SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The name of Johannes Emil Otto Klatt (1852-1903), Classical and Oriental philologist, Custodian at the Königliche Bibliothek in Berlin, and pioneer of Jaina Studies, has almost entirely disappeared from the records of 19th century intellectual history; despite the fact that, between 1873 and 1892, as librarian and bibliographer, he became one of the pivotal figures in Oriental Studies. Klatt was one of a handful of scholars, coalescing around his teacher Albrecht Friedrich Weber (1825-1901) of the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Berlin, who together with Johann Georg Bühler (1837-1898) in Bombay and Surat effectively established Jaina Studies as an academic field. Klatt is not mentioned in any of the many recent studies on the history of Oriental research, not even in those dedicated to the history of Oriental Studies in Germany, few of which touch on Jaina Studies at all. At the occasion of the posthumous publication of Klatt’s magnum opus, the Jaina-Onomasticon, which Walther Schubring (1881-1969) praised as one of the principal accomplishments of 19th century Jaina research, the time has come to rediscover its author and his still relevant work; not merely for posterity, but also as a paragon and tool for the ongoing exploration of South Asian history and culture. The essay offers a re-appreciation of Klatt's work and serves an an introduction to the edition of the Jaina-Onomasticon.