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…
BERTHOLET(-SCHMID), Alfred Robert Felix. Basel 9.11.1868 — Münsterlingen, Thurgau 24.8.1951. Swiss Reformed Theologian and Scholar of Comparative Religion in Germany. Professor in Göttingen and Berlin. Son of David Bertholet, a school director, and Sabine Wagner. Studies of Theology at Basel, also briefly at Strasbourg and Berlin (under B. Duhm). From…
GIUSEPPE MARIA DA GARGNANO (Iosephus Maria a Gargnano; lay Bernardino Bernini). Gargnano near Brescia (then Venetian Republic) 2.9.1709 (hardly 1711) — Bettia in Bihar Terai 15.1.1761. Count. Italian Missionary in Tibet. Son of Count Giuseppe De Bernini and Giovanna De’ Bettoni, partly grew up in Vienna. Joined the Capuchin order…
BERNARD, Theos Casimir Hamati. Los Angeles 10.12.1908 — Kosar, Pakistan ?.9.1947. U.S. Bauddha and Yogi. Son of Glen Agassiz Bernard and Aura Georgina Crable, nephew of the yogi Pierre Arnold Bernard (born P. A. Baker, 1875–1955). After parents’ divorce grew up with his mother in Tombstone, Arizona. Graduated from the…
BERGMANN, Frédéric-Guillaume (Friedrich Wilhelm). Strasbourg 9.2.1812 — Strasbourg 13.11.1887. French (Alsatian) Linguist and Philologist. Professor in Strasbourg. Son of Anton Josef Bergmann (1776–1839), a pewter caster, and Christiane Sophie Roessel. Studies of theology at Strasbourg, of philology (especially Nordic) at Paris, Göttingen and Berlin. Dr.-ès-Lettres 1839. From 1838 in charge…
BERGH VAN EYSINGA, Gustaaf Adolf van den. ’s-Gravenhage 27.6.1874 — Bloemendaal, North Holland 26.5.1957. Dutch Protestant Theologian and Scholar of Comparative Religion. Son of ajunctcommies Marie Henri Philip van den Bergh van E. (until 1867 van den Bergh only) and Ida Catharina Wilhelmina Roorda van Eysinga, brother of theologian Henri…
BERGAIGNE, Abel-Henri-Joseph. Vimy (Pas-de-Calais) 31.8.1838 — La Grave (Hautes Alpes) 6.8.1888. French Indologist. Professor in Paris. Son of a registrar, Sylvain Bergaigne (1795–1855), and Joséphine Césarine Aubron, educated in Amiens. He abandoned the financial career planned by his father and went in 1864 to Paris in order to study IE…
BERG, Cornelis Christian. Rotterdam-West 18.12.1900 — Leiden 25.6.1990. Dutch South-East Asian Scholar. Professor in Leiden. After school in Schiedam from 1919 studies of Arabic, Sanskrit and Javanese at Leiden. Cand. 1922, Master 1925, Dr. 1927 (under Hazeu and Krom). After two years as teacher in Indonesia (Solo and Yogyakarta), from…