Anquetil-Duperron, ABRAHAM HYACINTHE

Anquetil-Duperron, ABRAHAM HYACINTHE, brother of the preceding, a French orientalist, was born at Paris, December 7, 1731. He first studied theology, but finally devoted himself to oriental languages, and such was his passion for this study that he enlisted as a private soldier for India at twenty-three in order to gratify it. The government having been made aware of this proof of the scholar's ardour, made him an allowance so as to enable him to proceed independently. After an extensive journey in India, he fixed his residence at Surat, where he gained an intimacy with the Parsee priests, and obtained from them manuscripts of the Zend-avesta and the later Persian religious books. After the fall of Pondicherry (1761), he returned to Europe, carrying with him nearly two hundred manuscripts, and soon obtained through the influence of the Abbé Barthélemy a situation in the Bibliothèque Royale. His Zend-avesta, ouvrage de Zoroaster, appeared in 1771, and being the first translation ever made into a European tongue, attracted much attention. This translation has long been superseded, as it was made, not from the original, but from the more or less inaccurate Persian translation of his Indian teacher. Another important work is his Oupnek'hat (1801-2), a Latin translation of two manuscripts which contained an old Persian version of the chief Indian Upanishads. It was from this translation that Schopenhauer drew that intimate acquaintance with Indian philosophy which influenced his own system so profoundly. Anquetil-Duperron died at Paris 17th January 1805.