FRAUWALLNER, Erich. Wien-Währing 28.12.1898 — Vienna 5.7.1974. Austrian Indologist and Tibetan Scholar. Professor in Vienna. Son of the financial secretary (later wirkl. Hofrath) Friedrich Fr. and Maria Barbara Riedler. School in Vienna. In 1915 started learning Sanskrit still as a schoolboy. In 1916 to army, served two and a half years in Romania and at Isonzo front. After the war immediately started studies of classics at Vienna, also studied Indology under B. Geiger. Ph.D. in July 1921 in classics, teacher’s examination in classical languages in 1922. Taught Greek and Latin at a gymnasium preparing his habilitation. From 1928 PD in Indology at Vienna (also continued as a schoolteacher). In 1939 succeeded B. Geiger (who lost his position as a Jew) as ao. Professor of Indology and Iranian studies. From 1943 in army. In 1935 married a 12 years younger student of Latin.

Frauwallner had obtained his nomination from the Nazis and himself sympathized them, from 1932 – long before Anschluss – member of NSDAP and actively worked for it also after ot was outlawed in Austria in 1933. Accordingly, he was deprived his chair in 1945 and sent to early retirement. The teaching of Indology was thus discontinued at Vienna, but Frauwallner continued his scholarly work with success, in 1952 he was again allowed to teach and in 1955 was nominated to the reestablished chair (as ao., ord. 1960) and became head of the new Indological Institut. Retired in the beginning of 1964, was often ill, but continued his work until end.

Frauwallner was a self-taught Indologist (he often criticized severely L. von Schroeder’s teaching), who succesfully adapted methods of classical philology, and founded a strong school. His early model was K. Reinhardt with his Posidonius studies. He detested translation and could himself read e.g. Italian, Chinese and Japanese in original language. Before him Indian philosophy was known on the basis of a few texts only, but Frauwallner tried to become acquainted with the whole field. In his early work he dealt with the Mokṣadharma and early Upaniṣads. Soon he became interested in Buddhist logic as preserved in Tibetan sources. The difficulties after the war forced him to abandon the plan of a scholarly history of Indian philosophy. Instead, he wrote a more succinct introduction, which, although unfinished, was the first critical survey of the field. Another important work was his monograph on Vasubandhu. Without leaving Buddhist studies he started now the reconstruction of Vaiśeṣika and planned a large anthology of philosophical translations. In his last years he prepared the third volume of his manual and published several related studies on Buddhist philosophy, but also on Mīmāṁsa and Navanyāya. A later interest was also the history of Hīnayānic thought and its sources in Tibetan and Chinese. A problem in his work is the early formated (publ. 1938) racial theory of periodization of the history as Aryan and non-Aryan philosophy, which he never clearly abandoned.

As Professor he also taught Old Iranian. Among his students in the first period were Ammer, Ag. Bharati, Günther (with whom he later quarreled) and Nowotny, in the second G. M. Bhattacharya, G. Chemparathy, Oberhammer, Schmithausen, Steinkellner and Vetter.

Publications: Diss. De synonymorum, quibus animi motus significatur, usu tragico. Manuscript, Vienna 1921.

– “Untersuchungen zum Mokṣadharma”, JAOS 45, 1925, 51-67; WZKM 32, 1925, 179-206 & 33, 1926, 51-67.

– “Untersuchungen zu den ältesten Upaniṣaden”, ZII 4, 1926, 1-45.

– Edited & transl. with notes: “Dignāgas Ālambanaparīkṣā”, WZKM 37, 1930, 174-194; “Dharmakīrtis Sambandhaparīkṣā”, WZKM 41, 1934, 261-300; “Dharmottaras Kṣaṇa­bhaṅgasiddhiḥ”, WZKM 42, 1935, 217-258.

– “Beiträge zur Apohalehre”, WZKM 37, 1930, 259-283; 39, 1932, 259-285; 40, 1933, 51-94; 42, 1935, 93-102; 44, 1937, 233-287; “Zu den Fragmenten buddhistischer Logiker im Nyāyavārttikam”, WZKM 40, 1933, 281-304; “Beiträge zur Geschichte des Nyāya”, WZKM 43, 1936, 263-278; “Bhāvanā und vidhiḥ bei Maṇḍanamiśra”, WZKM 45, 1938, 212-252.

– “Der arische Anteil an der indischen Philosophie”, WZKM 46, 1939, 212-252.

