Richard Karl von Garbe

Richard Karl von Garbe (9 March 1857, Bredow, Szczecin - 22 September 1927, Tübingen)^[1] was a German professor of philosophy, who made significant contributions to documenting and studying Indian philosophical texts and concepts.

Richard Karl von Garbe

Life and education

Von Garbe was born on 9 March 1857 at Bredow, near Stettin (now Szczecin) in the Kingdom of Prussia.^[1] He was taught at Stettin in the Marienstiftsgymnasium by the polymath Hermann Grassmann, from whom he learned Sanskrit, completing his abitur in 1873.^[2] He went on to study at the Tübingen University, where he continued his education in Sanskrit with German Indologist Rudolph von Roth, who had recently published the Sanskrit Wörterbuch, a substantial dictionary of the Sanskrit language.^[3] He completed his Ph.D. in 1876.^[2]

Career

After completing his education, von Garbe spent a year in England, working in libraries and meeting Max Müller, another notable German Indologist.^[2] In 1878, he became a lecturer at the University of Königsberg, becoming a professor two years later.^[2] During this time, he published a critical edition of the Atharvaveda, a Hindu philosophical and religious text, in German, as well as several monographs, including one on Indian minerals, and another on Apastambha Dharmasutra.^[2]

From 1885 to 1887 von Garbe received a grant to continue his research in India, traveling to Varanasi, and subsequently publishing a travelogue Reiseskizzen (Travelling Sketches) which was widely read and ran to two editions.^[2] In 1887, the Royal Academy of Sciences in Berlin provided funds to extend his stay in India, and in return he donated several Sanskrit texts to their collections.^[1]

Returning to Königsberg, he published his best known work, Samkhya Philosophie, a text on the Indian philosophical school, Samkhya, along with several translations and commentaries on related texts.^[2] The text was published in English in 1892, and resulted his being appointed a professor at the University of Königsberg in 1894.^[2]

In 1895, following the death of his mentor, Rudolph von Roth, von Garbe took over von Roth's position as chair of Sanskrit and comparative religious studies at Tübingen University,^[1] continuing to publish commentaries and translations of Indian philosophical texts, including a translation of the Bhagavad Gita.^[2] In 1908 he was appointed the Rector of Tübingen University.^[1]

Garbe mentored several students who also went on to study Indian religion and philosophy, including Rudolf Otto.^[4]

Awards and honors

• 1909 Cross of Honour of the Order of the Württemberg Crown^[1]
• 1926 Honorary diploma of the Faculty of Philosophy, Tübingen University^[1]

Personal life

von Garbe married Anna Wichert in 1887, and they had three children: a son and two daughters.^[1] He died at the age of 70, in Tübingen.^[2]

Publications

• von Garbe, Vaitâna sûtra: das ritual des Atharvaveda (1878)
• von Garbe, Die indischen Mineralien: ihre Namen und die ihnen zugeschriebenen Kräfte (repr. Gerstenberg, 1974)
• von Garbe, Indien and das Christentum: eine untersuchung der religions-geschichtlichen zusammenhänge (1914)
• von Garbe, Die Sâmkhya-Philosophie: eine Darstellung des indischen Rationalismus (1917)
• von Garbe, “Die” Bhagavadgītā (1921)