BLOOMFIELD, Maurice (born Moritz 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…
BLOCHET, Gabriel Joseph Edgard. 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 (1869–1946) and Jantje (Tine) Zuur. School in Leeuwarden, studies of theology at Leiden, also studies of Egyptology and religion at Berlin. Reformed priest 1925. Th.Dr. 1929…
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 Ukraine as the daughter of colonel Peter Hahn, of a noble family of Mecklenburg settled in Russia. Married at the…
BIRD, James. 1797 — Gerrard Cross, Buckinghamshire 10.7.1864. British Physician in India interested in Archaeology, Epigraphy and Numismatics. Educated from 1810 at King’s College, Aberdeen, M.A. 1814, then at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Hospitals. Dr. med. 1816. From 1818 served in Bombay Presidency, first as assistant surgeon. In 1826-32 residency…
BIGANDET, Paul-Ambroise. Malans (Doubs) 13.8.1813 — Rangoon 19.4.1894. Father. French Catholic Missionary and Buddhist Scholar. Fifty years in Burma. Son of Jean-Antoine Bigandet (1761–1839) and Jeanne Cornu. Educated in Besançon and at the seminary of Missions Etrangères in Paris (two years there). In 1837 ordained as priest and sent as…
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 Perse Wood (1816–1852) and Emily Mary Roche Morris (1817?–1874), an English-Irish family. Lost early her father, educated privately in England, Germany and France. Married Rev. Frank Besant (1840?–1917) in 1867, but was legally separated…
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 Felix Bertholet (1830–1906), a school director, and Sabine Wagner (1841–1894). Studies of Theology at Basel, also briefly at Strassburg (Nöldeke) and Berlin…