Camille Bulcke

Camille Bulcke (1 September 1909 – 17 August 1982) was a Belgian Jesuit missionary in India who came to be known as "India's most renowned Christian Hindi scholar".

Early life Camille Bulcke was born in Ramskapelle, a village in Knokke-Heist municipality in the Belgian province of West Flanders

Bulcke had already acquired a BSc degree in civil engineering from Louvain University, when he became a Jesuit in 1930. After doing his philosophical training in Valkenburg, Netherlands, (1932–34) he left for India in 1934 and after a brief stay in Darjeeling, he taught Mathematics for five years at Gumla (present Jharkhand). It was here that he developed his lifelong passion for learning Hindi, as later recalled:

When I arrived in India in 1935, I was surprised and pained when I realised that many educated people were unaware of their cultural traditions and considered it a matter of pride to speak in English. I resolved my duty would be to master the language of the people." – The Faith of A Christian—Devotion To Hindi And To Tulsi.

Career In 1949, Bulcke became the Head of the department of Sanskrit and Hindi of St Xavier's College, Ranchi. But early hearing problems led him to go more for a scholar's than a professor's career. He felt much attracted by the 17th century's Hindi poet Tulsidas on whose writings he made his doctoral thesis. He rewrote the famous Blue Bird play in Hindi under the name Neel Panchhi. Bulcke was often invited to give conferences on Tulsidas and his devotional Rama-songs, which he did with much enthusiasm. He brought people in touch with the profound values of their own spiritual traditions, and, according to him, Tulsidas was also an excellent introduction to the values of the Gospel. He obtained Indian citizenship in 1951, and – highly esteemed by the Government of India – was made a member of the National commission for the promotion of Hindi as the national language. He came to Bihar and visited the church of Darbhanga, praising "the great land of divines and Mata Sita - the Mithila", and hence, he took on the name Bihari after acquiring Indian citizenship.

He died in Delhi on 17 August 1982 due to gangrene.

Camille Bulcke and Ramcharitmanas To fulfil the duties of a missionary monk, Bulcke stayed for quite some time in Darjeeling to make an in-depth study of the scriptures, being deeply interested in philosophy, but to acquire a systematic knowledge of Indian philosophy and literature, he studied for his M.A. degree in Hindi from the University of Allahabad.

Among those whom Bulcke mentored was Raaj Sah (subsequently Professor at the University of Chicago), beginning when Sah was an undergraduate at St. Xavier's College Ranchi. In gratitude, Sah gifted a plaque which was unveiled

in 2020 at Bulcke's birthplace, Ramskapelle. The plaque's inscription is in Flemish, to honor that Bulcke's first love in languages was his mother tongue.

A word-picture (शब्द-चित्र) of Bulcke that Sah drew, in a style dear to Bulcke, is: