WENDEL, François-Xavier. 1732? — Lakhnau 20.3.1803. Father. German Jesuit Missionary in India. Very little is known of his life. He arrived in India in 1751. First in Goa and Diu, from 1763 in Lakhnau, later also in Agra, but often ill. For a while he served the Rāja of Bhāratpur.…
WEINFURTER, Karel. Jičin, region Hradec Králové, Bohemia 27.5.1867 — Prague 14.3.1942. Czech Author and Translator. Son of Karel Weinfurter, an official and former soldier, and his wife Antonia Jiránková, the family moved to Prague in 1880. Worked in art business, 1908-11 in university administration, then free author. Died after violent…
WASSON, Robert Gordon. Great Falls, Montana 22.9.1898 — Danbury, CT (or Binghampton, NY) 26.12.1986. U.S. “Ethnomycologist”. Son of an Episcopal clergyman, grew up in Newark, NJ. Studied at Columbia University (graduated 1920) and 1920-21 at London School of Economics and Political Science. Then worked as journalist and from 1928 on…
WARREN, Herbert. 1866 — 1954. British Promoter of Jainism. Studied under Virchand Gandhi (1864–1901) and adopted Jainism, his books are based on Gandhi’s teaching. Publications: Jainism in Western Garb as a Solution to Life’s Great Problems. Arrah 1912, 2nd ed. 148 p. Arrah 1916. – Jainism Not Atheism and the six…
WAIT, William Henry. McConnell, Illinois 1854? — Ann Arbor 28.2.1939. U.S. Linguist and Germanist. Son of Nelson Wait (1811–1868) and Mary Catherine Root. Graduated B.A. 1879 from Northwestern University, A.M. there 1882. Ph.D. 1888 Allegheny. From 1883 taught at Illinois Wesleyan University. Further studies at Berlin and Bonn 1894-95. In…
VYHNIS, Čeněk (Vincenz). Kostelec nad Labem, Central Bohemia 8.10.1842 — Prague 23.3.1897. Czech Schoolteacher interested in Indology. Gymnasium and in 1864-67 studies at Prague, mainly of classics and philosophy, also Sanskrit under Ludwig. Worked as gymnasium professor of classics in Hradec Králové and Přibram, finally from 1891 in Prague. Died…
VOLCK, Johann Christoph Wilhelm. Nürnberg 18.11.1835 — Rostock 29.5.1904. German Oriental Scholar and Theologian in Estonia. Professor at Dorpat (Tartu) and Rostock. Son of a factory owner, Andreas Volck (1800–1888), and Karoline Pauline Amalie Schürer. Gymnasium in Nürnberg. In 1853-57 studied philology and theology at Erlangen (i.al. under Spiegel), for…
VIZEL’, Oskar Èmil’evič. St.Petersburg 1895 — Solikamsk, obl. Perm 6.3.1939. Russian Indologist, Tibetologist, Japanologist and Archaeologist. Born in an noble family of Austrian origin, son of Emil Anton Joseph Wiesel and Alexandra Hermina Strauss. From 1915 studies at St.Petersburg Oriental Faculty. In the 1920s worked in Ethnographic Kabinet in Petrograd,…
VAUX, William Sandys Wright. Oxford 28.2.1818 — Chelsea, London 21.6.1885. British Numismatist and Antiquarian. Son of Rev. William Vaux (d. 1844) and Mary Hawkins, educated at Westminster School and graduated B.A. from Balliol College, Oxford, in 1840 (M.A. 1842). From 1841 worked in British Museum, in 1861–70 as Keeper of…
VASSALINI, Ida. Verona 1.11.1891 — Milano 21.12.1953. Italian Poet and Translator. Daughter of Bartolomeo Vassalini and Itala Abati, grew up in Verona. Became early interested in classical and oriental philology, in philosophy and poetry. Studies at Padua (degree in philology) and Milano (degree in philosophy). Worked as teacher in Milano.…