Ludo Rocher (In Memoriam 1926-1916)

Ludo Rocher was the W. Norman Brown Professor Emeritus of South Asia Studies at the
University of Pennsylvania. A specialist in Sanskrit and classical Hindu law, he made
lasting contributions to the study of the Purāṇas, Dharmaśāstra, and the history of
Indology. He taught at Penn from 1966 until his retirement in 2002, serving as chair of
Oriental Studies and South Asia Regional Studies and as director of Penn’s National
Resource Center for South Asia. Rocher was president of the American Oriental Society
and a member of the American Philosophical Society. In 2015, he and his wife, Rosane
Rocher, received the Fondation Colette Caillat prize of the Institut de France for their
joint books and lifelong contributions to Sanskrit studies and the history of Indology. His
books include The Purāṇas, Jīmūtavāhana’s Dāyabhāga, and Studies in Hindu Law and
Dharmaśāstra.