LESNÝ, Vincenc. Komárovice, Moravia 3.4.1882 — Prague 9.4.1953. Czech Indologist. Professor in Prague. Born in a poor family, son of Baltazar Lesný and Victorie Šuckerlová. After school first in a naval academy at Pula, from 1903 studies at Prague, of classical philology, IE and Indology (Zubatý and Winternitz). Ph.D. 1907/08…
LENZ, Robert (Robert Hristianovič Lenc). Dorpat (Tartu) 23.1./4.2.1808 — St. Petersburg 30.7./11.8.1836. Russian (German from Estonia) Indologist. Son of Christian Lenz (1770–1817), the secretary of municipal council of Dorpat, and Luise Elisabeth Wolff (1781?–1830), brother of the physicist Academician Heinrich Emil Lenz (1804–1865). After Gymnasium in Dorpat in 1820-24 he…
LEITNER, Gottlieb Wilhelm. Pest 14(17?).10.1840 — Bonn 22.3.1899. Austro-Hungarian Indologist and Anthropologist in the U.K. and India. Professor in Lahore. Son of Leopold Saphir, a physician, of Austrian Jewish family living in Hungary. Father died early and his mother, Marie Henriette Herzberg, remarried Johann Moritz Leitner (a Protestant Christian convert)…
LEES, William Nassau. Dublin County (Wikipedia) or Kilanny, co. Louth (Grokipedia & D.I.B.) 26.2.1825 — London 9.3.1889. British (Irish) Colonial Officer and Oriental Scholar in India, Specialist of Arabic, Persian and Hindustani. Fourth son of Sir Harcourt Lees, Bart. (1776–1852), a Protestant clergyman from Ireland, and Sophia Lyster, educated at…
LEBEDEV, Gerasim Stepanovič (Herasim Lebedeff). Jaroslavl 1749 (not 1746) — St.Petersburg 15.7.(27.7.)1817. Russian Musician, Traveller and Pioneer of Indology. Son of Stepan Lebedev and his wife Paraskov’a. Father was a poor Orthodox clergyman, who did not allow him to obtain higher education. The family moved to St.Petersburg, where he studied…
LA TERZA (LATERZA), Ermenegildo. Putignano (Bari) 2.3.1866 — Naples 1939. Italian Indologist. Son of land surveyor Giuseppe Laterza and Marianna Francavilla di Castellana. After Liceo classico di Putignano studied at Naples. Graduated at Naples as student of Kerbaker. In 1895-1911 schoolteacher of classical languages in several places (i. al. in…
LARIN, Boris Aleksandrovič. Poltava 12.1.1893 — Leningrad 26.3.1964. Ukrainian Linguist in Russia, Specialist of Balto-Slavonian also interested in Sanskrit. Professor in Leningrad. Son of a schoolteacher. Educated in 1902-06 at Kamenec-Podol’skoj gimnazii and 1906-10 at Kievskoj Kollegij im. Pavla Galagana. In 1910-14 studies at Kiev University, of Slavonian philology and…
LAMAIRESSE, Pierre Eugène. Châlons-sur-Marne (now Châlons-en-Champagne) 14.7.1817 — Marengo (Hadjout), Algeria 17.4.1898. French Engineer interested in India. The youngest son of Jean-Baptiste-Cyprien Lamairesse, an agriculturalist, studied from 1837 at École polytechnique and became 1845 a hydraulic engineer. Worked in various parts of France. Served as engineer in French India in…
LAIDLAY, John Watson. Glasgow 27.3.1808 — 8.3.1885. British (Scottish) Archaeologist and Numismatist in India. Son of John Laidlay (1782–1855), a businessman, and Elizabeth Watson, educated in London. Studied chemistry under Faraday, then, for India, Hindustani in London under Gilchrist. At 17 in 1825 went to India, employed in the mercantile…
KUDRJAVCEV, Mihail Konstantinovič. Orenburg 31.12.1910 (11.1.1911) — St.Petersburg (?) 4.3.1992. Russian Ethnographist of South Asia. Son of official. In 1929-32 studied at Leningrad Topographical Technical School and worked then as topographer in Yakutia. Soon became interested in ethnography and graduated 1939 from Leningrad University (Historical Faculty). Participated in the WW…