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…
DANDARON, Bidija Dandarovič. Kižinga, Buryatia 15.12.1914 — Vydrino, Buryatia 26.10.1974. Russian Buryat Lama, Tibetologist and Buddhist Scholar. Son of Dorji Badmaev, a Tantric practitioner, and Balžima Abudueva. In 1921 he was declared the heir of Lobsang Samdan and in 1924 succeeded him as formal head of the Vajrayānic Balagat movement.…
DAHLMANN, Joseph. Koblenz 14.10.1861 — Tokyo 22.6.1928. Father. S.J. German Indologist, later in Japan. Son of a tailor, Johann Simon Dahlmann (1831–1905), and Catharina Schulten, educated in 1873-78 at Feldkirchen Jesuit College, joined the S.J. in the age of 17 in 1878. Studies in the Netherlands, the U.K. and Puerto…
DAHLKE, Paul Wilhelm Eduard. Osterode, Ostpreussen (now Ostróda, Poland) 25.1.1865 — Berlin-Frohnau 29.2.1928. German Bauddha, Physician in Berlin. Son of a civil servant, August Dahlke and Wilhelmine Reinholz, a big and poor family. Gymnasium in Osnabrück, Hannover and Frankfurt a.M., from 1883 studied medicine in Berlin and specialized in homeopathy.…
CZERNY, Gerhard. Pettau (Ptuj in Slovenia) 12.4.1904 — 1936?. Austrian/Yugoslavian student of Comparative Religion. Born in Austria (now Slovenian territory), son of a Gerichtsofficial (d. 1908), then German-speaking Yugoslavian citizen. School at Pettau, Obergymnasium in Graz, matriculated 1923. Studied Theology (ev.) and Philosophy at Vienna 1923–25, 1925 Theology at Rostock,…
CUMONT, Franz Valéry Marie. Aalst 3.1.1868 — Brussels 20.8.1947. Belgian Scholar of Ancient Religions, History and Archaeology. Son of Florent Cumont (1830–1912), a textile factory owner, and Augustine Faider (1837–1890), educated in Brussels. Studies at Ghent, Ph.D. 1887. Then further studies at Bonn, Berlin, Vienna and Paris. From 1892 taught,…
CSOMA DE KŐRÖS, Alexander (Kőrösi Csoma Sándor). Kőrös, Kovászna, Transylvania (now Chiuruş, Covasna in Romania) 27.3.1784 — Darjeeling 11.4.1842. Hungarian Tibetologist, in Ladakh and India 1822-42. Born of poor parents, András Csoma, a peasant and soldier, and Krisztina Getse (Ilona Göcz), belonging to the military nobility known as Székely (Sicules). Birth…
CROOKE, William. Macroom, co. Cork 6.8.1848 — Cheltenham, Gloucestershire 25.10.1923. British (Irish) Civil Servant and Anthropologist in India. Eldest son of Warren Crooke (1814–1896), M.D., of an originally English family long resident in Ireland, and Elizabeth Pyne Lindsey. Educated at the grammar school in Tipperary, studied at Trinity College in…
CORBIN, Henry (born Henri Eugène Corbin). Paris 14.4.1903 — Paris 7.10.1978. French Philosopher, Theologian and Scholar of Iranian Religion and Islam. Son of Henri Arthur Corbin and Eugénie Fournier (d. 1903), grew up with an aunt. Born in a Protestant family, but had catholic education. Studied philosophy in Paris (degree…