BULCKE, Camille (Kamiel). Ramskapelle, West Flanders 1.9.1909 — Delhi 17.8.1982. S.J. Belgian Missionary and Indologist (Hindi Scholar) in India (from 1935), Indian citizen. Son of a businessman. After school in Brugge studied first technics in Louvain passing the lower examination (B.Sc.). In 1930 entered S.J. in order to become a missionary in India. Studied now five years Latin, Greek, and German in Belgium and the Netherlands. In 1935 he came to India, and started immediately to study Sanskrit and Hindi, privately first, and, after concluding his theological studies, at the universities of Calcutta (1942-44, B.A. in Sanskrit) and Allahabad (1945-49, M.A. and Ph.D. in Hindi). Ordained priest 1941. From 1949 Head of Sanskrit and Hindi Dept. at St.Xavier’s College in Ranchi. From 1951 citizen of India. Suffered early of hearing problems and stopped teaching in 1957. Died of a heart attack.
Bulcke was a scholar of the Rāmāyaṇa and of Hindi Lexicography, interested in the use of Hindi in teaching, translator of the Bible, etc.
Publications: Ph.D. diss. Rāmkathā kā vikās. Publ. as Rām-kathā. Utpatti aur vikās. Allahabad 1950, 2nd ed. 20+820 p. Prayāg 1962; M.A. in Theology diss. The Theism of Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika, its origin and early development. 58 p. Calc. 1947.
– “La naissance de Sītā”, BEFEO 46:1, 1952, 107-118.
– Technical English-Hindi Glossary of general Culture. 6+51 p. Ranchi 1955; Angrejī-Hindī Koś. English-Hindi Dictionary. Ranchi 1968, 4th ed. 904 p. 1984.
– Nīl Pañchī. Patna 1958 (Hindi transl. of Materlinck’s L’oiseau bleu); all articles dealing with Christianity in the Hindī Encyclopaedia; Nyū Ṭesṭameṇṭ. Nayā-vidhāna. Ranchi 1977 (O.T., unfinished); religious books in Hindi.
– “About Vālmīkī”, JOIB 8, 1958-59, 121-131.
– Rāmkathā aur Tulsīdās. 98 p. Ilāhābād 1977; with Dineshwar Prasad: Rāmcaritmānas Kaumudī. 19?? (a selection with a commentary).
– Rāmakathā and other essays. Ed. by D. Prasād. 218 p. N.D. 2010.
Sources: P. Ponette, S.J., JOIB 32, 1982, 187f. & IIJ 25, 1983, 291f.; *D. Prasād, Fādar Kāmil Bulke. N.D. 2002 (in Hindī); Wikipedia (with photo); Ranchi Jesuit Society homepage.
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