Memorial Sylvain Levy

The forty-three papers of Sylvain Levy, which were gathered by Louis Renou’s good offices, can be divided into two categories: the first, essays, lectures and course resumes that, while certainly scholarly, are addressed to a larger audience than the specialist. The second, erudite articles where palegraphy, epigraphy, and philology directly contribute their methods, materials, and methods towards the history of Indian civilization and thought. Although this collection is a small portion of Sylvain’s entire oeuvre, it provides a good representation of his work. It shows the ardent desire of Sylvain Levi to share his humanity with the Occident Indian people. One can also see the dominant, but not exclusive, place that Buddhism occupies in his work. These topics are related to Indian Buddhism and show that ancient India is less closed than it seems. It was also open to trade, especially marine. This memorial also includes a sample Sylvian Levi’s contribution to Tocharian Studies, his inventory Japanese Buddhist sects, and a note about the ancient Indo-Hebrew connections.