Colette Caillat - Biography

Biography

Caillat was born in Saint-Leu-la-Forêt, Seine-et-Oise, January 15, 1921. She embarked upon her academic career with the study of Classical Latin and Greek, focusing on their literary and grammatical aspects. This led her to the study of Sanskrit under Louis Renou and Jules Bloch when he replaced Prof. Renou who was visiting India. Prof. Bloch played a key role in exposing his students to Indian classical languages such as Pali, Prakrit and Apabhramsha as well as modern Indo-Aryan languages. Encouraged by the strong presence of Indian students in his class, Bloch taught his students various details of Indian life.

After clearing the French “Agrégation” civil service examination, Mme Caillat taught at various secondary schools, until she found a post at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique. She was then free to devote all her time to Indian studies, starting with a Mémoire on nominal derivation in Middle Indo-Aryan which led her to read Jain texts under the supervision of Prof. Walther Schubring in Hamburg. Prof. Schubring led Mme Caillat firmly on the path of Jain studies and encouraged her to participate in the Critical Pali Dictionary.

Prof. Caillat first visited India in 1963 and remained a regular visitor to India throughout her life. In India, she developed close contact with Prof. A.N. Upadhye, Pandit D.D. Malvania, Prof. H.C. Bhayani, Pandit Sukhlalji and Muni Punyavijayaji. She stayed and worked several times in Mysore and Ahmedabad.

Prof. Caillat first taught Sanskrit and Comparative Grammar at the University of Lyon from 1960 to 1966. She was appointed to the Sorbonne University (then University of Paris-3) in 1967, as the successor of Prof. Louis Renou who had died suddenly, and taught there until 1988, when she retired. She died on January 15, 2007. Her academic tradition is continued by her students, included among whom is Nalini Balbir.