ROTH, Heinrich (Henricus Rodius, Roa). Dillingen 18.12.1610 — Agra 20.6.1668. S.J. German Missionary and Precursor of Indology. Son of Johann Konrad Roth (d. 1637), a lawyer, and his wife Maria Susanna, grew up in Augsburg. Studies at Dillingen University and, after having fled the attacking Swedish, at Innsbruck Jesuit College. Joined S.J. in 1639 in Landsberg, in 1641-45 taught at Munich, then studied theology at Dillingen and Ingolstadt. Ordained priest in 1649 and left with another missionary for Ethiopia, travelling on land way via Turkey to Persia. Learning there that Ethiopia was closed to missionaries they proceeded to Goa (arrived 1652). After some further travelling he settled in Agra in 1653 and 1659 became the principal of the Jesuit Collegium there. Also worked as a physician. In 1662 welcomed —> Grueber and d’Orville, coming from China via Tibet and after d’Orville’s death left together with Grueber to Rome (arrived 1664) in order to obtain new missionaries, but his superiors were not favourable. However, he met there the fellow-Jesuit —> A. Kircher and gave him material on Indian languages and religion. Then visited Germany and lectured on Mughal Empire. Sent back to India, using landway from Constantinople to Iran, he arrived at Agra in 1666. He was supposed to set up a mission in Nepal, but died before going there.

Roth knew Persian, Kannaḍa, Hindustani and Sanskrit. According to Kircher (p. 162), he had learnt Sanskrit during six years “per quendam Brachmanem summa benevolentia sibi devinctum et jam ad Christi fidem suscipiendam inclinatum.” His table of Devanāgarī alphabet published by Kircher (p. 162f.) was one of the first ever published. Unlike other early works, it kept the phonetic order devised by Indian grammarians. These five plates, entitled “Elementa Linguae Hanscret”, contain the alphabet with vowel combinations and some ligatures, and as an example the Pater Noster in Latin (!). On pp. 157-162 is “Decem fabulosae Incarnationes Dei”, an illustrated account of the ten Avatāras. He also wrote a Sanskrit grammar (1660) in Devanāgarī and Latin, based on Anubhūti Svarūpācārya’s Sārasvatavyākaraṇa, the manuscript of which was kept in Rome, found there in 1967 by A. Camps and published in 1988.

Publications: Contributions in —> A. Kircher’s China monumentis … illustrata. Amsterdam 1664.

– Relatio rerum notabilium Regni Mogor in Asia. 15 p. Straubing 1665, also Aschaffenburg 1668.

– Grammatica Linguae Sanscretanae Brachmanum Indiae Orientalis: ed. as The Sanskrit Grammar and Manuscripts of Father Heinrich Roth, S.J. (1620–1668). With an introduction by A. Camps and J.-C. Muller. 25 p. 158 facs. pl. Ld. 1988.

– A manuscript travel account preserved in Rome; manuscript copies (in Rome) of Veṇīdatta’s Pañcatattvaprakāśa (kośa)  and Sadānanda’s Vedāntasāra; letters.

Sources: *A. Camps, “Die Schriften der Jesuiten-Missionare Johann Grueber, H.R. und Antonio Ceschi”, Neue Z. für Missionswiss. 13, 1957, 231-233 and *“Father H.R., S.J. (1620–1668) and the History of his Sanskrit Manuscript”, Z. für Missionswiss. u. Religionswiss. 53, 1969, 185-205; *S. Euringer, “P. H.R. S.J. von Dillingen”, Jahrb. d. Hist. Vereins Dillingen 30, 1918, 1-40; R. Hauschild, Der Missionar P.H.R. aus Dillingen und die erste europäische Sanskrit-Grammatik. 23 p. SSAW 115:6. B. 1972; *C. Vogel, “Qua ratione saeculo XVII Henricus Roth linguam Hindustanicam litteris latinis scripserit”, StII 13-14, 19??, 311-320; *C. Vogel, “An old letter from Surat by German Jesuit H.R. (1620–1668)”, ABORI 68, 1987, 609-619; Stache-Rosen 1990. 1f.; *C. Vogel, “Qua ratione saeculo XVII Henricus Roth linguam Hindustanicam litteris latinis scripserit”, StII 13-14, 1987, 311-320; *C. Vogel, “An old letter from Surat by German Jesuit H.R. (1620–1668)”, ABORI 68, 1987, 609-619; *C. Vogel, N.D.B. 22, 2005, 106f.; *C. Vogel, “The jesuit Missionary H.R. (1620–1668) and his Burial Place at Agra”, Indische Kultur im Kontext. Fs. Klaus Mylius. Wb. 2005, 407-412; Zachariae, WZKM 15, 1901, 313-320; Briefly D.B.E. 8, 1998, 412; Wikipedia with further references.