CHARPENTIER, Jarl Hellen Robert Toussaint. Nya Varvet near Gothenburg 17.12.1884 — Uppsala 5.7.1935. Swedish Indologist. Professor in Uppsala. Son of Claës Robert Adolf Ch., a major, of a Huguenot family which had emigrated to Sweden in the 17th century, and Helena Elisabeth Augusta Geijer. Educated in Gothenburg. From 1902 studies of Sanskrit and comparative IE philology at Uppsala (under —> Johansson), also classical philology under —> Danielsson and Persson. Further studies 1907 at Bonn under Jacobi (mainly MIA). In 1905 fil.kand., 1908 fil.lic., still 1908 Ph.D. and Docent at Uppsala. In 1927 succeeded Johansson as the Professor of Sanskrit (acting Prof. from 1925). Died in an accident. Unmarried.

Charpentier was a many-sided and very productive scholar with good education, fine linguistic proficiency and excellent memory. Among his early work word studies have an important position, later on history and culture come to the foreground. According to Rönnow he gradually become rather critical with comparative IE and doubted many of his own earlier etymologies. His interests ranged from the Vedas to the Jainas, from the Avesta to MIA languages, from the etymology to Greek accounts of India, and from epigraphy to Portuguese accounts. Had good relations with British colleagues and visited England every summer (usually London and Cambridge).

Publications: Diss. Studien zur indischen Erzählungsliteratur. 1. Paccekabuddha­geschichten. 183 p. Uppsala 1908; Studien… 2. appeared in ZDMG 62, 1908, 725-747; 63, 1909, 171-188; 64, 1910, 65-83, 397-429; 66, 1912, 38-48.

– “Etymologische Beiträge”, BB 30, 1906, 153-166; “Zur indischen Wortforschung”, MO 1, 1906, 17-42; “Zur arischen Wortkunde”, KZ 40, 1907, 425-477; 43, 1910, 161-168; 46, 1914, 25-46; “Zur altindischen Etymologie”, MO 6, 1912, 47-64, 118-160; “Alt- und mittelindische Wortdeutungen”, MO 8, 1914, 169-184; “Beiträge zur alt- und mittelindische Wortkunde”, IF 28, 1911, 157-188 & 29, 1912, 367-403, ZDMG 70, 1916, 216-250; 73, 1919, 129-158; “Zur altindischen Wortkunde”, WZKM 30, 1917/18, 91-108; “Zur alt- und mittelindische Wortkunde”, MO 13, 1919, 1-54; “Beiträge zur indoiranischen Wortkunde”, MO 18, 1924, 1-45; “Beiträge zur indischen Wortkunde”, MO 26-27, 1932-33, 91-169.

– “Über Rudra-Śiva”, WZKM 23, 1909, 151-179; “Ṛgveda VIII, 100 (89)”, WZKM 25, 1911, 290-310; “Bemerkungen über die vrātya’s”, Ibid. 355-388; “Dūraoša-duroṣa”, WZKM 27, 1913, 235-244; “Indra. Ein Versuch der Aufklärung”, MO 25, 1931, 1-28.

– Buddha. 96 p. De största märkesmännen 11. Stockholm 1910.

– Kleine Beiträge zur indoiranischen Mythologie. 87 p. Upps. Univ. Årsskrift 1911:2.

– “Sagengeschichtliches aus dem Arthaśāstra”, WZKM 28, 1914, 211-240.

– Die Desiderativbildungen der indoiranischen Sprachen. 128 p. Archives d’Études orientales 6. Upps. 1912; De indoeuropeiska språken. 4+253 p. Uppsala 1915; Die verbalen r-Endungen der idg. Sprachen. 120 p. Hum. Vet.-Samf. i Uppsala Skrifter 18:4. Upps. 1917; Jämförande indoeuropeisk språkvetenskap. 205 p. Stockholm 1926.

– Articles on perfect dadau, IF 32, 1913, 92-102; on MIA desiderativa, IF 35, 1915, 217-220; on words ending in -amba, IF 35, 1915, 246-265; on OIA futurum II, Fs. Tegnér 1918, 141-148.

– “Zur Geschichte des Cariyāpiṭaka”, WZKM 24, 1910, 351-415; on Jātakas, ZDMG 1912; on Uttarādhyāyana Commentary, JA 10:18 & ZDMG 1913, 1915.

