The Divinity School regrets to announce that our distinguished alumnus Alfred (Alf) John Hiltebeitel has died. “Alf,” a specialist in ancient Sanskrit epics and Indian religious tradition and folklore, received his MA (1966) and PhD (History of Religions, 1973) from The Divinity School.

An advisee of Mircea Eliade, his distinguished career included authoring several seminal works of scholarship and editing and translating several other works. Among his many honors were a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship. He was the Columbian Professor Emeritus of Religion, History, and Human Sciences at George Washington University in Washington, DC. The foci of his research were the great epics of India (specifically the Sanskrit epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana), regional folk epics, and the cult of the goddess Draupadi. He has authored, edited, and translated many books and dozens of articles.

Prof. Hiltebeitel died on March 12, 2023, in Cali, Colombia, where he lived with his wife.