LACÔTE, Félix. Moulins (Allier) 3.9.1873 — 20.3.1925. French Indologist. Professor in Lyon. Studies of philology, graduated a teacher in 1896. During studies he had been interested in Sanskrit and concentrated now on Sanskrit and Tibetan studies and became a student of Lévi. From 1899 teacher at Lycée of Montluçon, spent six years there. In 1904-05 taught Indian religions as Foucher’s deputy at É.P.H.É. Ph.D. 1908 Paris. From 1911 the successor of Regnaud as Professor of Sanskrit and comparative linguistics at Lyon and only now, because of his chair, also began working on comparative linguistics.

Lacôte was a specialist of Indian narrative literature, especially of the Bṛhatkathā tradition. The planned complete translation of the Kathāsaritsāgara was never achieved. He was also a competent Greek scholar, but his theory on the Indian origin of the Greek novel was generally rejected. Among his few students was M. Lehot. At Lyon he was succeeded by Renou.

Publications: “Un version nouvelle de la Bṛhatkathā de Guṇāḍhya”, JA 10:7, 1906, 19-56 (with text & transl. of Sarga 1).

– Diss. Essai sur Guṇāḍhya et la Bṛhatkathā, suivi du texte inédit des chap. XXVII à XXX du Nepāla-Māhātmya. 15+335 p. P. 1908; English transl. 1923.

– Edited & translated.: Abrégé versifié de la Bṛhatkathā par Budhasvāmin, Bṛhatkathā­śloka­saṁgraha (I–IX). 13+175 p. P. 1908; id. lib. 2-3. 13+496 p. P. 1929; (completed by L. Renou, chants 21-28 were never published).

– “Sur l’origine indienne du roman grec”, Mélanges d’indianisme Sylvain Lévi. P. 1911, 249-304; “τελείω-τελέω, τοῖο-*τόο. Remarques sur la phonétique de ‑σy‑”, Mélanges Vendryes 1925.

– “La source de la Vāsavadatta de Bhāsa”, JA 11:13, 1919, 493-525; “Sur la forme métrique du çloka épique”, JA 209, 1926, 101–112.

– Translated: L’histoire romanesque d’Udayana, roi de Vatsa. Extrait du Kathā-sarit-sāgara. 147 p. Classiques de l’Orient 9. P. 1924.

– Indological reviews in RHR 53, 1906, 210-224, 246-250, and in later issues.

Sources: S. Lévi, JA 206, 1925, 379-381; birth date in Heyne’s Datenbuch.