anskrit. Just
then war was declared between France and England; Chandernagore was
taken, and Anquetil returned to Pondicherry by land. He found one of his
brothers at Pondicherry, and embarked with him for Surat; but, with a
view of exploring the country, he landed at Mahe and proceeded on foot.
At Surat he succeeded, by perseverance and address in his intercourse
with the native priests, in acquiring a sufficient knowledge of the Zend
and Pahlavi languages to translate the liturgy called the _Vendidad
Sade_ and some other works. Thence he proposed going to Benares, to
study the language, antiquities, and sacred laws of the Hindus; but the
capture of Pondicherry obliged him to quit India. Returning to Europe in
an English vessel, he spent some time in London and Oxford, and then set
out for France. He arrived in Paris on the 14th of March 1762 in
possession of one hundred and eighty oriental manuscripts, besides other
curiosities. The Abbe Barthelemy procured for him a pension, with the
appointment of interpreter of oriental languages at the Royal Library.
In 1763 he was elected an associate of the Academy of Inscriptions, and
began to arrange for the publication of the materials he had collected
during his eastern travels. In 1771 he published his _Zend-Avesta_ (3
vols.), containing collections from the sacred writings of the
fire-worshippers, a life of Zoroaster, and fragments of works ascribed
to him. In 1778 he published at Amsterdam his _Legislation orientate_,
in which he endeavoured to prove that the nature of oriental despotism
had been greatly misrepresented. His _Recherches historiques et
geographiques sur l'Inde_ appeared in 1786, and formed part of
Thieffenthaler's _Geography of India_. The Revolution seems to have
greatly affected him. During that period he abandoned society, and lived
in voluntary poverty on a few pence a day. In 1798 he published _L'Inde
en rapport avec l'Europe_ (Hamburg, 2 vols.), which contained much
invective against the English, and numerous misrepresentations. In
1802-1804 he published a Latin translation (2 vols.) from the Persian of
the _Oupnek'hat_ or _Upanishada_. It is a curious mixture of Latin,
Greek, Persian, Arabic, and Sanskrit. He died in Paris on the 17th of
January 1805.

See _Biographie universelle_; Sir William Jones, _Works_ (vol. x.,
1807); and the _Miscellanies_ of the Philobiblon Society (vol. iii.,
1856-1857). For a list of his scattered writings see Querar