FENIGER, Siegmund (Nyānaponika Mahāthera). Hanau 29.7.1901 — Forest Hermitage, Kandy 19.10.1994. German Bauddha and Buddhist scholar in Sri Lanka. Born in Hessen in a merchant family and had Jewish education. Lived then in Oberschlesien working in a bookshop. In 1922 the family moved to Berlin, where he became acquainted with…
FARQUHAR, John Nicol. Aberdeen 6.4.1861 — Manchester 17.7.1929. British (Scottish) Missionary in India, a Scholar of Indian Religion. Son of George F., of Aberdeen. Apprenticed as draper, in 1882 entered Aberdeen grammar school, 1883 University of Aberdeen, from 1885 at Christ Church in Oxford (B.A. 1889). Student of Macdonell. M.A.…
FAIRSERVIS, Walter Ashlin, Jr. Brooklyn, N.Y. 17.2.1924 — Sharon, Conn. 12.7.1994. U.S. Archaeologist. Museum Curator and Professor in New York. Son of the elder W.A.F. and Edith Eager. He had an early interest in archaeology. In 1937 he ran from the school, got a job on a freighter heading east,…
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…
EWALD, Georg Heinrich August (von). Göttingen 16.11.1803 — Göttingen 4.5.1875. German Oriental, especially Hebrew and Semitic Scholar, but also Indologist, and Theologian. Son of Heinrich Andreas E., a master weaver, and Catharina Maria Ilse. After gymnasium studied theology and Oriental languages at Göttingen. Ph.D. there 1823. After a short period as…
EVERETT, Charles Carroll. Brunswick, Maine 19.6.1829 — Cambridge, MA 16.10.1900. U.S. Unitary Theologian interested in Indian Philosophy. Professor in Harvard. Son of Ebenezer Everett, a lawyer and banker, and Joanna Batchelder. Graduated from Bowdoin College in 1850 (A.M., then D.D. and LL.D.), further studies in Berlin. Worked two years as…
ELIOT, Charles Norton Edgcumbe. Sibford Gower, Oxfordshire 8.1.1862 — Strait of Malacca 16./17.3.1931. Sir. British Oriental Scholar and Diplomat. Son of Edward E., a curate, and Elizabeth Harriet Wyatt Watling. Educated at Cheltenham College, studies from 1880 at Balliol College, Oxford (classical philology, also Sanskrit). From 1886 in diplomatic service:…
ELIADE, Mircea. Bucharest 9.3.1907 (his own, others say rather 13.3., Old Era 28.2.) — Chicago 22.4.1986. Romanian Scholar of Comparative Religion in the U.S.A. Son of Gheorghe E., a captain in the Romanian army, and Ioana Stoenescu (Jeana Vasilescu?). The father had changed his original family name, Ieremia, in honour…
EKLUND, Johan Alfred. Ryda, Skaraborgs län 7.1.1863 — Brunskog, Värmland 23.8.1945. Swedish Priest and Scholar of Religion. Son of tailor Andreas Andersson and Greta Olofsdotter. Matriculated in 1883 from Skara, studied philosophy and theology at Uppsala (cand.theol. 1890). Ordained priest 1892. From 1896 curate (domkyrkovicepastor) in Uppsala and PD in…
EILERS, Wilhelm Max J. Leipzig 27.9.1906 — Würzburg 3.7.1989. German Oriental (Semitic) and Iranian Scholar. Professor in Würzburg. Son of a Gymnasium Professor, matriculated from Zwickau. Studies of musicology, law and Assyriology at Freiburg, Munich and Leipzig (Dr.iuris 1931 Leipzig, with a diss. on ancient Babylonian laws), then Oriental languages…