Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron

Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron (7 December 173117 January 1805) was the first professional French Indologist. He conceived the institutional framework for the new profession. He inspired the founding of the École française d'Extrême-Orient a century after his death. The library of the Institut français de Pondichéry is named after him. Through his translations he helped introduce Indian texts such as the Upanishads to the West.

Early life Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil was born in Paris on 7 December 1731 Diderot was likewise similarly "conspicuously disappointed".

Political and institutional activity When the Institut de France was reorganised, Anquetil-Duperron was voted in as a member but soon resigned. In 1804, he refused to swear allegiance to Napoleon, stating that "his obeisance [was] to the laws of the government under which he lived and which protected him."apud