LANMAN, Charles Rockwell. Norwich, Conn. 8.7.1850 — Belmont, Mass. 20.2. 1941. U.S. Indologist. Professor in Cambridge, Mass. Son of Peter Lanman III (1807–1886), a textile manufacturer, and Catherine Cook (1814–1854), lost early his mother. Educated at Norwich Free Academy (graduated 1867) and Yale College (A.B. 1871). Then further studies of Greek (under Hadley) and Sanskrit (Whitney) at Yale. Ph.D. 1873 Yale. Now went to Germany and studied in 1873-76 Indology and IE linguistics under Weber at Berlin, under Roth at Tübingen and under Curtius and Leskien at Leipzig. In 1876-80 the first Professor (Instructor) of Sanskrit at the newly founded Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore (succeeded by Bloomfield), from 1880 Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard. Retired in 1926 (and was succeeded by W. E. Clark). In 1889–90 visited India purchasing a number of books and manuscripts for Harvard. LL.D. 1902 Yale, 1906 Aberdeen. Married in 1888 Mary Billings Hinkley (1858–1936), of six children four daughters and one son survived.
Lanman was more a skilled organizator than a creative scholar, which he well understood himself and therefore did not publish much of his own research. His main work he did editing several volumes for the Harvard Oriental Series and acting as the general editor (1891–1926) of this series, which he had founded together with his student and friend H. C. Warren. As an editor he was demanding and skilful. He Sanskrit Reader has become familiar to generations of students. Among his own students were S. K. Belvalkar, M. Bloomfield, D. B. Spooner and H. C. Warren, also Thomas Stearns Eliot. He was much interested in classical philology and a keen sportsman, who daily rowed (when ice was not impending) until he was 88.
Publications: Diss. The Nasal Verbs in Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin. Manuscript, Yale 1873.
– “A statistical Account of Noun-Inflection in the Veda”, JAOS 10, 1880, 325-601; “On the Stanza, Rigveda X 18, 14”, PAOS for 1884, cxci-cxciii; “The Namuchi-myth, or attempt to explain the text of Ṛgveda VIII, 14, 13”, JASB 58:1, 1889, 28-30; “Rigveda V.40 and Its Buddhist Parallel”, Festgruss Roth 1893, 186-190; “Diction as affected by the Interests of Herdsman, Priest and Gambler”, JAOS 20:1, 1899, 12-17.
– A Sanskrit Reader. Text, vocabulary and notes. 1-3. 20+423 p. Cambridge, Mass. 1888, and numerous editions.
– “On a Sanskrit Manuscript of a Hindu Treatise on Logic, the Nyāya-siddhānta-mañjarī”, PAOS for 1885, xlf.; “Emendation of Kathā-sarit-sāgara III, 37”, PAOS for 1893, xxif.; “The King of Siam’s edition of the Buddhist Scriptures”, PAOS for 1894, ccxliv-cclii; “Pāli Book-titles and their Brief designations”, Proc. Am. Acad. of Arts & Sc. 44, 1907, 663-707; “Notes on the externals of Indian Books”, in Hertel’s Pañcatantra of Pūrṇabhadra. H.O.S. 11. Cambridge 1908, xix-xlviii.
– Rāja-Šekhara: Karpūra-Mañjarī. A drama. Critically edited in the original Prākrit, with glossarial index, and an essay on the life and writings of the poet by S. Konow. Transl. into English with notes by C. R. Lanman. 26+315 p. H.O.S. 4. Cambridge, Mass. 1901.
– Atharva-veda-samhita. Translated into English with critical and exegetical commentary by W. D. Whitney. Revised and ed. by C. R. Lanman. 1-2. 162+1046 p. H.O.S. 7-8. Cambridge, Mass. 1905.
– “Hindu Ascetics and their Power”, TAPA 53, 1922, 83-102.
– “The Sanskrit aorists: their classification and history”, TAPA 53, 1922, 83-102.
– “Phrase-Words and Phrase-Derivatives”, JAOS 40, 1920, 194-198; “The Sanskrit mutes called mūrdhanya: that is domal”, Festgabe Kaegi 1919, 93-101.
– “Bharata’s treatise on dramaturgy (Nāṭya-Śāstra)”, JAOS 40, 1920, 359f.
– Edited TAPA 10-14, 1879-84; general editor of Harvard Oriental Series 1-31, 1891-1932, also prepared, but could not finish, Geldner’s Rigveda (H.O.S. 32-34).
Sources: S.K. Belvalkar, ABORI 22, 1941, 300–304, with photo; W.W. Briggs Jr. in Briggs (ed.), Biogr. Dict. of N. Amer. Class. 1994, 340f.; Buckland, Dictionary; W.E. Clark, JAOS 61, 1941, 191f. with photo; *S.V. Jamison, Lex. gramm. 1996, 548f.; K. Nag, JASB 3:8, 1942, 206f.; *G. de Roerich, JUHRI 1, 1931, 1-6; Nat. Cyclop. of Am. Biogr. 11, 96 with a drawing; Wikipedia with photo; photo (1913) in ABORI 22, 1941, another in Sardesai.
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