Kamil Zvelebil

Kamil Václav Zvelebil
Born	(1927-11-17)November 17, 1927 Prague,Czechoslovakia
Died	January 17, 2009(2009-01-17)(aged 81)
Nationality	Czech
Alma mater	Charles University
Awards	Czech Union of Writers Sahitya Akademi
Scientific career
Institutions	Oriental Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic University of Chicago University of Heidelberg Charles University Collège de France University of Leiden University of Utrecht

Kamil Václav Zvelebil(November 17, 1927 – January 17, 2009) was aCzechscholar in Indianliteratureandlinguistics,notablyTamil,Sanskrit,Dravidianlinguisticsand literature andphilology.

Life and career

Zvelebil studied at theCharles University in Praguefrom 1946 to 1952 where he majored inIndology,English, literature and philosophy. After obtaining his PhD in 1952 and until 1970 he was a senior research fellow in Tamil and Dravidian linguistics and literature at theOriental Instituteof theCzechoslovak Academy of Sciences.He held the role of associate professor of Tamil and Dravidian at Charles University in Prague until 1968, when he and his family (including his son, the later archaeologist,Marek Zvelebil) were forced to flee after theWarsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia.They fled to the United States at first, but later settled in the Netherlands.

During the late 1960s, he made many field trips including those to South India. From 1965 to 1966, he was a temporary professor in Dravidian studies at theUniversity of Chicagoin the United States and was a visiting professor atHeidelberg Universitybetween 1967 and 1968. Furthermore, he is very well known among the scholars in Tamil Nadu and has earned a permanent place in the educational syllabus of the Dravidian states.

In 1970, after more time at theUniversity of Chicago,he was a visiting professor at theCollège de Francein Paris. After more travel through European universities he became the professor of Dravidian linguistics and South Indian literature and culture atUtrecht Universityuntil his retirement in 1992.

Zvelebil also made the only known translation of theTirukkuṛaḷintoCzech.It included some selections that appeared inNovy Orient,a Czech journal, during 1952–54.

Books

He has authored numerous books and articles on Dravidian linguistics and literature. Some of them are:

• Comparative Dravidian Phonology,Published by Mouton, ASIN: B0006BZAIK
• Dravidian Linguistics: An Introduction,PILC (Pondicherry Institute of Linguistics and Culture), 1990
• Tamil Literature,E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1975,ISBN90-04-04190-7
• Companion Studies to the History of Tamil Literature,Handbuch Der Orientalistik Series, Brill Academic Publishers,ISBN90-04-09365-6
• The Smile of Murugan: On Tamil Literature of South India,ISBN90-04-03591-5,Brill Academic Publishers (not to be confused withMichael Wood's book "The smile of Murugan: a south Indian journey" )
• The Poets of the Powers: Magic, Freedom, and Renewal,ISBN0-09-115901-6
• Literary Conventions in Akam Poetry
• Two Tamil Folktales: The Story of King Matanakama, the Story of Peacock Ravana,UNESCO Collection of Representative Works:Indian Series,ISBN81-208-0212-8
• Lexicon of Tamil Literature,ISBN90-04-10072-5,Handbuch Der Orientalistik, Brill Academic Publishers
• Nilgiri areal studies,Acta Universitatis Carolinae, Charles University in Prague,Karolinum Press,1st ed edition (2001),ISBN80-7184-945-6
• Introducing Tamil literature,ASIN: B0007JK3TC
• Ananda-tandava of Siva-sadanrttamurti: The development of the concept of Atavallan-Kuttaperumanatikal in the South Indian textual and iconographic tradition,Institute of Asian Studies; 1st ed edition (1985), ASIN: B0006EL29I
• Introduction to the Historical Grammar of the Tamil Language,Oriental Institute in Academia (1970), ASIN: B0006CIL44
• The Irulas of the Blue Mountains,Foreign & Comparative Studies (June 1988),ISBN0-915984-91-1
• Tamulica et Dravidica: A Selection of Papers on Tamil and Dravidian Linguistics,Prague: KAROLINUM/CHARLES UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1998

Bibliography

Kamil Zvelebil has authored more than 500 bibliographic items including books, articles and reviews and translations.

See also

• List of translators
• Tirukkural translations into Czech

Further reading

• Zvelebil, Kamil.,Dravidian Linguistics: An Introduction ", PILC (Pondicherry Institute of Linguistics and Culture), 1990
• Zvelebil, Kamil.,Tamil Literature,E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1975,ISBN90-04-04190-7

External links

• Prof. Dr. Kamil Vaclav Zvelebil(tamilnation.org bio)
• Prof. Dr. Kamil Vaclav Zvelebil(marketaz.co.uk bio)
• Bibliography of Prof. Dr. K.V. Zvelebil(digilib.phil.muni.cz)
• https://www.dutchstudies-satsea.nl/deelnemers/zvelebil-kamil-veith/
• https://data.bnf.fr/en/12026532/kamil_zvelebil/