BERGSTEDT, Carl Fredrik. Lillkyrka, Örebro län 24.7.1817 — Skrukarp, Kristberg socken, Östergötland 26.1.1890. Swedish Literate interested in Sanskrit. Son of a farmer, Carl Magnus B. and Fredrika Granlund. Went to school in Örebro, then in Strängnäs, studied at Uppsala from 1836. Diss. on classical philology 1836, kand.fil. 1841, mag.fil. 1842 (with a thesis on Boethius). Even before the study tour in 1846-48 to Denmark, Germany and France he was engaged in a journalist career, in Frey 1844-46, again 1849-50, then in Aftonbladet 1852-55, and in many other newspapers, often as the editor. In 1856 he moved to Värmland and 1861 to Östergötland, where he was elected to the first chamber for 1867-75. As a politician he was styled as a “democratic conservative”, who admired the British model. Married 1851 Anna Geijer (1827–1867).
In the early 1840s Bergstedt had also studied Sanskrit under Tullberg, and published in 1840-46 a series of translations, which Charpentier deemed rather good. In 1846-48 further studies of Sanskrit in Copenhagen (Westergaard), Bonn (Lassen), and Paris (Burnouf). He was specially interested in Vedānta, and collected much material on it, but the only result of these studies was a small text edition in 1850, which was also the first time, when Devanāgarī was printed in Sweden. His papers are in Uppsala University Library.
Publications: “Sagan om syndafloden hos de gamla hinduerna”, Frey 1840, 201-212 (transl. from the Mbh.); “En fornindisk fabel (Jägaren och dufvan)”, Frey 1840, 477-482 (Pañcatantra).
– Transl. (all with introd. & notes): Sâvitrî, en episod ur den Indiska Epopéen Mahâ-bhârata. 44 p. Upps. 1844; Metriska öfversättningar från Sanskrit. 127 p. Upps. 1845; Vikrama och Urvasî eller Hjelten och nymfen. 111 p. Stockholm 1846.
– Edited the Jñānabodhinī of Pseudo-Śankara: De cognitione animi commentatio Vedantica. 25 p. Upps. 1850.
– “Något om den comparativa philologien och dess inflytande på de orientalistiska språkstudierna”, Läsning för bildning ock nöje 1848, 722-745; “Om de nyaste upptäckterna i Asiens fornkunskap, särdeles med afseende på den så kallade kilskriften”, Frey 1850, 449-491; “Hvad är språkvetenskap”, Nord. Tidskrift 1881, 243-281, 584-586.
– Much unrelated to Indology.
Sources: V. Svanberg, Sv. Biogr. Lex. 3, 1922, 681-688 with photo; Charpentier, Svensk Orientsällsk. Årsbok 1924, 62-64; Swedish Wikipedia with portrait.
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