Willem Caland

Biography Willem Caland was born on August 27, 1859 to Pieter Caland, a hydraulic engineer who became well known for working on the Nieuwe Waterweg,

His heart condition was severe enough that it kept him from traveling to India for his studies. With the support of Kern, he initially focused on ancient Indian ancestor worship and related topics. His understanding of the historical Vedic religion earned him significant prominence, particularly his studies of the brahmanas and translations and commentaries on the sutras. He began teaching Sanskrit at the University of Utrecht in 1902. In February 1903, he was appointed as a lecturer of Indology, which he converted into a comparative linguistics professorship for comparisons between Indo-Aryan and Germanic languages in June 1906. He turned down an appointment to the University of Leiden in 1913. In May 1917, his position was converted to an ordinariate, which added Old Persian and Avestan to his professorship. He also served as a part of the management for the .

On March 23, 1932, Caland died in Utrecht as a result of his heart condition.

Selected works Altindischer Ahnencult (, 1893) Die altindischen Todten- und Bestattungsgebräuche (, 1896) Altindisches Zaubermaterial (, 1900) L'agniṣṭoma. Description complète de la forme normale du Sacrifice de Soma dans le culte védique (, 1906-7; written with Victor Henry) Altindisch Zauberei. Darstellung der altindischen "Wundschopfer" (, 1908)