Suzanne Karpelès

Suzanne Karpelès (17 March 18907 November 1968) was a French Indologist, who was a multilingual specialist in the languages and cultures of colonized French Indochina. She was the first curator of the Royal Library of Phnom Penh and suggested the founding of the Buddhist Institute of Cambodia where she served as the first secretary-general. There her teachers included the scholars Sylvain Lévi, Alfred Foucher and Louis Finot, and she graduated after publishing her translation of the Buddhist Sanskrit and Tibetan text Lokeçvaraçataka in 1919 in the Asian Journal.

Karpelès was the first female member of the École française d’Extrême-Orient (EFEO), with a posting in 1922 to Hanoi (then part of French Indochina, now Vietnam) followed by an appointment to Phnom-Penh (now Cambodia) in 1925. Then, in 1923, she was sent to Bangkok, Thailand, to compare her work to another manuscript of the same text to improve her facility with the Thai language.

Karpelès's scope of work expanded greatly. She became the chief publications officer for the École Supérieure de Pāli,

Memberships Member, Association of Friends of the Orient. Member, French School of the Far East, from 1922 to 1925 and again from 1936 to 1941. (She was a corresponding member from 1926 to 1936.) Corresponding member of the 5th section of the Academy of Colonial Sciences, 1929.

Selected publications 1919: “Lokeçvaraçataka or Hundred stanzas in honor of the Lord of the World by Vajradatta," JA 14, p. 357-465. 1919: A finger from the moon. Hindu love story, (translated from English), Paris, Grasset, 297 p. 1924: “Six Pali tales taken from the Dhammapadatthakatha," Revue Indochinoise 1-2 , p. 1-30; 3–4, p. 205-234; 5–6, p. 323-350; 7–8, p. 11-44. 1925: “An episode of the Siamese Ramayana,” in Asian Studies 1, Paris, G. van Oest (PEFEO 19), p. 315-342. 1928: “An example of Indo-Khmer sculpture," Indian Art and Letters, ns 2/1, p. 28. 1934: "Sisters beggars, brothers beggars of Buddhist doctrine, Stanzas translated from Pali," Far Asia (Saigon) 91 (not paginated) 1948: “A case of international maritime law in 1797,” BSEI 'ns 23 / 3-4, p. 125-131. 1948-1949: Initiation to the history of Hindu art, Hanoi, EFEO courses and conferences, 66 leaflets. 1949: “Notes on a manuscript relating to a Burmese embassy in Cochinchina,” BSEI ns 24/1, p. 3-11.