Jean Varenne

Jean Varenne
Born	12 June 1926 Marseille, France
Died	12 July 1997(1997-07-12) (aged 71) Paris, France
Nationality	French
Occupation	Indologist

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.^[3] 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.^[3] 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.^[5] He was appointed professor of Sanskrit philology, Indian civilization and history of religions at Lyon 3 in 1981.^[1][3] 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,^[3][8] and was also a member of the Institute of Formation of the Front National (FN) of Jean-Marie Le Pen.^[9] 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]

Works

• Mahâ-Nârâyana Upanisad, 2 vol., Paris, Éditions de Boccard (PICI), 1960.
• Mantra védiques dans le « Raurava-âgama », JA 250/2, pp 185–1987, 1962.
• Zarathushtra et la tradition mazdéenne, Paris, Seuil, 1962 [reed. 1977].
• Le Véda, ed. Planète, 1967, [reed. Les Deux Océans, 2003].
• Mythes et légendes, extraits des Brâhmanas, Paris, Gallimard, 1968.
• Grammaire du sanskrit, Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 1971.
• Upanisads du Yoga, traduits du sanskrit et annotés, Paris, Gallimard, 1971.
• Le Yoga et la tradition hindoue, Paris, Denoël, 1971.
• Célébration de la Grande Déesse (Dévî-mâhâtmya), Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 1975.
• Sept Upanishads, Paris, Seuil, 227 p., 1981, ISBN 9782020058728.
• Cosmogonies Védiques, Milan, Archè Milano, 1981 [reed. Les Belles Lettres, 1982].
• (Dir. with Jean Herbert) Vocabulaire de l'hindouisme, Dervy, 1985.
• Aux Sources du Yoga, J. Renard, 1989.
• La Gîta- Govinda, Le Rocher, 1991.
• L'Enseignement secret de la divine Shakti, Grasset, 1995.
• Le Tantrisme : mythes, rites, métaphysique, Albin Michel, 1997.
• Zoroastre, le prophète de l'Iran, Dervy, 1996.
• (Dir. with Michel Delahoutre) Dictionnaire de l'hindouisme, Le Rocher, 2002.

References

1. Varenne, Hervé (4 April 1996). "Jean Varenne". Columbia University.
2. Varenne, Jean (1926-1997). Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
3. Rousso 2004, p. 61.
4. Muñoz, Adrián; Martino, Gabriel (2020). Historia mínima del Yoga. El Colegio de Mexico AC. ISBN 978-607-564-161-4.
5. Rousso 2004, p. 7.
6. Bertrand, Olivier (14 December 2000). "Les antinégationnistes frappent à Lyon-III". Libération.
7. Wieviorka, Michel (2013). Racisme et modernité. La Découverte. ISBN 978-2-7071-7608-0.
8. de Boissieu, Laurent (3 March 2019). "Groupement de Recherche et d'Études pour la Civilisation Européenne (GRECE)". France-Politique.
9. François 2005, p. 56.
10. Staff (30 March 1990). "La " force intellectuelle " du conseil scientifique". Le Monde.

Bibliography

• François, Stéphane (2008). Les néo-paganismes et la Nouvelle droite, 1980-2006: pour une autre approche (in French). Archè. ISBN 978-88-7252-287-5. (adapted from François (2005). Les paganismes de la Nouvelle Droite (1980-2004) (PhD thesis). Université du Droit et de la Santé - Lille II.)
• Rousso, Henry (2004). Rapport sur le racisme et le négationnisme à Lyon III (PDF) (Report). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-10-18. Retrieved 2020-06-26.