dear Dr Chakrabarti,

Thank you so very much for sharing this delightful biography. The lives of our forebears are extremely interesting. I just a few days ago had the opportunity to discover (again, with delight) the story of Hermann Grassmann <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Grassmann>, whom we all know for his work on the Veda, but who, it turns out, is one of the fathers of linear algebra (I discovered this discussing with my son the question of how one proves that 2 + 2 = 4, which turns out the involve, or can involve, the Peano axioms, which owe much to Grassmann). In the biography of Grassmann which I have seen, Sanskrit receives no more than a few lines (just as the math is only mentioned in passing by Windisch p 365). I am reminded of all of this of course by the connection between Winternitz and Einstein.

In any case, thank you for this fascinating reminder, and for the idea to do something to celebrate the life and contribution to a scholar who, among other things, wrote the three volumes which probably sit near the desks of most readers of the Indology list.

Jonathan Silk

On Sat, Jan 11, 2014 at 5:27 AM, Dr. Debabrata Chakrabarti <dchakra@hotmail.de> wrote:

Dear List Members,

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

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J. Silk
Instituut Kern / Universiteit Leiden

Leiden University Institute for Area Studies, LIAS

Johan Huizinga Building, Room 1.37

Doelensteeg 16

2311 VL Leiden

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copies of my publications may be found at

http://www.buddhismandsocialjustice.com/silk_publications.html