Nalini Balbir is a renowned French Indologist who lives in Paris. Born of a French mother and an Indian father, she is a scholar of Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

, Prakrit

Prakrit

Prakrit is the name for a group of Middle Indic, Indo-Aryan languages, derived from Old Indic dialects. The word itself has a flexible definition, being defined sometimes as, "original, natural, artless, normal, ordinary, usual", or "vernacular", in contrast to the literary and religious...

, Pali, Jainism

Jainism

Jainism is an Indian religion that prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living beings. Its philosophy and practice emphasize the necessity of self-effort to move the soul towards divine consciousness and liberation. Any soul that has conquered its own inner enemies and achieved the state...

, Buddhism

Buddhism

Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

 and Hinduism

Hinduism

Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...

. She was a direct student and protegee of the Sanskrit scholar and renowned Indologist Prof. Dr. Mme. Colette Caillat

Colette Caillat

Prof. Dr. Colette Caillat was a French professor of Sanskrit and comparative grammar. She was also one of the world's leading Jain scholars.-Biography:...

. She is known for her work on the publication of the Catalogue of the Jain Manuscripts of the British Library

British Library

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...

 published by the Institute of Jainology.

Academic Credentials

Nalini Balbir started her career as a teacher of French, Latin and Greek in secondary schools (1977 to 1980), before completing her PhD in Indian Studies (Études indiennes) with the edition and annotated translation of the Danastaka-katha, a book of Jain narratives in Sanskrit, which was published in 1982. Between 1982-1988 she was a Research scholar in the Centre national de la recherche scientifique

Centre national de la recherche scientifique

The National Center of Scientific Research is the largest governmental research organization in France and the largest fundamental science agency in Europe....

, where she completed her DLitt in Indian Studies with a magisterial work on the complex Jaina Avasyaka literature which was published in 1993 under the title Avasyaka Studien. In recognition of her outstanding contributions to classical and modern Indian philology she became Professor of Indian Studies at the Sorbonne Nouvelle (University of New Sorbonne) in 1988. Dr Balbir is currently Professor for Indian Studies (Études Indiennes) at the Sorbonne Nouvelle (University of Paris-3), and since the year 2000 also Directeur d'Etudes for Middle-Indian Philology at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes

École pratique des hautes études

The École pratique des hautes études is a Grand Établissement in Paris, France. It is counted among France's most prestigious research and higher education institutions....

in Paris (Section des Sciences historiques et philologiques). As a trained philologist, her main areas of research are Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit, Theravada Buddhism, Jainism, and Hindi language and literature of the 20th century. She is also a member of Pali text society in London and editor since 1983 of Bulletin d'Etudes Indiennes, an Indology Journal.

Outstanding Publications by Prof. Dr. Nalini Balbir

• Balbir, N. (1982). Normalizing trends in Jaina narrative literature. OCLC Number: 469255335

• Balbir, N. (1983). Prakrit versions of a Pan-Indian tale ; the Monkey and the Tailor-bird, and their use in Jaina Books of discipline. OCLC Number: 469255352

• Balbir, N., Oberlies, T., & Leumann, E. (1993). Āvaśyaka-Studien. Alt- und neu-indische Studien, 45, 1-2. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner. ISBN 3515061495 9783515061490 OCLC Number: 30675632

• Renou, L., Balbir, N., & Pinault, G.-J. (1997). [1. Védique et sanskrit - 2. Tradition grammaticale]. Choix d'études indiennes / Louis Renou. Réunis par Nalini Balbir et Georges-Jean Pinault, Tome 1. Paris: École Française d'Extrême-Orient. OCLC Number: 246231389

• British Library (London), & Balbir, N. (2006). Catalogue of the Jain manuscripts of the British Library 1 Vol. 1 Introduction, bibliography, appendices, indexes, plates. ISBN 0712347119 9780712347112 OCLC Number: 263433372

• Caillat, C., & Balbir, N. (2008). Jaina Studies. Papers of the 12th World Sanskrit Conference. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 9788120832473 8120832477 OCLC Number: 470840899

• Balbir, N., & Pinault, G.-J. (2009). Penser, dire et représenter l'animal dans le monde Indien. Paris: Champion. ISBN 9782745319036 2745319035 OCLC Number: 406150083