Willem Caland was born on August 27, 1859 to
Pieter Caland, a hydraulic engineer who became well known for working on the
Nieuwe Waterweg, His heart condition was severe enough that it kept him from traveling to
India for his studies. With the support of Kern, he initially focused on ancient Indian
ancestor worship and related topics. His understanding of the
historical Vedic religion earned him significant prominence, particularly his studies of the
brahmanas and translations and commentaries on the
sutras. He began teaching Sanskrit at the
University of Utrecht in 1902. In February 1903, he was appointed as a lecturer of Indology, which he converted into a
comparative linguistics professorship for comparisons between
Indo-Aryan and
Germanic languages in June 1906. He turned down an appointment to the
University of Leiden in 1913. In May 1917, his position was converted to an ordinariate, which added
Old Persian and
Avestan to his professorship. He also served as a part of the management for the . On March 23, 1932, Caland died in
Utrecht as a result of his heart condition. ==Selected works==