LEUMANN, Ernst. Berg, Canton Thurgau 11.4.1859 — Freiburg i.B. 24.4.1931. Swiss Indologist and Pioneer of Khotan Saka Studies in Germany. German citizen 1884. Professor in Strassburg and Freiburg. Son of Konrad Leumann, a Swiss country priest, and Maria Schelling, brother of —> Julius L. At Frauenfeld Cantonal School in 1877-78 Fr. Haag instigated him to comparative IE studies. Studies of IE and Sanskrit at Geneva and Zürich, then at Leipzig and from 1880 at Berlin under Weber and J. Schmidt. Ph.D. 1881 Leipzig. In 1882-84 in Oxford assisting Monier Williams in his dictionary work, in 1884 schoolteacher in Frauenfeld, Switzerland. From 1884 ao. and from 1897 ord. Professor at Strassburg, where he remained until the closing of the German University in 1919. Expelled from France he settled down in Freiburg i. Br. and became Honorary Professor at the University until his death. He married in 1887 Gertrud Siegemund (d. 1929, a pianist) and had sons Hari (teacher of mathematics in Kassel) and —> Manu L. and daughter Sita L.
Leumann was Indologist and IE scholar, who had no interest at all in modern India. Under Weber he began the study of Jaina literature, where he did some important pioneer work. He had a good collection of Jaina manuscripts. He never visited India and was sorry for that. In his later years he became interested in Central Asian fragments in Khotanese Saka and, although he erred in considering it as representative of an independent “North Aryan” language group, did important pioneer work here, too. Erroneous was his attempt to reconstruct IE metrics on the basis of Saka. A further interest was Tocharian. Among his students were Hüttemann, Kressler, Mironov, Schayer, F. O. Schrader, Schubring,O. Walter, Watanabe and Wogihara.
Publications: Diss. Das Aupapātika Sūtra. 1. Upāṅga der Jaina. Einleitung mit Inhaltsangabe, Text, Anm. und Glossar. Lp. 1882 = A.K.M. 8:2. 165 p. Lp. 1883.
– “Die alten Berichte von den Schismen der Jaina”, Ind. St. 17, 1885, 91-135; “Die Legende von Citta und Sambhūta”, WZKM 5, 1891, 111-146 & 6, 1892, 1-46; “Jitakalpa des Jinabhadra, hrsg. mit Ausz. aus Cūrṇi”, SBeAW 1892:2, 1195–1210; “Daśavaikālika-sūtra und -niryukti”, ZDMG 1892, 581-663 (ed. & tr.).
– “Die accentuation des Çatapatha-Brāhmaṇa”, KZ 31, 1892, 22-51.
– Edited: Āvaśyaka-Erzählungen. 1. 48 p. A.K.M. 10:2l. Nendeln 1897.
– With J. Leumann: Etymologisches Wörterbuch der Sanskrit-Sprache. 1. Einleitung und a–jū. 112 p. Indica 1. 1907.
– “Über die einheimischen Sprachen von Ostturkestan im frühen Mittelalter”, ZDMG 61, 1907, 648-658 & 62, 1908, 83-110; Zur nordarischen Sprache und Literatur. 8+147 p. Schriften der wiss. Ges. in Strassburg 10. Strassburg 1912.
– Maitreya-samiti. Das Zukunftsideal der Buddhisten. Die nordarische Schilderung im Text und Übersetzung. 286 p. Strassburg 1919; Buddhistische Literatur. Nordarisch und deutsch. 1. Nebenstücke. 10+179 p. A.K.M. 15:2. Lp. 1920.
– Neue Metrik. 1. 7+67 p. B. & Lp. 1920.
– “Die nordarischen Abschnitte der Ardhyardhaśatikā Prajñāpāramitā”, Fs. U. Wogihara (Journal of the Taishô University). Sugamo-Tokyo 1930, European Section, 47-87.
– Das nordarische (sakische) Lehrgedicht des Buddhismus. Text und Übers. Edited by M. Leumann. 1–3. 39+530 p. A.K.M. 20:1-3. Lp. 1934-36 (“Manuscript E”, later known as The Book of Zambasta).
– Übersicht über die Āvaśyaka-Literatur. Ed. by W. Schubring. 4+56 p. ANISt 4. Hamburg 1934, English by G. Baumann, An Outline of Āvaśyaka literature. Ahmedabad 1934, new ed. with long introduction of 74 p. by N. Balbir).
– Unfinished translation of the Mahāvastu (Senart 1, 1-193) edited by Sh. Shiratori in Proc. of the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Education, Yamanashi University 1952, 1957, 1962, and by Sh. Watanabe in Acta Indologica 1, 1970, 83-121.
– Ed. by W. Bollée: “Das Aupapātika Sūtra, erstes Upānga der Jaina II. Theil. Anmerkungen”, BÉI 15, 1997, 311-363.
– Memories, genealogical works, etc.
– Kleine Schriften. Hrsg. von N. Balbir. 50+726 p. Glasenapp-Stiftung 37. St. 1998.
Sources: N. Balbir, introduction to Kl. Schr. 1998 with bibliography; A. Bigger in WebHistLexSchweiz; Buckland, Dictionary; Manu & Hari Leumann, E.L. 1859–1931. Zürich n.d. (c. 1931, with photo); Th. Oberlies, Encyclop. Iranica (online) with photo; *B. Plutat, Catalogue of the Papers of E.L. in the Institute for the Culture and History of India and Tibet, University of Hamburg. 136 p. A.N.I.St. 49. St. 1998; *L. Rocher, “E.L. Revisited”, JAOS 120, 2000, 206-217; W. Schubring, ZDMG 87, 1934, 69-75; Stache-Rosen 1990, 138; Stache-Weiske 2017, 540; *F. Wilhelm, N.D.B. 14; briefly D.B.E. 6, 1997, 353; Wikipedia briefly; photo in Rau 73, another in Sardesai.
Last Updated on 3 months by Admin
