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

Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences The Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (russian: Институт востоковедения Российской Академии Наук), formerly Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences, ...

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,

. From 1969 to 1973 he served as lecturer of the Chair of General History at

Tartu State University 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 ...

. Later he was dismissed for

anti-communist Anti-communism is political and 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, when the United States and the ...

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 Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing br ...

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 narra ...

, 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, ...

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 ...

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

and

buddhologist Buddhist studies, also known as Buddhology, is the academic study of Buddhism. The term ''Buddhology'' was coined in the early 20th century by the Unitarian minister Joseph Estlin Carpenter to mean the "study of Buddhahood, the nature of the Bud ...

by well-known Estonian theologian and philosopher

Uku Masing Uku Masing (born Hugo Albert Masing, 11 August 1909 – 25 April 1985) was an Estonian philosopher. He was a significant figure in Estonian religious philosophy. Masing also wrote poetry, mostly on religious issues. Masing authored one novel, ''R ...

in the early 1960s. He later studied under and worked together with several Buddhist and non-Buddhist teachers and scholars including

Nikolai Konrad Nikolai Iosifovich Konrad (; 13 March 1891 – 30 September 1970) was a Soviet philologist and historian, described in the ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' as "the founder of the Soviet school of Japanese scholars".Robert M. CroskeyN. I. Konrad and the ...

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 i ...

. 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 ''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 ...

(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 Balti ...

, 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 Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also * ...

, 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 basi ...

; *

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 The Estonian Writers Union (Eesti Kirjanike Liit, abbreviated EKL), is a professional association of Estonian writers and literary critics.Marje Jõeste, Küllo Arjakas, ''The Baltic States'', Estonian Encyclopaedia Publishers, 1991, page 64 Hist ...

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, 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 Buddhism

Monday, 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