Alois Anton leader

Alois Anton Führer (born September 26, 1853 in Limburg an der Lahn , † November 5, 1930 in Binningen , Switzerland ) was a German Indologist who was temporarily in the service of the Archaeological Survey of India founded by the British . During an expedition to Nepal he succeeded in rediscovering Lumbini , the birthplace of Siddharta Gautama , the later Buddha . However, Führer was exposed as a plagiarist and forger, so that his oeuvre fell into twilight.

biography

Führer attended the high school in Montabaur . From 1874 to 1879 he studied Catholic theology and oriental languages in Würzburg , London and Vienna ; in 1879 he did his doctorate at the University of Würzburg on a topic of Sanskrit philology. From 1881 to 1884 he taught at St. Xavier College in Bombay , which was run by the Jesuit order . From 1884 to 1899 he was curator of the Provincial Museum of Lucknow , whose collection and presentation he improved significantly within a short time, so that he was appointed to work for the Archaeological Survey of India . In 1896 he went on a research expedition to southern Nepal , where he uncovered an Ashoka column , the inscription of which identified the place as Lumbini , the birthplace of Buddha .

Two years later he fell from grace because of counterfeiting and plagiarism allegations that he himself admitted, but he remained in India for some time . In 1889 he married Annie Julia Hood; he entered into a second marriage in 1911 with Hedwig Walther.

religion

Führer was a Catholic and even worked as a priest in India. In 1887 he accepted the Anglican faith, but he also turned to Buddhism . After his return to Germany and his move to Switzerland, he worked as a pastor of the Christian Catholic Church .

Works

List of Christian tombs and monuments of archaeological or historical interest and their inscriptions in the North-Western Provinces and Oudh. Allahabad 1896.
Monography on Buddha Shakyamuni's Birth-Place in the Nepalese Tarai Allahabad 1897
Śrīharṣacaritamahākāvyam - Bāṇabhaṭṭa's biography of King Harshavardhana of Sthāṇīśvara with Śaṅkara's commentary, Saṅketa Bombay 1909

literature

Charles Allen: The Buddha and Dr. Leader. An archaeological scandal. London 2008, ISBN 9781905791934 .
TA Phelps: Lumbini On Trial: The Untold Story. 2008

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Leader, Alois Anton
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German Indologist
DATE OF BIRTH	September 26, 1853
PLACE OF BIRTH	Limburg on the Lahn
DATE OF DEATH	5th November 1930
Place of death	Binningen , Switzerland