Jean Varenne

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. He attended , 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.

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. He served as the president of GRECE from 1984 to 1987, and was also a member of the Institute of Formation of the Front National (FN) of Jean-Marie Le Pen. In 1990, he was nominated to the "Scientific Council" of the FN.

Later life and death At the end of his life, Varenne was working on an Encyclopedic Dictionary of Religions; only articles on Hinduism were published at the time of his death on 12 July 1997.

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. 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.