Eugene Burnouf (1801 52), an eminent French orientalist and scholar of Sanskrit, made groundbreaking contributions to the knowledge of Zoroastrianism and to the deciphering of the Zend and P li languages. He was a member of the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, and of numerous Asiatic societies throughout Europe. When he first published this monumental work of scholarship in 1844, Burnouf established European Buddhist studies on solid foundations. In it, he presents the Indian historical context in which Buddhism developed, as well as its connections and debates with Brahmanism. He...