Charlotte Krause her Life and Literature

Author(s): Shreeprakash Pandey
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

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religion. Hence, as was then also necessary in the curriculum, she devoted herself eagerly to linguistic studies, which is the key to the literature concerned. In several renowned German universities she subsequently studied comparative linguistics, oriental languages and especially Samsksta with such specialists as Richard Garbe in Tübingen and Ernst Windisch and Johannes Hertel in Leipzig.
She received her Ph. D. degree as early as in 1920 in Leipzig and henceforth devoted herself to Indology, working with Johannes Hertel whose critical philological method also became the basis for her own scholarly work. She published the Jaina stories about Prince Aghata and Ambađa in translation and edited the Nāsaketari Kathā, an old Rājasthānī tale with a grammar of old Rājasthānī. This work fulfilled the requirements for the 'Habilitation', an important qualification for a career in German academia. She became a Fellow and Assistant Professor of Indian and Comparative Philology at the University of Leipzig in 1923. At the early age of 28 she was first lady fellow ever admitted there. During these years she also wrote a lengthy article on a newly discovered version of the Jaina Pañcatantra in Old Gujarati.
All these works of Charlotte Krause published in Germany before she was 30 years of age. They are of a high standard, evincing not only her proficiency in philology but also her outstanding talent as a translator. She was thus able to reach out to a wider circle of readers, not only to students and scholars of religious studies and the history of literature, but also to the generally interested reader.
Johannes Hertel, the head of the Institute of Indology in Leipzig, was planning a centre for Jaina Studies at the University. He had been in lively contact with the internationally renowned scholar-monk, the Jaina Ācārya Vijayadharma Sūri and his group of sādhus, especially Ācārya Vijaya Indra Sūri. The Ācāryas supported Hertel's academic work by lending him numerous manuscripts, by presenting him books and also by giving him financial help for the publication of his work and the planned centre of Jaina studies.