PANGBORN, Cyrus Ransom. Mankato, Jewell County, Kansas 6.2.1916 — New Brunswick, NJ 18.11.1989. U.S. Scholar of Comparative Religion. Professor in New Brunswick. Son of farmer Halsey Melvin Pangborn and Sue Naomi Peets. Studied at Kansas Wesleyan (B.A. 1937), Yale Divinity School (B.D. 1940) and Columbia University (M.Ph. 1950). Ph.D. (Dr.Ph.)…
OPPERT, Gustav Salomon. Hamburg 30.7.1836 — Berlin 1.3.1908 (or 17.3.). German Indologist in India. Professor in Madras. Son of Eduard Oppert (until 1812 Oppenheimer, 1792–1874) and Henriette Gans (1800–1875), brother of —> Jules Oppert (1825–1905) and Ernst Jacob Oppert (1832–1903) who was a merchant in Shanghai and visited three times…
NOVOSAD, Martin (Nyānasatta/Ñānasatta Mahāthera). Vizovice, Moravia 25.1.1908 — Sri Lanka 1984. Czechoslovakian Buddha in Sri Lanka. Born in Southern Moravia. In 1935 heard of Buddhism through his wife and in 1938 arrived in Sri Lanka. Now became Nyānatiloka’s disciple and soon ordained as a monk. From 1940 leader of Verdant…
MOORE, Osbert John Salvin (Ñānamoli Thera). Cambridge 25.6.1905 — Veheragama near Mahawa 8.3.1960. British Bauddha and Buddhist Scholar. Lived in Sri Lanka 1949–60. Son of John Edmund Sharrock Moore (1870–1947), a biologist, and Heloise Salvin (1875–1927). Studies at Exeter College, Oxford. During the war served as officer in Italy, read Evola’s…
MONTOLIÚ Y TOGORES, Francisco de. Tarragona 9.2.1861 — 10.5.1892. Spanish Professor at the School of Agricultural Engineering in Madrid, but also a Theosophist, the founder of the Spanish Theosophical Society (1889/91). Born in an aristocratic family of Barcelona. Publications: Under nom-de-plume Nemo published a translation of the Chāndogya Upaniṣad. 1891;…
MONCHANIN, Jules (Swami Paramarubyananda). Fleurie-en-Beaujolais 10.4.1895 — Paris 10.10.1957. Father. French Catholic Priest, Monk and Hermit, an ardent proponent of Hindu-Christian interfaith dialogue. Son of wine merchant Antoine M. and Marie-Ursule Janin. From 1912 studies at seminary in Lyon, during WW I also taught there (he was himself freed from…
MICHALSKI-IWIEŃSKI, Stanisław Franciszek. Tarnogród 29.1.1881 — Łodz 8.8.1961. Polish Indologist. Professor in Łodz. Studies at Warsaw, then Indology at Vienna (L. v. Schroeder and P. Kretschmer) and Göttingen (Oldenberg & Wackernagel). Ph.D. 1912 Vienna. Durin WW I in Switzerland. In the 1920s and 1930s living in Warsaw, where he worked…
MENASCE, Jean de (born Jean André Moise de M.). Alexandria, Egypt 24.12.1902 — Paris 24.11.1973. Father. French Iranian Scholar. From his mother inherited French citizenship, father (banker, Baron Félix de M.) belonged to a Jewish family which had migrated from Spain to Egypt around 1500. Educated at French school in Alexandria,…
MAYERS, William Frederick. Hobart, Tasmania 7.1.1831 — Shanghai 24.3.1878. British Diplomat and Sinologist in China. Son of Rev. Michael John Mayers (1801–1881), colonial chaplain in Tasmania, in 1842 back to the U.K. Grew up in Marseille, where his father was now consulate chaplain. After a few years as journalist in…
MAURICE, Thomas. Hertford 25.9.1754 — London 30.3.1824. Rev. British Priest and Oriental Scholar. Son of Thomas Maurice (d. 1763), a schoolmaster of Welsh ancestry, lost early his father. “Educated at Christ’s Hospital, Ealing and Bath, and at St. John’s and University Colleges, Oxford, 1774-78 [B.A. 1778], ordained. Held several curacies…