Indian
\nand Oriental studies have had a number of remarkable representatives in Romania
\nas well. The first was Mircea Eliade, born in 1907, a reputed writer and
\nhistorian of religions, who had a vast scientific and didactic career in the
\nWest. The following generation of experts in Indian studies included Sergiu
\nAl-George, Anton Zigmund-Cerbu, Eliza Zigmund-Cerbu, Marcel Leibovici and Arion
\nRo\u0219u, the four latter being members of the Bucharest-based Jewish community.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Arion
\nRo\u0219u was born February 1, 1924 in Bucharest, and passed away on April 4, 2007
\nin Versailles, France, at the age of 83. He studied classical philology at
\nUniversity of Bucharest, and specialized in Indian studies, in Ayurveda and the
\nhistory of classical Indian medicine. In 1964, he moved to France, where he
\ncontinued his studies at La Sorbonne and defended his doctoral thesis about the
\npsychological concepts in Indian medical literature. He published extensive
\nscientific papers and volumes about India and classical Indian culture. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The
\nInstitute for the History of Religions of the Romanian Academy paid homage to
\nArion Ro\u0219u by naming a study after him. Indian specialist Eugen Ciurtin, the
\ndirector of the Institute, knew Arion Ro\u0219u, and was actually his student.
\nCiurtin says Ro\u0219u was an accomplished scholar, his works being representative
\nnot just for Romania. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Arion
\nRo\u0219u is not a parochial figure, representing a single place, he was a European
\nscholar, to say the least. For instance, Professor David Gordon-White, who
\nteaches history of religions at University of California, studied with two
\nworld authors who guided his career. One was published for the first time in
\nthe USA, a certain Mircea Eliade, whereas the other was first published in
\nEurope, Arion Ro\u0219u. The fact that they happen to be Romanian is just our manner
\nof understanding the evolution of Indian studies, of humanistic culture, at the
\nend of the 20th century. Arion Ro\u0219u is a personality whose works
\ndisplayed extraordinary durability. He is the only Romanian-born specialist in
\nIndian and Oriental studies who, at the time of his death, was given the unique
\nhonor of having an obituary signed by Pierre-Sylvain Filliozat in Journal Asiatique,
\nthe oldest periodical of Oriental studies in Europe, which has been published
\nin the last two centuries without interruption. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Ayurveda
\nor Indian classical medicine has always fascinated people across time and
\nspace. It also enthralled Arion Ro\u0219u. Eugen Ciurtin told us more: <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Arion
\nRo\u0219u
\ndistinguished himself as a historian of religions, particularly of Indian
\nstudies, with a special focus on classical Sanskrit medical literature. Why is
\nthis so important? Because of all the ancient cultures, only a few have an
\noriginal medical system. In other words, there are only a few civilizations,
\nincluding those of Egypt, China, India or Greece, that first looked at the
\nhuman body with all its wonders and diseases. Devoting yourself to classical
\nAyurveda meant reconstructing the science and philosophy of ancient Indian
\nculture. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
All
\nRomanian Orientalists were influenced by Mircea Eliade, who was a beacon for
\nyoung Romanians who wanted to discover the secrets of India. Among them were a
\nfew Jewish students who were forced to explain their Fascist options to their
\nteacher. We asked Eugen Ciurtin how Arion Ro\u0219u reacted to Eliade’s biography:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
I
\ntalked to Arion Ro\u0219u on a number of occasions in Versailles, where he settled after turning 70, and I
\ntook it upon myself to tell him that in 1996 the extraordinary and painful
\nJournal of Mihail Sebastian had been published. Then, he would select and cut
\nout articles from major French publications and had them sent to me. The
\narticles discussed the rightist formation of Mircea Eliade, who had been
\ninfluenced by Monsignor Vladimir Ghyka, who helped him convert to Catholicism
\nin the wake of the Romanian communist authorities’ anti-Jewish drive. He found
\nit hard to understand how someone so gifted and kind as Mircea Eliade would end
\nup a captive of European far-right ideology for such a long time. There are
\ndocuments in which Arion Ro\u0219u condemns this situation. But because he felt his
\ndestiny was bound to Eliade’s, because he always admired his amazing intellect
\nthat helped him conquer the whole planet, Arion Ro\u0219u wanted to be fair and share the science. At
\nthe same time, he would be very harsh when some of his colleagues failed to
\ngrasp their predicament. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Arion
\nRo\u0219u is an
\niconic representative of Indian studies at global level, whose emblematic
\ncontributions are used in specialised academic circles. And this makes him a
\nproduct of world literature. (VP) <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of the best-known Romanian specialists in Indian studies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":93684,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45210],"tags":[45698,39842,45699,45541],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-170022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rri-encyclopaedia","tag-arion-rosu","tag-communist-regime","tag-indian-and-oriental-studies","tag-mircea-eliade"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n