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Linnart Mäll (7 June 1938 – 14 February 2010) was an Estonian historian,
orientalist, translator and politician.
Biography
Born in
Tallinn
Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...
, Estonia, Mäll graduated from the
University of Tartu
The University of Tartu (UT; et, Tartu Ülikool; la, Universitas Tartuensis) is a university in the city of Tartu in Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is the only classical university in the country, and also its biggest ...
in 1962 with a major in general history. He followed graduation with postgraduate studies at the
at the
USSR Academy of Sciences
The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991, uniting the country's leading scientists, subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (until 1946 ...
(1964–1966) and Department of History, University of Tartu (1966–1969); 1985 Cand. Hist. (PhD) in history, PhD thesis "Ashtasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā ''as a Historical Source''".
Since 1994 he was Head of the Centre for Oriental Studies, senior research fellow, Department of History, Faculty of Philosophy,
University of Tartu
The University of Tartu (UT; et, Tartu Ülikool; la, Universitas Tartuensis) is a university in the city of Tartu in Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is the only classical university in the country, and also its biggest ...
. From 1969 to 1973 he served as lecturer of the Chair of General History at
Tartu State University. Later he was dismissed for
anti-communist
Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...
views and subsequently worked for ten years as engineer of the Cabinet for Oriental Studies. He was partly rehabilitated in 1983 and promoted to head of the Laboratory for History and
Semiotics
Semiotics (also called semiotic studies) is the systematic study of sign processes ( semiosis) and meaning making. Semiosis is any activity, conduct, or process that involves signs, where a sign is defined as anything that communicates something ...
(1983–1991). He later served as head of the Laboratory for Oriental Studies (1991–1994).
His main research fields included: Buddhist
Mahāyāna
''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhism, Buddhist traditions, Buddhist texts#Mahāyāna texts, texts, Buddhist philosophy, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BC ...
texts,
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
mythology
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...
, classical Indian literature and culture, classical Chinese texts,
Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
an
Buddhist texts
Buddhist texts are those religious texts which belong to the Buddhist tradition. The earliest Buddhist texts were not committed to writing until some centuries after the death of Gautama Buddha. The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts a ...
and the history of small nations and peoples.
He was one of the first who applied the methods of semiotic analysis for investigation of Buddhist texts and other texts of classical Oriental thought. Mäll was one of the central figures of the branch of oriental studies in the
Tartu-Moscow Semiotic School in 1960–70s. In the 1990s he worked on the elaboration of the conception of humanistic base texts; since 1998 the initiator and head of the research project "Humanistic base texts in the history of mankind"; and author of ten books and over one hundred academic articles.
Mäll was inspired to become a
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
and
buddhologist by well-known Estonian theologian and philosopher
Uku Masing in the early 1960s. He later studied under and worked together with several Buddhist and non-Buddhist teachers and scholars including
Nikolai Konrad,
Alexander Piatigorsky
Alexander Moiseyevich Piatigorsky (russian: Алекса́ндр Моисе́евич Пятиго́рский; 30 January 192925 October 2009) was a Soviet dissident, Russian philosopher, scholar of Indian philosophy and culture, historian, phi ...
,
Oktiabrina Volkova,
Youri Parfionovich,
Lev Menshikov and Lama
Bidia Dandaron
Bidia Dandaron (Vidyadhara, russian: Бидия Дандарович Дандарон) (December 28, 1914, Soorkhoi, Kizhinga, Buryatia — October 26, 1974, Vydrino, Buryatia) was a major Buddhist author and teacher in the USSR. He also worked ...
. He was a teacher and spiritual master for many Estonian Buddhists and orientalists of the younger generation. In the 1990s he established close ties with
The Dalai Lama
, coatofarms =
, coatofarms_article =
, coatofarms_link =
, incumbent = Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
, incumbentsince = 22 February 1940
, image = Dalailama1 20121014 4639.jpg
, caption = Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
, first = Ge ...
and served as the main organizer of both of his visits to Estonia (1991 and 2001). Mäll was the founder and director of the first
Mahāyāna Institute (which existed from 1991 to 1994).
He was awarded the
Order of the White Star
The Order of the White Star ( et, Valgetähe teenetemärk; french: Ordre de l'Etoile Blanche) was instituted in 1936. The Order of the White Star is bestowed on Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic ...
, IV degree in 2001, and the Medal of Freedom of the Government of the
Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in exile in March 2004.
Mäll died of cancer in Tartu on 14 February 2010.
Academic associations
His membership in the academic associations is as follows:
*
Estonian Oriental Society, founder and president in 1988–2001, since 2001 honorary president;
*
American Oriental Society
The American Oriental Society was chartered under the laws of Massachusetts on September 7, 1842. It is one of the oldest learned societies in America, and is the oldest devoted to a particular field of scholarship.
The Society encourages basic ...
;
*
Learned Estonian Society
The Learned Estonian Society ( et, Õpetatud Eesti Selts, shortened ÕES; german: Gelehrte Estnische Gesellschaft, shortened GEG) is Estonia's oldest scholarly organisation, and was formed at the University of Tartu in 1838. Its charter was to stu ...
;
*Academic Baltic-German Cultural Society in Tartu;
*Academic Historical Society;
*
Estonian Writers' Association and
*Estonian Tibetan Cultural Society, honorary member.
Other groups
*Dr. Mäll was one of the founders and first chairman of the
Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization
The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, or simply UNPO is an international organization established to facilitate the voices of unrepresented and marginalised nations and peoples worldwide. It was formed on 11 February 1991 in The Ha ...
, 1991–1993; *Member of the
Estonian Congress and
Estonian Council, 1990–1992;
*member of the
Estonian Constitutional Assembly, 1991–1992;
*Vice Chairman of the
Estonian National Independence Party
The Estonian National Independence Party, or ENIP, ( et, Eesti Rahvusliku Sõltumatuse Partei, ''ERSP''), founded on 20 August 1988 in Estonian SSR, was the first non- communist political party established in the former USSR. Founders of the par ...
, 1992–1994;
*founder and president of the Estonian
Paneuropean Union
The International Paneuropean Union, also referred to as the Pan-European Movement and the Pan-Europa Movement, is the oldest European unification movement.
It began with the publishing of Count Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi's manifesto ''P ...
since 1992.
References
External links
The Estonian Institute of BuddhismMonday, 15 February 2010, Linnart Mäll, First UNPO Chairperson, Passes Away, www.unpo.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mall, Linnart
1938 births
2010 deaths
Estonian orientalists
Estonian translators
20th-century Estonian historians
Estonian National Independence Party politicians
University of Tartu alumni
Academic staff of the University of Tartu
People from Tallinn
Deaths from cancer in Estonia
Recipients of the Order of the National Coat of Arms, 4th Class
Translators to Estonian
Translators from Sanskrit
Translators from Chinese
Recipients of the Order of the White Star, 4th Class
20th-century translators
20th-century Estonian politicians