Moriz Winternitz
(1863-1937)
I would like to
inform the list members that this year marks the 150th birth anniversary of Moriz
Winternitz. Winternitz was born at Horn in Lower Austria on 23rd December 1863.
An avid German Indologist he was a professor of Indology and Ethnology at the
Charles University of Prague. He is known to us not only that he authored the
three volume History of Indian Literature, but that he was the second visiting
professor at Santiniketan (1922-23) and importantly, a great friend of
Rabindranath. He wrote a book on Tagore's Religion and World Vision.
His birth
anniversary is going to be celebrated this year in his hometown Horn. I went
there in 2011 to discover in this small town a closed down Jewish Cemetery
(Winternitz was a Jew), where I had the opportunity to identify Winternitz’s
parents’ graves. After this the town authority renovated the cemetery, and
planned to set up a stone plaque in their museum which was formerly the school
where Winternitz read in.
I also spoke to our
Indian Ambassador in Prague last November 2013 in Prague, who also promised to
celebrate his birth anniversary.
The Asiatic
Society, Kolkata is supposed to arrange a lecture on him very soon.
I wonder if any
institution or groups decide celebrating his 150th birth anniversary any time
during 2013-2014.
Regards
Debabrata Chakrabarti
For his biography
see: http://www.grieb.org/debu/download/M_Winternitz.pdf
Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moriz_Winternitz
For his books see
my website: www.grieb.org/debu
“This body is like a musical instrument; what you hear depends upon how you play it.” – Anandamayi Ma
“Inside every human being there exists a special heaven, whole and unbroken.” - Paracelsus