INCA
Place Cardinal Mercier 31/L3.03.32
1348 Louvain-la-Neuve
Professeur extraordinaire
Maître de recherche FNRS
INCA
Place Cardinal Mercier 31/L3.03.32
1348 Louvain-la-Neuve
Christophe A.M. Vielle was born on the 5th of February 1967 in a French-speaking Flemish-Swiss family living in Brussels. After a Master's degree in both Classical philology and Oriental studies at the University of Louvain (Louvain-la-Neuve), he concluded in 1996 a Doctoral degree in Oriental philology and history devoted to the comparative mythology of Greek and Sanskrit epics. The work, issued in the Publications de l'Institut Orientaliste de Louvain (P.I.O.L.) series, won the 1994-96 Franz Cumont Prize in the history of religions from the Belgian Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts. As postdoctoral researcher, he was elected to the 1998 Michael Coulson Research Fellowship in Indology at Wolfson College, Oxford. In 1999, he was appointed as (full-time, now senior) Research Associate from the Belgian Foundation for Scientific Research and became (part-time) Ordinary Lecturer (now Professor) in Sanskrit and Indology, affiliated to the Oriental Institute (UCL-INCAL-CIOL) where he coordinates Indological research. He got his Habilitation degree in 2007, with a doctoral thesis consisting in the editio princeps of the first 15 chapters of the Jaiminīyasaṃhitā of the Brahmāṇḍapurāṇa, a hitherto unpublished mythological epics (preserved in Malayāḷam script mss. on palm-leaves), probably composed in a royal court of South-Kerala around 1300 AD. His work on the edition of the 18th c. Sanskrit grammar (Grammatica Grandonica) by the Jesuit Johann Ernst Hanxleden has won the 2013 Colette Caillat Prize in Indian studies from the Institut de France.
The primary research interests of Christophe Vielle lay in itihāsa-purāṇa, kāvya and śāstra philology, in the historiography and epistemology of Western (pre-)Indology, and in the cultural history and anthropology of premodern Kerala (according to Sanskrit, Malayāḷam and Western sources), a South-Indian country where he has travelled extensively since 2000.
He is associate member of the Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies, member of the international and editorial Board of the Dubrovnik International Conference on the Sanskrit Epics and Purāṇas, and general editor of the P.I.O.L. series, in which he has initiated in 2017 a special series of Textes philosophiques sanskrits by editing Jean-Marie Verpoorten’s annotated translation of Śālikanātha’s Prakaraṇapañcikā Pr. 6/1 (pramāṇa and pratyakṣa section; @dial).
For the complete CV, see @dial.
| Année | Label | Institution |
|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Bachelier en philosophie | Université catholique de Louvain |
| 1986 | Candidat en philologie classique | Université catholique de Louvain |
| 1987 | Candidat en histoire | Université catholique de Louvain |
| 1988 | Candidat en philologie et histoire orientales | Université catholique de Louvain |
| 1989 | Licencié en philologie classique | Université catholique de Louvain |
| 1990 | Licencié en philologie et histoire orientales | Université catholique de Louvain |
| 1996 | Docteur en philosophie et lettres (philologie et histoire orientales) | Université catholique de Louvain |
| 2007 | Agrégé de l'enseignement supérieur en philosophie et lettres | Université catholique de Louvain |
Current researches (2010-, selection)
1. Books, published
• with T. VAN HAL, Grammatica Grandonica: The Sanskrit Grammar of Johann Ernst Hanxleden s.j. (1681-1732), introduced and edited, with a photographical reproduction of the original manuscript by J.-Cl. MULLER, Potsdam: Universitätsverlag Potsdam, 2013, v & 280 pp. (e-book). http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/volltexte/2013/6321/ @dial
• Ed. with P.-A. DEPROOST & Ch.-H. NYNS, Chemins d’Utopie: Thomas More à Louvain, 1516-2016, Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses Universitaires de Louvain, 2015, 181 pp. @dial+@dial
• Ed. with Chr. CANNUYER & D. ESLER, Dieux, génies, anges et démons dans les cultures orientales & Florilegium Indiae Orientalis Jean-Marie Verpoorten in honorem, Bruxelles: Société Royale Belge d’Études Orientales (= Acta Orientalia Belgica 30), 2017, xxx + 402 pp. @dial+@dial+@dial+@dial
2. Books, in course of publication
• La Jaiminīyasaṃhitā du Brahmāṇḍapurāṇa, Madhyamabhāga, t. 1: Introduction. Adhyāya 1-15.
• J. E. Hanxleden S. J. Opera Granthamica, t. 1.
3. Sanskrit on-line editions
• Rāmodanta (2014): http://gretil.sub.uni-goettingen.de/gretil/1_sanskr/5_poetry/2_kavya/ramodtpu.htm +@dial
• Rākṣasakāvya of Ravideva (2019): http://gretil.sub.uni-goettingen.de/gretil/corpustei/transformations/html/sa_ravideva-rAkSasakAvyawithTIkA.htm +@dial
• Haṃsasaṃdeśa of Pūrṇasarasvatī: forthcoming.
