BOCHINGER, Jean-Jacques (Johann Jacob B.). Strasbourg 28.11.1802 — Strasbourg 12.8.1831. Alsatian Protestant Theologian. Of humble origin, son of Jean Bochinger, a weaver, and Christine Madeleine Lutz. Studies at Protestant Seminary and Theological Faculty of Strasbourg, then at Heidelberg and Göttingen. For a while, 1824-26, private tutor in Lyon, then further…
BLOOMFIELD, Maurice (born Blumenfeld). Bielitz, Austrian Silesia (now Bielsko-Biała in Poland) 23.2.1855 — San Francisco, CA 13.6.1928. U.S. (of German Jewish Origin) Indologist. Professor in Baltimore. Born in the then Austrian Silesia as the son of Solomon Blumenfeld (then Bloomfield) and Beatha Jaeger he moved in the age of four…
BLOCHET, Gabriel Joseph Edgar. Bourges (Cher) 12.12.1870 — Paris 5.9.1937. French Oriental (Arabic and Iranian) Scholar and Historian of Religions. Son of a cavalry officer. After studies in Paris (i.al. ancient Iranian under Darmesteter at É.P.H.É. and Arabic (diploma), Persian, Turkish and Urdu at É.L.O.V.), from 1895 Assistant, then Librarian…
BLEEKER, Claas Jouco. Beneden Knijpe (now De Knijpe), Schoterland, Friesland 12.9.1898 — Amsterdam 5.5.1983. Dutch Historian of Religion. Son of Rev. Johannes Jakob Bleeker and Jantje Zuur. School in Leeuwarden, studies of theology at Leiden, also studies of Egyptology and religion at Berlin. Reformed priest 1925. Th.Dr. 1929 Leiden (diss.…
BLAVATSKY, Helena Petrovna (née Hahn, Russian Jelena Petrovna Blavatskaja, née Gan). Ekaterinoslav (now Dnipro in Ukraine) 12.8.1831 — London 9.5.1891. Russian Noblewoman, the Founder of the Theosophical Society. Born in Ukraina as daughter of colonel Peter Hahn, of a noble family of Mecklenburg settled in Russia. Married at 17 a…
BIRD, James. 1797 — Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire 10.7.1864. British Physician in India interested in Archaeology. Educated from 1810 at King’s College, Aberdeen, M.A. 1814, then at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Hospitals. Dr. med. From 1818 served in Bombay Presidency, first as assistant surgeon. In 1826-32 residency surgeon at Sattara, 1840-43…
BIGANDET, Paul-Ambroise. Malans (Doubs) 13.8.1813 — Rangoon 19.4.1894. French Catholic Missionary and Buddhist Scholar. Fifty years in Burma. Educated in Besançon and at the seminary of Missions Etrangères in Paris (two years there). In 1837 ordained as priest and sent as missionary to Malacca, later moved to Burma. From 1852…
BIANCHI, Ugo. Cavriglia, Arezzo 13.10.1922 — Firenzuola, Florence 14.4.1995. Italian Scholar of Iranian Religion. Son of a parastatal employee, grew up in Rome. Studies of classical philology, ancient history and especially History of Religions at Sapienza in Rome under Pettazzoni. Ph.D. 1944. In 1952-56 member of Istituto italiano per la…
BHARATI, Agehananda (Leopold Fischer), Swami. Vienna 20.4.1923 — Rochester, NY 14.5.1991. Austrian-born Indologist, Tantric Scholar and Anthropologist, for a long time living in India, then in the U.S.A. Naturalised 1968 as U.S. citizen. Professor in Syracuse. Son of Hans Fischer and Margarethe von May. Grew up in Vienna, during war…
BESANT, Annie (née Wood). London 1.10.1847 — Adyar (Madras) 19.9.1933. British Theosophist. Daughter of William Burton Persse Wood (1816–1852) and Emily Morris, an English-Irish family. Lost early her father, educated privately in England, Germany and France. Married Rev. Frank Besant (d. 1917) in 1867, but was legally separated from him…