DESGODINS, Auguste. Manheulles (Meuse) 16.10.1826 — Padang (Pedong) near Darjeeling 14.3.1913. Father. French Missionary and Tibetan Scholar. Son of Charles Michel François Desgodins, an officer, and Marie Joséphine de Roton. Studied theology in the seminaries of Verdun and Saint-Sulpice, ordained priest in 1850. After a few years as priest in…
DENIS, Eugène. Corps-Nuds, Brittany 2.2.1921 — Bangkok 11.12.1986. S.J. Father. French Missionary and Pāli Scholar in Thailand. After seminary in Rennes became Jesuit novice in Laval. In 1948 sent to China, expulsed by communists in 1951. Ordained priest 1952 in Lyon. In 1955 to Thailand, taught at Bangkok University. Ph.D.…
DEMIÉVILLE, Paul Henri. Lausanne 13.9.1894 — Paris 23.3.1979. French (born Swiss) Sinologist and Buddhist scholar. Professor in Paris. Son of Paul D. (1855–1947, Professor of Medicine at Lausanne) and Annette Manuel. After gymnasium in Bern studied history of music and Russian at Munich, London, Edinburgh and Paris, dr. degree in…
DAVID-NÉEL, Alexandra (née Louise Eugènie Alexandrine Marie David). St.Mandé (Seine) 24.10.1868 — Digne (Basses-Alpes) 8.9.1969. French Bauddha and Traveller. The only child of Louis Pierre David, a huguenot freemason and ardent republican, also a journalist and teacher , and Alexandrine Borleman, a Catholic Belgian. From 1873 grew up in Belgium.…
DAUMAL, René. Boulzicourt (Ardennes) 16.3.1908 — Paris 21.5.1944. French Poet interested in India. Son of anticlerical socialist teacher Lon Daumal. Educated at Lycée de Reims and Lycée Henri-IV, studies at Sorbonne. Born in rural milieu he became a socialist and active anticlerical, but at the same time he was also…
DARMESTETER, James. Château-Salins (Meurth, Lorraine) 28.3.1849 — Maisons-Laffitte near Paris 19.10.1894. French Iranian Scholar. Professor in Paris. Son of Calmann Darmesteter, a Jewish bookbinder, and Rosalie Brandeis, younger brother of the philologist Arsène Darmesteter (1846–1888). Educated in Paris, matriculated from Lycée Concordet in 1866. Then studied philology (lic. 1868) and…
DANIÉLOU, Alain (nom-de-plume Shiva Sharan). Neuilly-sur-Seine (Seine) 4.10.1907 — Lonay, Switzerland 27.1.1994. French Musicologist deeply interested in India. Son of Charles Daniélou (1878–1953), an anticlerical Breton journalist and politician, and Madeleine Clamorgan (1880–1956), an ardent catholic, his brother Jean Daniélou (1905–1974) was a jesuit and cardinal. Educated at Institution de…
COURTILLIER, Gaston. Buoy-Luxembourg (Aube) 20.4.1877 — ?.12.1933. French Indologist. From 1897 student of Lévi and Finot at É.P.H.É. In 1912 apparently teacher in Bastia, Corsica. In the early 1920s he was Professor at the lycée of Mulhouse, then at Lycée Fustel de Coulanges in Strasbourg and in 1924-34 also Chargé…
COURT, Claude Auguste. Grasse (or Saint-Cézaire-sur-Siagne, both in Alpes-Maritimes) 24.9.1793 — Paris 21.1.1880. French soldier serving as a General under Rañjit Singh, a lay Archaeologist and Numismatist. Son of an officer, André Ambroise Court and Marguerite Diaque. Educated at Lycée de Casale in Piémont in 1804-10, at École polytéchnique and…
COURBIN, Henri. 1??? — ????. French Teacher interested in Sanskrit. In 1931 teacher in a secondary school (lycée de Lyon) in Paris. Both Edgerton (Language 8, 1932, 304) and Rylands (BSOS 6:4, 1932, 1029) found the grammar rather acceptable as elementary book. Publications: Grammaire élémentaire du sanscrit classique. 1-2. 128+119…