Kamil Zvelebil

Kamil Vaclav Zvelebil (* September 17 1927) is a distinguished Czech scholar in Indian literature and linguistics, notably Sanskrit, Dravidian linguistics and literature and philology.

Biography

Zvelebil studied at the Charles University in Prague from 1946 to 1952 where majored in Indology, English language, literature and philosophy. After obtaining his Ph.D in 1952 between then and 1970 he was a senior research fellow in Tamil and Dravidian linguistics and literature at the Oriental Institute of the Czechoslovak 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 were forced to leave Czechoslovakia in 1968 after the Soviet-led invasion of the country.

During the late 1960s he made many field trips included those to South India and from 1965-66 he was a was a temporary professor in Dravidian studies at the University of Chicago in the United States. and visited the University of Heidelberg between 1967 and 1968.

In 1970 after some more time at the University of Chicago in America he was a visiting professor at the College de France in Paris. After more travel through European universites he became the professor of Dravidian liguistics and South Indian literature and culture at the University of Utrecht until his retirement in 1992. [ [http://www.marketaz.co.uk/Zveleb1.html Prof. Dr. K.V. Zvelebil ] ]

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, ISBN: 90-04-04190-7
*"Companion Studies to the History of Tamil Literature", Handbuch Der Orientalistik Series, Brill Academic Publishers, ISBN: 9004093656
*"The Smile of Murugan: On Tamil Literature of South India", ISBN-10: 9004035915, Brill Academic Publishers (Beware of another book with similar title by one Michael Wood!)
*"The Poets of the Powers: Magic, Freedom, and Renewal", ISBN: 0091159016
*"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, ISBN: 8120802128
*"Lexicon of Tamil Literature", ISBN: 9004100725, Handbuch Der Orientalistik, Brill Academic Publishers
*"Nilgiri areal studies", Acta Universitatis Carolinae, Charles University in Prague, Karolinum Press, 1st ed edition (2001), ISBN-10: 8071849456
*"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), ISBN-10: 0915984911
*" Tamulica et Dravidica: A Selection of Papers on Tamil and Dravidian Linguistics", Prague: KAROLINUM/CHARLES UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1998

Articles

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

*According to some sources his middle name is Vaclav.

References

*Zvelebil, Kamil., "Dravidian Linguistics: An Introduction", PILC (Pondicherry Institute of Linguistics and Culture), 1990
*Zvelebil, Kamil., "Tamil Literature", E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1975, ISBN: 90-04-04190-7

External links

* [http://www.tamilnation.org/literature/zvelebil.htm Prof. Dr. Kamil Vaclav Zvelebil] (tamilnation.org bio)
* [http://www.marketaz.co.uk/Zveleb1.html Prof. Dr. Kamil Vaclav Zvelebil] (marketaz.co.uk bio)