About
1863-1937
Moriz Winternitz was an outstanding scholar who wrote on religion, folklore, the epics and Sanskrit literature. He is best remembered for his "History of Indian Literature,“ a work in three volumes, which is considered indispensable for teachers and students alike. Winternitz was also one of the co-sponsors of a critical edition of the Mahabharata, a project that held his attention throughout his life.
Moriz Winternitz was born on 23.12.1863 in Horn, lower Austria into the family of a merchant. In 1880, Winternitz went to Wien where he began to study classical philology and philosophy. Influenced by G. Buehler and E. Hultzsch, he took up the study of Indology. In 1886, Winternitz submitted his doctoral thesis. An enlarged version was published by the Imperial Academy of Sciences, Wien in 1892 under the title Das altindische Hochzeitsritual nach dem Apastambiya Grihyasutra und einigen verwandten Werken. Mit Vergleichung der Hochzeitsgebraeuche bei den uebrigen indogermanischen Voelkern ("Ancient Indian marriage ritual according to the Apastambiya Grihyasutra and other related works. Together with a comparison of marriage customs among Indo-European peoples"). In 1887, Winternitz published the first critical edition of the Apastambiya Grihyasutra, together with extracts from the commentaries of Haradatta and Sudarsanarya.