Sylvain Lévi

Sylvain Lévi
Born(1863-03-28)March 28, 1863
Paris, France
DiedOctober 30, 1935(1935-10-30) (aged 72)
Paris, France
Scientific career
FieldsSanskrit language, literature, Buddhism
InstitutionsCollège de France
Notable studentsPaul Demiéville, Paul Pelliot. Marcel Mauss

Sylvain Lévi (French pronunciation: [silvɛ̃ levi]; March 28, 1863 – October 30, 1935) was an influential French intellectual and author whose specialities were oriental studies and India. He taught Sanskrit and Indian religions at the École pratique des hautes études in Paris, France. One of his notable students was Paul Pelliot.

Lévi's book Théâtre Indien is an important work on the subject of Indian performance art, and Lévi also conducted some of the earliest analysis of Tokharian fragments discovered in Western China. Lévi exerted a significant influence on the life and thought of Marcel Mauss, the nephew of Émile Durkheim.

Sylvain Lévi was a co-founder of the École française d'Extrême-Orient in Hanoi.

According to the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Lévi was (one of the) founder(s) of the École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO) (French School of the Far East) in Hanoi. The École française d'Extrême-Orient's website notes that the school was founded in Hanoi in 1902. One of his students, Suzanne Karpelès, the first female member of EFEO, joined him there in 1922 and remained in French Indochina until 1941.