– “Zu den indischen Glossen bei Hesychius”, KZ 45, 1913, 90-94; “Kleine Bemerkungen zum Physiologus”, Aufsätze zur Kultur- und Sprachgeschichte vornehmlich des Orients Ernst Kuhn gewidmet, Breslau 1916, 280-293; “Politiska och kulturella förbindelser mellan Grekland och Indien”, Nordisk Tidskrift 1918, 466-493, 1919, 505-530; “Der Name Kambyses (Kaⁿbūǰiya)”, ZII 2, 1923, 140-152; “1. Śūrpāraka; 2. Vitastā–Hydaspes”, JRAS 1927, 111-120; “St. Thomas the Apostle and India”, Kyrkohistorisk Årsskrift 1927, 21-47; “Amitraghāta”, JRAS 1928, 132-135; “A remark on two Indian names”, JRAS 1928, 902-905; “Antiochus, King of the Yavanas”, BSOS 6:2 (Rapson Vol.), 1931, 303-321.

– “Ājīvika”, JRAS 1913, 669-674; “The Date of Mahāvīra”, IA 43, 1914, 118-123, 125-133, 167-178 (died 467 BCE).

– Articles on Haṭhigumphā-Inscription, WZKM 29, 1915, 208-230; on Rummindei inscription, IA 43, 1914, 17-20.

– “Heilige Fussabdrücke in Indien”, Ostas. Z. 7, 1918-19, 1-30, 179-200.

– Transl. Franciskanermunken Vilhelms av Ruysbroeck resa genom Asien 1235–1255. 316 p. Stockholm 1919; Ur Indiens klassiska Litteratur. 239 p. St. 1920.

– Edited: Uttarādhyāyanasūtra being the first Mūlasūtra of the Śvetāmbara Jains. 409 p. Archives d’études orientales 18. Uppsala 1920-22.

– Die Suparṇasage. Untersuchungen zur altindischen Literatur- und Sagen­geschichte. 399 p. Upps. 1922.

– Preliminary study on Father Fenicio, BSOS 1921-22; on Br. mus. MS. Sloane 3290, BSOS 1923-35; on Ézour-Védam, JA 11:20, 1922, 136-146; on Fedrici and Balbi, IA 53, 1924, 49-61; “Discovery of the Vedas”, JIH 3, 1924, 161-187.

– “The date of the Mudrā-Rākṣasa”, JRAS 1923, 585-593; “The Author and Date of the Mṛc-chakaṭika”, JRAS 1923, 593-607; “Śakāra”, JRAS 1925, 237-246.

– Indien: historia – religion – kastväsen. 647 p. Stockholm 1925; transl. Indiska myter och sagor. 260 p. St. 1925; Buddha, hans liv och lära. 127 p. St. 1926; a number of popular articles in Swedish esp. in Nordisk Tidskrift (i.al. on the Arthaśāstra and on Tagore in 1913, on Jains in 1914, on Aśoka and on the origins of Hinduism in 1915, on cosmology in 1921, on the unrest in South India in 1922, on Vijaya Dharma Suri in 1924).

– “Über den Begriff und die Etymologie von pūjā”, Festgabe Jacobi 1926, 276-297.

– “Naicāśākha”, JRAS 1930, 335-345 (RV 3, 53); “‘Irano-skythische’ Eigennamen im Rigveda”, MO 38, 1934, 59-71.

– Brahman, eine sprachwissenschaftlich-religionsgeschichtliche Untersuchung. 4+ 138 p. UUÅ 1932:8.

– The Livro da Seita dos Indios Orientais (Brit. Mus. Ms. Sloane 1820) of Father Jacobo Fenicio, S. J. Edited in Portuguese with an introduction and notes. 104+252 p. Uppsala etc. 1933.

– The Indian Travels of Apollonius of Tyana. 66 p. Skrifter utgivna av K. Humanistiska Vetenskaps-Samfundet i Uppsala 29:3. Uppsala 1934.

– Further short articles and numerous reviews in Archiv für slavische Philologie, BSOS, GGA, IA, IF, IHQ, JA, JRAS, KZ, MO, OLZ, WZKM, ZDMG, etc.

Sources: H.S. Nyberg, MO 29, 1935, 191f.; E.J. Rapson, JRAS 1936, 177-179; K. Rönnow, IHQ 12, 1936, 187-193; Bo Utas, Encyclopædia Iranica 5, 1991, 389; *BSOS 8, 1935-37, 282f.; briefly in Swedish Wikipedia. Bibliography in K. Karttunen (ed.), History of Indological Studies. Papers of the World Sanskrit Conference 11:2. Delhi 2015, 99-105. Photo in Sv. biogr. lex. and in Sardesai, portrait in S. Kahle, H. S. Nyberg. Stockholm 1991.