Caland was born on August 27, 1859 to Pieter, a hydraulic engineer who became well-known for working on the Nieuwe Waterweg,[1][2] and Helena Carolina (née de Jong).

From a young age, he struggled with a heart condition after an attack of "synovial rheumatism"[2] that kept him from any strenuous exertion.

[1] He obtained his doctorate from the University of Leiden within a year with his thesis focusing on Roman numismatics,[2] nominally under the advisor Carel Gabriel Cobet, but he primarily sought help from Jan Jacob Cornelissen.

[1] His understanding of the historical Vedic religion earned him significant prominence, particularly his studies of the brahmanas and translations and commentaries on the sutras.

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.