Emil Schlagintweit (7 July 1835 – 29 October 1904) was a German scholar noted for his work on
Buddhism in
Tibet.
Life
Schlagintweit was the youngest of the five
Schlagintweit
Schlagintweit is a surname. Notable persons with that surname include:
* A German family of 5 brothers, all explorers and scholars:
**Hermann Schlagintweit (1826–1882), German explorer of Central Asia
**Adolf Schlagintweit (1829–1857)
** Eduar ...
brothers of
Munich. His father
Joseph Schlagintweit was a wealthy eye-surgeon, his mother died when he was quite young, and he was tutored by
Franz Joseph Lauth
Franz Joseph Lauth (18 February 1822, Landau, Germany – 11 February 1895, Munich), was a German Egyptologist.
Career
From 1842 to 1845 he studied classical philology. In 1849 he became a teacher at the Wilhelmsgymnasium (Munich).
*From 1863 t ...
, later a noted
Egyptologist. The brothers' interest in exploration was sparked by
Alexander von Humboldt's ''
Cosmos'', the first volume of which appeared in 1845, and which led to their explorations of the
Alps and in turn to Asia's mountains.
After his brother Hermann's death in 1882, he inherited Schloß Jägersburg, their large estate near Forchheim, and the brothers' collections and papers.
Not an explorer himself, he sold 102 Tibetan manuscripts and
block-books collected by his brothers to the
Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...
at
Oxford University where they remain.
His work was later used by
Helena Blavatsky as evidence for her interpretations of "esoteric Buddhism" (Blavatsky herself did not approve of the term "esoteric Buddhism," to which she preferred "the Secret Doctrine," Occultism, or Sacred Science).
Selected works
''Buddhism In Tibet. With An Account Of The Buddhist Systems Preceding It In India'' Leipzig, F.A. Brockhaus, 1863.
* ''Die Könige von Tibet: von der Entstehung koniglicher Macht in Yárlung bis zum Erlöschen in Ladák : Mitte des I. Jahrh. vor Chr. Geb. bis 1834 nach Chr. Geb.'', Munchen : Verlag der k. Akademie, in Commission bei G. Franz, 1866.
* ''Die Gottesurtheile der Indier; Rede gehalten in der öffentlichen Sitzung der Köngl. Akademie der Wissenschaften am 28. März 1866 zur Erinnerung ihres einhundert und siebenten Stiftungstages'', München, Im Verlage der Königl. Akademie, 1866.
* ''Kelat, the Brahui kingdom on the southern border of Iran'', Simla, Govt. Central Branch Press, 1876.
* ''Indien in Wort und Bild'' (Leipzig, 1880–1881)
References
;Attribution
*
Sources
Gabriel Finkelstein, "'Conquerors of the Künlün'? The Schlagintweit Mission to High Asia, 1854-57", ''History of Science'' 38, part 2, no. 120 (June 2000): 179–218.
External links
*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20050205040429/http://www.blavatsky.net/forum/taylor/tibetanSources10.htm Blavatsky dependence on Schlagintweit
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schlagintweit, Emil
1835 births
1904 deaths
Tibetologists
German Buddhists
German scholars
German male writers