FERGUSON, Donald William. Colombo 8.10.1853 — Croydon near London 29.6.1910. British (Scottish) Journalist and Scholar of Sri Lankan History (especially of Colonial Period). Son of —> Alastair M. F. (d. 1892) and Anne Mackerras. The father came to Ceylon in 1837, was a long time the chief proprietor and editor…
FARIA, João de. 1539 — 1581. S.J. Father. Portuguese Missionary in India. Joined the S.J. in 1563, left for Goa in 1572, came to Madurai in 1578. In India he also worked as an architect, and created the first movable Tamil types at Punicael (Punnaikayal) in 1578 or 1580. Publications:…
FABRICIUS, Johann Philipp. Kleeberg, Hessen 22.1.1711 — Madras 23.1.1791. German Missionary and Tamil Scholar. In India from 1740 until his death. Son of Reinhard F., an official of Hessen-Darmstadt, a Pietist family. Studies at Giessen (law) and Halle (now also theology). In 1732-36 worked as tutor in his elder brother’s…
ELLIS, Francis Whyte. 1777? — Ramnad (Ramanathapuram), Tamil Nadu 10.3.1819. British Civil Servant and Pioneer of Indology in India. From 1796 in Madras Civil Service, 1898 Deputy Secretary and 1802 Secretary to the Board of Revenue, 1810 Collector of Madras. Died of cholera (?). He was a pioneer of Dravidian…
ELLIOT, Walter. Edinburgh 16.1.1803 — Wolfelee, Roxburghshire 1.3.1887. Sir. British (Scottish) Civil Servant, Indologist, Epigraphist and Naturalist in India. Son of James E. and Caroline Hunter (d. 1824), educated privately and in Cumberland and Doncaster. Appointed into a writership in E.I.C. he came to Haileybury in 1818 and to India…
DYNOWSKA, Wanda (Umādevī). St.Petersburg 30.6.1888 — Mysore 20.3.1971. Polish Theosophist in India. Born in Russia in a family of Polish nobility, daughter of Eustachy Dynowski and Helena Sokołowska. Educated at home. Studied in Cracow and Lausanne. In 1919 adopted theosophy and became in 1921 the general secretary of Polish Theosophical…
DUPUIS, Louis Savinien. Sens, Yonne (Bourgogne) 18.8.1806 — Pondichéry 4.6.1874. French Missionary and Tamil Scholar in India. Son of Edme Louis Dupuis und Victoire Remy. The home was very religious and he was put in local Jesuit school. Also seminary in Sens, ordained priest 1829. In 1831 sent to Pondichéry…
DUMONT, Louis Charles Jean. Thessaloniki (Osman Empire) 11.8.1911 — Paris 19.11.1998. French Sociologist and Indologist. Son of a railway engineer, lost early his father. After restless youth (he left school when 18 and tried various odd jobs) he studied ethnology under Mauss. The plans of a doctorate about Celtic survivals…
DUBOIS, Jean-Antoine. Saint-Remèze (Ardèche) bapt. 10.1.1766 — Paris 17.2.1848. Abbé. French Missionary and Pioneer of Indology in South India. Educated at College de Bourg-Saint-Andéol and the seminary of Missions etrangères in Paris. Ordained priest in 1791, in January 1792 left for India. Worked in Pondichéry and Tranquebar, from 1799 in…
DREW, William Hoyles. Plymouth 21.12.1805 — Plicate (Pazhaverkadu) May 1856. Rev. British Missionary in South India. Son of William Dr., a merchant, who died when he was three. Grew up in Dartmouth and early entered the service of a local trading company, which involved two or three trips to Newfoundland.…