It is with great sadness that we learn of the death of Pierre-Sylvain Filliozat, which occurred in Paris on 28 December 2024. Born in Neuilly-sur-Seine on 15 February 1936, son of the Indianist Jean Filliozat, who was for many years the director of the École française d'Extrême-Orient as well as the founder and first director of the Institut Français de Pondichéry, Pierre-Sylvain Filliozat benefited from a most remarkable Indianist education, partly in France (INALCO, EPHE), partly in Pondicherry, notably with two pandits: M. S. Narasimhacharya (IFP), a specialist in the Sanskrit grammatical tradition, and N.R. Bhatt (EFEO), a specialist in śivait literature. This background is reflected in his wide and varied scholarly work. His first major publications concern Sanskrit rhetoric (Le Pratāparudrīya de Vidyānātha, Pondicherry 1963) and poetry (Œuvres poétiques de Nīlakantha Dīkṣita, Pondicherry 1967), then Sanskrit grammar (Le Mahābhāṣya de Patañjali with the Pradīpa de Kaiyaṭa and the Uddyota de Nāgeśa, Pondicherry 1975-1987). He has continued to publish in these fields, but has also made major contributions to studies of the śivaite traditions, notably with his editions and translations of the works of Sadyojyotis (seventh century), one of the earliest śivaite theologians whose writings have survived to the present day.
Since the early 1990s, he and his wife Vasundhara Kavali-Filliozat, an epigraphist and art historian, have divided their time between Paris and Mysore, enabling them to study the religious art and architecture of Karnataka, resulting in several publications, the most far-reaching being Hampi — Inde sacrée, Inde glorieuse, published simultaneously in French and English in 2021 (Milan). He received many honours during his lifetime, not only in France (Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur; Chevalier de l'Ordre national du Mérite; Commandeur de l'Ordre des Palmes académiques), but also in India, where he was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour, in 2024. A member of the École française d'Extrême-Orient from 1963 until 1967, he always kept a close eye on it, sitting on its Councils for many years. From 1967 to 2004, he was director of studies at the École Pratique des Hautes Études (historical philological sciences section). He was elected a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in Raymond Bloch's place in 2000, and became its President in 2010. He has also supported other French institutions that promote studies of South and Southeast Asia, including the Société Asiatique and the Association française pour les études indiennes. In addition to his very active involvement in all the above-mentioned institutions and societies, he and his wife have, for decades, graciously hosted countless students and scholars in their homes in Mysore and Paris, offering them hospitality and intellectual stimulation. He will be sorely missed by many, both in Europe and in India, where Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has offered his condolences. He is survived by his wife and two daughters, Manonmani and Bhamati, and their families. |
![Torii Kiyonaga, Ushiwakamaru et la princesse Jōrurihime, gravure sur bois, vers 1781-1789. D’après Ukiyo-e ha gashū [Collection d’images du monde flottant], Tōkyō, Shinbi Shoin, 1906 (Bibliothèque de l’EFEO).](https://news.efeo.fr/mosaico/uploads/static/07e2758df2dec2588eb24c44192adfb8.jpeg)
