Dušan Zbavitel

Zbavitel received many awards at home and in India for his research and translations. He received the Tagore Memorial Award from the Government of West Bengal for his History of Bengali Literature in 1977, the title Lokaratna for his contribution to folklore research (1981) and the Rabindratattvacharya award for his studies on Rabindranath Tagore (1987). In 2006, he received India's third highest civilian award, the Padma Bhushan, for his lifetime achievements. His Czech and Czechoslovak awards included the State Award for Translated Work in 2004.

Zbavitel specialized in Bengali literature, winning international acclaim in this field. His most quoted literary works include a study of East Bengal folk ballads (Bengali Folk Ballads from Mymensingh and the Question of their Authenticity) and a comprehensive history of Bengali literature ("Bengali Literature") published in 1976 in the prestigious publication History of Indian Literature edited by Jan Gonda. In addition to these monographs, the international research community has praised Zbavitel's numerous magazine articles (of which he wrote more than 100) such as a series of papers on Rabindranath Tagore, the beginnings of modern Bengali drama and studies of baromasi, a specific genre of medieval and folk Bengali literature. Zbavitel's prominence in this field is highlighted by his appointment first as a team member for the project The Dictionary of Oriental Literature and then as editor-in-chief of its second volume devoted to south Asian literature, which was published in London in 1974.

International and Czech Bengalists together published a special edition of the journal Archiv Orientální on the occasion of Zbavitel's 75th birthday.

Zbavitel educated several generations of Czech Indologists. While still just a researcher at the Oriental Institute of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, he taught Bengali at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University (1950–1968). He was not permitted to continue for political reasons after 1968, and was only able to return after the fall of the Communist regime (1989). In 1990, he rejoined the faculty, teaching the history of Sanskrit and Bengali literature, ancient Indian poetry and Hinduism and leading courses in the advanced reading of Sanskrit and Bengali texts. He also authored language textbooks and other pedagogical texts.

Dušan Zbavitel studied Indology with Professor Vincenc Lesný at Charles University in Prague in 1945–1948. After defending his CSc (Candidate of Sciences) dissertation in Bengali literature (1954), he started as a researcher at the Oriental Institute of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. He remained there until being forced out for political reasons in 1971 during the period of Communist "normalization" that followed the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. After 1971, he worked as a freelance translator, and in 1978 he started as a teacher of Sanskrit and Bengali at the School of Languages in Prague. He was active as an author and translator until the last days of his life. He translated from Sanskrit, Pali, Bengali, English and German.

Dušan Zbavitel (7 May 1925 – 7 August 2012) was a Czech indologist.