Hélène Brunner

Dr. Helene Brunner (née Lachaux), who was one of the founder-editors of the Tāntrikābhidhānakośa, died on Easter day, 27 March 2005. She specialised first in sciences and taught mathematics before learning Sanskrit and becoming one of the foremost experts in the field of the Saiva Agamas. Her most important work was a richly annotated edition and French translation of the Somasambupaddhati, a manual of Saiva ritual of the 11th century: four volumes (Pondicherry, 1963–1998) of more than 2000 pages. This translation remains to this day one of the main sources of information on the subject. She also published an annotated translation of the kriya and carya padas of the Mrgendragama (1985), a detailed study and analysis of the Netratantra (1974), and a number of articles on such subjects as the sadhaka (1975), the angas of Siva (1986), mandala and yantra in the Saiva Agamas (2003), and so forth. The untimely demise of this remarkable scholar is a great loss to our common work.

André Padoux