BRANDES, Jan Laurens Andries. Rotterdam 13.1.1857 — Batavia (Jakarta) 26.6.1906. Dutch Indonesian Philologist and Archaeologist. Son of a Lutheran priest. Aften school in Amsterdam studied 1874-79 theology (but also Sanskrit) at Amsterdam Athenaeum (now A. university), in 1879-83 Indology at Leiden (in preparation for colonial service, but including Kavi, Sanskrit and Arabic). Cand.theol. 1878 Amsterdam. Ph.D. 1884 Leiden (under Kern). Went immediately to Indonesia, worked as language officer and epigraphist, after 1898 also conducted archaeological research. Keeper of Museum in Batavia.

Publications: Diss. on sound laws of Western Malayo-Polynesian (Indonesian) languages.

– Wrote much on Kavi and Malay texts and inscriptions and on Indonesian antiquities, including iconography (almost all in Dutch).

– “Iets over het Papegaai-boek, zooals het bij de Maleiers voorkomt”, TBG 4, 1899, 431-497; “Het probleem van de Maleische Hikâyat Kalilah dan Daminah”, TBG 71, 1931, 172-185.

Sources: Dutch Indology homepage with many further references; Dutch Wikipedia with photo.