SMÉKAL, Odolen. Olomouc 18.8.1928 — Prague 17.6.1998 (or 13.6.). Czech Indologist (Hindi Scholar). Son of teacher Václav Martin Smékal (1890–1948) and Anežka Smičková (1903–1973). Matriculated from gymnasium in Kroměříž.Studies at Charles University in Prague (Pořízka), matriculated 1952. Ph.D. in Hindi. From 1954 taught Hindi at Charles University. In 1993-96 Czech Ambassador in New Delhi. Married with Helena Cassinelli, three children.

Publications: A Hindi grammar and textbooks in Czech and English, several Czech translations from Hindi (e.g. Godan of Premcand, with M. Navrátil, 1957).

– “On the Question in Periodisation of Modern Hindi Literature”, O. Král, Rise and Development of Modern Literatures in Asia. 1. Dissertationes Orientales 4. 1965.

– “A Contribution to the Study of the Hindi Village Novel”, Acta Universitatis Carolinae 1965; “Classification of Hindi Onomatopoeic Verbal Bases”, Acta Univ. Car. 1971:4, 73-102; “Notes on the Conception of Tradition in Hindi poetry”, Literaturen Asiens und Africas 1981.

– Hindi Verbal Bases. 310 p. Prague 1970.

– Poetry in Hindi (Svāti-būṁd. 80 p. Dillī 1983).

Sources: geni.com; *www.slovnikceskeliteratury.cz/showContent.jsp?docId=561 (in Czech); Kdo byl kdo – čeští a slovenští orientalisté; *Sv. Kostić, Nový Orient 53, 1998, 312-314; photo in his book of Hindi poems, 1983.