– On the Date of the Buddhist Master of the Law Vasubandhu. 69 p. S.O.R. 3. Rome 1951; The Earliest Vinaya and the Beginnings of Buddhist Literature. 218 p. S.O.R. 8. Rome 1956.

– Geschichte der indischen Philosophie. 1-2. 49+495+348 p. Salzburg 1953-56; English transl. by V. M. Bedekar: History of Indian Philosophy. 1-2. Delhi 1973.

– Die Philosophie des Buddhismus. 423 p. Philos. Studientexte. Texte des indischen Philol. 2. B. 1956 (translations), 4th ed. B. 1994, new ed. by K- Preisendanz & E. Franco. B. 2010.

– Founded (in 1957) and edited the WZKS(OA).

– “Vasubandhu’s Vādavidhiḥ”, WZKS 1, 1957, 104-152; “Dignāga, sein Werk und seine Entwicklung”, WZKS 3, 1959, 83-164.

– “Candramati und sein Daśapadārthaśāstram. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Vaiśeṣika”, Fs. Kirfel 1955, 65-85; “Zur Erkenntnislehre des klassischen Sāṁkhyasystems”, WZKS 2, 1958, 84-139; “Sprachtheorie und Philosophie im Mahābhāśyam des Patañjali”, WZKS 4, 1960, 92-118; “Mīmāmsasūtram I, 1, 6-23”, WZKS 5, 1961, 113-124; “Kumārila’s Bṛhaṭṭīkā”, WZKS 6, 1962, 78-90.

– Aus der Philosophie der śivaitischen System. 44 p. D.A.W. Vorträge 78. 1962.

– “Abhidharma-Studien”, WZKS 7, 1963, 20-36; 8, 1964, 59-99; 15, 1971, 69-102; 16, 1972, 95-152; 17, 1973, 97-121; 15, 1979, 69-102.

– “Prabhākara Upādhyāya”, WZKS 9, 1965, 198-226; “Raghunātha Śiromaṇi”, WZKS 10, 1966, 86-207, 11, 1967, 140-208 & 14, 1970, 161-208.

– Materialien zur ältesten Erkenntnislehre der Karmamīmāṁsa. 114 p. Veröff. der Komm. für Spr. und Kulturen Süd- und Ostasiens 6. SWA 259:2. Vienna 1968.

– Die Lehre von der zusätzlichen Bestimmung (upādhiḥ) in Gaṅgeśa’s Tattva­cintāmaniḥ. 72 p. SWA 266:2, Veröff. d. Komm. f. Spr. u. Kult. Südas. 9. Vienna 1970.

– Many further articles and reviews in WZKM, WZKS, etc.; Kleine Schriften. Hrsg. von G. Oberhammer & E. Steinkellner. 909 p. Glasenapp-St. 22. Wb. 1982.

– Nachgelassene Werke. 1. Aufsätze, Beiträge, Skizzen. Hrsg. von E. Steinkellner. 144 p. SWA 438, Veröff. d. Komm. f. Spr. u. Kult. Südasiens 19. Vienna 1984; 2. Philosophische Texte des Hinduismus. Hrsg. von G. Oberhammer und C. H. Werba. 301 p. Ibid. 26. Vienna 1992.

Sources: Bihl 121-123; *R. Göbl, Almanach Wiener Akad. 124, 1975, 476-481; Oberhammer, WZKS 20, 1976, 5-22 (with photo and bibliography, 19-36), bibliogr. also in WZKS 12-13, 1968-69, 9-12; *K. Preisendanz & E. Franco in the 2010 edition of Philos. des Buddhismus; briefly D.B.E. 3, 1996, 419; Stache-Rosen 1990, 231f.; Wikipedia; photo in Rau 127.

*Jakob Stuchlik: Der arische Ansatz: Erich Frauwallner und der Nationalsozialismus. SWA 797. Vienna 2009, critical review by *W. Slaje, As.St./Ét.as. 64, 20210, 447-463 and *Stuchlik’s rejoinder, As.St./Ét.as. 65, 2011, 287-308; *Eli Franco: “‘There is no reliable evidence to pass moral judgement on Frauwallner.’ Erich Frauwallner, Jakob Stuchlik, Walter Slaje, and the whitewashing of Austrian Indology during the time of National Socialism”, NTM Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Wissenschaften, Technik und Meidizin  31, 2023, 245-274.