Arthur Llewellyn Basham

Group picture with Arthur Llewellyn Basham (third from left) at the University of Mysore , 1956

Arthur Llewellyn Basham (born May 24, 1914 in Loughton , Essex , England , † January 27, 1986 in Calcutta , India ) was a British Indologist and historian.

Basham's father and mother were journalists and through the stories of his father, who was stationed in India during the First World War, he had first contacts with India. He graduated from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London with a bachelor's degree in Sanskrit . After the Second World War, in which he worked for the Civil Defense Department, he went back to SOAS, where he received his doctorate from 1950 LD Barnett ( History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas ). In 1948 he became lecturer there , reader in 1953 and professor in 1957. He headed the Faculty of History at SOAS until 1965 when he joined the Australian National University as Professor of Oriental Civilization and Head of the Faculty of History . In 1979 he retired and was then visiting professor at various universities, most recently at the Asiatic Society in Calcutta. He died of cancer in Calcutta and is buried in the old military cemetery of All Saints Cathedral in Shillong .

During his time at SOAS he was the teacher of some well-known Indian historians such as RS Sharma and Romila Thapar . His book The wonder that was India from 1954 was very influential and shaped the image of early India .

1964/65 he was director of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Basham received several honorary doctorates (D. Litt. From the University of London 1966, Universities of Kurukshetra, Nava Nalanda Mahavihara) and received the Bimala Churn Law Gold Medal of the Indian Asiatic Society in 1975 .

His second marriage (1964) was to an Indian woman who studied with him and with whom he had a son and a daughter. Basham played the piano very well and composed in his youth. In 1934 he published a volume of poetry.

A biography of him was published in 1997 by SK Maity.

Fonts

• History and doctrines of the Ājīvikas. A vanished Indian religion. Luzac & Company, London 1951, ( digitized version ).
• The wonder that was India. A survey of the culture of the Indian sub-continent before the coming of the Muslims. Sidgwick and Jackson, London 1954, (several editions).
• The origins and development of classical hinduism. Edited and annoted by Kenneth G. Zysk. Beacon Press, Boston MA 1989, ISBN 0-8070-7300-8 .

Web links

• Joseph TF Jordens: Basham, Arthur Llewellyn (1914–1986). Australian Dictionary of Biography