Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Heinrich Roth

Missionary in India and Sanskrit scholar, b. of illustrious parentage at Augsburg, 18 December, 1620; d. at Agra, 20 June, 1668. He became a Jesuit in 1639; was assigned to the Ethiopian mission (Piccolomini, "Instruction pro P. Hen. Roth, Ingolstadio, ad missionem Aethiopicam profecturo", in Huonder, "Deutsche jesuitenmissionare im 17. und 18. Jahr.", Freiburg, 1899, 213), and arrived at Goa by the land route, via Ispahan. He laboured first on the Island of Salsette off Goa, where from time to time he acted as Portuguese interpreter. He was sent on an embassy to one of the native princes, and finally reached the empire of the Great Mogul, where, as rector of the residence at Agra, he was involved in the persecution under Shah Jahán. Here the French explorer, Francis Bernier, learned to know and appreciate him as one eminently versed in expert knowledge of the philosophy of religions in India ("Travels in Hindustan", new ed., Calcutta, 1904, p. 109 sqq.). In 1662 Roth revisited Europe by the land route via Kabul to obtain new recruits for the mission, and returned to Agra in 1664. Roth shares with the Jesuit, Hanxleden, the fame of being among Europeans the pioneer Sanskrit scholar, and of having compiled the first Sanskrit grammar (Wiener, Zeitschr. für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, XV, 1901, pp. 303-320). "During his stay in Agra, he succeeded in persuading some Brahmins to teach him Sanskrit and, after six years of diligent study, he obtained complete mastery of this difficult tongue. He was the author of the interesting description of the Sanskrit alphabet, published by Athanasius Kircher in his "China illustrata" (Max Müller, "Lectures on the Science of Language", London, 1866, p. 277. Roth's works, most of which were published by his learned friend, Athanasius Kircher, S.J., are: "Relatio rerum notabilium Regni Mogor in Asia", which contains the first information concerning Kabul which had reached Europe (Straubing, 1665, Aschaffenburg, 1668); "Iter ex Agra Mogorum in Europam ex relatione PP. Joh. Gruberi et H. Roth" in Kircher, "China illustrata" (Amsterdam, 1667), pp. 91 sqq.; "Itinerarium St. Thomae Apost. ex Judaea in Indiam", and "Dogmata varia fabulossissima Brachmanorum", ib., 156-162; "Exactissimum opus totius grammaticae Brachmanicae cujus et rudimenta is [Roth] primus Europae communicavit" in "Romani Collegii S.J. musaeum" (Amsterdam, 1678), p. 65; a letter (Rome, 1664) in "Welt-Bott", I (Augsburg, 1726), 35 manuscript-letters and relations in Royal Library, Brussels, Nos. 6828-29, fol. 415.

HOSTEN, Jesuit Missionaries in Northern India, 1580-1803 (Calcutta, 1906), 30 sqq.; BALFOUR, Encycl. of India (London, 1885), s. v.; BENFEY, Gesch. der Sprachwissenschaft (Munich, 1869), 335; V. SCHLEGEL, Sprache u. Weisheit der Indier (Heidelberg, 1808), p. xi.

ANTHONY HUONDER