Created by Ramesheditor
Last edited January 1, 2026


Ervin Baktay
File:Baktay Ervin, Búvár, 1935.jpg
BornErvin Gottesmann
1890
Died1963
OccupationWriter, painter
SubjectIndology
Relatives

Ervin Baktay (1890–1963; born Ervin Gottesmann[1]) was an author noted for popularizing Indian culture in Hungary.[2][3]

Baktay had started his career as a painter[4] and he encouraged his niece Amrita Sher-Gil to pursue art.[5] He gave up painting to study eastern religions and art, and became a renowned Indologist.[4]

Early life[edit | edit source]

Ervin Baktay was born on 24 June 1890 in Dunaharaszti, on the Pest side of Budapest.[5] He was the youngest of five children of Raoul Gottesmann and his wife Antononia Levys-Martonfalvy.[6] Following the death of his father in 1905, Baktay's mother decided to move to Austria and then to Zebegény, Hungary, at the onset of the First World War.[7] He studied painting with Simon Hollósy in Munich.[8] Later, in 1927, he made his first journey to India.[9]

He was uncle to artist Amrita Sher-Gil and nephew to Nagybánya artist Alfréd Gottesmann (1872–1965).[citation needed]

Works[edit | edit source]

Baktay translated the Kama Sutra in 1920 and then published a version of the Mahābhārata in 1923.[10] In 1960, he produced a version of the Ramayana.[10] His major work, History of Indian Art, was published in 1963.[8]

Death[edit | edit source]

File:Baktay Ervin.jpg
Dr. Ervin Baktay's tomb at Farkasréti Cemetery

Baktay died in 1963.[8]

Selected publications[edit | edit source]

  • Baktay Ervin: Die Kunst Indiens; Übers. Edith Róth; Bearb. Heinz Kucharski; Berlin - Budapest, Terra - Akad. Verlag, 1963.

References[edit | edit source]

  1. Baktay Ervin (1890-1963) megjelent könyvei (Terebess Ázsia E-Tár)
  2. Indo-Hungarian Cultural & Educational Relations, Historical Perspective Archived 2008-10-09 at the Wayback Machine, Indian Embassy in Hungary
  3. Claudine Bautze-Picron. Ervin Baktay, the art historian. BÉLA KELÉNYI, Az indológus indián. Baktay Ervin emlékezete (The Indologist Indian: Memory of Ervin Baktay), Budapest: Museum of Fine Arts – Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts, 2014 (pp. 364-9)., 2014. halshs-01079408
  4. 4.0 4.1 Amrita Shergil, sikh-heritage.co.uk
  5. 5.0 5.1 Dalmia, pp. 12-13
  6. Sundaram, p. xvi
  7. Sundaram, p. 60
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 Sundaram, p. 56
  9. Keserü, Katalin (2014). "8. Amrita Sher-Gil: the Indian painter and her French and Hungarian connections". In Dalmia, Yashodhara (ed.). Amrita Sher-Gil: Art & Life : a reader. Oxford University Press. pp. 67–68. ISBN 978-0-19-809886-7.
  10. 10.0 10.1 Pollet, Ag (1995). "II. International impact of Ramayana". Indian Epic Values: Rāmāyaṇa and Its Impact : Proceedings of the 8th International Rāmāyaṇa Conference, Leuven, 6-8 July 1991. Leuven: Peeters Publishers. p. 149. ISBN 90-6831-701-6.

Bibliography[edit | edit source]

Template:Hungary-academic-bio-stub