SUNESON, Carl Ivar. Stockholm 18.10.1941 — Stockholm 2.1.1995. Swedish Indologist. Son of Ivar S. (d. 1952) and Vilma Ek. Grew up in Stockholm. From 1960 studies of Indology under Lienhard at Stockholm University, in 1965-66 under V. Raghavan in Madras. Cand.phil. 1964, Lic.phil. 1966 Stockholm. Became blind in the late 1970s, because of severe diabetes, caught as teenager, definitely from 1980. Working as Docent (Lecturer from c. 1966) at Stockholm University he taught Sanskrit and Hindi until his death. Twice married, children.

His excellent memory helped him to counteract the blindness so that he even was capable of lecturing difficult Kāvya texts from memory. In his last years he continued teaching and research in spite of his drastily worsening condition. In the early 1990s he had his both legs amputated and became completely dependent of dialytic cures. From 1986 he had Mirja Juntunen as Research Assistant to read for him. In addition to Sanskrit and Hindi, he also knew Tamil and even Chinese. He had great interest in classical music, especially Wagner.

Publications: Lic.phil. diss. publ. as Saurikathodaya. A yamaka poem by Vāsudeva. Ed. with translation, notes and introd. 219 p. Stockholm 1969; 2nd rev. ed. 191 p. Stockh. Studies in Indian languages and culture 1. Stockholm 1986.

– With E. af Edholm: “The Seven Bulls and Kṛṣṇa’s Marriage to Nīlā/NappiNNai in Sanskrit and Tamil Literature”, Temenos 1972.

– “The Kāmasandeśa – a contribution to the religious geography of South India”, IT 10, 1982, 229-239; “From God to Horse: A Mythological and Semasiological study of revanta in Sanskrit and Gujarātī/Rājasthānī”, IT 12, 1984, 233-262; “The interpretation of the samasīsin concept in the Pāli commentaries”, ZDMG Suppl. 7, 1989, 497-506; “Remarks on some interrelated terms in the ancient Indian embryology”, WZKS 35, 1991, 109-121; “The ṣaḍgarbha tradition in the Harivaṁśa, the Purāṇas and the Kṛṣṇacaritranāṭaka of Raṇajit Malla”, WZKS 36 Suppl., 1994, 197-211.

– Richard Wagner und die indische Geisteswelt. 123 p. Ld. 1989 (Swedish 1985).

– With P.-A. Berglie: “Arhatschaft und Selbstmord”, Simonsson Vol. 1986, 13-47.

– Edited with M. Juntunen and W. L. Smith: Sauhṛdyamaṅgalam. Studies in honour of Siegfried Lienhard on his 70th birthday. 406 p. Stockholm 1995, with own contribution, “On the term vāmalokāyatika Found in Two Central Asian MSS of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra and its Chinese Interpretation”, 343-360.

– “The Kṛṣṇacaritra – Some Observations on a Classical Nevari Drama”, S. Lienhard (ed.), Change and Continuity. Studies in the Nepalese Culture of the Katmandu Valley. Rome 1996, 387-392?; also wrote articles in Swedish.

Sources: M. Juntunen, BEI 11-12, 1993-94 (1995), 9-12, with select bibliography; W.L. Smith, AO 56, 1995, 28-30; parents in gene.com; personal knowledge (1990/93), also oral information from M. Juntunen.