes Bronkhorst is an Indologist and specialist on early Buddhism. He is emeritus professor at the University of Lausanne. After studying Mathematics, Physics and Astronomy at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, he moved to India, where he turned to Sanskrit and Pali, first at the University of Rajasthan, then the University of Pune. In Pune he read with traditional Sanskrit scholars specializing in Sanskrit grammar and philosophy. Back in the Netherlands, he did a second doctorate 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. 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.

Selected publications