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We are sad to inform you that Pandit N. R. BHATT, aged 88, passed away on 19th July 2009 at his residence in Mandavalli, Mylapore, Chennai, at around 9 am.
Dr. N. R. BHATT was born on 24th July 1920, in the State of Karnataka. He studied Vyakarana Siromani at the Venkateshvara Sanskrit College in Tirupati.
Member of the EFEO and for many years in charge of Indological projects conducted at the French Institute of Pondicherry, Dr. N. R. BHATT was the principal collector of the manuscripts of the IFP. He travelled throughout South India visiting monasteries, temples and private collections, always searching in particular for Saiva manuscripts, but often bringing back entire collections that included also a great variety of other texts, which explains why the library now contains so much besides Saiva material. In addition to collecting old palm-leaf manuscripts, he had manuscripts of many Saiva works transcribed into Devanagari, in clearly legible characters on uniform-sized pages. He thus assembled in Pondicherry the largest collection of Saivasiddhanta manuscripts in the world, which was recognized by the UNESCO as a “Memory of the World” collection in 2005.
His numerous editions of Saiva texts, published in the series that is now known as the Collection Indologie, made him famous in indological circles throughout the world. Of particular note is his monumental two-volume edition of a major work of 10th century Kashmirian scholarship, the commentary of Ramakantha on the Matangaparamesvaragama. A felicitation volume honouring him for his life’s achievements appeared in 1994, but he continued to publish thereafter, and collaborated (with Jean Filliozat and Pierre-Sylvain Filliozat) in the production of one more important book, a five-volume edition and English translation of the Ajitamahatantra (IGNCA, 2005).
Before joining the EFEO in Pondicherry, an institution where he served from 1956 to 1991, he worked from 1939 at the Adyar Library and Research Centre, Chennai, where he became assistant librarian and assistant editor of the Adyar Library Bulletin. His first research work there was on medical literature and he published three works in Kannada and Sanskrit in this field.
Dr. N. R. BHATT was a pioneer of the academic study of the Saiva traditions and his contribution to this field has been quite simply enormous. His funeral service was held in Chennai on 19th July at 12 pm.