PERUSCHI, Giovanni Battista. 1525 — 1598. S.J. Italian Jesuit Scholar, apparently never visited Asia himself. Rector of Collegio di Como, from 1573 in Rome. Derived much from Monserrate and Jesuit letters to his account of Mughal India. Publications: Informatione del regno, e stato del gran rè di Mogor, della sua persona, qualita,…
PERREAUX, Paul-Florentin-Marie. Paris 15.1.1807 — 1???. French Teacher in India. Son of Jean François Perreaux and Marie Jeanne Pouillard. Professot of mathematics at Collège royal de Pondichéry (from before 1838), in 1842 also its director. In 1857/68 mentioned as notary in Pondichéry. Married 1833 Charlotte Mathilde Jame (d. 1853). Publications: Traité…
PÉREZ-REMÓN, Joaquín.1922 — 1985. S.J. Father. Spanish Buddhist Scholar. Jesuit missionary in India. Then taught Oriental philosophy at Universidad Jesuita de Deusto in Bilbao. M.A., Ph.D. In his 1980 book he tried to show anatta being a late concept in the Nikāyas. Publications: Agua bendita del Ganges. El siglo de las misiones.…
PERCIVAL (Perceval), Robert. 1765 — 1826. British Colonial Officer. Joined Irish Infantry in the U.K., as Captain in 1795-97 participated in the conquest of Dutch Capeland. In 1797 to Ceylon, where he remained three years. His both books are said to be full of description of the cruelty and treachery…
PERCIVAL, Peter. Prestwich, Lancashire 24.7.1803 — Yercaud (Eṟkāṭu), Salem dt. 11.7.1882. Rev. British Missionary and Indologist (Tamil Scholar) in Sri Lanka and India. Son of Peter and Jane P. In 1826 Wesleyan Methodist Mission sent him to Jaffna, worked there until 1829 and after a few years in Bengal in…
PENKA, Karl. Müglitz, Moravia (now Mohelnice, Czech) 26.10.1847 — Vienna 10.2.1912. Austrian Anthropologist, Linguist and Aryan Enthusiast. Educated Vienna, studies of anthropology and comparative linguistics. In 1873-1906 schoolteacher (professor) at Maximiliansgymnasium in Vienna. He connected linguistics with ethnology equating language groups with supposed human races. Propagated a theory of Scandinavian…
PELSAERT, Francisco. 1595? — Batavia ?.9.1630. Dutch Factor in India and Indonesia. Born in a wealthy family of Antwerpen, Roman Catholic. In 1618 sailed to the East as Assistant, the lowest grade of the Dutch E.I.C.’s service. In 1620 promoted to junior factor (onderkoopman) and posted to India. Travelled overland…
PEARSON, John. Calcutta 1790 — 1831. British Missionary in India. Worked for London Missionary Society in Bengal Publications: A School Dictionary, English–Bengali. Calcutta 1829. Sources: A. K. Biswas, “Rammohun Roy, his intellectual compatriots and their scientific contributions”, Indian Journal of History of Science 46.3, 2011, 427-481 (briefly on p. 450).
PEARSE, Thomas Deane. 1738 (1741/42?) — on the Ganges 15.6.1789. British Colonial Officer in India. Son of Royal Navy Captain Thomas Pearse and Martha Purvis (1713–1762), of Reading. After Military Academy in Woolwich joined Royal Artillery 1761. In 1768 transferred to E.I.C.’s service and became Major in Bengal army. Colonel…
PEARSE, George Godfrey. Berhampore, dt. Murshidabad (or Madras?) 4.1.1827 — Shanklin, Isle of Wight (or London?) 5.12.1905. British (Scottish) Colonial Officer in India, noted as a Numismatist. Son of Dr. George Pearse, a physician from Edinburgh, and Anne Sarah McCulloch. Served in South India from 1844, in 1848-55 in the…