Kuiper was born in The Hague, in the Netherlands, studied Latin, Greek, Sanskrit, and Indo-European linguistics at Leiden University, and in 1934 completed his doctoral thesis on the nasal presents in Sanskrit and other Indo-European languages.
His very innovative work covers virtually all the fields of Indo-Iranian and Indo-Aryan philology, linguistics, mythology and theater, as well as Indo-European, Dravidian, Munda and Pan-Indian linguistics". After 5 years as a high school teacher of Latin and Greek at the lyceum of Batavia (Jakarta), Indonesia, in 1939 he was appointed Professor of Sanskrit at Leiden University. He became a member again in 1948.
He was buried in the Rijnhof cemetery at Leiden.
By Professor Michael Witzel of Harvard University"s Department of Sanskrit Studies in the Indo-Iranian Journal reprinted in the Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies (EJVS 11-1 2004).
