Jean Varenne
{{short description|French Indologist (1926–1997)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Jean Varenne
| image = Jean Varenne.png
| birth_date = 12 June 1926
| birth_place = Marseille, France
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1997|07|12|1926|06|12}}
| death_place = Paris, France
| nationality = French
| occupation = Indologist
}}
Jean Varenne (12 June 1926 – 12 July 1997) was a French Indologist and a prominent figure of the Nouvelle Droite. He taught Sanskrit at the Aix-Marseille University, then at Jean Moulin University Lyon 3, where he was eventually nominated professor emeritus. Varenne has also been a visiting professor at the University of Chicago, and at other universities in India, Cambodia and Mexico.
Biography
= Early life and education =
Jean Varenne was born on 12 June 1926 in Marseille, Provence.{{Cite book|url=https://data.bnf.fr/fr/11927688/jean_varenne|title=Varenne, Jean (1926-1997)|publisher=Bibliothèque Nationale de France}}{{Cite web|last=Varenne|first=Hervé|date=4 April 1996|title=Jean Varenne|url=http://varenne.tc.columbia.edu/jv/index.html|website=Columbia University}} He attended {{ill|Lycée Thiers|fr}}, then Aix-Marseille University and the University of Paris, earning a PhD in Sanskrit studies at the École des Hautes Études. Varenne was a member of the French School of the Far East, and taught in India and Cambodia.
In 1962, he received a teaching position at Aix-Marseille, where he founded the Department of Indian Studies in the early 1960s.{{sfn|Rousso|2004|p=61}} Varenne also worked as a visiting professor at El Colegio de México and at the University of Chicago in the second part of the 1960s.{{Cite book|last=Muñoz|first=Adrián|title=Historia mínima del Yoga|last2=Martino|first2=Gabriel|date=2020|publisher=El Colegio de Mexico AC|isbn=978-607-564-161-4}}
= Indology and political activism =
In 1974, Varenne joined the patronage committee of Nouvelle École, a review published by GRECE, an ethno-nationalist think tank led by Alain de Benoist.{{sfn|Rousso|2004|p=61}} He quit his teaching position at Aix-Marseille in 1980, and co-founded with Jean Haudry and {{ill|Jean-Paul Allard|fr}} the "Institute of Indo-European Studies" (IEIE) at the Jean Moulin University Lyon 3 the same year.{{sfn|Rousso|2004|p=7}} He was appointed professor of Sanskrit philology, Indian civilization and history of religions at Lyon 3 in 1981.{{sfn|Rousso|2004|p=61}} Varenne was also involved with the neo-fascist magazine Défense de l'Occident, led by Maurice Bardèche.{{Cite web|last=Bertrand|first=Olivier|date=14 December 2000|title=Les antinégationnistes frappent à Lyon-III|url=https://www.liberation.fr/amphtml/societe/2000/12/14/les-antinegationnistes-frappent-a-lyon-iii_347697|website=Libération}}
During the 1980s, Varenne directed the series "Le Monde Indien" in the prestigious publishing house Les Belles Lettres, and he founded the Belles Lettres collection "Études Indo-Européennes" in 1987.{{Cite book|last=Wieviorka|first=Michel|title=Racisme et modernité|date=2013|publisher=La Découverte|isbn=978-2-7071-7608-0|author-link=Michel Wieviorka}} He served as the president of GRECE from 1984 to 1987,{{sfn|Rousso|2004|p=61}}{{Cite web|last=de Boissieu|first=Laurent|date=3 March 2019|title=Groupement de Recherche et d'Études pour la Civilisation Européenne (GRECE)|url=https://www.france-politique.fr/wiki/Groupement_de_Recherche_et_d%27%C3%89tudes_pour_la_Civilisation_Europ%C3%A9enne_(GRECE)|website=France-Politique}} and was also a member of the Institute of Formation of the Front National (FN) of Jean-Marie Le Pen.{{Sfn|François|2005|p=56}} In 1990, he was nominated to the "Scientific Council" of the FN.{{Cite news|last=Staff|date=30 March 1990|title=La " force intellectuelle " du conseil scientifique|work=Le Monde|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1990/03/30/la-force-intellectuelle-du-conseil-scientifique_3963397_1819218.html}}
= Later life and death =
Works
- Mahâ-Nârâyana Upanisad, 2 vol., Paris, Éditions de Boccard (PICI), 1960.
- Mantra védiques dans le « Raurava-âgama », JA 250/2, pp 185–1987, 1962.
- Zarathushtra et la tradition mazdéenne, Paris, Seuil, 1962 [reed. 1977].
- Le Véda, ed. Planète, 1967, [reed. Les Deux Océans, 2003].
- Mythes et légendes, extraits des Brâhmanas, Paris, Gallimard, 1968.
- Grammaire du sanskrit, Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 1971.
- Upanisads du Yoga, traduits du sanskrit et annotés, Paris, Gallimard, 1971.
- Le Yoga et la tradition hindoue, Paris, Denoël, 1971.
- Célébration de la Grande Déesse (Dévî-mâhâtmya), Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 1975.
- Sept Upanishads, Paris, Seuil, 227 p., 1981, {{ISBN|9782020058728}}.
- Cosmogonies Védiques, Milan, Archè Milano, 1981 [reed. Les Belles Lettres, 1982].
- (Dir. with Jean Herbert) Vocabulaire de l'hindouisme, Dervy, 1985.
- Aux Sources du Yoga, J. Renard, 1989.
- La Gîta- Govinda, Le Rocher, 1991.
- L'Enseignement secret de la divine Shakti, Grasset, 1995.
- Le Tantrisme : mythes, rites, métaphysique, Albin Michel, 1997.
- Zoroastre, le prophète de l'Iran, Dervy, 1996.
- (Dir. with Michel Delahoutre) Dictionnaire de l'hindouisme, Le Rocher, 2002.
References
{{reflist|2}}
=Bibliography=
{{refbegin|indent=yes}}
- {{Cite book|last=François|first=Stéphane|title=Les néo-paganismes et la Nouvelle droite, 1980-2006: pour une autre approche|date=2008|publisher=Archè|isbn=978-88-7252-287-5|language=fr|author-link=Stéphane François}} (adapted from {{Cite thesis|title=Les paganismes de la Nouvelle Droite (1980-2004)|url=https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00442649|publisher=Université du Droit et de la Santé - Lille II|date=2005|degree=PhD|last=François}})
- {{Cite report|url=https://www.vie-publique.fr/sites/default/files/rapport/pdf/044000492.pdf|title=Rapport sur le racisme et le négationnisme à Lyon III|last=Rousso|first=Henry|date=2004|author-link=Henry Rousso|access-date=2020-06-26|archive-date=2021-10-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211018105222/https://www.vie-publique.fr/sites/default/files/rapport/pdf/044000492.pdf|url-status=dead}}
{{refend}}
{{European New Right}}
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Category:Academic staff of Aix-Marseille University