Antoine Leonard de Ch�zy

His father, Antoine de Ch�zy (1718-1798), was an engineer who finally became director of the �cole des Ponts et Chauss�es. The son was intended for his father�s profession; but in 1709 he obtained a post in the oriental department of the national library. About 1803 he began the study of Sanskrit, though he possessed neither grammar nor dictionary, and by great labour he obtained sufficient knowledge of the language to be able to compose in it verses said to possess great elegance. He was the first professor of Sanskrit appointed in the College de France (1815), a chevalier of the Legion of Honour, and a member of the Acad�mie des Inscriptions. Among his works were:

• Medjouin et Leila (1807), from the Persian
• Yadjanadatta Badha (1814)
• La Reconnaissance de Sacountala (1830), from the Sanskrit
• L'Anthologie �rotique d'Amrou (1831), published under the pseudonym d'Apudy.

See the M�moires of the Acad�mie des Inscriptions (new series, vol. xii.), where there is a notice of Ch�zy by Silvestre de Sacy.

This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.