heinrich roth (december 18, 1620 in dillingen, germany â june 20, 1668 in agra; also known as henricus rodius or henrique roacf. vogel, heinrich roth, ndb 22, 2005, p. 106.) was a missionary and pioneering sanskrit scholar. == life == having been born in dillingen and raised in augsburg, where his father konrad roth (died 1637) worked as doctor utriusque iuris for the prince-bishopric, from 1635 to 1639 heinrich roth studied rhetoric at the university of dillingen and philosophy at the jesuit college in innsbruck. in 1639, he became a jesuit in landsberg, and from 1641 to 1645 taught at the university of munich, before returning to dillingen to start theological studies, which he completed in ingolstadt in 1649. the same year, he was ordained priest in eichstÃ¤tt. on behalf of francesco piccolomini, in 1649 roth was assigned to the so-called ethiopian mission to india.instructio a.r.p. generalis francisci piccolomini pro p(atre) henrico r(oth) ingolstadio ad missionem aethiopicam profecturo (1639); cf. anton huonder, deutsche jesuitenmissionare des 17. und 18. jahrhunderts, freiburg, 1899, pp. 213 sq. (german) traveling by the land route via smyrna (1650) and isfahan, he arrived in goa by 1652. he worked first on the island of salsette off goa, where from time to time he acted as portuguese interpreter. he was then sent on an embassy by one of the native princes, and via uttarakhand finally reached the mughal empire and its residence in agra in 1654. acting as rector of the jesuit residence in agra since 1659, he was involved in the persecution under shah jahan and aurangzeb. next to learning the persian, kannada and hindustani languages, roth at agra for several years also acquired a profound knowledge of classical sanskrit grammar and literature from local pandits. the french explorer and philosopher francois bernier, who got acquainted with roth in these years, got to appreciate him as one versed in expert knowledge of the culture and philosophy of religions in indiabernier mentions roth several times in his voyage dans les Ãtats du grand mogol, paris, 1671 (cf. the english translation in travels in hindustan, new ed., calcutta, 1904, pp. 109 sqq.) in 1662, joined by fellow jesuit johann grueber, who was on his way back from china, roth revisited europe by the land route via kabul, and arrived in rome in february 1664. athanasius kircher, in his monumental work china illustrata, published their itinerary, rothâs description of the sanskrit alphabet, and some short excerpts of rothâs o
1620_births 1668_deaths Christian_missionaries_in_Tibet German_Jesuits German_Roman_Catholic_missionaries Ludwig_Maximilian_University_of_Munich_faculty People_from_Agra Sanskrit_grammarians