• Rasavaiśeṣika-sūtra of Nāgārjuna: forthcoming.
4. Articles, in course of publication
• "Aspects of the Festival of Love in premodern Kerala according to the Viṭanidrābhāṇa, the Śukasaṃdeśa and the Pradyumnābhyudaya", In: Proceedings of the International Conference: Festivals of India, SSUS Kalady, February 2019. @dial
• "Epistemology and scientific methodology in Āyurveda: the means of valid knowledge according to the Rasavaiśeṣika-sūtra and its commentary by Narasiṃha", In: Proceedings of the 9th Coffee Break Conference: Science and Technology in Premodern Asia, Wolfson College, University of Oxford, December 2018. @dial
• "Nikumbha’s curse upon Vārāṇasī and Divodāsa’s founding of New-Kāśī: On the origin and growth of the Purāṇic text corpus with special reference to the Harivaṃśa", Studia Orientalia 121, 2020.
• "Devotional Christianity and pre-Indology in early 18th century Kerala: Johann Ernst Hanxleden s.j., alias Arnos Padiri, scholar and poet", Vienna: De Nobili Research Library.
5. Articles, issued
• "The so-called Vyaṅgyavyākhyā: selected remarks for reading it philologically", Cracow Indological Studies 19/1 (special issue: Theatrical and Ritual Boundaries in South Asia, ed. E. GANSER & E. DEBICKA BOREK), 2017, pp. 139-153. @dial
• "A new manuscript of J.E. Hanxleden’s works on Malayalam language", In: Arṇōsŭ pātiri: Malayāḷasāhityattile mahāmanīśi, ed. P. KANNAMPUZHA, Kochi: Liturgical Research Centre (LRC Publications 27), 2017, pp. 201-211. @dial
• "Les moyens de connaissance valide selon le Rasavaiśeṣika-sūtra et son commentaire par Narasiṃha", Acta Orientalia Belgica 30, 2017, pp. 309-321. @dial
• "Les trois péchés de Triśaṅku et son catastérisme", In: Traditions indo-européennes et patrimoines folkloriques. Mélanges offerts à Bernard Sergent, ed. A. MEURANT, Paris: L’Harmattan (Kubaba Series), 2017, pp. 713-728. @dial
• "Le caturaṅga classique préservé au Kérala", In: Art et savoir de l’Inde, ed. J.-M. DELIRE, Bruxelles: Les Éditions HEB (Sciences, Artes et Cultures 1), 2015, pp. 189-203. @dial
• "La naissance de la Société belge d’Études orientales: notes à propos d’une lettre de Louis de La Vallée Poussin à Franz Cumont", Acta Orientalia Belgica 28, 2015, pp. 23-40. @dial
• "How did Paraśurāma come to raise Kerala ", In: Irreverent History: Essays for M.G.S. Narayanan, ed. K. VELUTHAT & D.R. DAVIS, Delhi: Primus Books, 2014, pp. 15-32. @dial
• "La langue de l’île d'Utopie: les Indes orientales vues des Flandres à la Renaissance", Acta Orientalia Belgica 26, 2013, pp. 203-222. @dial
• "Les débuts de l’indianisme au 19e siècle en Belgique: note sur le Bruxellois Philippe Van der Haeghen (1825-1886), précurseur oublié des études tamoules", Acta Orientalia Belgica 25, 2012, pp. 111-126. @dial
• with E. FRANCIS, "Les écoles et l’alphabet des Tamouls: manuscrit de Philippe Van der Haeghen (1874), édité et annoté", Acta Orientalia Belgica 25, 2012, pp. 127-141. @dial
• "Ravivarman Kulaśekhara the Yādava and Sagara the Son of Yādavī: Real and Ideal Kings in Matrilineal Kerala", Religions of South Asia 5 (special issue: Genealogy and History in South Asia, ed. S. BRODBECK & J. HEGARTY), 2011-12, pp. 365-387. @dial
• "L’exégèse théologique du Mahābhārata: le système symbolique des aṃśāvataraṇa", In: Routes et parcours mythiques: des textes à l’archéologie. Actes du Septième Colloque international d’anthropologie du monde indo-européen et de mythologie comparée (Louvain-la-Neuve, 19-21 mars 2009), ed. A. MEURANT, Bruxelles: Safran (Langues et cultures anciennes 17), 2011, pp. 297-304. http://www.safran.be/proddetail.php?prod=HEROS_16
• "Du Tóraigheacht an Ghiolla Dheacair au Jaiminīyāśvamedha: mythe hippique et cheval(eresque) épique d'Irlande et d’Inde", In: Deuogdonion: Mélanges offerts en l’honneur du Professeur Claude Sterckx, ed. G. HILY & alii, Rennes: TIR - CRBC, 2010, pp. 675-696.
• "Transmission et recréation purāṇique: le cas du Brahmāṇḍapurāṇa", In: Écrire et transmettre en Inde classique, ed. G. COLAS & G. GERSCHHEIMER, Paris: École française d'Extrême-Orient (Études thématiques 23), 2009, pp. 173-187.
For the complete bibliography, see @dial.