French Indologist
Jean Varenne |
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| Born | 12 June 1926
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| Died | 12 July 1997(1997-07-12) (aged 71)
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| Nationality | French |
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| Occupation | Indologist |
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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.[1]
Biography
Early life and education
Jean Varenne was born on 12 June 1926 in Marseille, Provence.[2][1] He attended Lycée Thiers [fr], 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.[1]
In 1962, he received a teaching position at Aix-Marseille,[1] where he founded the Department of Indian Studies in the early 1960s. Varenne also worked as a visiting professor at El Colegio de México and at the University of Chicago in the second part of the 1960s.[4][1]
Indology and political activism
In 1974, Varenne joined the patronage committee of Nouvelle École, a review published by GRECE, an ethno-nationalist think tank led by Alain de Benoist. He quit his teaching position at Aix-Marseille in 1980,[1] and co-founded with Jean Haudry and Jean-Paul Allard [fr] the "Institute of Indo-European Studies" (IEIE) at the Jean Moulin University Lyon 3 the same year. He was appointed professor of Sanskrit philology, Indian civilization and history of religions at Lyon 3 in 1981.[1] Varenne was also involved with the neo-fascist magazine Défense de l'Occident, led by Maurice Bardèche.[6]
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.[7] He served as the president of GRECE from 1984 to 1987,[8] 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.[10]
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.[1][2]
