PARKER, Henry John. 1849 — 19??. British Engineer and Civil Servant in Sri Lanka. Arrived in 1873 and in 1873-1904 worked as Irrigation Officer at Public Works Department, serving in different parts of the island. Interest in ancient reservoirs led him to archaeology. At the same time he achieved an…
VOROB’EV-DESJATOVSKIJ, Vladimir Svjatoslavovič. Tver 3.10.1927 — Leningrad 2.7.1956. Russian Indologist. Son of an official. After the 9th school class joined the army and served in 1944-45 in Romania, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Disbanded in 1945 he concluded his school education and studied at the Oriental Faculty of Leningrad University Indology (specially…
VINSON, Elie Honoré Julien. Paris? (thus French Wikipédia, English Wikip. claims Pondichéry and data.bnf.fr Bagnères-de-Luchon, Haute-Garonne) 21.1.1843 — Libourne (Gironde) 21.11.1926. French Indologist and Scholar of Religion. Professor in Paris. Probably born in France, but grew up in Karikal and Pondichéry, where his father was a civil servant, and thus…
ZIEGENBALG, Bartholomäus. Pulsnitz, Saxony 14.6.1683 (or 10.6.1682?) — Tranquebar, India 23.2.1719. German Missionary and Precursor of Indology (Tamil Scholar). In South India 1706-19. Son of the elder B.Z. (1640–1694), a modest grain merchant, and Maria Brückner (1646–1692). After gymnasium in Görlitz and Berlin, studied one year under A. H. Francke…
NEVILL, Hugh. Tottenham, Middlesex 19.6.1847 — Hyères, France 10.4.1897. British Civil Servant in Sri Lanka. Son of William Nevill and Mary Oridge (d. 1857). Came to Ceylon when 17 as private secretary to Chief Justice and served 27 years there, finally (1895-97) District Judge in Batticaloa. He left Ceylon because…
NAU, Heinrich (Henry). Beltershausen, Marburg 21.9.1881 — Greensboro, NC 17.5.1956. German Lutheran Missionary and Student of Indology (Tamil). Son of a farmer, studied at Marburg. Emigrated to the U.S.A. in 1902. Now turned to religion and studied at Concordia Seminary in St.Louis. Missionary in South India 1905-14. Learned Tamil and Sanskrit.…
MOUSSET, Louis-Marie. Sanzay (Deux-Sèvres) 7.2.1808 — Pondichéry 8.2.1888. Father. French Tamil Scholar, Missionary in South India. Ordained 1834 and left to India 1835. Worked in Madurai and from 1844 Pondichéry, teaching 40 years at a seminary. Collaborated in Tamil lexicographical work with Dupuis from the beginning and then revised their…
MERVART, Aleksandr Mihailovič (Gustav-German Hristianovič M., born Gustav Hermann Christian Meerwarth). Mannheim (or Bruchsal) 1884 — Uhtpečlag 23.5.1932. Russian (German-born) Indologist (Tamil Scholar) and Ethnograph. Born in a Jewish family in Germany, in Bruchsal (English Wikipedia) or rather Mannheim (all other sources). Studied at Heidelberg, Ph.D. 1907 (diss. on German history).From…
MAHON, George William. Madras 1808 — Aspley Guise, Woburn, Bedfordshire 1866. Rev. British Clergyman in India. Son of William Mahon, of Swansea. Matriculated 1824 Pembroke College, Oxford, B.A. 1828 and Fellow 1828-37. M.A. 1831, Chaplain 1834. After brief service in Bangalore, Chaplain of Fort St. George in Madras 1839-49, removed…
LUDWIG, Alfred. Vienna 9.10.1832 — Prague 12.6.1912. Austrian Indologist. Professor in Prague. Son of Johannes Ludwig, a teacher of French, and Ludowika Köckh, grew up in Vienna, matriculated from Akademisches Gymnasium. From 1852 studies of classical philology, IE linguistics and Sanskrit at Vienna (under Boller) and in 1855-57 at Berlin…